Restore Safety at the SD Central Library & East Village Neighborhood

Mayor Gloria, I am writing to express my strong concern about persistent unlawful activity on and immediately surrounding the San Diego Central Library, including videos and photos circulating amongst concerned residents capturing loitering associated with drug sales or use, encampments that obstruct or degrade public spaces, vandalism, and other disorderly conduct. There is a high school adjacent the San Diego Central Library and students MUST NOT be exposed to these conditions. The Central Library is one of San Diego’s most important public resources. Children, families, students, researchers, and law-abiding residents should be able to use it without having to navigate open drug activity, threatening behavior, vandalism, or unsafe conditions. When these conditions are repeatedly tolerated, a public institution intended for everyone becomes effectively inaccessible to many of the people it was built to serve. Compassion for people experiencing homelessness, addiction, or mental illness should not require tolerating illegal conduct. San Diego can provide outreach, treatment, shelter, and behavioral-health interventions while also consistently enforcing laws protecting public spaces. I urge you to visit the Central Library and surrounding blocks firsthand and support a sustained, progressive-enforcement strategy: outreach and voluntary services where appropriate, followed by escalating enforcement when individuals repeatedly engage in illegal conduct or refuse to comply with lawful orders. Please work with SDPD, library officials, and appropriate service agencies to restore the Central Library and its surroundings as a clean, safe, welcoming civic space. Thank you for your attention to this issue.