A New View in the Future of Public Policy

I’m Jacob Mitchell, a fourth-generation San Diegan running for City Council in District 2. I’m focused on making the city more affordable, accountable, and functional for the people who actually live here.

Core Policy Focus: San Diego should be a home, not an investment strategy. My platform emphasizes practical, results-driven solutions. San Diego’s policies need to produce their intended outcomes. Right now, they don’t. My focus is fixing the systems that are failing, using the Council’s authority over land use, budgets, and oversight to deliver real results.

Housing/Affordability:

• Our system favors institutional developers. Fees, timelines, and red tape make it nearly impossible for regular San Diegans to build.

• I will cut permitting timelines, reduce soft costs, and create pre-approved duplex/triplex designs so residents can help fill the housing gap.

• I will crack down on short-term rental abuse and shift housing back to long-term residents without destroying neighborhood character.

Proactive Long-Term Planning & Infrastructure

• I plan to live here for the next 50 years. My decisions reflect that horizon.

• We need infrastructure and land-use planning that match long-term growth, not short-term political wins.

• I will prioritize durable systems, utilities, transit alignment, and housing patterns that make the city function over decades.

Financial Accountability

• Pension obligations and middle management growth are driving the budget crisis. The city’s response has been to push costs onto residents through fees instead of fixing it.

• Under the strong mayor system, the Council has become reactive. The City Auditor is one of the only real checks.

• I will increase funding for the City Auditor, one of the few functions of the city that consistently saves the taxpayers money.

• I will demand transparency, measurable outcomes, and real cost control—not more hidden inefficiencies.

Energy and Cost of Living

• San Diego has some of the highest utility costs in the country.

• I will push aggressive oversight of SDG&E, ratepayer protections, and expansion of accessible solar and resilience programs.

• Lowering costs starts with fixing the structural drivers, energy, housing, and transportation.

Public Safety and Homelessness

• Homelessness is not being managed effectively. We spend heavily, distributing services with NGO’s, without clear outcome tracking.

• I will implement a public scorecard for NGO’s, tying funding to measurable results what actually gets people off the street long-term.

• Public safety requires enforcement and services, with clear accountability on both sides.

I’m not a career politician. I’m a chemist trained at PLNU with an ongoing MBA, and I think in systems. I care about how things actually work—whether it’s a molecule, a financial system, or city government.

I'm a product of this community, shaped by the same pressures everyone here feels; rising costs, limited opportunities, and a system that increasingly doesn’t work for regular people. This campaign isn’t about status, it’s about delivering the kind of representation that a normal, working San Diegan should expect.

I’m running because I have the skills and the incentives to fix broken systems, not maintain them. I will represent this community as its voice to City Hall, not the other way around.

Join the campaign: Contact me to share your needs. Let's make District 2, and San Diego, work for the average resident.