A heated debate about the future of a homeless services nonprofit has erupted in Encinitas as residents react to a level of visible homelessness the city hasn’t seen before. 

Last month, a social media account called Save Encinitas Now shared an Instagram post that quickly spread. 

It showed an animated video of a person, depicted only by a hand, throwing crumbs toward a cluster of rats on the street. In the background, stood a building branded with the letters “CRC,” representing homeless services nonprofit Community Resource Center. 

“Fact: the CRC is the number one reason Encinitas has a growing, out of control homeless problem,” the post’s caption said. “The CRC attracts them into our city every day only to feed them and turn them loose on Encinitas.” 

The host and moderators of Save Encinitas Now are anonymous and shared the post to 14,000 Instagram followers, and it quickly spread throughout the community. It prompted a response from Community Resource Center’s CEO John Van Cleef via an op-ed in The Coast News, where he said the post “crossed a line that should never be crossed.” 

But Save Encinitas Now responded with its own op-ed, doubling down on its message and calling CRC a “hub” that “draws in transient populations.” 

Ultimately, the Instagram post caught the attention of Encinitas Mayor Bruce Ehlers. 

Ehlers condemned the post at an April 9 City Council meeting, calling it “inappropriate and reprehensible.” 

“I’d like to call for the Instagram social media post about Community Resource Center comparing homeless people to rats to be withdrawn by its authors and supporters,” Ehlers said from the Council dais. “This degrades people and does not help solve the problem. In fact, it results in diverting our collective attention away from the causes of homelessness.” 

Save Encinitas Now took the post down, but the growing chorus of voices criticizing Community Resource Center for being a magnet for homelessness continues.  

At the root of the backlash is a harsh reality: Encinitas, a quiet and affluent beach town, is now facing a growing homelessness problem that wasn’t nearly as visible just a few years ago. 

How the Dispute Started 

Founded in 1979, Community Resource Center provides free food distributions, housing assistance, case management, domestic violence programs and more. The nonprofit has offices in Carlsbad and San Marcos, but its main offices and food distribution center are in downtown Encinitas.  

That’s where the controversy started. 

Leaders of Community Resource Center are in the process of seeking the city’s approval for a remodel of their 1940s-era downtown office, which would include expanding the building into the property directly next door. 

Van Cleef told Voice of San Diego they’re not expanding services; they are just expanding their space. 

Still, the idea of Community Resource Center expanding in any way didn’t sit right with some residents, including operators of Save Encinitas Now. They started posting videos sent in by residents of unhoused people sleeping, loitering and urinating outside of Community Resource Center, urging city leaders to vote against Community Resource Center’s expansion. 

The posts are accompanied by captions that claim Community Resource Center is attracting homeless people to Encinitas and that the nonprofit advertises at trolley stations to encourage unsheltered people from other cities to visit their facility. 

“There are so many claims that are just factually incorrect,” Van Cleef said. “The attributes of downtown already attract unsheltered people to the downtown area in any city – walkable areas, public restrooms, things like that. There’s also plenty of research and data that show unsheltered people tend to stay in their own communities that they’re familiar with.” 

Van Cleef told Voice that their building’s security cameras caught one person staging a photo of a homeless person sleeping outside.  

“Imagine coming to CRC for the first time and then having people outside video you,” Van Cleef said. “That kind of behavior begins to push a line that’s really not okay.” 

He also denied the allegations about Community Resource Center advertising at trolley stops. 

“The idea that we would advertise specifically to encourage homeless people to leave their communities and travel to us is blatantly false and ridiculous,” Van Cleef added. “Community Resource Center has never advertised at any of the trolley stops.” 

Recent discussions at the City Council about how to allocate federal funds from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program added fuel to the fire. Community Resource Center, which receives these funds annually, requested $30,000 in CDBG funds and general fund dollars for its food distribution program. 

At a March 12 City Council meeting, one public speaker urged the Council not to give them money. Martin Tracey, a business owner near Community Resource Center’s downtown location, said people come out of Community Resource Center have trashed, vandalized and urinated on his business. 

“I am offended that you’re going to give my tax dollars to people that are putting a blight on this community,” Tracey said. “I live with it every single day.” 

The Bigger Picture 

Unsheltered homelessness in Encinitas has significantly increased in recent years, according to data from the point-in-time count, the region’s annual homeless census.  

The 2024 point-in-time count revealed Encinitas saw one of the largest spikes in the North Coastal region in unsheltered homeless people compared to 2023. Its unsheltered homeless population increased from 76 people in 2022 and 73 people in 2023 to 123 people in 2024. That’s a 68 percent jump from 2023 to 2024.  

Service providers and regional experts say that point-in-time data is typically a severe undercount, so those numbers are likely higher. The numbers from the 2025 count are not yet available.  

Homelessness in Encinitas is much more visible now than it has ever been. It’s a fact that Save Encinitas Now acknowledged. Save Encinitas Now declined to reveal their identity and only agreed to communicate with Voice via Instagram messaging. 

“Encinitas has had a small handful of homeless people since the 70s, and they’ve mostly been surf bums,” they said. “But everybody in Encinitas, over the last six months to a year, has seen and experienced and dealt with them a lot more, and in a lot of areas where they’ve never been historically.” 

Ultimately, the account’s operator said, the responsibility falls on Community Resource Center and the city of Encinitas. 

“The CRC is the magnet. It’s the daily free food magnet,” they said. “It has worsened because of a very relaxed approach to enforcement of laws … If Encinitas took a strict approach to law-enforcement, the location of the CRC may not be as important – but because they don’t, the location is a huge problem.” 

They added that they would like to see Community Resource Center moved to a different location – away from downtown, residential areas and businesses – and it should have full-time security patrolling the facility, they said. 

In general, the account’s operator said, the city needs to do a better job enforcing its laws in order to see any progress on homelessness. 

“Homeless people simply need to be forced into treatment, forced to live in shelters, or incarcerated if they refuse,” Save Encinitas Now said. “We recognize that it’s not an easy solution, and that feelings will be hurt along the way, but Encinitas like every other city needs to decide whether or not it prioritizes public safety or whether or not it feels like it’s compassionate to let people openly use drugs and pass out on public sidewalks.” 

