The city of San Diego didn’t settle a lawsuit with San Diego Gas and Electric before renewing its contract with the investor-owned power provider. And now San Diegans could be on the hook for $100 million more than planned to build a wastewater-to-drinking water system.
Whether Mayor Todd Gloria pushed for a settlement at the franchise fee negotiation table is anyone’s guess. The city can still appeal a Superior Court’s decision to make San Diegans pay for the relocation of SDG&E’s equipment to make way for the Pure Water project.
But Council President Sean Elo-Rivera initially pushed the city to reconsider signing any contract with a company it was suing. Now critics of the franchise agreement are touting the judge’s ruling as evidence the city should have driven a harder bargain.
- Climate activists also held a rally Thursday, part of a series of demonstrations across the state, opposing a proposal that the California Public Utilities Commission could vote on this month that would limit the amount that utilities have to credit to customers who have solar panels and can sell extra power they aren’t using back to the utility. (CBS 8)
Vacation Rental Apps Fall Short of Expectations
Next May, whole-home vacation rental operators who regularly host visitors will need a license to operate in the city and the city expected to receive more applications for operators than it could fulfill.
But as the Union-Tribune reveals, city officials were caught off guard this week to receive far fewer applications than the 5,416 licenses allowable under the city’s controversial vacation-rental ordinance.
That means an expected lottery won’t be required.
A lottery will still be required, however, for longtime vacation rental mecca Mission Beach.
Advocates and city officials alike are now speculating about the reasons behind the lower-than-expected demand for rental licenses.
Worth noting: The city has long lacked data on its vacation rental landscape, a dynamic that some had argued made regulating the industry more necessary.
Gaslamp Quarter Businesses Want Police to Enforce Street Vendor Law
San Diego park rangers and code enforcement officers have mostly led enforcement of the city’s new street vending law that prohibits vendors from coastal, high-pedestrian traffic neighborhoods.
But ongoing complaints about vending activities in the Gaslamp Quarter — one of the prohibited areas — means police officers will likely step up enforcement in that area, KPBS reports.
The Gaslamp Quarter Association’s executive director told KPBS that police have already increased contact with vendors. This follows concerns that some vendors are violating health and safety regulations, and recent dust-ups between vendors fighting over sidewalk territory.
San Diego’s street vending law emphasizes that enforcement falls to code enforcement and park rangers. Though police officers can issue warnings and assist with more pressing issues of public safety. That was done by design as many advocates worried that complete enforcement by police officers would only criminalize street vending.
- Meanwhile: Mujeres Brew House in Logan Heights is offering up space at their brewery to a woman who sells tamales. The woman began selling tamales to make some extra cash for her family, but she found it difficult to keep up with the city’s street vending permit process. (NBC San Diego)
Across the Diego
- More water had to be removed from the century-old Lake Hodges reservoir this week as recent rains filled the water body past what state officials deem safe. (Union-Tribune)
- Former San Diego County sheriff Capt. Marco Garmo is near the end of a two-year prison term for an illegal gun distribution operation he ran. But new court records show Garmo, who hoped to become the county’s elected sheriff, was also tipping off a political fundraiser of pending raids of illegal cannabis dispensaries, who told the dispensary owner of the raids in exchange for large monthly payments, the Union-Tribune reported Thursday, following a hearing on the sentencing of the political fundraiser, Waiel Yousif Anton.
- The Valle de Guadalupe wine region is booming, but without enough water to go around, it faces the prospect of dying before it assumes its place among the world’s top gastronomic destinations, San Diego Magazine reports. “We need to solve this problem as soon as possible,” said Camillo Magoni, the wine-maker for Casa Magoni, “Or the valley is gone.”
- Scripps Oceanography researchers published a study demonstrating that snails carrying flatworms that can infect humans are widespread in California. During the snail’s development, the flatworms can leave the bodies of snails and embed in the tissues of fish that, if caught and eaten by humans, can cause symptoms ranging from abdominal pain to brain hemorrhaging.
- A homeless woman was hospitalized and another arrested after a stabbing in a riverbed near the Mission Valley YMCA early Thursday morning. (Union-Tribune)
- The homeless shelter at Golden Hall reopened after residents there were temporarily relocated to allow repairs when last month’s rains led to leaks at the aging building. (Union-Tribune)
- The San Diego Registrar counted another 1,200 ballots, leaving 5,800 remaining uncounted ballots countywide, and Mejgan Afshan has pulled within just five votes of Laura Lothian for a spot on the La Mesa City Council. She trailed by 13 votes earlier in the week, when there were 8,700 votes remaining. Ron Morrison is still holding on to his lead in the National City mayor’s race, with Jose Rodriguez still 74 votes back.
The Morning Report was written by MacKenzie Elmer, Lisa Halverstadt, Andrea Lopez-Villafaña and Andrew Keatts. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.