ABOUT STEPHEN
An award-winning journalist and community advocate, Stephen Whitburn is running for the Board of Supervisors to improve the neighborhoods that comprise District Four. Stephen will stand up for us on crucial issues such as public health, safety, land use, and environmental protection.
Stephen Whitburn’s commitment to service goes back to his grandfather, an iron ore miner who successfully fought to improve working conditions in his mine. While Stephen was growing up, his father was a chapter president of the American Civil Liberties Union and his mother was a leader in the League of Women Voters.
Stephen has continued that family tradition of standing up for what’s right. He has been outraged by the financial situation of San Diego and would have fought for millions of dollars in stimulus funding that our current Supervisors failed to even apply for. Stephen was greatly impacted by the wildfires that have swept through San Diego as a leader for the Red Cross and will make it a priority to create a real fire policy that will protect our families. He testified at the City Council against out-of-control condo conversions in our neighborhoods, and he spoke at the Board of Supervisors against poor development choices.
Stephen Whitburn served as president of the San Diego Democratic Club, where he helped pass the city’s living wage ordinance, worked to elect Donna Frye, and fought to defeat statewide ballot initiatives that would have endangered a woman’s right to choose.
Elected to the North Park Planning Committee, Stephen has been a strong neighborhood advocate, helping draw attention to the problem of growing crime in North Park, working to boost the supply of affordable housing, and promoting neighborhood business districts.
Today Stephen works for the American Red Cross in San Diego, promoting its life-saving blood drives. Fluent in Spanish, he has been a liaison to the Latino community on public education efforts for the Red Cross.
Stephen Whitburn has decades of experience helping make government work for people. As a journalist, he asked the tough questions and got answers from government officials. As a neighborhood advocate, he shined light on problems that government agencies wanted to sweep under the rug. And as a community activist, he has never been afraid to stand up for what is right.
