This week, via the Sacramento Report and our Why It Matters segment on KPBS, we have tried to get the latest on SB 958, the legislation provoked by the Midway Rising project and the court ruling that threw out the ballot measure that lifted the height limit in Midway.

We thought it was a good idea to check in with the City Council candidates to see what they thought about SB 958.

First, what it does: Not much? It basically says that if a project meets certain conditions (read lots of money and housing) any impacts on the environment from just the height of the buildings can’t be considered significant impacts as that matters to the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA.

That would make it slightly harder for groups to use CEQA to stop development across the state.

However, it has become a lightning rod for people opposed to Midway Rising, as was apparent at a town hall in Point Loma Tuesday.

So what do Nicole Crosby and Richard Bailey, the candidates running for City Council in the area think?

Crosby said she feels like it’s misunderstood.

“It doesn’t erase all the CEQA issues and doesn’t change the fact that Midway needs revitalization. If it doesn’t get through this fall, we’ll have to start all over.”

She said her focus is on other aspects of Midway Rising.

“There needs to be a real transportation plan that isn’t just shuttles to Old Town. We need that regardless of what’s happening in Sacramento,” she said.

And she relayed a theme that came up at that Town Hall: She’s concerned that the affordable housing promised in the project would not be delivered or would be built somewhere else. “If I were on Council right now, we’d need a plan to ensure that they built affordable now, not just market-rate housing.”

We asked the Midway Rising team to address this. It’s likely the long-delayed lease with the city would have requirements and the city presented a plan to the state about how it would phase in the housing.

“According to the documentation submitted by the City, the project will develop 4,250 housing units, of which 2,000 will be affordable, in five phases over a 17-year period. The phasing plan provides that by the end of each phase of development, at least 25 percent of the housing units will be affordable and includes guardrail provisions that only allow construction of the next phase once minimum affordability requirements are met. The phasing plan also ensures that at completion of the project, at least 47 percent of the housing units will be affordable,” wrote David Zisser, an assistant deputy director at the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

On SB 958 and Lunar Cycles

When state Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson presented her bill to the Assembly Standing Committee on Natural Resources in June, she warned it was necessary because of the court ruling that threw out San Diego’s ballot measure lifting the height limit constraining construction in the Midway neighborhood.

“I’m presenting SB 958, which ensures that housing development throughout this state is not hindered by an unprecedented ruling while still upholding the state’s environmental standards,” she said.

And then she said this:

“Despite years of analysis and multiple EIRs, the most recent ruling from the California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal determined that environmental review when related to building height needed to include aspects that were not typically analyzed, including impacts on airflow, atmospheric conditions, lunar cycles, and wildlife attraction,” she said.

Lunar cycles? How tall are these buildings going to be??

We went to the ruling to find that reference.

There were two references from the Court:

“Artificial night lighting can impact nocturnal species by modifying predation rates, obscuring lunar cycles, or causing habitat avoidance. It can also disturb diurnal species roosting in an adjacent habitat.”

And then a knock on the city’s failed strategy of pointing to previous environmental impact studies for the community plan for the Midway area. The city’s representatives believed that since the zoning and density would stay the same, the removal of the height limit never deserved extensive study.

The court disagreed:

“Simply repeating the findings of the PEIR without analyzing the potential impacts of removing the height limit in the Midway-Pacific Highway area is inadequate. Will noise reflected or refracted from taller buildings disturb sensitive species in or adjacent to the Midway-Pacific Highway area? Will light from rows of buildings near the San Diego River disturb the lunar cycles of sensitive wildlife?”

OK, so the buildings would not themselves change the lunar cycle just maybe confuse the birdies who follow the moon.

County Poll: County on Wrong Track

Dispatch from Lisa Halverstadt: I pulled back the curtain yesterday on county-funded polling meant to help a controversial board subcommittee get a handle on local voters’ takes on potential tax hike options. The early 2026 polling showed the county has lots of work to do to get a tax increase across the finish line. 

One major reason: 56 percent of the 727 registered voters polled by FM3 Research think the county is on the wrong track. The poll I obtained after a records request showed the frustration was mostly consistent in districts countywide but a bit higher in District 4, which includes covers neighborhoods from Clairemont to Skyline and communities as far east as Rancho San Diego. Sixty percent of District 4 voters aren’t cool with where the county’s going. 

A major theme: San Diegans in favor of tax hikes want to tax the wealthy. Tests of hypothetical tax measures showed the most support for a real estate transfer tax and payroll tax that would both focus on folks with deeper pockets. When pollsters asked voters who said they’d likely vote yes on those proposals to say a few words about why they’d back the measures, many said they supported taxing the rich and argued they could afford it – and that rich San Diegans should pay their fair share. Some who said they’d vote no, however, said that approach was unfair and would punish success. 

Meanwhile, awkwardly: One of the options tested in the poll was a hypothetical half-cent sales tax measure – not the specific, detailed one on the November ballot. A hypothetical sales tax measure didn’t do so well in the poll.  

Dan Rottenstreich, who is managing the campaign for the San Diego County Health and Safety Act, dismissed concerns about what this polling might suggest about that measure because he said it includes specific, popular line items and has the backing of an appealing coalition. 

Another one of Rottenstreich’s takes on the poll: “The county polling does reinforce a broader point: San Diegans are frustrated by an economy in which the wealthy keep getting richer while essential public services face cuts. But the relevant question for November is whether voters support this specific plan to protect San Diego County’s healthcare, public safety and clean water. Our research shows strong support because voters recognize what’s at stake: the health, safety, and resilience of our entire region.” 

One San Diego Congressional Rep Voted Against Funding Israeli War

Earlier this month, an insurgent effort in the House of Representatives tried to stop $3.3 billion from flowing to Israel’s war operations. It failed, but more than half of Democrats supported it. 

That’s not how the vote split among San Diego representatives. Only Rep. Sara Jacobs, the youngest Jewish member of Congress, voted to pull the funding. The other three Democrats — Reps. Scott Peters, Juan Vargas and Mike Levin — voted no, as did Republican Rep. Darryl Issa. 

That’s a shift for Jacobs — as it was for many Democrats. 

When I profiled her in 2024, I wrote about her thought process regarding a previous vote to give Israel billions. In that case, she chose differently. 

That bill included humanitarian aid for Gaza, as well as money for Israel’s military, which is its own kind of dark paradox. 

“People talk in the abstract about being for this or for that. But that’s usually not the question. The question is, are you more for this than that,” she said of difficult votes. 

Jacobs is interesting — not only because she is one of the few representatives to ever visit Gaza and has family living in Israel — but because she straddles the traditional and progressive camps like few others.

