The San Diego County budget leaped to the forefront of the race to fill a vacant South County seat on the County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday.

Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, the Republican in the race, staged an early morning press conference to decry a recent proposal by board Democrats tap up to $355 million in rainy day funds to prepare for possible federal cuts to Medicaid and other programs.

McCann said the Democrats’ proposal, which comes at time when the county already faces a $140 million budget deficit, “turns our emergency fund into a slush fund…We need to stop ignoring the real problem, which is too much spending.”

McCann and Republican Supervisor Jim Desmond, who also spoke at the press conference, identified several county programs they’d target for elimination before tapping reserves: A $7.5 million expenditure on free phone calls for jail inmates, a $5 million program providing free legal services to undocumented immigrants and the county’s recently created Office of Racial Equity and Justice.

Board Democrats Terra Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe have emphasized that their reserve proposal is intended only to prepare for future budget emergencies, not power new government spending.

But McCann and Desmond said the proposal shows Democrats are not being prudent with taxpayers’ money. “Instead of spending on pointless projects, we need to prioritize the county’s core services,” McCann said. “Reserves [are] meant to fight wildfires and respond to true emergencies, not for political issues.”

The Trump card: McCann’s Democratic opponent, Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, immediately slapped back at the call for cuts with a sharply worded statement accusing McCann of “doubling down on the Republican MAGA plan to slash funding for Medi-Cal and children’s nutrition programs South County families rely on most.”

The slam echoed previous efforts Aguirre has made to tie McCann to unpopular Trump administration policies. But McCann said he has never proposed cutting either Medi-Cal or child nutrition spending and called himself a “strong advocate” for both programs. He reiterated his support for fully funding both, he said, as recently as an April 30 Head Start event in Chula Vista.

Asked to explain the Trump link, Aguirre’s campaign consultant, Dan Rottenstreich, acknowledged that, in fact, it was county budget staff who proposed reducing the number of county employees who enroll people in state healthcare and food programs, not McCann.

But Rottenstreich argued that McCann’s opposition to Democrats’ budget reserve proposal, along with a related proposal to delay the budget vote until after the Supervisor election, amounted to implicit support for the Medi-Cal staff reduction.

Divergent priorities: The clash over the reserve proposal highlighted the sharply divergent views at stake in the supervisor race.

McCann said that, under Democratic leadership, the Board of Supervisors had strayed from the county’s core mission, piling up extraneous programs and running the county into a budgetary ditch.

“Everyone wants government to do everything,” he said. “But…local government needs to focus on core services.”

McCann said he had kept Chula Vista’s budget balanced for years without staff or service cuts by “focusing on the core mission of the city and not going off on all these other issues that cost money.”

Aguirre on Wednesday framed the problem in opposite  terms. “The county doesn’t lack for resources,” she said. “It lacks the political will to take action.”

Aguirre said tapping the county’s reserves would enable long-needed investment in parts of the county that had been ignored for years. The county, she said, “has done next to nothing to end chronic neglect of our community. And it’s not putting tax dollars where they’re needed most – fixing the [Tijuana River] sewage crisis and helping people afford to live here.”

The post County Budget Muscles Into Supervisor Race appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

By now, all of you San Onofre State Beach lovers have heard that its beloved beaches, campgrounds and trails will continue to be open to the public for at least another 25 years. 

State officials recently celebrated the signing of a lease agreement between the California parks department and the U.S. military for continued public access of San Onofre State Beach. 

The parties officially signed the agreement last August, prompting a collective sigh of relief from the millions of people who frequent the beloved coastal area each year. 

San Onofre is part of Camp Pendleton, which is a military base owned by the U.S. Marine Corps, a component of the U.S. Navy. For the past 53 years the military has leased part of San Onofre to the California Department of Parks and Recreation for $1. Talk about a bargain. 

Some elements of the new lease are still in “active negotiation,” according to Capt. James Sartain, operations officer for Camp Pendleton. 

I got my hands on a copy of the new lease. It mentions in-kind contributions like an energy storage facility, military training access and more. 

The New Terms 

I previously reported that rent for San Onofre State Beach was expected to go way up, and it did.  

That’s because of a federal law that dates back to the 1970s requiring military land to be leased for an amount that is not less than the property’s fair market value. Only the Secretary of the Navy has the authority to deviate from that fair market price, the law states. A Navy policy enacted in 2013 also has similar requirements.   

The new agreement requires the State Parks Department to pay the military $3.2 million a year for 25 years. It also requires payment of “arrears rent,” or overdue rent, in the amount of $9.6 million. That’s a total of $89.6 million for the full term of the lease. 

Fortunately, the military is allowing the State Parks Department to provide in-kind contributions instead of paying cash. In-kind contributions are contributions of goods or services, instead of monetary contributions. 

Energy Infrastructure Projects: The agreement requires the State Parks Department to provide “government-approved and state-funded energy infrastructure projects to [Camp Pendleton], other Marine Corps activities and activities at San Onofre State Beach and Campground.” 

Mutually agreed upon projects will receive state funding from the California Energy Commission, or CEC, according to the agreement.  

The California Energy Commission announced one of these projects last December; a long-duration energy storage project at Camp Pendleton funded by a $42 million grant. 

“The project will provide electricity to the statewide grid and backup power to the base for up to 14 days during power outages,” according to a press release from the commission. “It will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by replacing fossil fuel-powered back-up generation and demonstrate solutions that can be scaled and replicated to meet the state’s climate and clean energy goals.” 

The grant is part of the Long-Duration Energy Storage Program, which is funded by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s multi-billion-dollar plan to combat climate change. The project is the largest grant awarded under the program and is expected to be completed by summer 2027. 

Capt. Sartain, who represents Camp Pendleton, would not comment on the energy storage project, and instead reiterated that parts of the agreement are still being negotiated. 

Representatives for the State Parks Department did not respond to a request for comment about the project. 

Training Venues: The State Parks Department has agreed to provide four venues for military training on State Parks’ properties anywhere in the state. According to the agreement, training access will start four years into the lease and continue through the end of the lease. 

This term also requires that a Training Opportunities Working Group be established with representatives from the Marine Corps and the State Parks Department to select which State Parks they will use for training and to create a contract outlining the terms of the training access.  

Law Enforcement & Security Services: According to the agreement, the State Parks Department must also provide state law enforcement and security services for non-leased portions of San Onofre State Park and a large desert area near Twentynine Palms that doubles as an annual off-roading event and a Marine Corps training area. 

Lease Termination: Both the U.S. military and the State Parks Department can terminate the lease at any time with a year’s written notice. The only exception is if a national emergency is declared by the U.S. president or Congress that requires government use of the San Onofre property, the U.S. military can terminate the lease immediately and without notice. 

The government or U.S. military can also choose to sell or transfer the property with a year’s written notice. 

What Else I’m Working On 

You may remember a story I wrote last year about a family of five who was living in a family homeless shelter run by nonprofit Interfaith Community Services. 

José, Mercedes and their three children went from living in rental cars, U-Haul vans and motels to finally getting accepted into a shelter. 