Encinitas has a ban on camping in public places. Last August, Capt. Shane Watts from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office told city leaders his deputies had seen a reduction in camping violations since the camping ban went into effect.  

Mayor Ehlers told Voice that the City Council will soon discuss implementing other enforcement measures like private security to patrol parks and other areas of the city. 

“We are interested in cracking down on illegal activities associated with homelessness,” Ehlers said. “We have laws against camping and other things, and that’s what we’re focusing on. Just being homeless is not a crime.” 

As for the controversial Instagram post seen around Encinitas, Save Encinitas Now stands by its message. 

“When you hand out free food to addicts and junkies and mentally ill, even if that is a well-intentioned effort, it can be ruinous to a community and a business district and a neighborhood,” they said. “We took the post down because it was a distraction from the core message, which is that the CRC is attracting an element to Encinitas that is causing genuine blight and threatening public safety.” 

At the March 12 City Council meeting, councilmembers unanimously voted to approve the CDBG and general funds for Community Resource Center, but they asked city staff to create a contract with the nonprofit that sets specific performance requirements to minimize impacts on surrounding businesses and neighbors. Things like addressing littering, loitering and any illegal activity. 

City leaders approved some requirements at an April 17 City Council meeting, with councilmembers affirming their support for the nonprofit’s mission. They will consider more measures, like private security, at an upcoming meeting on May 15.  

Wednesday’s meeting was packed with supporters of Community Resource Center who took turns sharing positive stories about the nonprofit and urging the Council to continue supporting them. There were only a few public speakers who spoke against the nonprofit. 

The post Anonymous Account, Neighbors Target Provider as Homelessness Surges in Encinitas   appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

Democratic County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer laid out her proposal to fight the Trump administration during the annual State of the County speech Wednesday night. The county’s two Republican supervisors say she didn’t invite them to the show. 

But Lawson-Remer’s office says she did invite Supervisors Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond. Their offices failed to signal interest in attending as Lawson-Remer considered how to structure the event to comply with the state’s open meetings law.  

The differing stories amount to the latest kerfuffle for the politically divided county Board of Supervisors. 

The county has long hosted an annual State of the County address given by the chair of the Board of Supervisors. With the county board politically split 2-2, the board has failed to elect a chair, making Lawson-Remer the acting chair and Anderson the acting vice chair.  

Lawson-Remer and county staff decided to proceed with an invitation-only annual State of the County address on Wednesday at the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park. Unlike in past years, the county communications office didn’t promote the speech in advance. The event also wasn’t publicly agendized on the county website, though Lawson-Remer’s office issued press invitations that spurred advance news coverage. 

Anderson told Voice of San Diego he was initially told late last year to hold a date in March for the speech. The mid-March date came and went without additional information. Then the East County supervisor said he learned Tuesday afternoon that the annual county speech was happening Wednesday night. Anderson said he hadn’t been invited. 

Anderson said he wanted to go, but staffers told him he couldn’t attend because doing so would amount to a state Brown Act violation given the format Lawson-Remer chose for the event. 

“Republicans need not apply,” Anderson said. “Not to invite the vice chair is a huge faux pas.” 

Desmond spokesperson Miles Himmel said the North County supervisor also wasn’t invited. 

“We didn’t receive an invite,” Himmel wrote in a text message. 

Lawson-Remer’s office says that’s not true. 

“Everyone was invited to attend, and we would have also loved everyone to be there,” Lawson-Remer spokesperson Kevin Montes said. 

A complication seems to have contributed to the confusion. 

At some point earlier this year, Montes said county counsel informed Lawson-Remer’s office of an April 2024 state Attorney General’s Office opinion that a similar annual speech in Ventura would constitute a formal meeting under state Brown Act requirements if most councilmembers attended, thus triggering mandates such as public comment. The county decided it couldn’t rely on exemptions it had assumed in the past for the State of the County event. 

Montes and fellow Lawson-Remer staffer Spencer Katz said the supervisor’s office contacted other supervisors’ offices to see if they’d like Lawson-Remer to switch up the traditional format of the annual speech so all or most supervisors could attend.  

“At the time, no office confirmed an RSVP or indicated that they wanted us adapt a new format to allow them to attend,” Montes wrote in an email. 

Lawson-Remer’s office continued planning an invitation-only address at the Natural History Museum that didn’t include public comment or formal public noticing.   

On Wednesday, staff and volunteers set up a photo backsplash featuring Lawson-Remer’s name, a Power point featuring her accomplishments as supervisor and laid out booklets describing them too. 

The program kicked off with invocations, a presentation of the colors and remarks by Democratic Rep. Juan Vargas. 

Then Lawson-Remer gave a speech laying out a progressive policy playbook to fight back against Trump that stood out from more typical past recitations of bipartisan county accomplishments and plans for the year.  

Attendees included fellow Democratic Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe, independent District Attorney Summer Stephan and Democratic San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. 

Anderson argued the format made the event inappropriately exclusive and left out county residents, including himself, who may have wanted to attend. He thinks the county should have proceeded as it did in past years given that the guidance came from an Attorney General’s opinion rather than a ruling – or simply incorporated other public meeting procedures to make the event more accessible to all. 

“Where is the statesmanship?” Anderson said. “When do people start putting constituents first?” 

Asked whether his staff had been asked about a potential format change months ago, Anderson said his team didn’t recall it. 

Desmond’s spokesperson didn’t respond to Voice’s questions about conversations about the format of the event and simply repeated that Desmond wasn’t invited to the State of the County. 

Katz acknowledged there may have been confusion and rejected the notion there were any partisan motivations behind the decisions. He said Lawson-Remer’s office would have adjusted the format if it had known Anderson and Desmond wanted to come. 

“It must have been more of a logistical communications breakdown at some point in the process between our staff, their staff, between (Anderson) and his staff, us and our chief,” Katz said.  

Katz also noted that Lawson-Remer shouted out a shallow rental subsidy program for seniors that Anderson championed in her speech, though she didn’t call him out by name. 

“We would have loved to have Supervisor Anderson there,” Katz said. 

