In less than a year, San Diego Unified has dramatically reduced its after-school program PrimeTime waitlist from more than 4,600 families to around 1,045.
It could be a “real game-changer” for families.
Take a step back: In April, our Jakob McWhinney told the story of a single father who waited in limbo for a year to get after-school care for his son. It cost him a job, because his life revolved around his son’s school schedule.
As of November, more than 4,600 families were on the waitlist. That meant that around 30 percent of those who applied were unable to enroll in free after-school care.
The waitlist drop: By March the waitlist dropped to around 3,100. And then by mid-July the waitlist was at around 1,045. District officials say it’s dropping every day.
And that’s a result of more funding going toward staffing, which allows more slots to open. But some challenges persist, as McWhinney reports, because staffing has to keep up with demand, and they anticipate a lot of demand.
Newly Homeless San Diegans Continue to Outpace Newly Housed
New data shows that June marked the fifteenth month in a row that the number of people becoming homeless in San Diego County eclipsed the number moving into homes.
The Regional Task Force on Homelessness reported Monday that 1,141 San Diegans became homeless for the first time in June and 884 exited homelessness.
March 2022 marked the last month that the number of people accessing housing outpaced the number becoming unhoused.
The bottom line: Local efforts to combat homelessness can’t keep up with the flood of people seeking homeless services for the first time.
Broker Who Got Millions for 101 Ash, Civic Center Deals May Lose License
The ex-city real estate adviser paid $9.4 million for his work on two city leases who later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor conflict-of-interest charge could lose his real estate license.
The state Department of Real Estate last month responded to prominent commercial real estate broker Jason Hughes’ March conviction with a formal filing seeking to suspend or revoke his license.
Per state law, real estate licenses can be removed following a guilty plea to “a crime substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a real estate licensee.” The state consumer protection agency has decided Hughes’ crime fits the bill and filed an accusation against his license that will be heard by an administrative law judge next month.
In a statement, Hughes’ attorney Michael Attanasio wrote that he and his client don’t believe there is “any basis for revocation of Mr. Hughes’ license.”
“As was true in other forums, Mr. Hughes has nothing to hide and has cooperated fully with this administrative process,” Attanasio wrote.
Before his March guilty plea, Hughes argued for more than two years that he was not covered by the state’s premier conflict-of-interest law and that he told multiple city officials he wanted to be paid.
The revocation or suspension of Hughes’ license would be a major blow for the prominent broker who has been the longtime face of commercial real estate firm Hughes Marino and has tried to build a national profile in the industry.
Laborers Promote Republican in County Supervisor Race
Mailers are where local politics get boiled down into their most cynical parts. And the mailers are flying across District 4 as four candidates race to take former Supervisor Nathan Fletcher’s place on the county Board of Supervisors.
A reader sent one in from the rare but always exciting to find variety of mailers we sometimes call the bank-shot. These are the mailers intending to support one candidate by actually supporting another candidate. Do not confuse this with the double bank-shot, which are mailers intended to support a candidate by coming off as an attack on that candidate.
This bank-shot: The Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 89 does not support Republican Amy Reichert to win this race but it is sending this mailer supporting her.
We don’t know exactly the galaxy brain reason for this but we suspect the union has concluded she would be easy for one of the two major Democrats — Janessa Goldbeck or Monica Montgomery Steppe — to beat in a runoff so they all could save some money if they avoid two Democrats going to battle in the runoff.
The San Diego County Democratic Party and most major unions endorsed Montgomery Steppe but some high-profile politicians and groups like the Building Industry Association support Goldbeck and she has personally raised the most money in the race.
Voting began Monday. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff will occur.
Border Report: Everyone Is Gearing Up for Mexico’s Elections
Voice contributor Sandra Dibble writes that the Mexican 2024 election season has not formally opened, but it seems to be the only thing everyone is talking about.
She explains that a lot is happening next June. Seats will be open at the national and local level. There’s also a group (outside President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s MORENA coalition) that’s pushing to diversify candidates for opposition and independent voters.
In Other News
- The construction of a modular housing project in the El Cerrito neighborhood is underway. The Union-Tribune has details on the cost of the project. And the potential to replicate the model in the future.
- Another housing project made headlines Monday. This one is an affordable housing development near the Palm Avenue Transit Station. (NBC 7)
- The San Diego City Council voted Monday to give child care providers who run their businesses from their homes more tenant protections. (City News Service, KPBS)
- Train service from San Diego to Orange County is back. (Union-Tribune)
The Morning Report was written by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña and Lisa Halverstadt. It was edited by Scott Lewis.
“A reader sent one in from the rare but always exciting to find variety of mailers we sometimes call the bank-shot.”
is this like a portmanteau of two sentences?
“We don’t know exactly the galaxy brain reason for this but…”
galaxy brain? huh??
come on folks, proofread!