Nobody’s too happy about the new deal to hike the fee charged on developers to pay for affordable housing. And that’s a good thing.
“Nobody’s happy, and I guess that’s what makes it a good compromise,” said Craig Benedetto, a lobbyist who helped force the City Council to overturn a much larger fee hike, and who helped craft the new compromise.
Under the new deal, the city will increase that fee by a much smaller amount.
Minimum Wage Inflation in Other Cities
City Council President Todd Gloria has said that one of the biggest parts of his plan to raise the minimum wage and guarantee sick days to employees in city limits is that the minimum wage would go up with inflation yearly.
This emerged as a big concern for restaurants recently. But about 20 other cities and states have tied minimum wages to inflation. Lisa Halverstadt decided to call some of the people in those places who were worried about the inflation policy when it was implemented.
Turns out, Gloria might have a point when he says businesses appreciate being able to plan on inflation rather than worry about giant increases in the minimum wage only when the political will makes it possible.
What We Learned This Week
• Gloria has said that his minimum wage proposal is consistent with the state’s rules about exemptions. But we discovered one state exemption — a lower rate for training employees — is not part of the city’s proposal as it stands.
• District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis finally revealed the recommendation letter she wrote on behalf of the son of the Mexican businessman who’s accused of illegally funneling money to support her 2012 mayoral run. She also admitted she didn’t know the student, whom she wrote was “a bright, energetic, compassionate and genuinely well-rounded young man.” The whole thing seemed to dig her in deeper.
• Related: The San Diego Ethics Commission announced that eight individuals agreed to pay fines for illegally giving money to support Dumanis that were actually being reimbursed by Marc Chase, the luxury car dealer. Here’s the Ethics Commission explanation.
• U.S. Rep. Scott Peters and the guy trying to take his job, Carl DeMaio, both had trouble wrapping their arms around the complex crisis of kids fleeing El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and waiting for asylum hearings here. But the two politicians landed on very different positions on how to deal with them.
• San Diego’s Veteran’s Administration leaders are shying away from an effort to reach out to potential beneficiaries. Because it can’t handle any new “business.”
• The guy strolling onto the San Diego school board without a challenge doesn’t think that being supported by the teacher’s union says a lot about him.
• The data is clear: Advocating for more trolley use and opposing increased density are contradictory positions.
Mark Your Calendars
Politifest is coming together. Friday, we confirmed that Neel Kashkari, the Republican challenging Gov. Jerry Brown, will open the programming on stage Aug. 9 at 10 a.m. He’ll give a few remarks and then I’ll throw him some questions.
He’ll be followed by California Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, who’s going to sit with me for a special One Voice at a Time Q-and-A.
After that, we’ll host a debate about the minimum wage in San Diego — the participants have not been finalized.
You’ll be able to watch all of this from the kid zone, beer garden or while perusing the dozens of community booths.
Quick News Hits
• NBC has a good collection of links about, and thoughts from, Daniel Chong, the UC San Diego student who was forgotten in a holding cell by the Drug Enforcement Agency for several days. The Washington Post’s Radley Balko explains why it’s so infuriating.
• It does happen: El Cajon will not be extending its half-cent sales tax increase from 2004.
• High tides this weekend could cause minor flooding on the coast.
Quote of the Week
“If you look at this, the letterhead that I’ve used, isn’t the standard letterhead that we use for the business of the DA.”
— District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis on why a recommendation letter was not public record. Former CityBeat writer Dave Maass found several other instances where she uses that letterhead for official business.