The post GOP County Supes: Dem Didn’t Invite Us to State of County Speech appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

Poway residents have officially started an effort to recall Poway Councilmember Tony Blain just three months into his term. 

After colleagues and critics accused Blain of vote trading, bribery, harassment, bullying and retaliation since taking office, residents gave Blain a notice of intent to recall just before a City Council meeting on March 18. More than 60 residents signed it and it officially kicks off an effort to force a recall election to remove Blain from office. 

Voice of San Diego previously reported that the Poway City Council censured, or officially reprimanded, Blain last month after public emails revealed Blain attempting to vote trade with another councilmember.  

Dozens of emails going back several months also show Blain, who represents District 2, threatening and harassing elected officials and city staff members on multiple occasions, including City Attorney Alan Fenstermacher, who accused Blain of bullying and harassment at a Jan. 21 City Council meeting.  

Public emails also show Blain asking Fenstermacher to call the police on two different residents who criticized Blain via email. In one email, Blain wrote that he filed a police report against a resident who criticized him, Fenstermacher said, calling it “the most offensive thing [he’s] ever seen as a government attorney.”  

The council’s censure of Blain was the first in Poway’s 45-year history.  

Since then, calls for Blain to resign have grown louder with even the city’s mayor, Steve Vaus, urging Blain to resign at a Council meeting last month.  

But Blain isn’t budging.  

In a statement to Voice via email, Blain maintains that any corruption lies among other councilmembers and the mayor.  

“Recall effort was launched by developers/ painting contractor Mullin (who residents accuse of developing 22-acre Highcrest Court with his brother-in-law in Poway paying miniscule approximately $2,500 mitigation fees when rest of developments in Poway then paid MUCH more) who financially benefits from Mayor Vaus and Councilmember DeHoff voting YES on all battery plants and developments AFTER they take campaign contributions from developers,” Blain wrote. “Poway has corrupt Mayor who has appointed 4 Councilmembers instead of allowing Special Elections. Recall effort is simply a means of Poway Mayor trying to appoint a FIFTH Councilmember to maintain political control of Poway City Council and ruin our ‘City in the Country.’” 

Now, a group of Poway residents led by two former Poway councilmembers, John Mullin and Anita Edmondson, are taking matters into their own hands. 

Mullin, who served on the council from 2010 to 2022, told Voice of San Diego Blain is an “embarrassment” and a “disgrace,” who has committed egregious acts as an elected official. 

“We would all rather be doing something else,” Mullen said. “But we’re not going to stand by and watch him undo all the good work we’ve done in Poway over the years.” 

This Isn’t Poway’s First Recall Effort 

The recall effort against Blain isn’t the first one Poway has seen in its history.  

In 2010, residents recalled former Poway Councilmember Betty Rexford, who was accused of using her position and influence to interfere with construction on her neighbor’s property. 

Mullen told Voice that Rexford’s recall and the current recall effort against Blain show residents’ dedication to protecting Poway. 

“I think it really speaks well,” Mullen said. “I mean, we see a problem and we’re prepared to mobilize to fix the problem because we all take pride and Poway.” 

Vaus actually led Rexford’s recall effort and he later became the target of a recall effort in 2021 after he was accused of violating the state’s Political Reform Act by not filing certain paperwork and failing to report financial disclosures or register Carols by Candlelight, his annual Christmas-time fundraising concert, as a charity or business with the state. Vaus denied the allegations.  

The effort to recall Vaus failed to garner enough signatures to make it to a recall election. 

What’s next: Once the notice of intent for Blain’s recall is approved by the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, the group will have 90 days to collect at least 2,500 signatures, Mullen told Voice. That would prompt a vote for District 2 residents to decide whether Blain should be recalled. 

“If we mobilize with enough political influence to get 2,500 ballot signatures, I don’t think there’s any way that the election will not succeed to recall him,” Mullen said. 

Mullin and the other residents leading the effort also plan to push for a special election to replace Blain if he is recalled. Given that Blain is still early in his four-year term, residents of District 2 should be able to elect a new representative, Mullin said.  

The post Poway Residents Start Recall Effort to Remove Councilmember Tony Blain  appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

Students who enroll at the future UniverCity at Chula Vista will be able to earn a nursing degree from San Diego State University. Or they could get a public health degree from UC San Diego, or gain professional certificates in healthcare, business or technology.

There may also be options to pursue degrees from Cal State San Marcos and even study with Mexican universities.

The campus, which opens its first building this year, will offer a novel approach to higher education, as a hybrid institution offering degrees from the University of California, California State University and California Community College systems.

Assemblymember David Alvarez has made the campus a top priority since he was elected in 2022. I asked him why it’s needed and what the next steps are to build it.

“There is no four-year degree program in the South Bay,” Alvarez told me. “Chula Vista is the largest city in California without a four-year institution.”

Discussions about that educational gap have been ongoing for decades. In 2006 a group of California education leaders and local officials proposed building a university and research park in Chula Vista, to improve higher education access and promote economic development. 

By 2014 the city acquired nearly 400 acres of land for the new campus. But in 2017 the state Legislative Analyst’s Office concluded that there wasn’t enough enrollment demand for a single UC or CSU campus. So proponents agreed on a multi-institutional campus, focused on training students for crucial jobs.

“The only way to make an argument that a university was needed here was to demonstrate that there were workforce needs that weren’t being met,” in fields such as healthcare and nursing, Alvarez said.

He took up the torch in 2022, passing legislation that reserved the land for university use and getting $25 million for the Millenia Library, a library and classroom complex. It’s scheduled to open this year as the first building of the new higher education campus. Additional classroom buildings, housing and retail space are in planning stages for later years, Alvarez said. 

The first group of 30 nursing students will begin their studies in the fall, said Sonja Pruitt-Lord, interim vice provost for San Diego State. They’ll pursue Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees, to become clinical specialists, healthcare administrators or nursing professors.

While students will still attend some classes at the main campus of San Diego State, they’ll do clinical training at nursing simulation facilities in Chula Vista, she said. Those are rooms furnished with medical equipment and mannequins that simulate childbirth, heart attacks and other events.

“It’s state of the art nursing spaces,” Pruitt-Lord told me. “It’s designed in such a way that they look like hospital rooms.”

