Honor Our Veterans – vote yes on Prop C

By Councilman Todd Gloria

Thousands of our neighbors, family members and friends are serving our country in uniform on battlefields and peacekeeping missions around the world. As you head to the polls on June 8, you will have an opportunity to honor their service as they return home.
Proposition C will update the city of San Diego’s veterans hiring policy to include our most recent veterans — those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The city’s current policy, which provides an additional point on a job applicant’s Civil Service exam, only applies to veterans who served when the draft was in effect, which hasn’t been the case for almost 40 years.
Prop C will revise the policy by eliminating the reference to the draft and extend this benefit to any person who served honorably in the military during any war, major military action or peacekeeping mission.
Service members often struggle to develop career opportunities after their service to our country. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the unemployment rate last year for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans age 18 to 24 was more than 21 percent, which is well above the 16.6 percent for non-veterans of the same ages.
There are approximately 27,000 veterans in San Diego County who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and that number is expected to rise in the years to come.  It’s time we benefit from the experience of these highly skilled public servants who are discharged in our region each and every day.
Prop C would also add an important layer of oversight by requiring all job candidates to pass all Civil Service and other employment testing before the preference is granted.
In response to rising unemployment rates, my City Council colleagues and I have focused our attention on creating local jobs. Prop C is an important component of an overall strategy to help put San Diegans back to work.  It marks important progress toward ensuring our neighbors are provided appropriate preference when applying for City jobs, which will encourage veterans to stay in San Diego after they complete their service and thereby further stimulate our local economy.
Prop C is a win for veterans, taxpayers and the city of San Diego. Please join me in voting yes on Prop C to honor our veterans and put San Diegans back to work.
Councilman Todd Gloria can be reached at the District 3 office at (619) 236-6633; Fax (619) 595-1481; e-mail: toddgloria@sandiego.gov.