The county pension system’s going through a major makeover – and it’s looking a lot more like the city of San Diego’s pension team these days.
Indeed, the San Diego County Employees Retirement Association has hired away a handful of former city officials as it tries to move past the controversies that’ve engulfed the system in recent years.
Among those disputes: Massive payouts for ex-pension fund consultants and disagreement over whether the pension system or the County Board of Supervisors gets to set pay rates for pension staffers. The latter resulted in a lawsuit.
Those dust-ups appear to be in the rear-view mirror now that a judge has ruled the supes get the final say on pay, reports Ashly McGlone.
Now SDCERA hopes to settle on a new CEO (and a new investment policy) in coming months.
North County Report: Drama with Developers
News on two controversial developments headline this week’s North County Report.
VOSD contributor Jeremy Ogul gives us the lowdown on both the Lilic Hills Ranch proposal that’s sparked concerns for a number of reasons, including the area’s high wildfire risk, and a planned Carlsbad shopping and entertainment complex near the Agua Hedionda Lagoon.
SoCal Road Warriors
• The tension between local bicyclists and drivers reached a new low in Normal Heights on Wednesday. (10 News)
• San Diego commuters are wasting far less time on the road than their counterparts in other big cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, according to a report from Texas A&M University. (City News Service)
• Census data shows Los Angeles and Orange County residents are flocking to Riverside and San Bernardino. (Sacramento Bee) We previously found Riverside County to be a hotspot for departing San Diego businesses and touched on reasons San Diego County Gen-Xers may be moving there.
• Hillcrest business owners have hired a lobbyist to fight the city from adding bike lanes outside their premises, CityBeat reports. Everyone seems to agree Hillcrest’s University Avenue needs help, but no one can seem to settle on a single plan to address the area.
Quick News Hits
• Broadcast journalists all over the country no doubt felt a connection to the two Virginia journalists killed while filming a news segment Wednesday. But San Diego 6 news director Don Schafer had an even more personal connection to the terrible incident: He once hired and fired the alleged shooter. Schafer said he once worked with suspected killer Vester Lee Flanagan at a Florida station. (San Diego 6)
• San Diego’s homeless population is most concentrated between Petco Park and Interstate 5. (Union-Tribune)
• Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez kicked off hearings on working conditions for nail-salon workers Wednesday, a topic she told VOSD’s Sara Libby she planned to dig into after reading a shocking New York Times investigation. (San Diego Free Press)
• The city’s warning residents to watch out for imposters who claim to be city utility employees looking to collect water bill payments. (NBC 7)
• A Pacific Beach couple thinks they’ve got the solution to neighboring Mission Beach’s long-running fly problem. They just need cash. (Union-Tribune)
Correction: An earlier version of this post said the Board of Supervisors is looking for a new CEO. The SDCERA board is looking for a new CEO.