In fall 2026, another group of 50 San Diego State students working on a bachelor of science in nursing will start in Chula Vista. The campus will also offer a joint program with Southwestern College that will allow students to become registered nurses through the community college and then take upper division coursework in Chula Vista to complete bachelor’s degrees.

“We have a critical nursing shortage in the state of California and the country,”  Pruitt-Lord said. “Southwestern College has an amazing nursing program, so this is an opportunity to partner with them. 

More groups of San Diego State nursing students could enroll in the following years and the university will consider adding degrees in disciplines such as public administration, homeland security and other healthcare and technological fields, Pruitt-Lord said.

Also in 2026, UC San Diego would offer a pilot program to 30 students working on bachelor’s degrees in public health, UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said in a report to the legislature in February. 

Plus the campus will host extension courses from both universities. Students could earn certificates through UC Extended Studies in fields such as lactation consulting, accounting or early childhood education. San Diego State may offer courses through its Global Campus expansion program for students working toward degree programs, or professional certificates in areas such as project management, human resources and cybersecurity.

Cal State San Marcos may offer degrees in healthcare, conservation and resource studies, or film and media arts. And Mexican universities could provide U.S. students the chance to earn international degrees, Alvarez said. 

While the shared campus is unusual, it’s not unheard of. Alvarez and his staff visited Auraria Campus in Denver Colorado, which hosts Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and University of Colorado Denver. 

Getting the different higher education systems to line up in Chula Vista will be key, Alvarez said.

“My job is to get these segments to learn to work together, to be collaborative,” he said. “We need to learn to work cooperatively in government generally, but certainly in education, because we don’t have the resources to do things entirely on our own.”

Lawmakers Enlist New EPA Chief in South Bay Sewage Fight

California U.S. Reps. Scott Peters and Juan Vargas and Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff asked federal Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin to visit the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant to see how the cross-border sewage crisis is affecting San Diego communities.

“Since 2018, more than 100 billion gallons of toxic sewage, trash, and unmanaged stormwater have flowed across the United States-Mexico border into the Tijuana River Valley and neighboring communities,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter Tuesday.

The same day, Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre learned that the EPA had rejected her request to declare the Tijuana River Valley a Superfund site. It was the second time Aguirre had made that pitch, but the EPA responded that there was no new information to support superfund designation.

Related: Politico did a story Friday about how the issue is getting attention in D.C. “The issue grabbed EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s attention earlier this month when a construction incident in Mexico sent untreated sewage into the Tijuana River. Since then, he has publicly pressured America’s southern neighbor to focus on the problem — and pay for it.”

The report claims Zeldin has demanded daily reports on the problem. 

Lawmakers Blame Newsom for Plastic Problems

Gov. Gavin Newsom isn’t doing his job to cut plastic pollution, state Sen. Catherine Blakespear said. Blakespear has made plastic waste a signature issue, passing a law last year to close loopholes in California’s plastic bag ban. 

She and other lawmakers are criticizing Newsom for what they consider his failure to enforce an earlier law that requires producers to make sure all single-use packaging and plastic utensils sold in the state is recyclable or compostable, and that two-thirds of that is recycled.

Blakespear said Newsom is failing to make sure that plastic producers “take responsibility for the end-of-life management of their plastic.”

The Sacramento Report runs every Friday. Do you have tips, ideas or questions? Send them to me at deborah@voiceofsandiego.org.

The post Sacramento Report: Chula Vista Campus Comes into Focus appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

San Diego County’s top behavioral health official is resigning amid significant uncertainty around federal funding and the rollout of a slew of major initiatives.

Luke Bergmann, who has served as the county’s behavioral health services director for about six years, notified the county he “is leaving county service,” a county spokesperson confirmed late Tuesday.

Spokesperson Tammy Glenn did not immediately say when Bergmann revealed he would move on or when he would officially depart his post.

Bergmann’s resignation comes just two weeks after he appeared at a special Board of Supervisors meeting detailing plans to expand the county’s addiction treatment system and the prospect of drastic federal Medicaid cuts that he cautioned would affect all behavioral health programs in the county. Bergmann had already expected a projected county budget shortfall for next year and changes tied to state Proposition 1, passed by voters last March, to force tough calls.

Throughout the meeting and in a LinkedIn post soon after it, Bergmann seemed focused on continuing to lead the county as it headed into potential funding storms.

“We will need unprecedented collaboration and creativity to ensure continued access to care,” Bergmann wrote after the March 4 meeting. “How can we turn this crisis into opportunity?”

Now the county will be moving forward without the man who spent years guiding its behavioral health response and overseeing an unprecedented increase in new services.

In a statement, Glenn wrote that the county appreciated Bergmann’s “innovation and vision in supporting the needs of the region.”

“The county team remains committed to the important work we do, and we will ensure a smooth transition during this period of change,” Glenn wrote. “We thank Dr. Bergmann for his service and wish Dr. Bergmann the best in his future endeavors.”

Bergmann did immediately not respond to messages from Voice of San Diego on Tuesday.

His resignation comes months after a wave of high-level county departures and the appointment last June of longtime county official Ebony Shelton as the county’s chief administrative officer.

It doesn’t appear that Bergmann’s exit was forced by county supervisors. They have largely supported him in recent history.

Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, who called the March 4 hearing, expressed disappointment about Bergmann’s resignation in a statement.

“Luke Bergmann has been a leader and a shining light at our county, driving innovation and the transformation of our behavioral health care system,” Lawson-Remer wrote. “His departure is a huge loss for our entire county.”

Lawson-Remer noted that Bergmann left behind detailed plans to expand mental health and addiction treatment options that she pledged to continue moving forward on despite a series of upcoming challenges.

Fellow Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe was also upset by the news — and said she remained committed to executing the vision that Bergmann laid out.

“It’s deeply disappointing that, amid a behavioral health and homelessness crisis, we are losing a foundational leader in this field,” Montgomery Steppe wrote. “This departure makes our work even more challenging, but I’m committed to supporting the innovative ideas Dr. Bergmann pushed to implement for our region.”

