Effort To Split La Jolla From San Diego Grows

Since California statehood in 1850, the neighborhood of La Jolla has always been a part of San Diego. Always a wealthier area of the city, La Jolla has been a key neighborhood in keeping up with San Diego’s budget through taxation. It also includes the birch aquarium, the famed Torrey Pines Golf Course, and some of the most expensive real estate in the state.

However, for some time, many in La Jolla, which has roughly 46,000 of San Diego’s roughly 1.38 million residents, have also wanted to separate from San Diego. Many in the neighborhood feel like needed projects there, such as infrastructure, public safety issues, and road repairs, have taken a backseat to other areas of the city despite the neighborhood giving a lot through taxes to the city. Last year, the Association for the City of La Jolla (ACLJ) pushed forward and began studies and paperwork on making La Jolla a city.

“The mission is to detach from the City of San Diego and provide a self-governance here in La Jolla that ultimately will uplift the entire region,” said ACLJ President Trace Wilson last year. “I think the city of San Diego is stretched thin and we are just one of the communities that actually can afford ourselves and help. It’s really in my mind, it’s nut and bolts if the data says this is good for San Diego and the community of La Jolla, why wouldn’t you do it?”

Unlike other recent attempts by neighborhoods in cities like Los Angeles that never made it past that phase, the ACLJ managed to do so. In May, they moved onto the signature gathering phase, and for months, have been gathering the needed 25% of all registered voters in La Jolla, or about 6,500 people, in order to place the issue on the ballot. Like all signature petitions, significantly more signatures are likely needed to be gathered because of issues like double signatures and unverified ones that have derailed ballot issues in the past.

The issue, initially written off by many in San Diego, is now finally being taken seriously with only a few more days of signature gathering to go before the December 1st deadline. Even many in La Jolla are concerned what leaving San Diego could mean, like having to form city services and being cut off from a broader poll of city funding.

“You have people who have been here a very long time, who have been through this exercise, and they’re rather skeptical,” noted former Mayor for the City of La Habra Heights and ACLJ Vice President Diane Kane. “We have other people who are really excited and enthusiastic.”

A possible city of La Jolla

This week is now the last for signature gathering, and it has made many in San Diego nervous.

“La Jolla argues that they only contribute 6% to the city budget, but also remember, population-wise, they’re only about 3% of the city,” explained San Diego area tax consultant Brad Hearst to the Globe on Wednesday. “They get more money than they put in there. It’s a big reason why La Jolla wants to leave, and it also means that San Diego’s budget will be stretched even more. And it has been shaky enough already.”

Should enough signatures be gathered, the issue will hit the ballots both in the neighborhood of La Jolla as well as San Diego as a whole in either 2026 or 2028. 50% of the vote is need in both places to pass. However, the likelihood of that happening in the current climate isn’t great.

“La Jolla may pass it, but those in San Diego will see the numbers,” explained James Garcia, a pollster who works in Orange County and San Diego County, to the Globe on Wednesday. “We haven’t done polls on this really yet, but we will if it gets ballot approval. But going on just how San Diego voters have generally voted for the past several cycles, they probably won’t want La Jolla to break away. It’s a rich area, and as much as some in San Diego feel like the area is “snooty”, they also know that the taxes from there are really helping with schools and other needed things.

“If La Jolla breaks away, yeah, the city won’t spend money there, but they also lose out on a neighborhood that gives so much to the city budget. But the fact that we are talking about it shows just how far this movement has come and the growing discontentment in La Jolla. San Diego leaders will need to help rectify this soon, or else they are going to face an embarrassing election where part of their city wants to break away. That’s not a great look. America’s Finest City won’t be so fine with a vote like that. They’ll need a new nickname.”

Results of the number of signatures and signature verification are expected in the next few months.