Now, the family has found permanent housing. I’m working on a second story about the ups and downs they have endured to get here, and a special surprise they received to help make their new apartment feel like a home. 

In Other News 

• Some San Marcos residents are raising concerns about a proposed 150-bed substance use disorder treatment facility by Interfaith Community Services. Residents say it’s too close to several schools. (Coast News) 
• Nurses at Tri-City Medical Center recently held informational pickets, warning hospital officials of understaffing, workplace safety issues and stalled pay negotiations. (Coast News) 
• Oceanside’s City Council set beach restoration and homelessness as top priorities for the upcoming budget cycle. Both areas will get funding from a half-cent sales tax extension approved by voters last November. (Union-Tribune) 
• Five people were charged in connection with a suspected smuggling attempt that killed at least three migrants when a panga capsized off Del Mar. (Union-Tribune) 

The post North County Report: A Closer Look at New San Onofre Beach Lease Agreement appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

Seven years ago, Jerry Hobbs, a Grossmont Union High School District teacher, resigned after officials launched an investigation into allegations he’d engaged in misconduct.  

Years later, Hobbs was hired as a paralegal for a law firm that ended up doing work for the district. That work included conducting an investigation into Hobbs’ former boss, the person who launched an investigation into him. Hobbs worked on that investigation, which concluded he’d been a victim of retaliation. 

A settlement agreement he helped draft then cleared the way for his rehiring at Grossmont – and district officials wasted no time. They hired him the month after the agreement to serve in a lofty administrative role, even as the district’s deteriorating financial position led to job cuts. 

Now, in a leaked memo, the law firm at which he worked suggests he deceptively altered that settlement without their knowledge, adding potentially “illegal,” language. 

As Grossmont’s community continues to be roiled by controversial layoffs, the saga has added fuel to the fire. 

An Investigation Leads to a Settlement 

In 2018, Grossmont Union High School District began investigating Hobbs, then a teacher at the district’s REACH Academy, a special education school in El Cajon. He later resigned. 

Exactly what district officials were investigating is unclear. But he insists the allegations against him were unfounded and he said an investigation by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing into the 2018 situation did not find any grounds to discipline him. The commission’s website shows he has not been disciplined. 

After his resignation, Hobbs went on to work as a paralegal at JW Howard Attorneys, a local law firm whose connection with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made headlines.  

In July 2024, Grossmont’s board hired JW Howard Attorneys to conduct an internal investigation into allegations that Rose Tagnesi, the district’s former director of special education – and Hobbs’ former supervisor – engaged in retaliation against Grossmont employees.  

District officials had previously launched an investigation against Tagnesi and demoted her in February 2024.  

Tagnesi, who resigned following her demotion, has denied any wrongdoing and has since sued the district, alleging she faced discrimination and harassment because she is lesbian.  

Hobbs, who had worked at JW Howard for nearly two years and once worked below Tagnesi at Grossmont, took part in the firm’s investigation. 

“His background in legal research and, especially, in education and education policy and culture, suggested that he could be particularly helpful in the conduct of the investigation,” a memo addressed to Trustee Jim Kelly and dated April 27 reads.  

Kelly did not respond to requests for comment. John Howard, the founder of JW Howard, confirmed he had authored the memo but said he could not comment on the document. 

Hobbs said participating in the investigation of his former boss was not a conflict of interest. His role was simple and limited, he insisted. 

“I was the researcher. I was the person sorting evidence and putting it in front of an attorney,” Hobbs said. “I wasn’t really involved in the case per se.” 

JW Howard’s investigation ultimately identified 24 “victims,” of Tagnesi’s retaliation. Included among them was Hobbs. According to the memo, this led employees at JW Howard to believe Hobbs should be given another chance to work for Grossmont. “As a result of our findings, we were prepared to recommend that, in light of later developments, his record at GUHSD be updated and that he be made eligible for rehire,” the memo reads.  

Based on the advice of attorney William Diedrich, a lawyer experienced with educational issues, entering into a settlement with the district was the easiest way to make Hobbs rehirable. 

JW Howard then assigned Hobbs “the task of preparing the first draft of a settlement agreement,” with Grossmont, according to the leaked memo. 

Over a week in December, Hobbs, Diedrich and Howard sent back and forth drafts of the settlement. By Dec. 16, Diedrich sent an edited copy to Howard, who forwarded it to Hobbs to finalize. 

The copy of the settlement reviewed by Diedrich contained no mention that should Hobbs be rehired by Grossmont he would receive tenure. But the version sent by Hobbs to Howard later that day and labeled “Final,” did. 

“The district agrees that, should Hobbs be reemployed, he will be granted tenure on the first day of employment,” that copy of the settlement reads. 

The memo contends that Howard did not include this language in the settlement and that it’s illegal. 

“This is the first time the illegal language referring to ‘tenure’ appears in any version of the proposed settlement,” the memo from JW Howard notes, referring to the final draft of the settlement. 

This actually wasn’t Hobbs’ first stab at including language in the settlement stipulating he’d receive tenure. In the first draft of the settlement sent to Howard, Hobbs wrote that should Grossmont rehire him, he would “automatically be restored to a position with at least similar standing and pay as was effective in February 2018 including his full benefits.” 

Additionally, he added that his level of seniority and tenure rights revert back to what they were prior to his resignation. When Howard received the draft, he asked Hobbs to send it to Diedrich. But the version Hobbs sent Diedrich did not include this language. The only other time Hobbs included mention of tenure rights came in the final draft sent to Howard. 

The memo claims Hobbs didn’t just add language into the settlement. It claims Hobbs deleted elements of Diedrich’s edits, “something that would have never been approved.” It also claims that Hobbs turned off a Microsoft Word feature called “track changes,” so as to better hide that he was making surreptitious changes. 

Diedrich did not return a request for comment. Collin McGlashen, Grossmont’s communications director, declined to comment. 

The final version of the settlement opened the door for Hobbs’ rehiring at Grossmont in “any position or assignment for which he is qualified.” It also sealed the investigation into Hobbs conducted in spring 2018 and added stipulations to the circumstances of his resignation.  

“The district acknowledges that Hobbs denies that he committed ‘immoral acts’ (defined as any acts that would make him ‘unfit to teach’) or any other acts or omissions constituting misconduct,” the settlement reads. 

Hobbs has a very different view from Howard of the whole situation. He said he was simply adding things to the document he felt were fair. The 2018 investigation into him was unfounded, he insists, and it only seemed logical that he be returned to the tenure position he’d had then. He didn’t know whether that violated California’s education code but figuring that out should have been Howard’s role as an attorney, he said.  

He also says there was no attempt to sneak the language into the settlement. He’d sent it to Howard and he assumed he’d read it. 

“I think John Howard is just trying to cover his own hiney,” Hobbs said. “He’s trying to pass his attorney responsibility to a paralegal. He’s a senior attorney. He just didn’t do his job.” 

Howard said that’s just not true. 

“When a lawyer assigns something to a paralegal to prepare in final and the paralegal says something is in final, generally the lawyer doesn’t go back through to make sure the paralegal didn’t slip something in that wasn’t authorized. And that’s what happened here,” Howard said. “I trusted him.” 