Bergmann joined the county’s behavioral health operation in 2018 after nearly a decade working in New York’s municipal hospital system, the largest health care network in the nation.

After his arrival in San Diego, Bergmann urged the county to reorient its approach to mental health care by introducing new services such as crisis stabilization units to address the region’s clogged psychiatric care system and reduce the burden on local hospitals. The county now has six crisis stabilization units where patients in crisis can stay for up to 24 hours rather than go to hospital emergency rooms that had been flooded with behavioral health patients. Two more units will open soon.

Bergmann also oversaw the eventual deployment of 44 countywide teams that respond to non-violent behavioral health crisis calls with goal of avoiding police responses that can be more traumatic and dangerous.  

“Over the last five years, we have built a crisis and diversionary service network that didn’t exist before,” Bergmann said during the county meeting earlier this month.

During that time, Bergmann has become one of the county’s most prominent non-elected officials. He has spoken at countless community meetings and conferences and is often quoted by news outlets far from San Diego speaking about California’s behavioral health reforms.

Soon after his arrival in San Diego, Bergmann was also thrust into discussions with multiple hospital systems planning to close inpatient psychiatric beds. One of the highest profile was with Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, which announced in 2018 that it would close its inpatient unit. Under Bergmann’s leadership, Tri-City ultimately agreed to partner with the county to build a 16-unit psychiatric health facility.

There have been setbacks too. For example, a high-profile plan to pursue a mental health hub with UC San Diego crumbled late last year after Bergmann failed to reach a deal with the health system.

State reforms brought even more controversy and tension with city officials including San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria.

Gloria and others have long wanted the county to respond with more urgency to the region’s intertwined behavioral health and homelessness crises. Though Bergmann oversaw an unprecedented increase in county behavioral health expansions, Gloria and other city officials have viewed Bergmann as more focused on planning an ideal behavioral health system than on rapidly opening new inpatient and treatment beds they argue are needed to serve the most vulnerable San Diegans.

Yet in October 2023, Bergmann and his team became among the first in the state to implement a controversial CARE Court system aimed at serving people with serious untreated psychotic disorders, drawing praise from state officials for their early results. But Gloria and families of people with serious mental illnesses have been frustrated with a rollout that hasn’t matched the rhetoric surrounding the law.

Then, at Bergmann’s urging in December 2023, county supervisors voted to postpone implementation of a state conservatorship expansion law. That decision drew fire from Gloria and Gov. Gavin Newsom, though the county still implemented the law a year earlier than many others in the state this January.  The county spent months preparing to enact the legislation but during that time didn’t add a significant number of beds expected to be in greater demand, again spurring frustration from Gloria and others. The passage of Proposition 36, which aimed to direct third-time drug offenders into treatment, only added to expectations of increased demand.

And even before more recent threats of federal cuts, Bergmann and other county officials feared harsher budget realities.

County officials late last year projected a nearly $140 million budget shortfall for the fiscal year that begins in July, a deficit that staff has said will require some cuts to county programs.

Bergmann has also been cautious about Proposition 1, a state bond measure passed last year that he has said could deliver funding for hundreds of new behavioral health beds and slots – and a forced reshuffling of priorities that could hurt existing behavioral health programs.

In January, Bergmann and Lawson-Remer cheered the region’s more than two dozen project proposals, including two from the county, they hope will receive state bond funds.

But Bergmann previously told Voice that changing priorities under Proposition 1 mean some programs and services that now rely on state millionaires’ tax funds helping back that bond could be on the chopping block if the county and providers can’t find other cash to support them. For example, the county will have less state money for programs focused on preventing behavioral health crises and reduced cash for services including crisis stabilization units.

“What I’m concerned about overall is that there is a significant diminishment in the availability of (tax dollars) to support our ongoing bread and butter, core clinical service continuum,” Bergmann said early last year.

The prospect of massive Medicaid cuts has only increased Bergmann’s budgetary concerns recently.

For example, he warned during the March 4 Board of Supervisors meeting that a slashed Medicaid budget would imperil federal dollars that now cover 70 percent of costs for the county’s various substance use treatment programs.

Now the county will be navigating these challenges without Bergmann.

The post County’s Top Behavioral Health Official Resigns appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

After a tumultuous process to hire the county’s top bureaucrat ended with a unanimous appointment this summer, the county needs to fill about 10 other top leadership posts. 

Interim leaders are now overseeing each of the county’s four major branches, including the Health and Human Services Agency and public safety group. Another top county official was also demoted after the county’s new leader took the helm. The county is also looking to hire a public health officer, chief medical officer, public works director and an immigrant and refugee affairs office director. 

The openings represent a turning point for a county government long led by a Republican board majority that’s shifted to a Democratic majority.  

New Chief Administrative Officer Ebony Shelton has a chance to hire key leaders to execute her vision for county government. She is also eyeing a reorganization of the nearly 19,000-employee operation. Shelton’s choices will drive whether county government will meet Democratic supervisors’ and activists’ long-term wishes for a more progressive, labor-friendly county government on the front lines of addressing the region’s foremost challenges.  

For now, the openings leave the county with temporary leaders less equipped to advance major new initiatives – plus a dose of uncertainty. 

Many of the openings aren’t new. Some followed long-planned retirements, including three high-profile ones. A few have come up since Shelton took over. 

County spokesperson Michael Workman said the wave of departures shouldn’t be viewed as alarming, in part because many positions had been left open to allow the incoming CAO to build her own team. National searches for replacements are now under way. 

“When a new CAO comes in, change happens,” Workman wrote. “The folks who are serving in interim roles are experienced county executives and business is being conducted without missing a beat.” 

(Worth noting: Workman, the county’s longtime communications director, is preparing to depart county government himself later this year.  He retired in March, but supervisors voted that month to rehire Workman until a replacement is onboarded or for up to 960 hours, a cap that Workman estimates he’ll hit in mid-November.) 

In a statement, County Board Chair Nora Vargas said the county is “committed to filling open positions through a fair and thorough process to ensure we hire the best candidates.”  

“Above all, we are focused on bringing in public servants who will effectively serve the needs of our constituents throughout the region and uphold the values of our community,” Vargas wrote. 

