LA MESA
Members of the La Mesa City Council last week said their goodbyes to Dr. Akilah Weber, the city councilwoman elected by La Mesa voters in 2018.
Running in 2018 as a relative unknown with no previous political experience, Weber became the first Black person elected to the La Mesa City Council.
Weber earlier this month won the 79th Assembly District special election and will take over the seat held for a decade by her mother, Shirley Weber. The 79th Assembly seat became open in January, when Shirley Weber was appointed California’s secretary of state.
Akilah Weber is the founder and director of the Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology Division at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, head of the adolescent gynecology program at UC San Diego Health, and an assistant clinical professor at UCSD. She bested four other candidates in the primary election, receiving more than 50 percent of the vote.
LA MESA
Looking to better communicate with the residents, businesses and visitors, La Mesa is beginning a community engagement plan that will spread news about the city far and wide.
The plan, which will need to be approved by the City Council during its budget proceedings in June, will include the hiring of a communications specialist. The person will coordinate website updates, newsletters, social media communications, marketing campaigns, media engagement and news releases.
Over the years, employees in different city departments have stepped up to cull information from their own areas of expertise and share news on the city’s website, on social media and through occasional news releases. But with the new initiative, the city will have a dedicated person to push out news.