But to Bob Ottilie, a local lawyer with decades of experience in ethics litigation, whether Hobbs inserted the language wasn’t the chief concern. It was the actual arrangement, Ottilie said, wherein a former employee of a district seemed to be working on behalf of himself to craft a settlement for a law firm contracted by the district, that was “unheard of.” 

“If this is an accurate depiction of how this settlement agreement came to be, it’s really unprecedented in my 45 years of law,” Ottilie said. “It should not have happened.” 

Howard disagreed. 

“My office prepared the settlement agreement because it was going to be vetted and sent to the district’s lawyer, so it was in accordance with what the district wanted,” Howard said. “The fact is that having him work on a contract that the board was going to have an independent review of by the district’s lawyer made it not a conflict.” 

Hobbs’ New, New Gig 

Throughout the crafting of this settlement, Grossmont was still a contracted client of JW Howard. 

It wasn’t until February 2025 that the district terminated the services of JW Howard. 

“This work has been completed, and his services are no longer required,” the agenda item reads. 

The decision to terminate the contract proved to be controversial. Three of the district’s trustees approved the motion to terminate services, with Kelly and Scott Eckert dissenting and pushing back during public comment.  

Between July 1, 2023 to Dec. 31, 2024, Grossmont paid JW Howard $695,701 for legal services – specifically employee investigations. That sum is more than the district spent with any other law firm during that same period. 

After the settlement’s approval, it didn’t take long for Hobbs to find himself working for the district once again.  

At a special board meeting on Jan. 16, trustees approved the job description for a newly created position called the director of student and family engagement, learning and innovation. Later in that same meeting, the board voted to appoint Hobbs to that newly created position. Both moves were approved by all board members save for Fite.  

“I voted against his appointment because it was alarming to me that this thing came out of the blue. There was no discussion, no community input,” Fite said. 

The speed with which he was hired by the district was by design, said Hobbs. 

“I don’t think there’s any question, at least in my mind, that part of the reason to exonerate me and bring the documents in December was to make me eligible for rehiring for this position,” Hobbs said. 

Hobbs said that when he took the job, he understood it to be temporary. The district has been going through a period of significant turmoil. In March, Superintendent Mike Fowler stepped down from his position as he fights a brain tumor. Hobbs said he was told they needed someone to help steady the ship before a new superintendent came in.  

Just one month after his appointment, at the district’s Feb. 13 meeting, Hobbs was sporting an entirely new title: chief of staff. The next month, at Grossmont’s March 11 meeting, the board officially approved Hobbs’ title change.  

Hobbs said his new gig was simply a title change. Board members had thrown a grab bag of responsibilities into his first role, but when Interim Superintendent Sandra Huezo read the job description, she felt what the board members were really looking for was a chief of staff, he said. He also argues that he’s qualified for the position, having served as a teacher, the head of a company and even a trustee at the Temecula Valley Unified School District. 

‘Rushed and Totally Untransparent’ 

Hobbs’ hiring has already ruffled many feathers in the district. In February the board approved a plan to issue layoff notices to dozens of employees. The move came as district leaders say they’re struggling to close a multi-million-dollar budget deficit.  

That rationale didn’t sit well with many in the community, who have pushed back hard against the decision. For months they’ve packed board meetings, turning them into raucous affairs. Some have even gone so far as to launch a recall effort against the board’s conservative bloc. 

Fite, the sole liberal on the district’s board, shares many of the concerns raised by the community. He was also the only trustee to vote against Hobbs’ appointment. 

“I think there’s a lack of transparency in several actions that we’ve undertaken since the beginning of this year,” Fite said. “I’m concerned that there may be a conflict of interest. It seems at the very least that this process was rushed and totally untransparent.” 

James Messina is the president of the Grossmont Educators Association, the union that represents credentialed staff in the district. He’s been a fixture at recent board meetings pushing back against the district’s layoffs. He said the creation of the chief of staff position, and Hobbs hiring, was entirely inappropriate given the layoff notices the district issued. 

“I do not believe this is a time to be spending more money on the top levels of administration. Money should be spent in classrooms instead,” Messina said. 

The post Grossmont Investigated Him, He Resigned and Now He’s Chief of Staff appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

A push by Democratic County Supervisors Terra Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe to amend the county’s reserve policy to unleash cash to address potential federal and state cuts failed Tuesday.

Republican Supervisor Jim Desmond thumbed his nose at their pitch, arguing that the county should right-size its budget rather than dig into its rainy-day fund. But fellow Republican Joel Anderson wasn’t a no.

So you’re telling me there’s a chance? Anderson previously said he wasn’t on board, penning a Times of San Diego op-ed describing the Democrats’ pitch as a “last minute and reckless proposal to gut the county’s safety net.”

After tense exchanges between Desmond and the two Democrats who argue now is precisely the time to set the stage to tap the county’s large savings account to preserve county services, Anderson took the mic.

“We don’t need to yell at each other,” said Anderson, often considered a dealmaker on the board. “We can work through this.”

Then he said the obvious: Tuesday’s vote was essentially a campaign ad for Democratic District 1 candidate Paloma Aguirre, who wants to dig into county reserves. Anderson argued the vote especially drove home the stakes of the South Bay supervisors’ race for the county’s largest labor union.

As if on cue: Desmond and Aguirre’s opponent John McCann are holding a press conference outside the County Administration Building Wednesday morning “standing up for taxpayers and opposing efforts to raise taxes and drain county reserves.”

What’s next: Lawson-Remer and Montgomery Steppe say they aren’t giving up. They wrote in a joint statement Tuesday that they plan to bring the proposal back at a future county board meeting.

What also didn’t happen: Supervisors postponed a vote on proposed amendments to the county’s homeless camping ban. They are now set to hear the proposal today.

New Renderings! Civic Center

It’s been a while since San Diego got to indulge its favorite civic pastime: releasing new renderings. But we got a good batch Tuesday when the Prebys Foundation outlined its vision for the city of San Diego’s Civic Center, right now dominated by a decrepit City Hall and the uninspiring space around it.

Omar Blaik and Alex Feldman, from the city planning firm U3 advisors, presented the work they have been doing to collect input on the future of the six city blocks at the Civic Center and how it could be a cultural hub you may actually want to look at.

“We have lost the art of city building,” Blaik said.

The vision would include 4,000 housing units, a new Civic Theatre, educational facilities and three acres of public park space.

The U-T has a longer piece about the presentation here.

South Bay Dems Censure Chula Vista School Board Member

South San Diego County Democrats on Monday voted to censure Chula Vista Elementary School District Trustee Francisco Tamayo for allegedly “undermining Democratic Party ideals, attacking members of the LGBTQ community and abandoning the students he was elected to protect,” according to a resolution approved by two-thirds of attendees at a meeting of the party’s South Area Caucus.

Our Jim Hinch reported previously on the reason for the censure: Tamayo’s successful but divisive effort last year to unseat fellow Democratic board member Kate Bishop by running against her in November even though he already had a seat on the board and was not up for re-election.

The censure vote now goes to countywide party officials, who will review the caucus’ allegations and make a final determination.