She’s not a completely reliable vote for The Squad and her critique on the current state of the American system feels much more watered down than that of the proper left. But she has been apt to vote outside of the Democratic Party mainstream ever since entering congress — as when she was one of just 37 Democrats to vote against the defense budget, a previously unthinkable move for a San Diego representative. 

Her staff said she wasn’t available for an interview, but in a joint statement here’s what she and 26 other congresspeople wrote: 

We do not support providing an additional $3.3 billion of American taxpayer dollars to be used for Israeli military operations in Gaza and Lebanon—operations which have killed tens of thousands of civilians, led to the indiscriminate destruction of civilian infrastructure, and caused severe and ongoing humanitarian catastrophes. These are just the latest in a long string of human rights violations inflicted on Palestinian civilians. For nearly six decades, Israeli security forces and military authorities have enforced the occupation of the Palestinian territories, including through restrictions on freedom of movement, arbitrary detention, torture, and extrajudicial killings. 

What Josh Coyne Learned

Often, an excellent time to talk to candidates for office is after they lose. They all enter a calm state of reflection and candor and it’s never not interesting.  

A lot of people expected Josh Coyne to do better in the District 2 City Council race than he did. He came in a distant third. And now he’s left his day job as a longtime leader in the Downtown Partnership, where he oversaw a lot of the organization’s homelessness response. I thought it was a good time to check in with him.

Here’s our Q&A, edited for clarity.

Politics Report: Well, in general, what are you going to do now?

Josh Coyne: “I’m going to let the universe decide, open myself up. You know, I worked almost two years to position myself in the campaign. I was doing two jobs all the time. I didn’t take any time off. You come back and you just reassess, right? So I’m gonna take some time and figure out what’s next.”

What did you learn about running for office?

Coyne: “I learned it requires a lot of vulnerability and honesty with yourself, and I learned that running for office is different than working on a campaign. You have to put yourself in the driver’s seat and put your positions forward, your policies forward, have people ask you what you think.”

What did you have to be honest with yourself about?

Coyne: “I wasn’t sure how to position my thoughts around the growing tension about housing and development in a district that has some challenges and has a big project. It’s an important topic for me as someone who runs a homeless shelter, right? The idea of being anti-housing or anti-growth just wasn’t naturally aligned.

“But I also don’t like losing. I remember the fork in the road. Do you bury that a little bit? And just kind of go down a road of, you know, empathy and listening and validating what a lot of the district is feeling around growth? Not everyone. A slight majority. Or do you be honest and vulnerable with yourself and be out there and say ‘We’re a growing city. We need to have more housing. We need to get midway built.’ Do you just kind of go with it?

What did you decide?

Coyne: Well, I mean, you could see I was one of the most pro-housing candidates out there.

Were you surprised by the antipathy to housing and development?

Coyne: “I was, actually. I was surprised by that, and I was surprised by the bike-lane, the anti-bike-lane movement. It’s a deep-rooted misunderstanding and vitriol. I heard about it time and time again knocking doors in that district.

“I think sometimes the way these things have showed up in their communities that has really got them very frustrated. There’s this bike lane that ends in the middle of nowhere or there’s, you know, this random ADU that’s popping up and I have construction in my backyard and there’s no parking and I can’t park.

“The hardest part for me was, as someone who worked at City Hall and knows how policy works, the City Council has no ability to stop that a project. It’s all ministerial. Right.  There was no way that I could have said I would stop the development at Talbott and Rosecrans. I just knew that that was impossible, you know? But that’s what they wanted.”

You had a big role with the downtown partnership in homelessness. It’s still, obviously, on everybody’s mind, still a big thing. It’s still present in my mind. What have you learned about the best ways that we could address it?

Coyne: “There are a lot of competing reasons why someone may find themselves homeless. We have to do a better job of coordinating and collaborating among the people who care a lot. San Diegans generally care about people who are homeless. We interpret their direction as frustration instead of a desire for empathy, right? No one wants Robb Field to be the way that it is. But people generally don’t understand why, as a society in the 8th largest city in America, we don’t have a way in which we can report and get outcomes to find those folks a better place to be.”

If you have any feedback or ideas for the Politics Report, send them to scott.lewis@voiceofsandiego.org or will.huntsberry@voiceofsandiego.org.

The post Politics Report: Midway’s Dog Days appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

Forget the birds and other environmental impacts, are taller buildings messing with lunar cycles?

On this week’s show, our hosts explain how a proposed bill would stop building height from being treated as a significant environmental impact under state law.

State Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson spoke about SB 958 at a committee hearing in June and explained how environmental laws have sometimes been used to slow housing projects. She cited Midway Rising and litigation that has stood in the project’s way.

“Despite years of analysis and multiple EIRs, the most recent ruling from the California’s fourth district court of appeal determined that environmental review when related to building height needed to include aspects that were not typically analyzed, including impacts on airflow, atmospheric conditions, lunar cycles, and wildlife attraction,” she said.

Lunar cycles? Co-host Scott Lewis explains what’s at stake and why we’re going to keep talking about SB 958.

Also on the show: The state is moving forward with a mesh barrier to deter suicides on the Coronado Bridge. They also plan to install AI cameras.

The post VOSD Podcast: Lunar Cycles appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

Sacramento Report Countdown

31 days until the legislative session ends

95 days until the November election

Bid adieu to summer vacation.

The end-of-session countdown has begun as lawmakers are packing up their suitcases to return to Sacramento for the ninth inning of the two-year session.

Before they’re back on Monday, we’ve dug into the data to see how San Diego’s legislators have performed so far.

We looked at how many bills each member introduced, passed and voted for or against from 2025 to 2026 using CalMatters’ Digital Democracy database. The raw data can be viewed here.

One important caveat … Nothing is really “dead” in the California Legislature because there are always novel maneuvers to get around deadlines and dust off forgotten bills. It’s unlikely that’ll be the case with any of these bills, but it’s something to keep in mind.

Here Are Some Highlights

Out of San Diego’s 10-member delegation, Assembly Democrat Chris Ward has the highest batting average. Nearly one in four of his 37 bills have cleared both chambers at a passage rate of 24.3 percent.

Chula Vista Assemblymember David Alvarez is not too far behind at 23.7 percent. That ties each of them at 36th among all 120 lawmakers, or in the 70th quantile, for bills passed this session, according to an analysis of CalMatters’ Digital Democracy database. 

Alvarez also ranked first for most “no vote recorded,” or “NVR,” tallies. NVRs happen when a lawmaker doesn’t vote on a bill because they’re absent, choosing to abstain or are present but don’t cast a vote. It’s a common tactic lawmakers use to avoid voting against bills they don’t like in order to not upset their colleagues and lobbyists.

