Morning Report: How the City Wants to Settle 101 Ash Suits, and Why Some Disagree

Mayor Todd Gloria and other city officials on Monday unveiled a proposed settlement to resolve a legal fight with the city’s 101 Ash St. landlord and lenders who facilitated the controversial city lease.

Our Lisa Halverstadt writes that they hope to proceed with a roughly $132 million buyout of the city’s controversial 101 Ash St. and Civic Center Plaza leases that they argue will end uncertainty on litigation expected to continue for years and prevent the potential loss of the Civic Center property that serves as a workspace for hundreds of city workers, among other benefits.

Yet City Attorney Mara Elliott is urging the City Council not to approve the settlement inked after more than a year and a half of confidential negotiations. She argued in a memo ahead of a planned City Council vote week that the proposed settlement “does not adequately protect the city’s legal and financial interests.”

Read about Elliott’s concerns, the pitch Gloria and others are making for the City Council to proceed with the settlement and more.

San Diego Exempts Cops on Federal Task Forces from Surveillance Ordinance

San Diego’s surveillance ordinance — a piece of legislation that has been in the works for two years and is intended to put greater rules around the acquisition and use of technology capable of monitoring the public — is headed back for further review.

After four hours of public testimony and debate, the City Council voted 5-4 to amend the ordinance so that it exempts San Diego police officers for their work on federal task forces. The amendment, proposed by Councilman Raul Campillo, also caps attorney fees in the event a member of the public sues for a violation of the ordinance and wins.

The ordinance, written by the Trust SD Coalition and Councilwoman Monica Montgomery Steppe, doesn’t ban surveillance technologies. It requires that the technologies used by city employees are known to the public, and there’s an opportunity to evaluate those technologies upfront and on an ongoing basis with the help of a privacy advisory board.

President Joe Biden has pledged to bring back non-citizen veterans who have been unjustly deported. Back in 2016, friends and family members of a group of deported veterans seeking re-entry into the U.S. awaited their arrival in San Ysidro. The vets were ordered back into Tijuana as they awaited a decision. / Photo by Brooke Binkowski

Deported Veterans May Soon Have a Pathway Back to the U.S.

President Joe Biden last year unveiled plans to bring back unjustly deported non-citizen veterans to the U.S. The effort led to the Immigrant Military Members and Veterans Initiative, which offers support to non-citizen veterans and their families.

The series of initiatives also include a new online portal for deported veterans to apply to return to the U.S., a new policy requiring immigration officials to consider military service when it comes to law enforcement against non-citizens and more.

Voice of San Diego contributor Sandra Dibble spoke to two U.S. veterans who were unjustly deported — one has since become a U.S. citizen and the other is hoping the new efforts by the Biden administration will lead to his return home.

Click here to read more in this week’s Border Report.

In Other News

Data from the annual point-in-time homeless census showed that 85 percent of San Diego’s homeless population said they became homeless in San Diego. There has been some anecdotal evidence over the years that some homeless individuals come to San Diego because they hear it’s more accommodating to homeless people, but the data shows that most people tend to stay in the community where they became homeless. (Union-Tribune)
An April shooting where Harbor police opened fire at a gunman and accidentally shot a passing vehicle in the background is raising questions about the number of rounds that were fired. The San Diego couple was driving by the incident involving three police officers and an armed gunman, when their car was shot. Policing experts are now questioning whether so many rounds were necessary and if officers took the people in the background into account. (Union-Tribune)
Oceanside is set to get $5.2 million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to renew the San Luis Rey River Flood Protection Project. The money will go toward sediment removal and various improvements along the river to prevent flooding and protect the nearby homes. (Union-Tribune)

This Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt, Tigist Layne and Jesse Marx. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña and Megan Wood.