In coming months, the City Council will decide if San Diego should begin buying power for residents from someone other than San Diego Gas & Electric.
Right now, there’s a lot of numbers flying around about whether the idea makes sense. But part of the decision will also boil down to big questions about the city’s competence and the company’s motives. To put it bluntly: Who do people trust more and hate less, a bureaucratic city government or a big corporation?
The city, after all, nearly bankrupted itself not that long ago, couldn’t quickly answer 911 calls and once stupidly agreed to buy up tickets for professional football games that people didn’t want to attend.
But SDG&E’s record isn’t spotless either. The company’s prices skyrocketed as part of the statewide energy crisis, still has some of the highest rates in the country and helped burn down part of the county a decade ago only to expect its customers to foot the bill.
SANDAG Head Wants Out ASAP
San Diego Association of Governments Executive Director Gary Gallegos would like Friday to be his final day on the job. In a letter to the SANDAG board of directors obtained by KPBS reporter Andrew Bowen, the embattled executive asked the board to waive the 120-day advanced-notice retirement in his employment contract so he can leave immediately.
Gallegos has been with the agency for 16 years and had a stellar reputation across the state, but ran into trouble beginning last fall when Voice of San Diego covered a series of errors the agency made in its revenue forecasts and cost disclosures for an existing sales tax, TransNet, and another one rejected by voters in November, Measure A.
In a memo, County Supervisor Ron Roberts, the SANDAG board chair, said the agency should launch a national search to find Gallegos’ replacement. He said Gallegos’ departure should jump-start discussions about what the agency is looking for in a replacement.
— Andrew Keatts
Business Duo Says SD Leaders Back Their Homeless Plan
Padres managing partner Peter Seidler and restaurateur Dan Shea say more than 200 San Diego leaders — including Rep. Scott Peters and philanthropist Malin Burnham — have thrown their support behind their plan to temporarily house hundreds of the city’s homeless in large industrial tents. The duo announced last month that they’d secured enough cash to buy two tents in hopes of pushing city leaders, including Mayor Kevin Faulconer, to take quick action to stem the city’s homeless crisis.
Weeks later, there have been no new developments and the power brokers are likely hoping to turn up the pressure with their Monday announcement.
In Other News
• A Sweetwater district official sent sexually explicit texts to a subordinate, according to a claim. The district says the official is no longer employed there. (NBC San Diego)
• San Diego County Republican Party Chairman Tony Krvaric thinks the leader of state Assembly Republicans, Chad Mayes, should lose his job and his seat in the Legislature, the Los Angeles Times reports in a story about Mayes’ standing among Republicans after he helped pass anti-climate change regulations.
• A year after Gov. Jerry Brown approved a study to see how foreign language speakers are able to navigate the health care system, not much has happened. (KPBS)
• A new federal audit suggests the Customs and Border Protection agency wasted $5 million giving lie detector tests to people unqualified for the jobs they were applying for. (Union-Tribune)
• Chula Vista is among the local cities struggling to deal with the challenges of marijuana legalization. (Union-Tribune)