According to CalMatters’ analysis, Alvarez did not vote 400 times, which puts him at the top among his San Diego colleagues and 32nd overall in the Legislature. Republican Sen. Brian Jones follows for second-most NVRs at 348.

How about who voted yes?

La Mesa’s LaShae Sharp-Collins ranks first in San Diego and 16th among all lawmakers for “aye” votes. The freshman assemblymember approved 93 percent of the 4,586 bills she voted on. She also ranks first for most total votes cast in the delegation and 22nd overall. There’s been notable “no” votes scattered across, too. Among San Diego’s Democrats, Sharp-Collins voted “no” the most at 32 times. A bill passage rate of 18 percent puts her in the middle of the pack.

Alvarez ranks second for fewest “no” votes, doing so five times out of 3,505 votes. That’s less than 1 percent of the time. He falls just short of Democrat Akilah Weber Pierson who ranks first, at four “no” votes out of 3,893, or just 0.10 percent of the time. Sen. Steve Padilla is third place at seven “no” votes.

That puts them toward the bottom of the pack for most “no” votes between all lawmakers in both chambers. Weber Pierson is 111th while Alvarez is ranked at 107th. Padilla falls in a more distant third at 93rd.

This aligns with overall trends among Democrats who voted against their colleagues less than 1 percent of the time from 2017 to 2024, according to a CalMatters analysis.

The two are also neck-and-neck on getting their bills passed. Weber Pierson ranks fourth in the delegation at 21 percent and Padilla, who is up for re-election, closely follows at 20 percent.

As far as bucking trends, Republicans excel when it comes to their scorecard.

At an eye-popping 1,134 “no” votes, Assemblymember Carl DeMaio is the clear standout, voting against members’ bills about half the time. He’s also had the most bills killed with only five of the 31 bills he’s introduced since 2025 still alive.

Jones ranks second overall among San Diego lawmakers for “no” votes 645 out of 2,819 times, or roughly 23 percent. Four of the 35 bills he’s introduced have passed, making for an 11 percent passage rate. 

Solana Beach Assemblymember Tasha Boerner has cleared the fewest proposals among San Diego Democrats. Four of the measures she’s introduced have cleared both houses, ranking her 94th overall.

The four-term lawmaker also tops the list among San Diego legislators for most vetoes with three total. Alvarez and Padilla are tied for second place at two.

What’s at Stake

With less than 100 days to the November election, lawmakers benefit from getting their bills passed so that they have a good story to sell on the campaign trail.

All but two members — Jones, who terms out, and Weber Pierson who began her four-year term in 2024 — are up for re-election. That includes:

• David Alvarez, Assembly District 80
• Catherine Blakespear, Senate District 38
• Carl DeMaio, Assembly District 75
• Steve Padilla, Senate District 18
• Darshana Patel, Assembly District 76
• LaShae Sharp-Collins, Assembly District 79
• Chris Ward, Assembly District 78
• Akilah Weber Pierson, Senate District 39

San Diego’s most effective lawmakers are loaded when it comes to campaign dollars. 

Running uncontested for a third term, Alvarez has raised $713,000 and has $483,000 cash on hand. Padilla, who’s also running an uncompetitive race, has amassed one of the biggest war chests of San Diego members at $1.2 million.

Among Democrats, only Sen. Catherine Blakespear has him bested, raising nearly $1.7 million for her North County district, which is a GOP target this year.

What’s Coming

We can expect an onslaught of committee hearings beginning next week. But action on the chamber floors will really ramp up closer to Aug. 31, the deadline for all bills to pass.

In Other News

Planning groups opposed to San Diego’s Midway Rising project held an open meeting Tuesday night to discuss Senate Bill 958, Weber Pierson’s bill to help the project get around the city’s 30-foot height limit.

The town hall was organized to address Peninsula Planning and other community groups’ concerns about the potential impacts to traffic and coastal views from the planned stadium and apartment complex, according to organizer Patty Ducey-Brooks.

Members whose districts represent parts of the Midway were invited but did not attend. That includes Weber Pierson, Ward and Boerner whose offices said they couldn’t make it due to scheduling conflicts. Staff for Weber Pierson and Boerner showed up on their behalf.

Looking Ahead

Next week, we’ll dive deeper into why lawmakers chose to vote against so few bills this session and in years past.

What I’m Reading Now

La Mesa hops on the cannabis tax train, advancing a 1 percent hike to help boost city revenue, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

Speaking of revenue … San Diego County is in a bit of a pickle. It needs more money, but recent polling found different hurdles with each of its tax-raising ballot measures, Voice of San Diego explains.

Proposed ballot language for a voter ID initiative has, in true California fashion, sparked a chain of lawsuits, from KPBS.

Thanks for reading this week’s report! Please reach me for any questions or comments at nadia@voiceofsandiego.org.

The post Sacramento Report: Who Is San Diego’s Most Effective Lawmaker? appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

Democrats on the county Board of Supervisors are exploring how the county could pull in more cash to combat federal cuts coming down the pike.

But getting a countywide tax hike across the finish line won’t be easy – and county-funded polling earlier this year drives that home.

Our Lisa Halverstadt obtained an early 2026 poll showing that county voters aren’t thrilled with the idea of a hypothetical half-cent sales tax hike and are more interested in options that would tax the rich.

Awkwardly, there’s already a countywide half-cent sales tax measure on the November ballot and the other options the county poll considered would require changes to state law. Oh, and a majority of the 727 voters polled also aren’t happy with the direction things are going in the county.

About that sales-tax pitch: A spokesperson for the sales-tax campaign argued the polling doesn’t reflect how voters feel about their specific measure, which would bring in an estimated $360 million annually for health care, child care, Tijuana River sewage solutions, public safety and more.

Read the full story here.

County Official Accused of Hit-and-Run Out of County Gov

A county official accused of a fatal hit-and-run no longer works in county government.

County spokesperson Tammy Glenn confirmed that Assmaa Elayyat, deputy director for Self Sufficiency Services, left her county role effective July 17. Glenn declined to elaborate on the circumstances of Elayyat’s departure, describing those details as “confidential personnel information.”

The departure came roughly two months after Elayyat allegedly veered off the road and struck and killed 27-year-old Katie Osorio while she waited at a bus stop in Southcrest. Elayyat then allegedly drove away after her car initially got caught in a tree, only to be arrested by police soon after.  Prosecutors later charged Elayyat.

“The county is deeply saddened by this tragic loss, and our hearts go out to the family, friends, and all who are grieving during this incredibly difficult time,” Glenn wrote in a statement.

ICYMI: Halverstadt revealed last month that Elayyat was on the clock at the time of the fatal incident.