Workman said Shelton plans to fill deputy CAO positions by early October and expects to pursue a multi-year county reorganization to increase efficiency, better align programs and services to “serve community needs” and attract and retain a talented workforce. 

Shelton’s vision for county government, Workman wrote, is a “a team that represents and champions our values of equity and belonging, that creates a culture of acceptance and environment of trust to empower team members to make decisions to improve lives and enhance economic prosperity for all San Diegans.” 

He said Shelton’s top policy priorities include preventing homelessness, the county’s climate action and housing blueprint plans, behavioral health improvements and boosting alternatives to incarceration. 

There’s already been one major change since Shelton took the helm. 

Former county Registrar of Voters Michael Vu, who former top county bureaucrat Helen Robbins-Meyer made her assistant CAO, last month became a deputy CAO solely overseeing the elections office he once led. Vu, who at one point was considered a prime  candidate for the county’s top unelected post, took an $85,000 annual pay cut. 

Other deputy CAO roles each have at least seven departments reporting to them – and the registrar of voters previously reported to the bureaucrat who managed other functions including the county auditor and controller, communications office and human resources.  

When Voice of San Diego inquired about the narrow scope of Vu’s new role, Workman wrote that the county previously had a single deputy CAO position “filled by folks focused on a single or narrow task” or special assignments. Workman said the position has been “dormant” the past few years following a county reorganization. 

Workman declined to comment on the reasoning behind Vu’s job change or to elaborate on other details. 

Shelton appears to have decided against having Vu, a beloved local official during his time as registrar, serve as her No. 2 and to have reassigned him to oversee elections to provide a softer landing in what’s likely a transitional role. 

The scope of Vu’s current and former roles is among the items that could come up in the upcoming reorganization effort. 

Longtime county bureaucrat Sarah Aghassi, who left county government effective July 6 after serving as interim CAO, formally called for changes in a memo to county supervisors earlier this summer. She suggested an in-depth review of county government and “potential reorganizational options.” 

“For the past five years, I have continuously advocated for an assessment of our county organizational structure to determine whether we have outgrown the existing structure,” Aghassi wrote. “It is evidence that a culture shift is needed throughout the organization that will allow for innovative thinking to address the organization’s structural needs.” 

Among Aghassi’s more specific recommendations: develop a “more robust financial planning team” to analyze past trends and prepare for potentially tougher fiscal times, explore whether the deputy CAO management structure remains effective, review county policies to ensure they “align with our goals of equity and efficiency” and map out bottlenecks in departments such as purchasing and contracting to “evaluate areas ripe for improvement.” 

Workman said that Shelton expects to implement all of Aghassi’s recommendations and is preparing strategies to proceed. 

Board Vice Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Crystal Irving, who leads the county’s largest labor union, wrote in separate statements that they see the leadership change and the wave of open positions as an opportunity to reshape the county too. 

“The county has a golden opportunity to build a transformational vision that will end the culture of neglect towards its workforce and the critical services the community depends on,” wrote Crystal Irving, president of the Service Employees International Union Local 221. “We are optimistic that our new CAO will assemble a leadership team with the values and skills needed to create a county that truly works for all San Diegans.” 

Lawson-Remer wrote in a statement that she wants new county leadership to prioritize community-focused and data-driven work. 

“This board has been steering the county in a new direction for the last four years, and I want leaders who can accelerate that work. I want change-oriented leaders to be selected,” Lawson-Remer wrote. “I want them to be empowered to be innovative, experienced enough to take calculated risks, and willing to listen to the voices of their workforce to accomplish our mission of serving the residents of this county.” 

The post Help Wanted: County’s New Top Boss Has Lots of Big Leadership Openings appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

Next week, Mayor Todd Gloria will ask the City Council to approve a proposed lease for a 1,000-bed shelter that’s more favorable than the initial deal he pitched a few months ago. 

But independent budget analysts for the city and a veteran industrial broker who once tried to lease out the Middletown warehouse’s top floor in the late 1980s argue the city is proposing to pay more for the space than it’s worth according to the market. 

The City Council now has a decision: Should the city pay a premium for a site Gloria has decided is ideal for a long-term homeless campus? 

Following four closed-door City Council briefings on the deal, the rental rate the owner of the building is seeking fell by 50 cents a square foot to $1.95 a square foot with rents escalating 3.5 percent annually over the proposed 30-year lease. That landlord, Douglas Hamm, has also agreed to chip in $5 million, which the city may use to help pay for the estimated $18 million in upgrades needed to convert the former print shop into a shelter campus. The new deal also calls for Hamm to pay 14 percent of his net profits to the city if he flips the property within the first five years of the lease, though Hamm has said he plans to hold onto the property. The city would also skip rent payments during the first 19 months of arrangement while it’s converting the warehouse into a shelter campus.  

Gloria and veteran mayoral adviser Steve Cushman, who stepped in to help negotiate the deal after the initial terms spawned an avalanche of criticism, argue they’ve got an excellent deal for a property more ideal for a large-scale shelter than at least 19 others the city has assessed. 

“I think what we’ve been able to do in terms of the deal that was first daylighted a few months back to where we’re at today, it is absolutely a better deal,” Gloria said Monday. “I think that this deal is very comparable to what else we could get in the marketplace, largely because the size and location is absolutely unbeatable.” 

The two-level 65,000 square foot building at Kettner Boulevard and Vine Street is surrounded by train tracks, an airport parking garage, Interstate 5 and a San Diego Gas & Electric substation – and not in the immediate vicinity of homes or businesses. Even so, it has drawn pushback from Mission Hills residents. 

Gloria and his team have also argued the multi-story building north of downtown offers flexibility to serve multiple homeless populations in different spaces and allows for onsite amenities such as a commercial kitchen and medical services. 

But independent budget analysts for the city and their real estate consultant, Kosmont Companies, came away convinced the new deal remains too favorable to Hamm in traditional commercial real estate terms, even with his  more recent concessions. 

“The proposed lease is not competitive with market rates for similar properties and is likely to further trend above market due to the high annual rent escalator,” budget analysts wrote in a report released late Monday. 

