The Morning Report
Get the news and information you need to take on the day.
San Diego is required to test homes to make sure there’s no lead in the water.
Some of the details of this process are kept secret, but records obtained by Voice of San Diego’s Ry Rivard shed light on some of the city’s testing practices.
In some cases, the city asks its own employees to test water in their own homes, while some neighborhoods go widely untested.
Take San Ysidro, for example, where the discovery of lead in water at an elementary schools alarmed parents and residents, spurring a new state law that mandates more lead testing.
The city began testing homes in the community after the school scare. But it was the first time since 1999 that San Diego had conducted tests for lead and copper in San Ysidro.
Sheriff’s String of Troubles
”It’s one thing after another for Sheriff Gore,” writes Union-Tribune columnist Michael Smolens about San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore, who is up for re-election in June.
Indeed, the Sheriff’s Department has faced an onslaught of issues.
Last week, we revealed the department’s policy of shackling pregnant inmates when they go into labor. Gore said that the story was based on a letter in which the Sheriff’s Department misreported how pregnant inmates are treated.
“The mistake is not theirs, it is ours,” he said.
Two weeks ago, a Superior Court jury rebuked the department’s investigation into the death of Rebecca Zahau. On Monday, Gore opened up a review of the case.
And this follows several other scandals, including a deputy was charged with numerous counts related to sexual misconduct and a claim by Gore’s opponent that he was demoted for running against the sheriff.
SoccerCity Takes SDSU West to Court
Backers of SoccerCity filed a lawsuit against the city, the registrar of voters and the rival initiative to redevelop the stadium site in Mission Valley, SDSU West. The suit claims the city should drop the measure from the ballot because it is misusing the San Diego State University name.
We broke the news of the legal insight weeks ago when Councilman Scott Sherman said he wondered why the initiative could so freely use the university’s name even though the school is not permitted to campaign for a public initiative and polices use of its name so heavily.
“It masquerades as a project of San Diego State University, but it is actually a private endeavor,” the complaint reads.
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Friends of SDSU, the group behind the initiative, defended its use of the university’s name.
“It is entirely appropriate for our initiative and campaign committee to utilize the SDSU name, given its purpose is to help San Diego State University grow its academic, research and economic benefits for San Diego,” the statement said.
The SDSU West initiative, if passed, would authorize the city to sell San Diego State the land at the stadium site. The university may be technically neutral on the proposal but it’s obviously interested. The latest issue of SDSU’s official magazine, 360, is dedicated to what it would do with the land if it were to acquire it.
The city attorney warned there’s no guarantee SDSU would even buy the land or develop it as it envisions if the measure passed.
North County Report: Managing Sea Level Rise
The California Coastal Commission has told Del Mar it has to start planning for managed retreat – or removing homes, roads and other structures away from the coast in response to erosion and sea-level rise.
Del Mar residents aren’t happy and are worried it may impact their home values.
Carlsbad and Oceanside have also been looking at how they will address sea-level rise.
This week’s North County news round-up also includes the story of a Carlsbad mom’s journey after her daughter was sexually abused in school, the life of a homeless man in Encinitas and Carlsbad’s opposition to a state bill that would take away the city’s control over the McClellan-Palomar Airport.
Quick News Hits:
• The city of San Diego is adjusting dozens of fees and fines, including the elimination of library fines for overdue materials. (Union-Tribune)
• In San Francisco, the city attorney has gone to war with companies that rent dockless bikes and scooters, but in the process has revealed that he has no real recourse to stop them – something worth noting as some neighborhoods in San Diego have unsuccessfully tried to evict the companies. (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Police handcuffed a woman at a San Diego Democratic Party meeting after protesters showed up to the closed-door meeting. (Union-Tribune)