Chula Vista Council to Mayor: No More Party Planning 

Chula Vista’s City Council wants to keep the mayor from planning the State of the City. 

Back in April, Mayor John McCann, threw a lavish State of the City address that featured a video of the mayor jumping out of an airplane, an actual skydiver and McCann dressed in a Tuxedo, Mission Impossible music blaring in the background of his entrance.

Tuesday’s Council meeting revealed that payments for the $28,000 event came at the request of an elected official and from companies that regularly do business with the city – some of which donated directly to McCann’s re-election campaign. 

The Council directed staff to draft a proposal stripping the mayor of operational control over the city’s major events. Council members also asked the city attorney to look into the mayor’s charter-defined ceremonial role in such events. This upset McCann.

“I know you are not my ally,” he said, speaking directly to the attorney at the meeting.

McCann was the lone vote against the proposal. 

What’s Your ‘Real San Diegan’ Litmus Test?’

A Reddit thread earlier this week posed a great question: What references make someone a real San Diegan versus a tourist or poser?

Among the examples offered by the original poster and commenters: calling the zoo’s North County hub the wild animal park rather than the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, how someone pronounces Jamacha, Otay or Kearny (Mesa, that is, on those latter two) and being familiar with the Jack Murphy Stadium. 

Summer Looks Good on You ☀️

Our Voice of San Diego Summer Fun collection features easygoing tees and bucket hats made for beach days, neighborhood strolls, outdoor concerts and everything in between. 

Comfortable, classic and ready for sunny adventures, they’re a fun way to support independent local journalism all season long.

Shop the collection today at vosd.org/mrsummer.

In Other News 

• The La Mesa trolley system could look very different in the coming years as the city reviews two expensive options, proposed by SANDAG, that would either put the city’s Orange line on a platform suspended above the city, or dig tunnels for a below-ground rail. Councilmembers are in no rush to make a call. (KPBS) 
• After a three-year pause, the city of San Diego has requested to start spraying a deodorizer again to the La Jolla Cove rocks housing the city’s famous sea lions to help dampen the small from the marine wildlife waste. (Times of San Diego) 
• If you bought a car in Southern California in the last decade with a “Karr Security Systems” on the windshield, your car could be more susceptible to theft, UC San Diego researchers recently found. (KPBS)
• Two housing projects, one in Carlsbad, the other in La Mesa, are moving forward despite parking concerns. Both cities objected to state laws they view as overreaching their local authority. (Union-Tribune)
• Thinking of adopting a dog? Now’s the time! The San Diego Humane Society has broken its own records for the amount of adult dogs in its care for the past 11 months in a row. Two independent owners this week gave up more than 50 huskies and yorkies to the society. (CBS San Diego)
• A man’s recent joyride on a stolen backhoe caused $25,000 in damage after he allegedly crashed it into the North Park Observatory on Wednesday. He’s pleading not guilty to charges of vehicle theft and vandalism. (NBC San Diego)

The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt and Fiona Bork. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña. 

The post What County Polling on Possible Tax Hikes Revealed appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

Early this year, county officials paid for a poll to gauge how voters would feel about hypothetical tax increases. 

It turns out there are big hurdles for all three approaches the county eyed. 

The survey, conducted Feb. 22 through March 1, showed San Diegans are most enthused about taxing the rich. A majority of voters in all five supervisorial districts also think the county is headed in the wrong direction. 

The FM3 Research poll tested a hypothetical half-cent sales tax measure – not the specifics of the one that’s on the November ballot to fund causes including health care, child care, Tijuana River sewage crisis solutions and public safety. It also tested a hypothetical real estate transfer tax on properties over $5 million, and a potential county payroll tax on people who make more than $350,000 a year listing similar funding line items as the sales tax increase that voters will consider later this year.

The polling came weeks after a coalition of labor and advocacy groups started gathering tens of thousands of signatures for the half-cent sales tax measure that has since qualified for the November ballot. The sales tax campaign argues the early 2026 polling doesn’t reflect what voters think of their specific pitch. 

The survey of 727 registered voters found that 66 percent opposed a half-cent sales tax increase absent any details on what it might fund or how oversight would work. Sixty percent told pollsters that they favored the hypothetical real estate transfer tax on pricey sales, and 56 percent said they’d likely back a potential county payroll tax on high earners. Support for the latter two proposals dropped to 48 percent for the transfer tax after voters heard arguments for and against that approach, and to 52 percent for the payroll tax hike.  

Further complicating matters, the county can’t raise real estate transfer and payroll taxes without tweaks to state law. Negotiations over a statewide November ballot measure that could place new limits on certain tax hikes have also clouded conversations in recent months about the county’s options. 

Two county board Democrats whose fiscal subcommittee is working with consultants behind the polling effort say they have a responsibility to consider multiple ways to increase revenue as the county faces federal cuts and future budget challenges.  

A spokesperson for the sales tax campaign, whose company is also part of the county contract delivering the polling, argued the poll results don’t signal bad news for the initiative that’s also now effectively the county’s first shot to combat expected budget hits. 

“The county-commissioned poll tests a series of hypothetical revenue mechanisms, not anything even close to the San Diego County Health and Safety Act as voters will actually consider it with dedicated solutions for healthcare, wildfire prevention, children’s nutrition, 911 response and the Tijuana River sewage crisis, along with strict taxpayer safeguards,” campaign consultant Dan Rottenstreich wrote in a statement. “Using that poll to draw conclusions about voter support for the Health & Safety Act is fundamentally misleading, in particular given the unprecedented coalition uniting behind the measure including firefighters, hospitals, childcare providers and the Tijuana River clean-up’s top advocates.” 

Rottenstreich and a spokesperson for county Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer, who leads the fiscal subcommittee, separately seized on poll results showing 63 percent were “extremely concerned” or “very concerned” about how federal funding cuts could affect county services. Lawson-Remer spokesperson Spencer Katz also noted that 61 percent of voters polled recognized the county needs more funding for local services. 

“Chair Lawson-Remer has stated her support for the citizen-qualified measure as one way to secure reliable, locally controlled funding as Washington pulls back support,” Katz wrote in a statement. “In the meantime, the Sustainable Fiscal Planning Subcommittee will keep looking under every rock for savings and efficiencies while evaluating all long-term revenue options.” 

Vice Chair Monica Montgomery-Steppe, who also serves on the subcommittee, struck a similar tone in a separate statement. 

“Federal funding cuts are putting essential county services at risk, and we have a responsibility to respond,” Montgomery-Steppe wrote. “Community input is one of many factors we consider as we evaluate how best to protect those services. We’re looking for efficiencies and evaluating every viable option so we can continue supporting the people and families who rely on county programs.” 