In separate statements to caucus members and Voice of San Diego, Tamayo denied the censure resolution’s allegations and said he was being targeted for bucking the interests of Democratic Party insiders.

“This censure will not distract me from the mission at hand,” Tamayo said. “I will continue to lead independently, work constructively and put students above politics every single time.”

New Twist: In a brief text exchange with Hinch on Tuesday, Tamayo said he was now considering leaving the Democratic Party altogether “if the party decides that there is no room for moderate Democrats in the ranks.”

More South County news: National City residents show no love (yet) for a proposed electric truck charging station at the city’s port facility. And the county budget becomes a hot topic in the race for a vacant South County seat on the County Board of Supervisors.

Read the South County Report here.

Councilmembers Fight Unpopular Service Cuts

The San Diego City Council faced hours of uncomfortable budget decisions at a Tuesday committee meeting, including proposals to reduce library and recreation center hours, install parking meters at Balboa Park, close some public restrooms and remove all beach fire rings.

The mayor’s draft budget calls for across-the-board service cuts, yet many councilmembers want to see targeted cuts which would maintain more services for low-income communities.

“Every time we need to cut the budget, it’s the families from the communities who have the least who get impacted the most,” Councilmember Vivian Moreno said.

Another Water Letter

Gary Arant the general manager of the Valley Center Water Authority sent a letter to San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera suggesting maybe he was too young to remember what it was like to fear drought and unreliable water supplies.

Elo-Rivera’s suggestion that the city of San Diego should consider dissolving or breaking up the San Diego County Water Authority has generated some severe umbrage among water leaders in the region. We had the Water Authority’s general manager on the podcast last week to discuss it.

Now Arant has jumped in. He pointed out that the city and its leaders had not only supported but orchestrated the many investments in water supplies that have now driven water bills so high for ratepayers.

“Since all of those investments were made, water demand has plummeted in response to changes in consumer habits, the development of local supplies, and compliance with state water use efficiency mandates. Yes, we do have a surplus of water right now, and unfortunately, the debt service, operational, and maintenance costs of our regional water importation supply and infrastructure remain.

“Restructuring the Authority, or having the City leave the agency will not solve this problem for San Diego or any other communities in the region,” he wrote.

About Paid Parking in Balboa Park…

Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera took a hard stance against paid parking in Balboa Park, saying any efforts to do so should target tourists — including county residents who don’t live in city boundaries.

“I do not care how much non-residents pay for parking at Balboa Park … Folks who come here from other cities and use the city of San Diego as a playground, and their cities charge us when we go there, can pay their fair share.”

Councilmember Stephen Whitburn said any such plan should include “a significant amount of free parking,” especially as visitors brace for service cuts across the park.

The council will be presented with a revised budget later this month.

In Other News 

• County supervisors on Tuesday directed county staff to explore ways to persuade more landlords to rent to homeless veterans at a time when federal support for veterans is uncertain. (Union-Tribune)
• Our education reporter Jakob McWhinney and editor Andrea Lopez-Villafaña went on UCTV to talk about Voice of San Diego’s A Parent’s Guide to San Diego Schools. Watch the interview here. 

The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt, Jim Hinch and Bella Ross. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña. 

The post Morning Report: Push to Dip into County Reserves Fails – For Now appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

Environmental ideals and corporate ambition ran smack into political reality last week when representatives from the Port of San Diego and a national electric vehicle power company did their best to sell National City residents on the benefits of a planned electric truck charging station near the city’s 24th Street Marine Terminal. 

Residents and at least one key city official who attended the May 1 presentation at the National City Aquatic Center were not persuaded that the project, a key component of the port’s efforts to shift its operations away from fossil fuels, was in the city’s best interests. 

Attendees peppered port officials and the president of Skycharger, the company selected by the port to build the charging facility, with questions and sometimes even catcalls during the Thursday evening meeting, though some said they would reserve judgment until they see the results of an environmental study the port recently commissioned. 

The proposed 4.8-acre charging facility would have 70 charging berths for trucks of various sizes, along with solar panels on canopies over the berths, a storage battery for extra power and a convenience store for truckers while they wait for trucks to recharge. 

Concerns raised at the May 1 meeting included the possibility of toxic electric battery fires, additional truck traffic in an already clogged industrial area and worries that a switch to electric power will leave behind independent truck operators whose diesel trucks currently carry most port cargo. 

Skycharger President Andy Karetsky promised residents that the company had “heard your concerns and input and we’re continuing to address that. We want to bring a project the community understands the benefits of, is economically viable and makes the community proud…We’re a good neighbor. Not just tonight but all the time.” 

Peter Eichar, the port’s climate program manager, said the truck charging facility was an effort to address long-standing concerns from port-adjacent communities about pollution from diesel engines in ships, trucks, cranes and other port infrastructure. 

“Our goal for 2030 is 100 percent zero-emission trucks and cargo-handling equipment,” Eichar said. 

Residents were not mollified, even after being offered free rides in two cherry red electric trucks parked outside the aquatic center. Skycharger also provided meeting attendees with a charcuterie spread catered by chefs at the local Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center. 

“You’re talking money,” called out one attendee sporting an arm-length International Longshore and Warehouse Union tattoo. “There’s nothing that can put these [electric battery] fires out.” 

Mayor Ron Morrison chided the port for, in his view, rushing approval of the charging facility to give itself bragging rights for environmental leadership. “We’re the guinea pig” for the project, Morrison said of his city. “It’s only because I asked for it over and over” that the port agreed to conduct a full environmental review of the project. 

Eichar said the port would carefully review every facet of the project to ensure it was safe and provided genuine environmental benefit to the community. Residents will have more opportunities to weigh in when a draft version of the port’s environmental review is made public later this year, he said. 

Alexander Fernandez, a National City resident who operates heavy-duty lifters at the port, encapsulated the ambivalence expressed by many at last week’s meeting – an ambivalence about zero-emission technology in working class communities that partly explains why 35 congressional Democrats recently joined Republicans in voting to overturn a California electric vehicle mandate. 

Fernandez, like other members of his family who attended last week’s meeting, said he was “leaning against” the truck charging station because of safety concerns and because he feared a decline in port business if electric trucks are unable to provide the same level of service currently provided by diesel operators. 

But he said he would change his mind if he knew port workers wouldn’t lose jobs to the new technology. “When the electrification is more [widely] adopted, then by all means implement it,” he said. 

South County Dems Vote to Censure Chula Vista Board Member 

The San Diego County Democratic Party’s South Area Caucus voted on Monday to censure Chula Vista Elementary School District Trustee Francisco Tamayo for allegedly “undermining Democratic Party ideals, attacking members of the LGBTQ community and abandoning the students he was elected to protect,” according to a resolution approved by two-thirds of attendees at Monday’s caucus meeting. 

The vote, which must be ratified by countywide party leaders to become official, stemmed from Tamayo’s successful effort last year to unseat fellow Democratic board member Kate Bishop by running against her even though he wasn’t up for re-election. 

Monday’s censure resolution also cited Tamayo’s earlier vote against a district Pride flag policy and his vote in January to appoint a Republican and an “unknown Democrat” to the school board to fill two post-election vacancies. 

