Morning Report: What a Crackdown on Water Means for Development

Over the long haul, San Diego County Water Authority officials expect we’ll have enough water to handle developments meant to accommodate a growing population. Short-term planning, however, is another story.

“At least a handful of public water utilities in San Diego County may stop issuing water meters or begin charging higher fees to hook meters up to the public water system,” Ry Rivard reports. “Those moves would complicate new development, if not stop some projects in their tracks.”

Check out Rivard’s story for how these kinds of restrictions will impact folks living around San Dieguito Water District and elsewhere.

Goldsmith to Task Force: Thank You But No

City Attorney Jan Goldsmith won’t meet in private with the mayor’s stadium task force. But he has been taking private meetings with Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani.

Goldsmith says not to think twice about those chats with Fabiani; he isn’t giving the Chargers legal advice. They’re just two lawyers lawyerin’ around, y’know?

As for the task force, their request for a sit-down was denied. Recall they’ve been meeting with plenty of other potential partners and advisors. But Goldsmith said he didn’t want anything he said to the group to be misinterpreted, Scott Lewis reported in a Friday night scooplet you might’ve missed:

“I said that if I’m going to talk to them there’s no attorney-client privilege. So I’ll do that in writing in response to legal questions or in public, the way I do at a Council meeting,” Goldsmith said. “But I don’t want there to be some misunderstanding or for there to be any question that I’m giving legal advice to somebody behind the scenes.”

• More on the Chargers drama: Lewis’ opinion piece on the likelihood that the Chargers are so over San Diego was our most-read story last week. Check out the rest of the top hits here.

Quick News Hits

• NBC 7’s got footage from Friday’s May Day march downtown. These demonstrations are usually meant to call attention to workers’ rights, but last week’s also zeroed in on police brutality in Baltimore.

• What do we need to do to make “San Diego Man” reach Florida Man stature? In any case, San Diego man Evan Parent earned himself national attention for a legal battle under way. He’s suing Coors for claiming Blue Moon is a craft beer. (Quartz)

• North County cities are getting pretty anxious about meeting necessary water restriction goals in the face of drought. (U-T)

• Sempra’s Mexican subsidiary, Infraestructura Energetica Nova SAB – called Ienova for short – is one of the hottest energy companies in Latin America. For some background, check out what we’ve written on their natural gas plant in Baja. (Bloomberg)

• An SDPD officer and the man he shot outside an adult bookstore in Midway District last week were identified this weekend. (U-T)

• California lawmakers are grappling with more than 20 proposals for dealing with police brutality and accountability, including officer body camera regulations. “I’m tired of being shocked. I’m tired of prayer vigils. I’m tired of sit-ins and walks,” said Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), as reported by the Los Angeles Times. “I’m saying to my members that you tell me every day how horrible, how sad this is. What are you going to do about it?”