Those Efforts Have Been Controversial  

Board Republicans have criticized the fiscal subcommittee’s closed-door meetings and are now arguing for more transparency on the polling they say they didn’t know about until Voice of San Diego obtained it via a public records request. 

A spokesperson for Democratic Supervisor Paloma Aguirre said she also hadn’t seen the poll. 

Republican Supervisors Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond have previously raised concerns about polling on potential ballot measures that wasn’t shared with all supervisors.  

Anderson got unanimous board support in April after he proposed guardrails for county-funded polling after Voice broke the news on the $89,000 Lawson-Remer previously spent on two polls. His item directed county staff to work on guidelines including a review process for polling contracts with outside firms and questions by county lawyers and public posting within 30 days after a poll is completed. 

Anderson now expects an update on the policy at the board’s Aug. 18 meeting – and is frustrated by the latest polling revelation. 

“All polling should be reported to the entire board and not just individuals,” Anderson wrote in a statement. “I’ve heard concerns from so many constituents about these issues that we are considering bringing even more transparency measures forward.” 

Desmond was critical of both the polling and the fiscal subcommittee’s review of potential tax hike options. He also previously panned a subsequently cancelled request for bids for the county to hire lobbyists to urge changes to state law to allow for potential payroll and real estate transfer tax increases. 

“Subcommittees shouldn’t be spending taxpayer money on polls, or anything else, without the full support of the board,” Desmond wrote in a statement. “And it doesn’t surprise me one bit that San Diegans don’t want to pay more in taxes when they’re already stuck with the highest gas and electricity bills in the country. We should be focused on lowering the cost of living, not finding new ways to raise it.” 

Thus far, the county reports it’s paid consultants working on the polling and revenue measure research effort $160,000. Officials this spring quietly extended their contract for up to two years as sales-tax proponents wrapped up signature gathering for their measure. The total price tag for the contract remains up to $320,000. 

The post Polling Shows County’s Challenges to Raise Revenue appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

What happens to a neighborhood’s arts and culture scene when rent nearly doubles in the span of a decade? Ask Barrio Logan.

Arts contributor Evan Apodaca checked in with three local art spaces to see how they’re adapting to a hostile real estate market without succumbing to tourist-driven trends. What he found was a culture propped up by experimentation, community collaboration and a can-do attitude.

“I come from a world that didn’t have funding to begin with,” said Bucky Montero of The Woo. “Everything was grassroots. Meaning we tapped into our own resources, we asked friends for help, we asked for donations, we took over, we occupied undesirable spaces.” 

Check out the full story for a tour of Tierras Indígenas, Deixis Gallery and The Woo.

Billionaires Want to Build an Ice Rink at Kit Carson Park

Escondido residents were expecting a big debate tonight about the future of Kit Carson Park, but they’ll have to keep waiting.

City leaders are considering an offer from The Rinks Foundation, a nonprofit run by billionaire philanthropists Henry and Susan Samueli, to transform a chunk of the popular 285-acre park into a major ice sports hub.

Residents hoped city leaders would decide whether to move forward with the proposal at tonight’s City Council meeting, but the item isn’t on the agenda.

What’s on the table: The foundation wants to build a 16-acre complex with three ice rinks, up to 3,000 spectator seats, retail space, a restaurant and 430 new parking spots on the park’s south end. The site currently hosts four softball fields, which the foundation would pay to relocate to another park seven miles north.

A lot of residents hate the idea: Opposition is mounting from locals who don’t necessarily hate the idea of an ice rink in Escondido; they just don’t want it at Kit Carson Park, a free public space frequented by hundreds of visitors every day. Critics also point out that there may be an equity issue at play, as well.

Read the North County Report here.

To Catch a Sea Lion Attacker 

You know you’ve messed up when you managed to piss off PETA, the feds and Todd Gloria all in one swoop.  

Last week, a video of a teenager kicking a sea lion at La Jolla Cove went viral. Now, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is launching an investigation. 

Sea Lions are protected mammals and harming one could lead to a more than $36,000 fine and up to one year in prison. (Yikes!)

Earlier this week, Mayor Gloria and Councilmember Joe La Cava had some words for the perp. 

Also, oops: Earlier this week, we called the victim a seal. Our bad for mixing up pinnipeds!

Chargers Legend Dies; Football Had ‘Stolen’ His Memory

Former Chargers legend and sports radio talk show host, Billy Ray Smith, Jr. died Wednesday. He was 64. He was the B.R. in in the long-running “Scott and BR” show on the former Mighty 1090, as 10 News reported. He was well known for his acts of charity. 

Just a few days ago, his friend and former co-host, Scott Kaplan did a podcast where he explained that Smith had been suffering from the impact of football on his brain. “The thing that he loved the most, football, has stolen his memory,” Kaplan said. He said that he was not planning to talk about it until Smith and his wife, 10 News’ Kimberly Hunt, were announced as the Nice Guys of the year. 

The family released a statement: “Billy Ray faced his long journey with dementia caused by CTE with unmatched bravery, dignity, and strength.” CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a brain disease that is the result of repeated blows to the head. 

Rabbitholed: Voice Edition

We love some old-school Voice content — and, boy, did we find a trove. Check out the first capture of Voice of San Diego’s website on the Wayback Machine, all the way back in Feb. 28, 2005. 

The page design is delightful — especially for those of us apt to get feelings of nostalgia from newspaper-like things. 

A few of the offerings that day: a column predicting Mayor Dick Murphy would resign (he did!), a story involving the pension scandal, Port Commission drama and a dating column. 

In Other News

• Rep. Sara Jacobs wants to make it easier for parents to access child care. The proposed solution may be the big idea Democrats are looking for to take back the House, reports Axios San Diego. 
• The government is processing applications for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, at an alarmingly slow pace. Rep. Scott Peters and business and labor advocates are demanding that the Trump administration speed things up, reports the Union-Tribune. Our own managing editor Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña shared how previous delays kept her from working. 
• A Tijuana zoo plagued by labor and facility issues is set to close and officials are scrambling to find new homes for approximately 160 animals. (NBC 7, Telemundo 20) 
• Move over cyclosporiasis, salmonella is having a moment in San Diego County. Health officials have identified several cases of salmonella tied to food containing mayonnaise made at Ramona Family Naturals Market. Thirteen people have been infected and four have been hospitalized. (Union-Tribune) 
• If you’re planning on going into the ocean this week, maybe don’t? (Union-Tribune)  

The Morning Report was written by Bella Ross, Tigist Layne, Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña, Scott Lewis and Will Huntsberry. It was edited by Will Huntsberry. 

The post Experimental Art Spaces Cling to Existence appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

Throughout the 2010s, a single night of events in Barrio Logan reliably enticed curling lines of art-goers on the corner of Logan Avenue and Sampson Street. The neighborhood’s arts and culture scene was booming.