In a statement to Voice of San Diego, as well a longer statement Tamayo submitted to Monday’s caucus meeting, Tamayo denied the allegations in the censure resolution and said he was being targeted because he had dared to buck the interests of party insiders. 

“This censure will not distract me from the mission at hand,” he said in his statement. “I will continue to lead independently, work constructively and put students above politics every single time.” 

Tamayo also said in a separate text exchange with Voice that, if Monday’s censure resolution is upheld by party leaders later this year, he would consider leaving the Democratic Party altogether and becoming an independent “if the party decides that there is no room for moderate Democrats in the ranks.” 

South Area Caucus Vice Chair Jason Bercovitch said Democrats felt the censure of Tamayo was needed to show that “the Democratic Party can’t tolerate people running against our endorsed incumbents when they’re not even up for re-election…In the age of Trump, the Democratic Party needs to stand for something. We do. We stand up for our immigrant community and LGBTQ community and not banning books and letting our kids be who they want to be.” 

County Budget Becomes Political Football 

Even as South County cities gear up to begin adopting their own budgets – Chula Vista, National City and Imperial Beach all plan to hold budget discussions this week – San Diego County’s much larger budget has become a hot topic in the race to fill former South County Supervisor Nora Vargas’ vacant seat on the County Board Supervisors. 

Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, the Democrat in the race, has voiced support for a recent proposal by the Board’s two Democratic supervisors – Terra Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe – to loosen the county’s budget reserve policy to make it easier for supervisors to raid the reserves to balance the books without cutting services. 

Now Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, Aguirre’s Republican opponent, is weighing in. He and District 5 Supervisor Jim Desmond, also a Republican, plan to hold a press conference Wednesday morning to announce their opposition to the reserve proposal. 

The proposal, they said in a statement on Tuesday, would take money earmarked for true emergencies and waste it on “non-essential programs, government expansion and pet projects…at a time when San Diegans are already struggling with skyrocketing costs of living.” 

Lawson-Remer defended the proposal in a statement sent to Voice of San Diego last week: “This updated reserve policy ensures we can respond to real emergencies, protect core services and stand up for the San Diegans who count on us most,” she said. 

ICYMI: Lauded Arts Program Faces Uncertain Future 

I wrote on Monday about National City’s renowned A Reason To Survive youth arts program (known by its acronym, ARTS), which staged its annual spring exhibit of student artwork at its 20,000-square-foot studio facility adjacent to National City Hall on Saturday. 

The program, which has won awards for providing free arts programming to hundreds of South County families, is in the midst of negotiating a new arrangement to continue occupying its city-owned facility even as it faces a nationwide pullback in philanthropic funding amid heightened economic uncertainty. 

Read the story to be inspired by some budding youth artists. And keep your eyes peeled for the skull sword and the Cheese Wizard (you’ll see what I mean when you read the story.) 

The post South County Report: No Love (Yet) For Electric Trucks  appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

For nearly a quarter century, National City’s A Reason to Survive community arts program has provided arts programming and a welcoming embrace of community to thousands of families in some of San Diego County’s lowest income neighborhoods.

Now the organization’s future looks increasingly uncertain. Negotiations with National City officials over ARTS’ city-owned building have been slowed by turmoil in City Hall.

And a nationwide pullback in philanthropic support amid heightened economic uncertainty threatens a key funding source.

“I stay painfully positive,” said ARTS Executive Director Lucy Eagleson. “That’s all I can do.”

Our Jim Hinch visited ARTS’ annual spring exhibit of student artwork on Saturday. Budget worries took the day off as kids and teaching artists celebrated months of hard work and creativity.

Spoiler alert: C4, a world-destroying robot, and a puppet named the Cheese Wizard steal the show.

Read the full story here.

Gloria Announces More Cost Cutting

Mayor Todd Gloria announced he would consolidate city office space to save $13 million over the next five years. 

San Diego is trying desperately to plug a $258 million budget deficit by finding cuts and also adding new sources of revenue. 

The mayor presented his proposed budget last month, which includes nearly $200 million in cuts. (NBC 7 has a good breakdown of it here.) The mayor’s proposed budget seeks to cut costs by closing libraries two days a week and cutting recreation center hours. It would, however, increase police spending by nearly $30 million. 

As part of the office consolidation, the city will significantly reduce the space it is renting at a location on B Street and move city personnel to city-owned office spaces.

Don’t Miss Brews and News 

Get the inside scoop tomorrow! Your favorite podcast crew is recording a live podcast at Soda Bar with special guest Keene Simonds, executive officer of the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO.

Join us Wednesday, May 7, at 6 p.m. at Soda Bar for an unforgettable night of journalism, beer and celebration. 

Get your tickets here. 

Plus: All eligible attendees will be automatically entered to win signed baseballs from Padres stars Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill. Visit our event page for details

In Other News 

• Well, that’s depressing. A new study found that to buy a home in San Diego you’d have to have an annual income of more than $250,000. (Union-Tribune) 
• Three people died after a boat that officials suspect was used for smuggling capsized off Del Mar. First responders and other agencies were searching for nine people who were missing from the boat, the Union-Tribune reports. 
• KPBS reporters spoke with San Diego farmers who say they are taking a “wait-and-see” approach as world leaders fight over tariffs.  
• Over the weekend, residents of San Diego’s northern neighborhoods protested Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposal to close a police station in Carmel Valley. (Fox 5) 
• Something good: A new ramen restaurant in Kearny Mesa is offering customers a unique experience. Read more here. (Fox 5) 

The Morning Report was written by Jim Hinch, Will Huntsberry and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña. 

The post Morning Report: Cloudy Future for Lauded Arts Program appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

Seventeen-year-old Armando Varela stood in the middle of a crowded art gallery, working up the nerve to speak. 

It was Saturday afternoon and the halls and exhibit rooms at A Reason to Survive, a two-decade-old nonprofit youth arts program in National City, were full of eager children, harried parents and artworks ranging from wall-sized murals to a cluster of decorated wooden boxes small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. The families were there for ARTS’ (as the organization is commonly known) annual spring exhibit of student work. 

Varela stood before the cluster of wooden boxes, a project he and a handful of other students had recently completed in a sound design class taught by art teacher Pablo Dodero. The hand-built boxes were festooned with springs, pebbles, doorstops and other found objects that create musical notes when the boxes are plugged into an electric amplifier. 

Dodero briefly described the project then turned the presentation over to Varela. “Armando?” he said. 

Varela stared in alarm at a roomful of expectant faces. “I didn’t see myself as artsy when I first joined ARTS,” he said haltingly. “But that changed pretty quickly…ARTS helped me find my voice in so many ways I didn’t expect.” 

He grinned, looking more assured. “For example, I’m speaking here.” 

For nearly a quarter century, ARTS, which occupies National City’s former main library building adjacent to City Hall, has provided artistic programming and a warm embrace of encouraging community to vulnerable young people in San Diego County.

