City of San Diego Retired Employees Association

January 10, 2023 

General Meeting Minutes

Vice-President for Advocacy Mike Bresnahan welcomed members. He introduced the two new Board members, Liza Crisafi (Treasurer) and Stacey LoMedico (Director).

Charlie Hogquist announced that he is not seeking reelection to the SDCERS Board and encouraged interested REA members to self-nominate.

Segueing from that, Cynthia Queen explained the Board election process. She informed members that the 1099s are on-track to be delivered by USPS by the end of January and are also available on the SDCERS member portal. Finally, the SDCERS offices have moved to the 8th floor of the same building, but elevator access is different. 

Gregg Rademacher informed members that although there were some challenges in 2022, but that SDCERS staff worked through them, and that progress is being made on the last group of Prop B employees.

PROGRAM

The program was our annual January visit from Scott Lewis, Editor in Chief and CEO of Voice of San Diego. His main topic was that evening’s State of the City address and guesses as to what issues Mayor Gloria would address. Lewis noted that infrastructure improvements (“sexy streets”) are a big topic but that the improvements, while good, can’t keep pace with the deterioration. Homelessness is the biggest problem; Lewis related some stories of his own investigations into the causes and effects of homelessness on not just the city but on the unhoused themselves. He and others have likened it to the effects of a natural disaster. Finally, he pointed out that fentanyl users – unlike even heroin users – are incapable of functioning while under the influence, which makes that particular addiction far more pernicious.