But a cultural bust loomed. The area was hit by a number of gallery closures including Voz Alta in 2014 and TheChrch in 2017, followed by La Bodega and Chicano Art Gallery in 2019.

While the neighborhood’s cultural vibrancy is still there, real estate prices pose a continual threat, and the Covid-19 pandemic only made things worse. According to Marketpointe Realty Advisors, San Diego’s median monthly rent has nearly doubled since 2014.

For local art spaces that dare to exist outside of tourist-driven trends, or that lack institutional support, making ends meet is an art of its own. Side jobs, day jobs and online fundraising campaigns galore help fill that void. 

But for many arts-minded people in Barrio Logan, that hustle feels second nature.

“I come from a world that didn’t have funding to begin with,” said Bucky Montero of The Woo, an up-and-coming art space in Barrio Logan. “Everything was grassroots. Meaning we tapped into our own resources, we asked friends for help, we asked for donations, we took over, we occupied undesirable spaces.” 

“We can still have an art show without funding. Someone just needs to give me a building,” she said, adding jokingly, “What’s in the storage closet right now?”

A Land Trust to ‘Build a New World’

What would happen if rent was removed from the equation entirely?

Enter: Tierras Indígenas Community Land Trust in Barrio Logan. The nonprofit received a grant to purchase their building and now the organization is only responsible for property taxes. 

Since then, they’ve organized community members to challenge displacement in a neighborhood that has faced the threat of gentrification. 

Traditional property ownership isn’t central to their operation. Rather, they practice community-ownership while harnessing a decolonial practice rooted in indigenous land stewardship.

“We hope to access further parcels from the city,” co-founder Julie Corrales said. “We’re really trying to increase communal ownership because we have to continue to grow our consciousness to collectively create not just the infrastructure systems but the social networks to withstand collapse.”

“We are definitely a hub of resistance and leftist thinking and progressive action and the art reflects that. The art mobilizes that.”

But art is only one part of the picture. The organization’s stated pillars include: creating affordable housing, decommodifying real estate, restoring the environment and creating accessible art spaces. 

Upon entering the building from the corner of 26th Street and National Avenue, the organization’s offices exude a palpable energy of hard work and imagination. The expansive room next door, however, is where that energy has space to take flight. It houses a gallery for alternating art exhibitions, events and programming. Having once been a bar, the room showcases a small deteriorating mural of the American Southwest, a subtle gesture to imagining new futures in tandem with the past. 

“I’m so tired of fighting the old system,” Corrales said. “I want to focus on building a new world.”

A Place For Vulnerability

Just a few blocks from Tierras Indígenas, another space exercises a different type of agency over cultural production –– ownership of their own labor. 

Deixis Gallery, helmed by Bilal Bikile, is an independent exhibition space founded in 2022 that runs on a generative but informal incubator model. Every Tuesday the gallery hosts a salon, inviting the public to open-ended conversations, each focused on a different topic ranging from politics to religion to love, loss and grief. 

While the salons are hosted in the gallery, they decidedly don’t get lost in the weeds of the creative process.

“We don’t talk about art,” said Bikile with a laugh. Instead, salonists build community by converging philosophies from differing dispositions.

“It feels like Alcoholics Anonymous sometimes,” Bikile said. “It feels like group therapy sometimes. Attendees are not concerned about talking about process or artistic mediums. They want to talk about ideas.”

However, the salons do influence Deixis exhibitions. Their latest, Deny Yourself, by longtime Deixis salonist Elizabeth Juarez, forges a conversation between ironic meme-like quips and deep, often vulnerable, diary-like inquiries. Juarez’s work speaks to the culture of acceptance that Deixis has cultivated, manifested as large, painted tile arrangements entirely in black and white. 

In Juarez’s piece, Pursuit of Desire, an idealized landscape rendered in simplistic line work represents a pop-vision form of utopia. At the center of the square composition, an easily consumable phrase akin to an advertisement reads –– “You are in pain, in part due to your relentless pursuit of desire.” 

“The other day I came in (to the gallery) and (an exhibition visitor) was in here just bawling,” Bikile said. “She was standing here crying and was just saying, ‘It’s just so good to read these things.’”

“Everyone is so quick to say, ‘Art is needed. Art heals.’ So I want to be very conscious in terms of what we’re providing beyond the decorative, beyond the avant garde. We want it to be accessible but to a high taste,” Bikile said. 

Last June, Bikile launched an online fundraiser to offset rent after covering the gallery’s bills entirely out of pocket since its founding. The gallery currently has no other major sources of income, but he hopes to establish an economic model to help the space thrive in the same independent fashion. 

More Than a Venue

Just a few blocks west of Deixis, The Woo stands with a vision as large as its square footage. 

The 27,000-square-foot building, previously home to a snowboard manufacturer and the Woodbury School of Architecture, had run its course. Now, it hosts several large studios.

After the school closed in 2024, Woodbury alumni Tony Salamone and David Garcia of MISCELLANEOUS Office for Architecture took over the building. After a quick rebranding, The Woo is strategizing to become more than just another venue. They envision binational artist residencies, institutional partnerships, artist studio rentals and a diverse array of programming. 

Now, tenants Bucky Montero of Subcultura Curation and Marisa Aguayo of All For Logan are helping forge The Woo’s identity as a cultural avenue. Together they helped mount a number of outward-facing programs, including two massive group exhibitions  – “The Artist’s Duty” with Monica Delgadillo of the Chicano Park Cultural Center and “Viva La Raza” with Aztlan Libre – as well as a yearly artist residency for Día de Muertos.

“For me, the first thing is that people feel welcomed,” Montero said. “You know the artists that we’ve worked with, they’re all local, either from Barrio Logan or San Diego. But we’re also trying to build bridges between Tijuana, San Diego, Los Angeles and even the East Coast.”

Aguayo and Montero are helping illuminate overlooked chapters of local history. A section of Viva La Raza included Las Hermanas: Queer Chicano Histories of San Diego, curated by Montero, Betty Bangs and Paulina Lara. The archival exhibition highlighted the queer Chicanx experience, including the history of Las Hermanas Women’s Cultural Center and Coffeehouse founded in San Diego in 1974. The exhibition concluded with a screening of “ASCO: Without Permission” directed by Travis Gutíerrez Senger about the LA-based foundational Chicano Art Collective that transgressed the norms of not only the art world, but also of popular representational culture through avant garde barrio aesthetics.

“Right now we’re showing a lot of artwork that has the spirit of resistance, of self-determination,” said Montero.

“We need art that speaks to us,” echoed Aguayo.