Started in 2001 by a Boston native named Matt D’Arrigo as a one-man volunteer art-making session for children with cancer in a San Diego hospital, the program has since expanded into a 20,000-square-foot regional arts teaching hub with a full-size painting studio, a sound technology lab, welding equipment for metal sculpture, power saws for woodworking and a staff of 72 teaching artists, administrators, interns and volunteers. 

Each year, 1,500 students, many of them from low-income, Spanish-speaking or bi-national families, cycle through three program sessions offered in fall, spring and summer. ARTS teaching artists fan out to after-school programs in local school districts and work with teens attending juvenile court schools. The annual budget, most of it supplied by philanthropy, is close to $2 million. 

“We’ve become an established arts and culture center for National City and South Bay youth and families,” said ARTS Executive Director Lucy Eagleson. “We’re the bridge for [families] because we have the trust and the community.” 

Or, as Armando Varelas, a senior at Sweetwater High School, put it on Saturday, “I never had a plan and a future” before enrolling in ARTS. “Now I applied to Southwestern College for a music major with an emphasis in mariachi. Then I want to go to UCSD or SDSU and become a musician and music educator…After I saw this, I knew what I wanted to do.” 

Until this year, ARTS was on an upward trajectory. It moved into the National City facility in 2012 and has won awards and been featured on NBC’s Today Show and in an Academy Award-winning documentary. 

After a budget crisis in 2017, a new executive director, James Halliday, stabilized funding and maintained programming through the Covid-19 pandemic. Eagleson took over last year and has broadened ARTS’ reach further, negotiating contracts with local school districts, recruiting teaching artists and volunteers and upgrading facilities with the help of philanthropic and local corporate support. 

The growth ground to a halt in December. ARTS has an unusual agreement with its landlord, National City. The city allows the organization to use its former library building for free and covers utilities. In return, ARTS is required to provide the city with at least $125,000 worth of art programs and public art projects annually – an amount “we far exceed every year,” Eagleson said. 

Typically, the city has renewed its agreement with ARTS every two years. This year, Eagleson said she hopes to negotiate a longer arrangement, perhaps for five years, maybe even 10. A longer time period, she said, would attract additional funding and make possible a capital campaign to refurbish studios, add equipment and broaden offerings. 

Greater stability would also help ARTS weather a period of heightened national economic uncertainty, Eagleson said. 

“We have to be creative because foundations have less to give with the stock market down, and schools have less,” she said. “I stay painfully positive, energetic and committed to the work. That’s all I can do.” 

The city temporarily extended ARTS’ lease earlier this year. Negotiations continue over terms for a longer arrangement. In the meantime, the City Council has been mired in bouts of infighting and recently parted with former City Manager Benjamin Martinez. 

Eagleson was diplomatic about the situation at City Hall, saying only that ARTS remains firmly committed to serving National City and surrounding communities, which include some of San Diego County’s most ethnically diverse and lowest-income neighborhoods. 

“There are a lot of arts organizations in [San Diego] but it’s so important to have a program in the community you’re trying to serve,” Eagleson said. Students and their families can “walk, bike or take the bus…The trust-building and connection-building are here. We’re grateful that the city of National City recognizes the importance of art and creativity and how it plays a role in building a great community.” 

Examples of trust and community could be found in every room of ARTS’ spring exhibition on Saturday. On a wall near Varela’s sound boxes, a colorful poster depicted ARTS’ latest planned public art project, a series of student-made decorative additions to a free community water spigot at National City’s El Toyon Park, currently undergoing a $7 million city-funded renovation. 

Eighteen-year-old Ada Escamilla stood beside the poster, explaining her part in the public art project. She had designed a metal globe sculpture, she said, which would be painted to show what the earth might look like in a hotter future climate. 

“Our world used to be so much more blue,” Escamilla said. “Now it’s green and yellow and drier.” 

Asked what kept her coming to ARTS, which she first encountered at age 13, Escamilla talked briefly about her love of artistic expression. Then she shared a deeper reason. 

Two years ago, she said, her younger sister was diagnosed with leukemia. “I didn’t want to do anything,” Escamilla said. “I lost interest in all my passions.” 

Escamilla told her ARTS teacher, Sheena Rae Dowling, about her sister’s diagnosis. “It allowed me to be vulnerable,” Escamilla said. With Dowling’s encouragement, Escamilla made an artwork for her sister, a photograph of the two of them together as babies painted to create the impression that “the environment was supporting her [sister],” she said. “If I didn’t have this, I might not have art at all.” 

A few rooms away, Monica Guzman, a medical assistant at Kaiser Permanente, watched her 12-year-old son Joshua decorate a hat with an intricate pattern of smiling faces. 

“He’s done better with this art program,” Guzman said of Joshua. “I went through a divorce seven years ago. He acted up in school…He went through anxiety.” 

After a Kaiser patient told her about ARTS’ after-school art programs in local elementary schools, Guzman said she signed Joshua up for the program at his school, Lincoln Acres Elementary. 

“His mood stabilized,” she said. “It gave him a way to express his feelings. He has a sketch pad at home. He’s proud of everything he does.” 

The program, free like all of ARTS’ offerings, has been a godsend, Guzman said. “I work every day, Monday to Friday, 8:30 to five…He likes to stay [at school] and do art. If I get off early, he says, ‘Pick me up at five.’” 

She flicked through her phone, showing photos of hand-sewn puppets Joshua makes when he’s not drawing. There was C4, a robot determined to “destroy the world,” Joshua said in a deadpan robot voice. Also, the Cheese Wizard, a wizard who loves cheese – but, Joshua said solemnly, “his real name is Dave.”  

“Art and baseball are his life right now,” Guzman said. 

Claudia Rodriguez-Biezunski, a textile art teacher presiding over an exhibit of student sewing projects on the other side of the room, said many, if not a majority, of her students live in Tijuana or have parents in Mexico. 

“I asked my students if their parents were going to come see the exhibit and they said, ‘My parents can’t cross [the border],” Rodriguez-Biezunksi said. “Their family drops them off at the border, they walk across and take public transit here.” 

Rodriguez-Biezunksi said art draws students to ARTS. But they stay because teachers “pour our heart and soul into them.” 

“I also come from an under-resourced community,” Rodriguez-Biezunksi said. “I’m a daughter of immigrants…I was a runaway when I was 15. At age 16, I was kicked out of high school. I dropped out of life. Eventually I graduated and became a teacher because I would have loved to have a teacher who would have cared about me.” 

Saturday’s three-hour exhibit was wrapping up and the galleries were emptying when 16-year-old Fernando Guerrero walked into an exhibit room and pointed to a six-foot-long welded metal sword hanging on the wall. 

The sword, Guerrero said, was his creation, forged in ARTS’ metalworking studio as an homage to his favorite video game, Devil May Cry. The sword was a replica of a sword wielded by the game’s protagonist, a half human, half demon who uses the sword to fuse together the two aspects of his nature. 

Guerrero, a soft-spoken sophomore at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts, described how he made the sword. Starting with a metal pipe, he said he welded a cross bar to the pipe then fashioned a paper model of a basketball-sized skull to decorate the handle. 

He molded the skull in ARTS’ metalworking forge and welded it to the handle. Then he cut sheets of metal into the shape of a blade and welded them together. 

