Tag: politics

Hiring a homeless person – and learning

Hiring a homeless person – and learning

Homelessness is a major issue in our community. Early this year, my campaign released our Hope4Homeless plan to provide greater County leadership around tackling homelessness.  We sat down with policy experts, homeless youth, front line service providers, and did quite a bit of research. Add that to my own experience serving Rachel’s Women’s Center as part of Catholic Charities Homeless Women’s Services Advisory Committee several years ago and a healthy amount of journalism from Kelly Davis, Kelly Bennett-Heyd, David Garrick, Lisa Halverstadt and a few other journalists and we feel good that we’d spent meaningful time understanding before writing. Then this other thing happened. Read More

Why the word ‘Believe’ is on our campaign shirts

Why the word ‘Believe’ is on our campaign shirts

We get asked regularly why our campaign shirts have the word ‘believe’ printed on the front above our Omar4SD logo.  There are two primary reasons.  The first comes out of a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that I became aware of while on a trip with my wife to the King Memorial in Washington, D.C. a few years back.

This quote is from Dr. King’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.

I started the clip at the point of the quote, but it is a great speech overall.  There is quite a lot to love about this speech, especially as we look at how some things in our region and our country are going right now.  But for me, I deeply believe in affirming the dignity, equality, and humanity of every person.  I loved this quote and wanted to carry it with us throughout the campaign.

Okay, what’s the other reason?

A group of supporters getting ready to walk in Pacific Beach

The other reason for using ‘believe’ as a mantra, a hashtag, a talking point, and just a point of discussion is that we want everyone in San Diego to believe in a different type of leadership and a different type of politics.  We believe we can have the type of leadership that focuses on making life better rather than taking political shots at others. We believe that the residents of the County’s District 4 ought to decide who represents them, not monied interests, political parties or Sacramento lobbyists and power brokers.  We believe in supporting our region’s children, in protecting our seniors, and in having honest – if difficult – public conversations about where our region is going.

Join us. Believe with us. Believe that we can focus on issues and substance rather than insider politics.  Believe in what makes San Diego beautiful and San Diegans warm and welcoming people and we can and will change the course of our region for the better!

About Omar

Where Omar Stands on the Issues

What Does the County Board of Supervisors Do?

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