Fourth District City Council Member Monica Montgomery is to be commended for her proposal to create a Department of Race and Equity within the City of San Diego.

The City of San Diego has several Commissions that should already be addressing issues of race and equity.

All these organizations appointed by the Mayor, with confirmation from the City Council, have done very little to change the many problems within the City of San Diego, from discrimination and inequality in salaries and promotions within the city itself to the treatment of residents by such entities as the San Diego Police Department.

Will the Mayor truly support such a department where he has failed such existing commissions like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which has been unable to produce a real report on equity and employment in the city’s current departments and programs?

This is the same Mayor to whom it was suggested that we create a Department on Youth Employment and Education in the City of San Diego to provide internships for the City’s youth, separate and apart from the Workforce Partnership, as a means of making a line item commitment to youth employment.