Election Special 2024 - Chris Cadelago

POLITICO’s Chris Cadelago joined Tony and Juan for a special 2024 Election Episode of Dear San Diego. Chris provided really smart takes on local, state, and national races, and shared some behind-the-scenes info, too. Chris covered the Trump White House and the Biden White House. He is currently wo…

Padres Uniforms and Persuadable Voters: The Art of Polling with John Nienstedt

The Padres sensed they had a problem. So they called John Nienstedt, who helped them figure out they should switch to brown jerseys. John brought in models who wore different jerseys to a series of focus groups. Each participant in the room was armed with a dial that they cranked one way for approv…

Preserving Community While Tackling Growth: Michael Inzunza's Vision for Chula Vista

Michael Inzunza is running for Chula Vista City Council. He comes from a long line of public servants and political dynamos. Next year will be the 50th anniversary of his parents’ first major campaign victory. They ran a bilingual campaign as a couple for two local school board seats. They both wo…

Treating the Invisible Wounds: A Clinician's Mission to Help Vets

Kelly Williams takes care of people who need care, and she’s creating an army of therapists like her to try and meet the needs of people wrestling with PTSD throughout San Diego. Williams is Clinic Director of The Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Veterans Village of San Diego. In her spar…

Chad Peace on Marketing, Love, Family and his Finicky Fisker

A licensed attorney, Chad Peace never expected to lead a digital communications company that serves an impressive list of clients. With dozens of designers, project managers, and others, IVC Media, LLC’s binational team has offices in Mission Valley and Tijuana.  Politically, Chad has sort of corn…

Car guy lands dream job as CEO of San Diego Automotive Museum

Lenny Leszczynski is a car guy, dating back to his days as a young man who drove a Daytona Blue 1964 Chevy Impala, but his wife was not expecting him to land this job. After all, Lenny had never been a CEO before. He did take advantage of all the free time the pandemic gave us by going back to sch…

Steve Peace on San Diego Politics and Reforming his own California Voting Reform

The author of California’s Top Two Candidates Open Primary, which took effect in 2012, wants to reform his reform. Steve Peace, a founder of the Independent Voter Project, wants California to move to a system that would ask voters to rank 4 or 5 candidates instead of voting for just one. Alaska an…

Family, Labor, Politics & Poker: A Sit-Down with Michael Zucchet

Michael Zucchet is one of those guys who listens more than he talks, and his calm and thoughtful demeanor has served him well at the poker table and at the negotiating table. Zucchet oversees the City of San Diego’s largest labor union as General Manager of the San Diego Municipal Employees Associ…

The Women Leading the Building Industry Association

The majority of San Diegans are renters, but rents are crazy expensive because supply is so low. Very few new homes are built, so those that are sold come with a steep price. The average home in San Diego sells for $900,000. How did we get here? What caused our region’s housing crisis? How do we f…

Monica Montgomery Steppe on the Importance of Opportunity

San Diego Councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe is expected to win the county supervisor special election on November 7, 2023 to replace Nathan Fletcher. If so, she would leave her job as a councilmember representing District 4, which includes the communities of Chollas View, Emerald Hills, Encant…