The Morning Report
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Amid legal pressure to act on climate, the city of San Diego produces documents detailing just how much it would cost to do all the things it promised under Mayor Todd Gloria’s Climate Action Plan.
So far, the bulk of the costs cover projects like Pure Water, the city’s massive effort to recycle wastewater into something drinkable. But that project doesn’t eliminate any large portion of the city’s planet-warming emissions.
San Diego needs at least $30 million in new money each year to jumpstart that work through 2028, a lot of which involves producing more plans around climate action. Activists have seen enough plans and just want decisions and deadlines.
North County Report: An Escondido Homelessness Prevention Program Needs New Funding
After only a year of operation, an Escondido homelessness prevention program for families was discontinued when its federal funding source abruptly came to a halt.
Families First was a program for families with children ages 10 to 18 that were at-risk of becoming homeless. In its first year, the program helped 54 families.
But at the end of its first year, leaders with the nonprofit Escondido Education learned they would not be receiving Emergency Solutions Grant funding from HUD – HUD is the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is funding the program relied on to serve at-risk families.
COMPACT has received more than 100 referrals of at-risk families in the past several months, but until a new source of funding is identified, the program can’t continue operating.
Ex-Assessor’s Office Official Accused of Conflict-of-Interest Ordered to Pay $344K
A former top deputy in the County Assessor’s Office who pleaded guilty to a conflict-of-interest charge has been ordered to pay the county $344,000 in restitution and to complete 100 hours of volunteer work. He will also spend a year on probation. (Click here to view this post in your browser.)
The District Attorney’s Office last year accused 74-year-old Rolf Bishop, the assessor’s now-former chief information officer, of directing county contract work he oversaw to his wife’s company and approving invoices that followed.
Bishop initially pleaded guilty to a single felony charge, but Superior Court Judge Rachel Cano on Wednesday decided to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor, a move that will lessen the impact on Bishop’s county pension payments and ostensibly make it easier for him to pay restitution. The District Attorney’s Office argued against the reduction.
The county is continuing to seek about $1.5 million from Bishop in a separate civil suit.
Police Misconduct Records Are Public But Still Plenty We Don’t Know
The city of San Diego has released nearly 100 reports of misconduct by police officers. But inewsource and KPBS report that almost one-third of those cases — most involving physical harm and discrimination — don’t include information on any disciplinary action against the officers, even though the findings were sustained.
In one of those cases, an officer released a dog on a man who had his hands in the air. In another, an officer used a racial slur and said he killed Black people for a living.
The Police Department offered a few reasons for why some of the disciplinary actions were missing, including the officer never received formal discipline or left the force before discipline was carried out.
The documents were made available thanks to SB 16, which built on another landmark transparency law in California known as SB 1421. Some law enforcement agencies took years to release all of them.
In Other News
- A National City educator named one of San Diego County’s teachers of the year in August was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of having a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old former student. (Union-Tribune)
- San Diego is considering a proposal to install 50 interactive kiosks with outdoor advertising to help tourists get around and raise revenue for the city and downtown partnership. One group is warning about visual pollution and the city’s Independent Budget Analyst is pointing to potential legal ramifications for sign regulations should an exception be made. (Union-Tribune)
- Silvergate Bank involved in the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX said it will repay deposits and voluntarily liquidate. The La Jolla-based bank recently reported a $1 billion loss and came under questioning by Congress. (Times of San Diego)
- The first naloxone vending machine in San Diego County, installed at the McAlister South Bay Regional Recovery Center in Chula Vista, is now operational. The machine will distribute naloxone, which can reverse an opioid overdose, free of charge. (County News Center)
- NASSCO, a major shipbuilder located in San DIego, is seeking contracts to build ships needed to support the creation of wind turbine farms off the U.S. coast. (Union-Tribune)
The Morning Report was written by MacKenzie Elmer, Tigist Layne, Lisa Halverstadt, Jesse Marx and Jakob McWhinney. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.