San Diego has a shiny new plan to combat homelessness. The Council OK’d it. The city paid a lot of money for it, and emphasized how important having a plan in place to guide future efforts would be.
But, as Lisa Halverstadt lays out in a new story, none of the candidates running to lead the city as mayor is 100 percent on board with the plan. Though many of them agree on some of the plan’s most significant elements, they each have their own priorities and goals that don’t necessarily fit with the plan.
Assemblyman Todd Gloria, for one, released his own plan. He also says the city should prioritize ending chronic homelessness, a goal that’s not in the plan. Councilwoman Barbara Bry voted for the plan but has said the city should focus more on the “root causes” of homelessness, like mental health issues. Councilman Scott Sherman wants to double down on police enforcement of homeless residents, something the plan actually urged the city to consider doing less of.
Meanwhile, a fourth candidate, Tasha Williamson, says the city doesn’t even need a plan and should just go ahead and act already.
City College Fires Professor at Center of Southwestern Scandal
The San Diego Community College District board voted to fire John Tolli, who got a job at the school after Southwestern College agreed to keep quiet the damning findings of an investigation into Tolli’s behavior when he was a professor there. The board minutes show the vote was 4-1 in favor of termination.
As VOSD reported in October, Southwestern officials hired investigators to look into a Title IX complaint against Tolli and found he kept nude photos of students on his office computer, as well as videos of him having sex with at least one student in his office. The school agreed not to mention the investigation to prospective employers as part of Tolli’s separation agreement.
Southwestern College is far from the only local school to agree not to mention an employee’s misconduct to future employers.
Politics Roundup
- Last week was, uh, quite a week for debate over AB 5.
- The head of the local Democratic Party spoke to the Politics Report about the party’s surprising move on two big land use ballot measures.
- On the VOSD Podcast, we discussed how two 2020 housing measures are causing interesting divides within the Democratic Party.
- The U-T got in a Q&A with Sen. Bernie Sanders on border issues during his visit to San Ysidro Friday.
In Other News
- Voice of San Diego member Bruce Higgins gave us a shoutout in this New York Times piece about the decline of local news institutions (and how online sites sometimes fill the void). So here’s a shoutout back atcha, Bruce.
- Mexico has extradited one of the founders of the Sinaloa drug cartel to San Diego to face trafficking charges. (Associated Press)
- SDSU is facing criticism for bringing anti-Semitic speakers to campus. (Times of San Diego)
- If you thought for a second that Rob Schneider and Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez’s feud had died down, well, joke’s on you.
The Morning Report was written by Sara Libby, and edited by Scott Lewis.