Good morning from Point Loma.
- We’ll lead off today with an interesting story on criticism about the city’s Ethics Commission from city elected officials. Councilwoman Marti Emerald, who will have a hearing before the commission later this month, plans to make her hearing about the commission itself, not her case.
- A permanent homeless shelter in San Diego remains stalled as long-running questions over funding and a site haven’t been solved.
- San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn likely has a safe re-election bid this June, the North County Times concludes. That’s despite an anti-incumbent term-limit measure on the ballot and some controversial decisions. Horn’s $100,000 in the bank doesn’t hurt.
- This week, the California Coastal Commission will decide the fate of the North Embarcadero redevelopment project’s current plan. The commission should approve it because the project needs to get started, the U-T editorializes.
- The Coastal Commission also will hear from opponents of a desalination plant in Carlsbad with another ruling expected on the plant’s fate. The commission should continue its support, the U-T editorializes.
- The U-T’s editorial board did celebrate something: A public-private land swap that is expected to lead to development on Chula Vista’s bay front.
- Tailgating will need to be done differently at the proposed downtown stadium for the Chargers, as there will be no more giant parking lot.
- Our football developer friends in Los Angeles, who reportedly attended yesterday’s Super Bowl, had some news surrounding them this weekend. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he couldn’t “guarantee a team” would be in Los Angeles and discussed the difficulties of financing the project. And state political columnist Dan Walters has a paean against public funds for stadiums.
- The issues raised in Out of Reach, our project on social services in San Diego County, were debated on KPBS’s San Diego Week.
- A study of a city of San Diego controversial pension benefit, the Deferred Retirement Option Plan, or DROP, needs to happen as soon as possible, the U-T’s editorial board says.
- Those considering bankruptcy for the city of San Diego took what appears to be a major hit to the underpinnings of the bankruptcy argument. The bankrupt city of Vallejo is not touching pension debts as part of their initial workout plan.
- There’s a third way to save city budgets, the U-T editorializes. It’s not just service cuts or tax increases, but pension reform.
- In Escondido, a local contractor has bought an asphalt patching truck and is repairing city potholes for free. A city councilman calls the contractor “the ultimate citizen.”
- In Chula Vista, candidates for four city elections have raised nearly $200,000.
- In National City, officials have decided to return $45,000 in fees it collected last year for business tax licenses. Its decision came after a court threw out a similar program in San Diego.
- And last, want to see a city that’s cutting so far back that it’s turning out streetlights? Check out Colorado Springs.
— LIAM DILLON