In April, they documented 37 comparable properties with an average per square foot rate of $1.44 a square foot and a second review of nine properties earlier this month found nine properties in the surrounding area had average rents of $1.54 a square foot. 

“In sum, the proposed lease terms represent a premium above competitive market rates,” budget analysts wrote. “It may be reasonable for the city to pay some premium for the Kettner and Vine site if the site’s unique characteristics make it more valuable to the city than it would be to any other party, but the Council and public should be aware of how much that premium is, and fully consider associated tradeoffs.” 

Veteran industrial broker Rex Huffman, who has worked in the area for years, said the proposed city lease deal remains vastly more expensive than others he negotiated last year. He thinks it would be a better deal if the city razed the building and built a new one given all the challenges the 1960s era building presents. 

“I wouldn’t touch this deal with a 10-foot pole,” Huffman said. “I just don’t get it.” 

Huffman said he helped negotiate what he considers a similar deal for a lower rate last year. It was 10-year lease renewal with Specialty Produce for its longtime 50,000 square foot headquarters – which also has about 7,500 square feet of office space – near Hamm’s warehouse and came with a a $1.72 per square foot base with a 3 percent annual escalator. 

That’s also what is called a “triple-net lease” like the one Gloria’s team is pitching for the Middletown shelter. Triple-net leases typically put tenants on the hook for building maintenance, property taxes and other costs on top of the base rental rate. (City budget analysts estimated non-rent costs for the city deal tied to this arrangement would amount to about $390,000 annually on top of the $1.95 a square foot base rent.) 

Hamm, the building owner, has argued critics among real estate experts aren’t imagining the property’s possibilities like he does. He said the Middletown property is ideal for entertainment, sports and retail tenants looking for large properties with significant indoor and outdoor space close to downtown that aren’t surrounded by neighbors. 

This spring, Hamm shared documentation with Voice of San Diego describing a potential 15-year lease for the full property with a base rent of $2.50 a square foot and an email exchange with a “national creative company” about a 20-year proposed lease at $3.50 a square foot that he engaged earlier this year. 

Hamm spokesperson Margie Newman Tsay didn’t elaborate on concerns about the lease deal in a late Monday statement. 

“We’re proud of this effort and Doug is honored to be a partner in this bold work to address San Diego’s homelessness crisis,” Newman Tsay wrote. 

Gloria and Cushman maintain that the property Hamm purchased for $13.25 million in April has passed city officials’ many tests and bested other sites they’ve eyed as shelter options. 

“At this point in time, we have the best facility that we could hope for,” Cushman said. “There are those who could say it’s 10 cents or so too expensive. That isn’t the issue. The issue is, where can we find a facility that we can provide a meaningful service to help people transition their lives?” 

The post City Budget Analysts Slam New, Improved Mega Shelter Deal appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

A surefire way to get regular San Diegans to pay attention to local politics is to float a policy about what they can and can’t do on the beach (see: beach yoga ban). 

Before short-term vacation rentals and street vendors, there were drunk people vexing the minds of coastal homeowners.  

The beef inspired a years-long battle to ban alcohol at local beaches and parks. Partiers and beverage enjoyers killed numerous attempts to pass one before the prohibitionists prevailed in 2008. 

What you might not know is that the law spared a handful of local parks. With Fourth of July around the corner, we thought we’d compile a map of all the San Diego parks where you can still drink during the day — no brown paper bag required. 

The Road to Beach Prohibition 

The saga began in 1990, when at an infamously rowdy meeting, San Diego’s City Council rejected a proposal to ban booze on city beaches. Among the bans’ opponents at the time were the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club, the San Diego Symphony and the organizers of the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Balboa Park. 

A ban enacted in 1991 was also suspended just 17 hours after taking effect when 45,000 signatures opposing the ordinance were submitted to the City Clerk’s office. 

The City Council supported a more limited ban in some beach areas in 2002, but a referendum backed by local alcohol retailers killed it by year’s end. Still, the public discussion charged on, largely due to the political ambitions of current Board of Supervisors candidate and then-councilmember Kevin Faulconer. 

He opposed a ban but formed a task force on the issue. It punted on an all-out ban in mid-2007.  The issue was all but dead (again). So, what brought the ban back from the ashes?  

A group of sunburnt, juiced up, holiday weekend beachgoers. 

Just months after the task force’s decision, a rowdy, booze-fueled melee on Labor Day descended further into chaos when police clad in riot gear arrived to break things up. 

 Bottles were thrown, footage was circulated and opinions were swayed. 

Faulconer sprang into action, calling a press conference where he reversed course and announced his support of a full ban.  

And so it was. 

The City Council passed a temporary ban later that year, and in 2008, after nearly two decades of being asked, voters approved a permanent ban by a five-point margin. In the years since the ban’s passage, the City Council has chipped away some of the initial exceptions, leaving booze unwelcome at all of San Diego’s beaches.  

Still, there are a handful of city parks where San Diegans can post up, lean back and crack open a cold one. Happy Fourth of July. 

Where You Can Drink Citywide 

Over the years, some well-known drinking spots, like Pacific Beach’s Kate O. Sessions Memorial Park, have banned booze. Still, aside from Balboa Park, alcohol is permitted from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 19 San Diego parks.  

Where You Can Drink in Balboa Park 

San Diego’s crown jewel is no stranger to booze. There are a whopping nine lawns where visitors can drink alcohol. Unlike other city parks, however, drinking is only allowed from noon to 8 p.m. 

The post Beach Beers Are Extinct, But You Can Still (Legally) Crack Open a Cold One at these San Diego Parks appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

The city of San Diego isn’t hurrying to change its approach to homelessness following a blockbuster U.S. Supreme Court ruling declared anti-camping enforcement isn’t cruel or unusual. 

But Friday’s ruling could influence other policies around the county, including a yet-to-be introduced San Diego County camping ban county supervisors asked bureaucrats to craft last fall. 

Quick context: Many West Coast cities including San Diego implored the nation’s top court to weigh in on the legality of Grants Pass, Ore.’s camping ban a few years after three of the small Oregon city’s homeless residents sued the city and sought to overturn its camping ban. In 2020, a court sided with the homeless residents and said it was a violation of the Eighth Amendment to restrict camping and sleeping in public if homeless residents don’t have another place to go. Now the Supreme Court has decided camping bans aren’t cruel and unusual and thus don’t violate the Constitution. 