Still, the Woo team admits that economic sustainability remains a work in progress. As of now, they’re just breaking even.

In 2017, Barrio Logan was designated as a cultural district by the State of California, but the state’s cuts to the 2026-27 budget threaten the premise of economic growth through cultural designation. 

Nonetheless, the future holds promise. The Woo has numerous partnerships in tow, including the American Institute of Graphic Designers and SALAA, a Tijuana-based platform for architects. The space will also be the next home for Burn All Books, a mainstay for independent publishing and distribution in San Diego that was recently displaced from Normal Heights due to a rent hike.

“I just want us to survive this dystopia, and the only way I can see that happening is through art,” Montero said.

The post How Three Art Spaces are Defying a Hostile Real Estate Market appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

When Escondido residents checked the agenda for tonight’s City Council meeting, many of them expected to see a highly anticipated discussion about Kit Carson Park scheduled. But alas, it is not so. 

If you haven’t heard, Escondido leaders are seriously considering a controversial offer to turn a portion of the 285-acre park into a huge ice rink complex. The offer came from the Rinks Foundation, a nonprofit run by billionaire philanthropists Henry and Susan Samueli. They own the San Diego Gulls and the Anaheim Ducks. 

What they’re proposing: The foundation wants to lease a portion of the park from the city to build a 16-acre ice sports complex with three rinks, up to 3,000 spectator seats, a restaurant, retail space and 430 new parking spaces.  

They would build the complex on the south end of Kit Carson Park where four softball fields currently sit. The Rinks Foundation would pay $4 million to relocate those softball fields to Frances Ryan Park, which is about seven miles north of Kit Carson. 

The foundation would fund the construction, operation and maintenance of the complex. Foundation leaders are proposing a 25-year lease after construction, with five opportunities to extend the term for 5-year periods, totaling 50 years.  The foundation would pay the city up to $187,500 per year of the lease. 

We’re all on the edge of our seats: On June 3, the council unanimously approved a non-binding memorandum of understanding with The Rinks Foundation to explore the feasibility of going through with the proposal.  

City leaders said they would vote on a lease agreement sometime “this summer.” Tonight’s meeting is the first one since the council took a month-long recess, but the item isn’t on the agenda. 

Escondido and Kit Carson Park Go Way Back  

Kit Carson Park is a staple in Escondido. It’s been around since 1967 when Escondido bought the 285-acre land from the city of San Diego. Since then, 100 acres of it have been developed and the rest has been preserved as natural habitat. 

Hundreds of residents from Escondido and other parts of the county visit the park every day. The softball fields alone host dozens of teams a week. 

Many residents are fiercely opposed to the foundation’s proposal, with one advocacy group called Save Kit Carson Park leading the charge against it. Critics say the ice complex would completely change the atmosphere of the park and create larger crowds. It would also likely be inaccessible to many lower income families—Kit Carson Park is free; ice sports often are not. 

The group’s website says it’s not against the idea of building an ice rink in the city that’s the problem; it just shouldn’t be at Kit Carson Park. 

Some residents are also frustrated at what they call a lack of transparency. It turns out, the city has been in talks with the foundation since 2023, but the first time the proposal was brought to the public was less than two months ago. 

What the city is saying: The city says the ice complex could be a great civic asset that would attract tourism, provide jobs and put Escondido more on the map. 

It would also bring in a lot of money to a city that has historically dealt with major financial strain. A sales tax increase voters passed in 2024 has helped the city’s budget recently, but more long-term sources of income wouldn’t hurt, especially because the tax increase expires after 20 years.  

The project could produce $12,288,423 in one-time direct construction-related wages and $10,878,627 in recurring annual economic output, according to a June 3 city staff report. The figures came from an economic impact analysis by London Moeder Advisors, which the staff report said would be made available to the public, but has not been yet. 

Regarding the facility potentially being inaccessible to the city’s lower income population, Deputy City Manager Joanna Axelrod acknowledged to inewsource that, yes, ice sports can be more costly, but she said the facility would host many community skating programs that will be accessible to families who may not otherwise be able to participate. 

In Other News 

• The Coastal Commission will do a full review of Carlsbad’s permit for its rock revetment, or barrier, along Carlsbad Boulevard that protects the coastal portion of southbound Carlsbad Boulevard from the Pacific Ocean. The decision to review the permit came after the Surfrider Foundation objected to the permit’s extension, arguing Carlsbad should find a permanent solution. (Coast News) 
• A new poll in the general election race for the 48th Congressional District shows Democratic San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert is basically tied with Republican County Supervisor Jim Desmond. The poll was conducted by a Democratic polling and research firm. (KPBS) 

The post Escondido Residents Left Waiting on Ice Rink Deal at Kit Carson Park appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

Things are heating up in the District 8 City Council race to represent San Ysidro and other parts of southern San Diego.

On Tuesday, Antonio Martinez received a key labor endorsement from the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council. 

Martinez is a board member for San Ysidro School District. 

His opponent Gerardo Ramirez is the chief of staff for current District 8 Councilmember Vivian Moreno. Ramirez has received the endorsement of the Municipal Employees Association, or MEA, the biggest city employee union.

That means two powerful unions will be pitted against each other, with money potentially pouring into each campaign. 

Brigette Browning, president of the Labor Council, said that Martinez will fight for “good paying jobs, strong neighborhoods and opportunities for every family.”

Meanwhile, Micahel Zucchet, the general manager of MEA, also backed his man. 

“We work well with Gerardo at City Hall and have found him to be effective and responsive, and we think he will be a great councilmember,” Zucchet said. 

City Hall Is Kinda Busted

City Hall just can’t seem to catch a break. 

Since the beginning of this year, one or more of the four various elevators that serve the building have been out five times so far this calendar year. One is out currently. 

Nicole Darling, a city spokesperson, said it’s because of the aging building and its aging systems. City Hall was built in the 1960s and “requires ongoing maintenance to address systems that are beyond their service life,” she wrote in an email. 

There’s long been talk of moving or replacing City Hall. But Darling said budget constraints have put those plans on hold. 

Conversations about the future of Civic Center Plaza remain alive — but any redevelopment seems years away. 

Other buildings that make up the plaza like the city operations building have been riddled with plumbing, HVAC, and elevator breakdowns for the last decade. The aging downtown buildings were a big reason why city officials tried to move city employees into 101 Ash — but as we know that didn’t work out so great. 

Critter Corner: Porcupette Hot Out the Oven

Seems like the critters over at the San Diego Zoo can’t stop getting busy. A pair of prehensile-tailed porcupines named Gracie and Picante recently gave birth to an as-of-now unnamed porcupette (yes, that’s what they’re called). This new porcupette is the happy couple’s second bebe. 