“It took me 10 weeks to make,” he said proudly of the sword. “I’ll get to take it home. I’ll put the sword over my bed. I’ll hang it on the wall.” 

He pulled out his phone and showed a video of himself heaving the sword off the ground and waving it in the air. “I think it weighs 40-60 pounds,” he said. 

He put his phone away and gazed at his handiwork in the now-quiet gallery. “This place helps me see myself as an artist,” he said. 

The post Lauded Arts Program Faces Uncertain Future  appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

San Diego County’s two Democratic supervisors plan to force a vote on Tuesday on their proposal to give county officials greater leeway to tap fiscal reserves during a time of unprecedented budget uncertainty.

Supervisors Terra Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe, the Board’s two Democrats, know their proposal will fail. Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond, their GOP colleagues, already signaled they’re not fans of the idea (which our Lisa Halverstadt detailed here).

The Dems plan to ask anyway. They likely hope to emphasize the stakes of a July 1 special election to fill a vacant South County seat on the Board.

That election pits Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, a Democrat, against Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, a Republican. As our Jim Hinch recently reported, Aguirre and McCann have opposing views on the budget proposal.

Anderson’s other beef: He said on Friday the reserve proposal wasn’t added to the Board’s agenda until Friday, giving residents in his East County district less time to understand the idea and make plans to attend Tuesday’s meeting.

“I couldn’t support anything that leaves my constituents out of the decision-making process,” Anderson said.

Lawson-Remer and Montgomery Steppe’s take: They argued on Friday the reserve changes are urgently needed as the county anticipates possible federal cuts.

“We can’t control what’s happening in Washington, but we can ensure San Diego County is equipped to act with urgency, compassion, and responsibility when we are faced with the impact of those decisions,” Montgomery Steppe wrote.

“This updated reserve policy ensures we can respond to real emergencies, protect core services, and stand up for the San Diegans who count on us most,” Lawson-Remer wrote.

Possible New Camping Rules in Fire-Prone Areas

Also on Tuesday, Supervisors will consider whether to modify the county’s existing camping ban to address the risk of fire in county-managed open spaces and public works facilities.

The plan calls for sheriff’s deputies to issue citations only when people refuse an offer of available shelter (though there’s an exception when there is “imminent risk of harm to public health or safety”). County staff already nixed shortening the notice requirement before clearing camps.

Politics Report and Podcast: The Water Interview

The latest Voice of San Diego podcast episode was a special interview with Daniel Denham, the general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority. Host Scott Lewis went deep in the water with Denham but hopefully in a way that anyone could follow.

Check out the podcast here.

In the Politics Report: Lewis pulled out some of the most notable things Denham said and also has a farewell message for Walt Ekard, the former chief administrative officer of the county of San Diego who died recently.

The Politics Report is for Voice donors. You can see it here.

Come see the podcast hosts Wednesday: On Wednesday, May 7, we’re recording a live podcast episode at Soda Bar with special guest Keene Simonds, executive officer of the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO. You can find more details here.

Simonds just sent a strong letter back to the mayor of San Diego after the mayor blasted LAFCO for determining that La Jolla separatists had secured enough signatures to begin the process of secession.

LAFCO is in the middle of water stuff as well and Simonds is prone to saying interesting things. If you’re reading this sentence right now, you are 100 percent the target market for this kind of party. See you there.

Sacramento Report: University Funding on the Chopping Block

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget would slash hundreds of millions from the UC and CSU systems, prompting concerns over hiring freezes, larger class sizes and reduced support services. 

While tuition hikes at both systems aim to offset some cuts, San Diego universities are bracing for leaner times. UC San Diego could lose up to $500 million. San Diego State University faces a $44 million shortfall and has frozen hiring and cut management positions. 

The budget cuts threaten a goal both university systems were on their way toward meeting: Admitting more in-state students. SDSU president Adela de la Torre said the school doesn’t have adequate funds to bring in more in-state students next year. 

Meanwhile…a bill to tighten California’s sanctuary state protections failed in committee. The bill, authored by State. Sen. Brian Jones, would have required local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE in cases involving serious or violent felonies. 

Read the Sacramento Report here. 

Johnny (Oak)seed Wants You to Plant an Acorn

Jim Crouch is a 73-year-old retired middle school science teacher who walks with a cane and maintains an unusual feature in his Escondido backyard: 2,500 tube-shaped pots with tiny baby oak trees growing out of them.

The pots are part of Crouch’s one-man mission to repopulate San Diego County with native oak trees.

The majestic trees once ruled the Southern California landscape but urbanization, invasive pests and a changing climate plague them.

Crouch’s solution: Raise oak seedlings and enlist a volunteer army to plant the trees around the county.

Writer Robert Krier recently spent time with Crouch and reports on growing interest in his project as well as fascinating details about the many oak species that grace San Diego’s landscape.

“Jim’s a good dude,” one volunteer said of Crouch. Said another: “This is a passion for him. And it shows.”

Read the full story here.

In Other News 

• Last week, hundreds of San Diegans joined nationwide May Day protests to call out the Trump administration’s impact on workers. (FOX 5/KUSI) Also last week, UC San Diego health workers staged a one-day strike at Hillcrest Medical Center and marched from the hospital to Balboa Park to draw attention to stalled contract negotiations. (KPBS)
• The city of San Diego has issued 4,200 tickets after San Diego’s daylighting law went into effect in January. (NBC 7)
• The former Village Grill in Balboa Park is getting a second chance at life as Panama 66 partners seek to revive it. (Union-Tribune)
• For 20 years, people have been talking about a giant resort and convention center arising in South Bay and it’s here. The Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center is set to open. The Union-Tribune offers a peek.

The post Morning Report: Showdown Over County Budget Reserve appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

We’ve got a special treat for you next week.

On Wednesday, May 7, we’re recording a live podcast episode at Soda Bar with special guest Keene Simonds, executive officer of the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO. You can find more details here.

Last year, our Environment Reporter MacKenzie Elmer wrote a profile on the agency and its tremendous power. Think of LAFCO as boundary referees. Here’s how Elmer put it: “LAFCOs operate as agents of the California Legislature. They can do what the legislature itself can do: bring new cities and special districts into (or out of) existence, and control how, when and where public services go. They periodically assess how cities and special districts operate and recommend how to make them more efficient.”

You can read the profile here.

LAFCO decided this week that the effort to separate La Jolla from the city of San Diego can proceed. This decision really upset Mayor Todd Gloria. He said it was “outrageous” the agency validated signatures the Registrar of Voters had already turned down. (The group pushing for separation needed a certain number of signatures to move forward.)

In a letter he sent the next day, he formally objected to LAFCO’s decision and questioned who gave the agency the power to go over the Registrar of Voters. A LAFCO official had previously explained to us why they have different standards.

It’s going to be a good show. I hope to see you there.

Bots vs. Bots

Last week, I told you about how fraudsters are using AI-tools to steal millions of student financial aid dollars from the state and feds. Our Jakob McWhinney had an incredible story about how one school is being impacted. If you missed it, read it here.

