San Diego’s Pure Water program, which aims to make sewer water drinkable, is facing an obstacle: there’s not enough sewage.
The city collects and treats sewage from several other places in the county. But because the drought has caused people to use less water – meaning there is less water in parts of the sewer system – the city may need to spend more than $400 million to redirect sewage to a plant where the water can be purified into drinking water.
To do that these other cities and parts of the county will have to pick up a portion of the tab and they’re unwilling to do so, reports VOSD’s Ry Rivard.
“The other cities are walking a fine line between fighting over their share of the project’s cost and standing in the way of Pure Water entirely,” writes Rivard.
Measure A Gains Supporter in Wake of Crash
This week, Sen. Ben Hueso came out in support of Measure A, a half-cent sales tax the San Diego Association of Governments says would raise $18.2 billion over 40 years for transportation, infrastructure and open space projects.
This week’s Sacramento Report explains how a crash last week that killed four and injured nine in Chicano Park after a truck plunged off the Coronado Bridge tipped the scales for Hueso.
Hueso said it would be his priority this year to make safety improvements on that bridge and that funds from Measure A could help fund those projects.
Also in this week’s state politics newsletter, we delve into the debate over Prop, 57, which among other things, would grant early parole consideration to certain nonviolent felons. But the meaning of “nonviolent” hasn’t been defined in the measure and its opponents have latched onto that.
Podcast: The Origins of ‘Convadium’
On this week’s podcast VOSD’s Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts had a lot of fun with the HBO feature on the convadium and what they thought was an odd press conference the Chargers and mayor hosted.
ICYMI: Here’s a nice round-up of our convadium coverage.
• Rob Hunden – whose firm the Chargers commissioned to conduct their economic report – defended his firm’s projections that showed the convadium would perform well in a commentary for VOSD.
• The Union-Tribune’s editorial board urged readers to vote no on Measures C and D.
• A 10News/U-T poll showed Measures C and D struggling.
Pot Problems
On Nov. 8, California voters will be deciding on a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana. If the measure passes, there are a lot of questions over how things will change the cross-border drug trade.
One interesting phenomenon that has already begun with California’s medical marijuana cultivation is that drugs are being smuggled southbound, from the United States to Mexico.
That’s happening because of Mexico’s demand for the more potent pot strains grown in California, reports KPBS’ Jean Guerrero. Experts on both sides of the border told Guerrero that the initiative to legalize recreational marijuana could further increase the trend.
The Union-Tribune also looked into how the legalization of recreational marijuana might affect the drug war at San Diego’s border.
Quick News Hits
• The sister of Alfred Olango, who was shot and killed by police last month in El Cajon, filed a claim against the city of El Cajon, alleging the officer who fatally shot her brother was negligent. (NBC 7)
• Bob “Sully” Sullivan, a longtime local radio host was riding his bicycle with the Challenged Athletes Foundation when, he says, he was hit by a man driving a pickup truck and angry at how slow they were going (they were with disabled riders). Sullivan told the story here.
• A judge ruled Friday that Jon David Guerrero, the man accused of brutally attacking five homeless men in San Diego and killing three of them, is mentally incompetent and unfit to stand trial. (KPBS)
• The number of people treated in an emergency room in San Diego County for issues with prescription painkillers rose 20 percent from last year. (KPBS)
• Websites like Twitter and Netflix were down yesterday after an Internet attack. (The New York Times)
The Week’s Top Stories
These were the most five most popular Voice of San Diego stories for the week of Oct. 15-21. Click here to see the full top 10.
1. The Ultimate Guide to the Local Ballot Measures
Can’t tell Measure E from Measure L? We’ve got you covered. (Voice of San Diego)
2. National City Grocer Applied for an Alcohol Permit, Then Things Got Weird
The longtime owner of a small market in National City applied for a permit to sell two refrigerator doors’ worth of beer and wine. What happened next offers a peek into the strange world of small-town politics and alcohol permitting drama. (Maya Srikrishnan)
3. Opinion: A Stadium Isn’t the Measure of a City’s Greatness
With Measure C, the Chargers may have unwittingly presented San Diego a once-in-a-generation opportunity to actually have a civic conversation about how we define ourselves. Will we write our own future story, or will we succumb to the ransom demands of an outside force, the NFL? (Wayne Raffesberger)
4. East Village’s First Public Park Is a Petri Dish Where the Neighborhood’s Problems Have Grown
East Village is in a moment of massive transition. While the neighborhood’s quickly gentrifying and new people and businesses are moving in, the homeless population is also peaking. The tension between those two camps is on full public view at Fault Line Park. (Kinsee Morlan)
5. Lawyers Threaten to Sue Del Mar and Encinitas Over Housing Plans
Two environmental attorneys are gearing up to force coastal cities’ hands in making way for new housing. Attorneys Marco Gonzalez and Cory Briggs have said they’re planning to file lawsuits against Encinitas and Del Mar over land use issues that have ended up on the ballot in both cities this November. (Maya Srikrishnan)