The U.S. Supreme Court made it known Monday that it would not consider the city of San Diego’s appeal that it review the California Supreme Court’s decision that a 2012 ballot initiative was illegally pushed on the ballot by the city’s mayor.
The measure, Proposition B, put all new city employees, besides police officers, on 401(k)-style retirement programs and not guaranteed pensions like their predecessors.
So what happens next?
No one is really sure.
The state Court of Appeal is now attempting to sort out where to go with the understanding that the state Supreme Court’s finding that the mayor acted illegally is the final word on the matter.
Scott Lewis surveyed the scene and discussed what’s next now that the Supremes won’t be weighing in.
Bry Flips on Parking Requirements
After voting to approve Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s proposal to eliminate parking requirements on multifamily housing developments (and praising his ideas on Twitter), Councilwoman Barbara Bry announced Monday that she’ll be voting against the plan when it comes up for a second vote Tuesday.
“In the last 2 weeks, I have received additional information from residents and responsible builders about the impacts of this policy change on specific communities. This proposed ordinance is a meat axe approach to an issue that requires sensitivity to the unique characteristics of each impacted neighborhood,” Bry, who is running to succeed Faulconer as mayor, wrote in a statement.
Unless Bry is able to change more of her colleagues’ minds, the proposal is still likely to pass. When the Council voted on the plan earlier this month, it passed 8-1, with Councilwoman Jen Campbell registering the lone no vote.
Two leaders of San Diego’s YIMY movement, meanwhile, encourage the City Council to move forward with the parking plan. “The high cost of parking has been invariably passed on to homeowners and tenants, even when the household neither wants nor needs its allotted spaces,” they write in an op-ed.
- A North Park resident writes in a separate op-ed piece that the redesign of 30th Street represents a big test of its commitment to getting people out of their cars. The city’s choice, as he sees it: “buckle under pressure to maintain the status quo and preserve parking at all costs, or instead honor its policies and create a visionary showcase for the rest of the city.”
For Many, Being Deported Is Far From Going ‘Home’
In this week’s Border Report, Maya Srikrishnan spoke with a Los Angeles law professor with years of experience working with people facing deportation, and those who’ve been deported.
Beth Caldwell’s experience and research eventually led her to write a book on the subject, “Deported Americans.”
Caldwell found that family was a major factor when it comes to how well a deported person can adjust to life in a new country. The more a deported person tried to maintain relationships with a spouse or child still in the United States, the more he or she struggled.
“A lot of the rhetoric presents immigrants as ‘outsiders’ or ‘invaders’ or ‘others,’ and I think this research highlights that many immigrants are a part of U.S. society and families,” Caldwell said.
- ICYMI: California Sunday recently delved into the struggles of American-born children who’ve been forced to move to Mexico with their deported parents.
In Other News
- Welcome to the poppy apocalypse. The internet is having a good time dunking on Super Bloom tourists. (Vice)
- A housing advocacy group is suing the San Diego Housing Commission over its voucher program. (KPBS)
- The city has marked a gruesome milestone: its first scooter fatality. A separate scooter-related death in Chula Vista in December is thought to be the first scooter death in the county. (Union-Tribune)
- After the DA on Friday released video of the events leading to the in-custody death of Aleah Jenkins, Councilwomen Monica Montgomery and Georgette Gomez are requesting an independent investigation by the state attorney general.
The Morning Report was written by Sara Libby.