www.sdchamber.org

President’s Message

By Ruben Barrales, President & Chief Executive Officer

One of the primary missions of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce is to be an advocate for an improved business climate in our region.  Recently, the Chamber has reinvigorated our Public Policy team and approach to focus on issues of importance to the San Diego business community.

Our team of public policy and communication professionals consists of Bill Holman as Vice President of External Affairs and Angelika Villagrana as Executive Director of Public Policy.  We also have Carmen Sandoval and Michael Nagy in our Public Policy division, and Lisa Gesner as our Communications Manager.  James Clark and Viviana Ibanez lead our Mexico Business Center efforts. 

We have been fortunate to benefit from the efforts of hundreds of Chamber members who participate monthly in our policy committees.  Notably, Vince Mudd serves as the volunteer Chairman of the Chamber’s Public Policy Committee. 

Through all their efforts, the Chamber has accomplished some recent victories including:

• Public Utilities Commission approval of the Sunrise Powerlink to provide reliable, renewable energy to San Diego. 

• Coastal Commission approval of the Poseidon Desalinization Plant in Carlsbad to provide up to 10% of our region’s drinking water.
• Centre City Development Corporation support for moving forward with the proposed Civic Center Complex project in downtown San Diego.

• Unanimous San Diego City Council approval in support of Mayor Jerry Sanders’ efforts to implement needed fiscal and budget reforms for the city.

• Helping to secure the federal Presidential Permit for the Otay Mesa East border crossing port of entry.

Most of these projects affect the infrastructure needs of important segments of our business community.  Reliable energy, water and opportunities for trade across the border are important elements for our regional economy.

That’s why we will continue our efforts to closely monitoring the potential for new desalinization plants in our region, and maintain our role as proponents of the new proposed San Diego/Tijuana passenger crossing at the Rodriguez International Airport.

We will also be active supporters of the expansion of the Convention Center, and continue to support the Navy Broadway Complex on the Bay in downtown San Diego.

We will continue our effort with Scott Himelstein on career technical education, and persist in supporting grant proposals from regional organizations, like the University of California San Diego, for economic stimulus resources into our region.

In all of these and future efforts, the Chamber will continue to be an advocate for San Diego’s business community.  We will work to create jobs, grow the economy and make San Diego a great place to start and grow a company.

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