Earlier this week, SoCal’s biggest water agency defied leaders in San Diego and Los Angeles and voted to sink $11 billion into two tunnels to keep water flowing south from the northern reaches of California.
But as our Ry Rivard reports in a comprehensive guide to the Tuesday decision, that $11 billion commitment doesn’t come with a promise of more water.
Rivard dug into the project’s potential impact on water rates, the case for the tunnel project and San Diego’s beefs with it.
What’s next for the plan?
“Expect a lot of litigation,” Rivard reports. “Some of it will focus on the financing plan, which was adopted without a whole lot of deliberation. Metropolitan held a workshop for board members in late March but didn’t even go over the deal on Tuesday before the vote.
Congressional Race Rundowns
While San Diego County Democrats hold off on endorsements in many of their state and federal races, Republicans have already checked three big boxes.
In this week’s North County Report, contributor Ruarri Serpa breaks down Republican endorsements and the politics surrounding them. Also in this week’s North County news update: Serpa explains what’s happening with two abrupt Solana Beach City Council resignations and updates readers on North County efforts to combat homelessness.
• CNN swooped into Santee to check on Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter’s electoral prospects and examined the precarious situation he’s been in amid an ongoing campaign spending scandal.
• The Orange County Register takes a look at what’s next for four contests – including the 49th District seat held by retiring Rep. Darrell Issa – that some speculate could end with a so-called blue wave, turning over long held-Republican seats to Democrats.
The Day in Housing News
Advocates were not pleased Wednesday by a decision to postpone a City Council committee discussion of a proposed $900 million ballot measure to bankroll thousands of new affordable homes.
A slew of housing and homelessness activists showed up at a Wednesday rules committee meeting to encourage City Council President Myrtle Cole to allow future discussion of the measure. Many noted that other communities have already passed such funding measures to try to address the state’s ballooning homelessness crisis and questioned why Cole stalled discussion of a San Diego property tax hike.
Cole and her office have said she supports further debate on the measure but was hoping to have more details to discuss Wednesday.
Cole pledged Wednesday to allow a discussion on the proposed measure championed by the San Diego Housing Federation, an affordable housing lobbying group, in mid-May.
• Mayor Kevin Faulconer joined 10 other California mayors in Sacramento on Wednesday to rally behind a state Assembly bill that could invest $1.5 billion in state surplus funds in homelessness initiatives. (Union-Tribune)
• Chula Vista is the latest San Diego County city to try to encourage more backyard granny flats as a way to address the region’s housing crunch. (10News)
• A group of Poway residents is battling a proposed affordable housing project. (NBC 7 San Diego)
• The City Council’s select committee on homelessness, created last year, could be expiring soon. (CityBeat)
News Nibbles
• The county reports there were another eight new flu deaths reported in the past week. (10News)
• The chair of a council that advises on the county on Gillespie Field airport in El Cajon has financial stakes in multiple airport-related businesses. (Union-Tribune)
• Gov. Jerry Brown has agreed to send 400 more National Guard troops to the border but says he isn’t interested in having them enforce federal immigration laws. (Twitter)
• Add County Supervisor Ron Roberts to the list of politicos interested in reforming the Airport Authority. (CityBeat)
• National City’s city treasurer is facing animal cruelty charges for allegedly trapping and drowning skunks, opossums and raccoons in his yard. (NBC 7)
• San Diego start-ups had a good first quarter. (Union-Tribune)
A Special Dedication
The bonds we have with our grandparents are some of the sweetest ones we get in this world.
I lost my Grandpa Vern Halverstadt early Wednesday morning. He was at once serious and silly. He was the hardest worker I’ve ever known and never quit anything he started. He also loved to tell goofy stories, watch cowboy movies and joke around with his grandkids. He was a special guy.
I’ll be celebrating my grandpa’s life in coming days and months but I also came to work Wednesday in his honor. It’s what he would have wanted. And since I get to write your Morning Report, I just couldn’t resist a little dedication. He earned it.