San Diego Unified School District is putting another bond measure on the ballot this November – its fourth in 14 years. Measure U would authorize the district to borrow $3.2 billion, which it would pay off by extending its existing districtwide property tax of six cents per $100 of assessed property value.
Voice of San Diego’s education reporter Jakob McWhinney explains what the new bond measure means for homeowners in the district and schools. The six cents per $100 of assessed value property tax for district residents amounts to a $480 annual tax on the region’s $800,000 median priced home, McWhinney writes.
SDUSD’s stated reasons for pursuing the bond – student safety and health and building renovations – are familiar because they’ve been front and center in past bond requests, like 2018’s Measure YY. But given the ever-deteriorating nature of buildings and the requirements that bond funds be spent on facilities and infrastructure rather than, say staffing costs, the renovation aspect isn’t surprising. And based on facility condition metrics, the quality of the district’s buildings has improved in recent years.
Read more about Measure U here.
County Gets Few Takers for Its Homeless Shelter Funding
The county announced Monday that it awarded three cities grants that would help support efforts to address the region’s growing homeless crisis. The grants will go to safe parking programs in the cities of San Diego and Vista, and a shelter in Oceanside.
Those grants only made up half of what the county was prepared to give out from its $10 million grant program. That’s because those were the only three cities to apply. County officials envisioned getting more takers when they announced the program in the first place.
Here’s what Board of Supervisors Chair Nathan Fletcher told the Union-Tribune about it: “With how severe the crisis is and how real the need is, I expected that we would have seen $30 million or $40 million in applications, and we would have had to pick out the best ones,” he said. “Unfortunately, these are the only three cities that applied.”
Keep in Mind: These funds from the county are initial investments to help cities open shelters, safe parking lots and other emergency shelters. The city of San Diego got a little more than $1 million for a 60-vehicle safe parking lot. The city is putting in $479,000 of its own funds to run the site for two years.
Another New Shelter: Mayor Todd Gloria announced Tuesday that the city is leasing a 34-room hotel to shelter homeless seniors downtown. CBS 8 reports that the city expects to begin welcoming homeless residents in a month or two.
And more Bill Walton: A few people have asked for the full emails basketball legend Bill Walton sent Mayor Todd Gloria about the homelessness crisis in San Diego. He sent us all of them organized into a document you can read here.
In Other News
- KPBS reported that a group of migrants detained by ICE at a facility in Imperial County operated by a private company have filed a federal complaint alleging mistreatment.
- Eighty years after its passage, San Diego’s city council rescinded a World War II era resolution calling for Japanese residents to be removed. (City News Service)
- Another relic from the 1940’s – North Park’s Lafayette Hotel – will be undergoing a comprehensive makeover after being acquired by CH Projects. (Union-Tribune)
- The median home price in the San Diego region went down slightly in August. They’re now down 6 percent from their all time high this spring. That marks the third month in a row prices have dropped. (Union-Tribune)
The Morning Report was written by Jakob McWhinney, Andrea Lopez-Villafaña, Lisa Halverstadt and Scott Lewis. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.