City Council President Georgette Gómez’s attempt to override Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s veto of her inclusionary housing plan failed Tuesday, but the policy is still alive – for now.
That’s because just after the veto override vote failed, Gómez offered changes to the policy that the Council will now weigh once more.
After a failed City Council vote to revive the initial proposal aimed at delivering more affordable housing in the city, Gómez called a vote to have city staff and consultants work on a new version of the policy aimed at compelling developers to serve low-income families with slightly higher incomes, and with a higher fee for those who decide not to serve those families in their projects.
The updates were clearly aimed at drawing support from Councilwoman Vivian Moreno, who voted against both the veto override and the plan to move forward with new proposed updates on Tuesday.
But the policymaking process will continue. Gómez said she hopes to schedule a vote on the new proposal next month.
It’s not yet clear whether building industry and business leaders who panned the previous proposal will also rally against it this go-round. Building Industry Association CEO Borre Winckel said immediately after the vote that his group will need to analyze the new numbers to understand their impact.
Meanwhile, labor leaders and progressives are adamant that Gómez should press on.
“Taking no action today on the housing policy is unacceptable,” Keith Maddox of the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council said Tuesday before the failed veto override. “We need affordable housing to be built right now.”
City Council OK’s New Homeless Shelter Contract
The City Council voted Tuesday to approve a contract with nonprofit Alpha Project to operate a fourth temporary homeless shelter at 17th Street and Imperial Avenue.
“The city currently operates three bridge shelters and each serves a different population: single adults, veterans and women and children. By contrast, the new shelter is designed to be more flexible and assist more than one group at a time,” the city wrote in a news release.
The new plan designed to help the city more effectively tackle the homelessness crisis, which the City Council voted to approve Monday, recommends the city add 350 to 500 more shelter beds. The new facility will have 150 beds.
Some advocates have objected to the idea of devoting resources to temporary shelters and argue the city’s primary focus should be on building permanent homes, but the new plan appears to validate Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s investment in the temporary shelters.
Faulconer and city leaders refer to the temporary shelters as bridge shelters because, the thinking goes, they should serve as a bridge from homelessness to a permanent home. But despite an influx of spending on them and other solutions, the city has struggled to hit targets for moving people who stayed in the shelters into permanent homes.
Tampons, Trauma and Unexpected Comedy
San Diegan and Air Force veteran Shairi Engle will present her award-winning, full-length stage play, “Tampons, Dead Dogs and Other Disposable Things,” at the La Jolla Playhouse’s Forum Theater later this month.
In the latest Culture Report, Julia Dixon Evans writes that the show is “a raw, powerful study of handling the aftermath of trauma, but it’s also charmingly funny.”
In addition to her full-length play, Engle is also debuting a short play as part of this weekend’s Without Walls (WOW) Festival, the La Jolla Playhouse’s site-specific, stage-free festival of performances.
Also in the Culture Report: “Likewise Fiction,” a new literary podcast from San Diegan Mike Sakasegawa, a (free) San Diego Symphony concert at the Padres ballpark and more San Diego arts and culture news and happenings.
In Other News
Lawyers representing the Crossroads of the West Gun Show said they will challenge a new state law that bans the sale of guns and ammo at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, reports KPBS. VOSD’s Jesse Marx attended the event last month following its return to North County.
Despite increased student demand, enrollment at San Diego State University has remained flat for years. The college’s president said a major increase in enrollment is unlikely to occur before 2028. (Union-Tribune)
A San Diego County program helps older residents confront their homes’ clutter, and trauma tied to it. (U.S. News & World Report)
The County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday to ban the sale of flavored vaping products in unincorporated areas for one year. Rep. Duncan Hunter — well known for once vaping at a House committee meeting — told the Union-Tribune Monday that safety concerns prompting the bans are “massively overblown.”
The Morning Report was written by Megan Wood and Lisa Halverstadt, and edited by Sara Libby.