What’s this mean for the city of San Diego? The city has multiple laws on the books that allow it to police homelessness, including the camping ban passed last year. 

Rachel Laing, a spokesperson for Mayor Todd Gloria, said Friday that Gloria’s team views the Supreme Court ruling as a validation of the camping ban. The ordinance bars homeless camps in public spaces when shelter is available and in certain locations, like parks and near schools, even when it isn’t. 

“There will be a meeting with (Police) Chief (Scott) Wahl and the City Attorney’s office to review the ruling and see if any changes are warranted, but at this point, we are seeing it as authority to continue our enforcement push concurrent with expanding shelter,” Laing wrote in an email. 

City Attorney Mara Elliott’s office struck a similar tone, noting the city’s top lawyers were satisfied the ruling backs what they’ve described as the city’s balanced approach to protecting both homeless San Diegans and the broader public. 

“As prosecutors, we will continue to enforce the law by bringing forward those cases which can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” the office wrote in a statement. “The decision today doesn’t change the city’s municipal code or our commitment to uphold it.” 

The two candidates vying to replace Elliott had similar takes. 

Assemblymember Brian Maienschein wrote in a statement city officials “now have clarity on the constitutionality of their actions” following “the longstanding legal limbo” while now-Chief Deputy City Attorney Heather Ferbert, who drafted the legal analysis of the city’s camping ban ordinance, wrote that Grants Pass upholds the ban and offers the city “more local control over our local homelessness response.” 

Worth noting: If the city wants to make changes to its legal approach to policing homeless camps following Friday’s ruling, it can’t make dramatic changes overnight. Those would require City Council or a judge’s approval.  

The camping ban formally codified the city’s progressive enforcement model. Police first offer shelter before ticketing people for violations. Then they increase the penalty upon further encounters.  

The city also has multiple legal settlements that dictate steps it must take before ticketing or arresting homeless San Diegans for violations tied to their homelessness.  

For example, a 2007 settlement requires police to offer an open shelter bed to people they encounter on the street between 9 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. before they can cite or arrest them for illegal lodging.  In other words, officers can’t arrest homeless residents for settling somewhere without permission if shelters are full.  

While illegal lodging hasn’t been the city’s prime tool for cracking down on homeless camps in recent years, that settlement guided the city’s progressive enforcement model. 

Attorney Scott Dreher, who negotiated the 2007 settlement, said Friday that any changes to those settlements would require a judge’s approval – and that he’ll be watching closely to see how the city responds to the Grants Pass case.  

“My fear is the city will interpret this as, ‘Let’s go. We can do whatever we want,’” Dreher said. 

But Dreher doesn’t believe the Grants Pass ruling will prevent challenges tied to homelessness enforcement on grounds beyond the Eighth Amendment cruel and unusual punishment argument that was the focus of this case. 

What about other parts of the county? The Grants Pass case could have a much greater impact outside the city of San Diego. 

City officials in Escondido, which last week passed a camping ban similar to the city of San Diego’s, have already said they may change their new ordinance following the Grants Pass decision. This year’s homeless census showed Escondido has the highest number of unsheltered homeless residents in North County . Though it has far fewer shelter beds than homeless residents. Escondido officials didn’t appear to be hurrying to add more shelter beds. 

Poway, which also has a camping ban on the books and hasn’t made aggressive moves to add shelter, may view the ruling as an opening to amend its ban too. 

The Grants Pass ruling could also have a major impact for the forthcoming county camping ban proposal that East County Supervisor Joel Anderson pushed for last fall. 

County supervisors voted unanimously last October to direct staff to draft an ordinance allowing the county to clear homeless camps in unincorporated areas where there are concerns about fires or other safety hazards. 

Anderson and North County Supervisor Jim Desmond, both Republicans, cheered the Grants Pass decision and hinted that they see it as an opportunity. 

“Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court should allow us to more appropriately address the homelessness crisis and enact ordinances such as the one I called for to help reclaim our public parks and sidewalks while preventing pollution and wildfires from illegal encampments,” Anderson wrote in a Friday statement. 

Desmond wrote that the ruling was “paramount for the safety and well-being of our community and for restoring the lives of those suffering.” 

“It’s time for the city and county to restrict all sleeping on sidewalks,” he wrote. 

Anderson and Desmond’s Democratic colleagues didn’t issue statements on Friday. 

Back in October – before now-Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe took office – Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer and board Chairwoman Nora Vargas told Anderson they appreciated his stated focus on safety concerns in proposing a county camping ban. Montgomery Steppe, though, opposed the city’s camping ban when she was on the City Council.  

Lawson-Remer and Vargas said they would back Anderson’s proposal with that aim, plus significant information on plans for the county to expand shelter options and ensure a humane approach that aims to avoid criminalizing homeless residents. 

Bottom line: Concerns about shelter offerings could still throttle the county’s camping ban push. 

The post What the Grants Pass Ruling Means for San Diego appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

This post originally ran in the Sacramento Report.

The state Department of Insurance last week released a plan to increase insurance policies for areas with high wildfire risk.

The plan includes a statewide map showing areas where wildfire risk policies are concentrated. Nineteen San Diego areas made the list, including numerous backcountry communities.

We took a look at those areas in April, when State Farm announced non-renewal of 72,000 policies statewide, including more than 2,000 in San Diego.

Under the new plan, companies would commit to writing policies for homes in high-risk parts of California, allowing more people to move off the high-priced FAIR plan onto conventional insurance. In return, insurance companies will get to use “catastrophe modeling” to predict future losses when raising rates, instead of relying on historical wildfire records.

State Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said the new system would offer customers better options and more stable costs. But consumer advocates warn that catastrophe modeling can be unreliable, and say it hiked policy costs in Florida. 

State Sen. Catherine Blakespear also hosted a webinar on high risk insurance  last week, which covered reasons for the collapse of insurance markets and steps you can take to keep their homes safe.

The post How California Can Bring Insurance Coverage to High Risk Areas appeared first on Voice of San Diego.