Schools have done a lot to try to address the fraud. But, now they have their most high-tech weapon yet: AI. McWhinney reports in a new story that Southwestern College’s Governing Board approved a contract with LightLeap AI. It’s a company that uses AI tools to hunt down fraudsters using AI.

This week, McWhinney spoke to the company’s CEO about how the tech works. You can read the full story here.

More education news: McWhinney dug into vaccination data from EdSource and found that one private homeschool in San Diego is tied for having the third lowest vaccination rate in the state. Read more in the Learning Curve here.

20 Years of Impact: We Shook SANDAG

This year, we’re looking back at the Voice stories that helped shape San Diego.

The latest in our 20 Years of Impact series is a story by former Voice editor Andrew Keatts, aka my bestie. Nine years ago, Keatts discovered that math used for a sales tax measure to fund transportation projects wasn’t mathing.

He also revealed that officials at the San Diego Association of Governments, or SANDAG, were using that same faulty math for another sales tax measure they were hoping to get voters to approve.

His reporting led to major changes at the agency. Read the story here.

World Press Freedom Day

This weekend we celebrated World Press Freedom Day and we’re reminded of the essential role the free press plays in our community and in democracy in general.

Please join Voice of San Diego’s legacy society through a planned gift to Voice’s endowment. These gifts provide a source of stability and sustainable funding to ensure our community has access to local news in perpetuity.

Click here to support Voice of San Diego’s Endowment.

More Chisme to Start Your Week

• Universities in San Diego are bracing for state cuts that could impact their budgets. Our Sacramento Reporter Deborah Brennan explains in her latest newsletter what this could mean for college students and staff.
• Voice contributor Robert Krier wrote a fun piece on a man who is trying his best to bring back oaks. Take that, palm trees! Read the story here.
• This month’s Progress Report is all about sports, middle school sports to be exact. Our Jakob McWhinney writes that San Diego Unified’s move to offer sports in middle schools is really paying off. Parents, teachers and students are big fans of the program.

The post Cup of Chisme: Who Has the Power? appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

I’ve written and spoken about my experience 14 years ago when we had to lay off several journalists. It was a terrible management failure on my part and a lesson I wish I hadn’t had to learn.

The layoffs were big news in our little community of journalism. Twitter had become the digital town square of San Diego politics and it was pumping every day with the latest in city drama and journalist battles. CityBeat was still around and the Union Tribune was just a week away from being purchased by developer Doug Manchester. Until that week, Voice of San Diego had been hailed as a bright spot in the dark media landscape – a model for the future.

But I had let a cash-flow crisis get out of hand and we had to make a major cut.

All the local media outlets wrote about the layoffs.

The morning of the cuts, I had to go give a scheduled speech. I was numb – the speech was a welcome diversion. I returned and checked my email and there was a note from Walt Ekard, then the chief administrative officer of the county of San Diego.

“Are you OK?” it read.

Right when I read it, I crumbled. I was not.

I hadn’t eaten much in a week. The weight of what was happening had left me nauseated. I felt humiliated. But Ekard had thought of me and that meant a lot.

…

Ekard and I had gotten to know each other as any journalist and public official might. We’d argue and trade information. He invited me to speak once. We weren’t close but we were talking often.

I ended up calling him.

He said great managers always had to go through things like that. He thought I handled the media well. He offered a couple criticisms.

And then he said the thing that scared me the most: If I remained a manager, it would have to do something like that again, maybe several times. There’d be lots of moments when I would feel lost or overwhelmed and that was the job.

After that, Ekard became a mentor. We’d meet and just talk about managing people and local politics. He was so convinced that if every agency just had a great manager, the world would be a better place. His dream was to get the state of California a manager.

One of his pieces of advice I think about every week was very simple: You should write out the 5 -10 things you are most worried about. He told me that no matter how stressed you feel or how much tumult you face, if you do that, you instantly calm down.

He was right.

He died last week. Now, one of the things I am most worried about is that this community won’t find more leaders like him.

The Water Interview

I hope you take the time to listen to my interview with Daniel Denham, the general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority. Much of it will help people get up to speed about what’s at stake in the increasingly fierce rhetoric between leaders of the Water Authority and people guiding the city of San Diego.

But there were two areas where we went deeper than before.

Denham is not opposed to Pure Water: Except he kind of is. I really wanted to push Denham on the widespread concern among city of San Diego leaders and environmentalists that Denham and the Water Authority want to kill the planned Phase 2 of the giant project.

The main issue the Water Authority is struggling with is it made giant deals to secure water reliability for the next few decades. But San Diego is no longer growing and we have succeeded at conserving water which means the Water Authority is selling less water even though it has already bought an abundance.

Phase 1 of the Pure Water effort is underway. It’s why Morena Boulevard has been such a mess for so long. It’s a done deal (if it’s ever done). Phase 2 will be a major undertaking and it will allow the city to get 50 percent of its water from the water it already got.

If the city – the Water Authority’s largest customer by far — ends up getting half of its water from wastewater recycling, ratepayers will not only have to pay off the Pure Water project but all the Water Authority’s rising bills as well. Rumors were swirling that Denham was lobbying the city to stop the planning for Pure Water Phase 2 and considering some sort of legal action.

Denham said he did not oppose Pure Water, Phase 2. But he did suggest that they should reconsider it.

He pointed to the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, owned by a private company, that the Water Authority is stuck buying water from for decades. He said he’s just trying to warn them.

“We should be the canary in the coal mine when it comes to developing expensive sources of supply,” he said. “If you have to change course, if you have to evolve a different way, let’s do that together. Let’s do that collectively. We’re all in this water space together.”

I asked him if desalination was a mistake. He talked about how he was a believer in it when it was going through the approval process. But it was a different time. San Diego was growing and projected to grow.

“Not a mistake, but it is absolutely the source of supply, the project that is, uh, holding us in a position where rates are so high,” he said. He pointed out that the water from desalination costs about three times as much as the imported water they bring in.

Settlement talk: Denham hinted that a settlement was on the horizon in the long-running dispute with the Metropolitan Water District. I asked him about a proposal to settle it five years ago. I never understood why it didn’t happen.
“I think that our board was too risk adverse at the time. We were looking for sort of like this belt and suspenders approach to making sure that, you know, every ‘i’ was dotted, ‘t’ crossed,” he said.

It was not risk averse about desalination.

World Press Freedom Day

Today is World Press Freedom Day, a reminder that a free press is essential to a functioning and ethical society and is a critical force for public good. We have worked to make this an institution that will be around forever. But the future is uncertain.

I’m not asking for a donation today, however. I’m asking for you to secure the future of the free press by joining Voice of San Diego’s legacy society. Please add Voice to your will or as a beneficiary to your retirement, insurance, or donor-advised fund to support our endowment. Any pledge today provides a source of stability and sustainable funding to ensure San Diego has access to local news in perpetuity. 

All it takes is one email to let our team know that you are committed to press freedom. Email Erica Connell, Voice’s Director of Philanthropy, at erica.connell@voiceofsandiego.org to let her know about your plans to support our endowment. Thank you.  

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

The post Politics Report: Bye, Walt appeared first on Voice of San Diego.