These porcupines are native to South America and spend most of their time in trees. Their prehensile tails can function almost like a fifth limb, curling tightly around tree branches for balance or even to hang upside down to grab some tasty fruit. 

San Diego Unified Employee Housing Gets NYT Treatment

Next time you speak to your cousin who moved to the Big Apple, you may have something new to brag about. The New York Times recently ran a piece profiling San Diego Unified’s unprecedented slate of affordable employee housing projects. The Gray Lady described the effort to build about 2,500 units of housing as “the largest project of its kind in the country.”

As is frequently the case when national media comes parachuting in, we were about eight months early on this. And as the NYT reporting suggests, it’s hard to overemphasize how big of a deal San Diego Unified’s projects could be. The district genuinely is pioneering a new approach to affordable workforce housing. Officials hope it won’t just lessen the financial burden on teachers, but also lead to a housing paradigm shift. 

See Jessica? San Diego’s not just about weather. 

You can check out our comprehensive piece that dives deep not only on the housing projects themselves, but also what local education leaders hope will come next. 

In Other News

• Back in the day, San Diego “downzoned” huge swaths of its urban core, banning apartments in some of the city’s most walkable neighborhoods. Our Public Matters partners at KPBS broke down how the practice reduced the city’s ability to grow and became a tool to segregate neighborhoods. (KPBS) 
• There could be a spike in pests at your favorite restaurant. An analysis by Times of San Diego found twice as many eateries across the county were closed by health inspectors last year compared to just four years ago. The culprit? Likely cockroaches and rats. (Times of San Diego)
• A San Diego warship is being decommissioned more than a decade early after a series of mechanical problems and structural defects. (Union-Tribune)
• San Diego’s homeless population faces challenges with heat waves. They lack access to running water, showers, and air conditioning to cool down. (KPBS)
• The city of San Diego and Caltrans agreed to continue their removal of encampments on state freeways. Earlier this year, we wrote about how one camp was cleared nearly 70 times, and people kept coming back. (10 News) 

The Morning Report was written by Jakob McWhinney and Mariana Martínez Barba. It was edited by Will Huntsberry.

The post Elevators, Endorsements and Porcupettes appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

A long-awaited solution to reducing deaths by suicide from the Coronado Bay Bridge is finally in the works.

Since the Coronado Bridge opened in 1969, more than 470 people have died by suicide, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office. It’s now the deadliest bridge in America.

A permanent barrier and AI-powered cameras are now in the works to be part of the $145-million solution proposed by Caltrans.  

The AI in this equation will be designed to detect “unusual activity.” It’s hard to imagine that doesn’t include stopped cars or pedestrians on the bridge. But a Caltrans spokesperson would not confirm whether that’s how it would work. He said the details of the AI contract are still being worked out. 

A vertical, 8-foot steel mesh barrier will also run the length of the bridge. Officials say it will be 87 percent transparent. 

What took so long? Mental health experts and residents who have lost loved ones have been critical of Caltrans over the years for not taking this step sooner, arguing that hundreds of deaths could have been prevented.

Caltrans previously spent hundreds of thousands of dollars installing call boxes and bird spikes on the bridge. Later studies found that did absolutely nothing to decrease suicides.

Read the full story here.

Mayor: Can’t Open Bathrooms Because of El Niño and Stuff

People are upset city officials closed half the bathrooms at Mission Bay Park as part of this year’s budget cuts. Our readers even raised concerns about where lifeguards can go pee.

In a memo to Mayor Todd Gloria, District 7 Councilmember Raul Campillo called out the restroom closures and suggested a place to find the money: The city won’t be doing a ballot measure it set aside $1.8 million for in the budget.

“It is the basic promise that a family, a senior, a tourist, or a worker can actually use the public space we say belongs to them,” he wrote in the memo. 

Gloria pushed back: “I believe it would be premature to commit those one-time resources today,” he wrote in a memo back to Campillo.

Instead, he said the money could fund a potential special election in District 5, where current Councilmember Marni von Wilpert may win a Congressional seat. 

Also, El Niño: “We also anticipate the possibility of substantial unbudgeted costs associated with the upcoming El Niño storm season,” Gloria wrote.

Parents, employers, this is a good line. Use it the next time you need to say no to something. 

Cap’n Keno’s Lives On

A recent Instagram scroll sent us down memory lane.

Remember Cap’n Keno’s? The iconic, nautical-themed Encinitas dive with the famous red leather booths and gloriously cheap drinks closed its doors in 2024 after 54 years.

But its spirit lives on. Former pro surfer Benji Weatherley rescued Keno’s signature red booths, bar stools, plates and silverware before they went to auction. Now, those pieces of local history have a new home inside his recently-opened Hawaiian restaurant and bar called Breakers. 

Knives Out: Housing Edition

A couple of weeks ago, our Will Huntsberry wrote about the city’s soaring apartment vacancy rate — and asked whether it might mean the cost of housing could go down. 

That story kicked off quite a bit of debate. 

First, David Malcolm, president of Cal West Apartments, wrote in to say that, yes, rents are down in the form of many offers for two or even three months of free rent. Malcolm also said it’s time to pump the breaks on San Diego’s “build, build, build” attitude. 

Then Ryan Clumpner, a former commissioner on the San Diego Housing Commission, fired back. Yes, “build, build, build” hasn’t delivered as much affordability as promised, he wrote. Part of the problem is landlords like Malcolm offering two months free rent, instead of actually reducing the monthly cost, he argued. 

“Large-scale landlords like Malcolm are adopting practices to ensure the benefits of new housing trickle down as slowly as possible, without regard for the broader impacts to society and our local community.”  

Read more of the back and forth in this week’s Politics Report. It’s our only newsletter for subscribers only. 

In Other News

• A San Diego appeals court found that license plate data collection and storage is not, in and of itself, an invasion of privacy. The finding was in regards to a 2021 class action lawsuit. (Union-Tribune)
• San Diego County’s rent increase cap will be set to 8.2 percent starting Saturday, a drop from last year’s 8.8 percent cap. The change comes from a cost-of-living adjustment and is the lowest cap in years. (inewsource)
• Federal wildlife authorities are investigating a video that began circulating over the weekend of a person repeatedly kicking a sea lion at La Jolla Cove while the person recording can be heard laughing in the background. (AP)
• Hurricane Genevieve is set to bring eight- to 11-foot waves to San Diego County’s beaches, but there is no direct threat to land. (KPBS)

The Morning Report was written by Tigist Layne, Mariana Martínez Barba and Will Huntsberry. It was edited by Scott Lewis and Will Huntsberry.

The post Coronado Is America’s Deadliest Bridge. AI to the Rescue? appeared first on Voice of San Diego.