Last month, historical flooding impacted thousands of residents across San Diego County. One of the communities hit hardest was Leucadia Roadside Park in Encinitas.
Flooding caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage to residents’ businesses and homes. But this isn’t the first time heavy rainfall has wreaked havoc in the community, in fact it’s been a major issue for decades.
That’s because the drainage infrastructure along the N. Coast Hwy 101 in Leucadia is outdated and overwhelmed, and residents have been begging the city for a permanent fix for years.
At last week’s City Council meeting, city officials presented their plans to finally install a newer and stronger drainage system in the area.
But it’s expected to cost millions of dollars that the city currently doesn’t have. North County reporter Tigist Layne dug into what the city’s plans for the drainage system are and how much it’s going to take to accomplish.
Looking ahead: It’s still unclear where the funding for the new drainage improvements will come from, but the City Council is expected to discuss budget and funding sources in the coming weeks.
Politics Report: Meet the Mayor’s Choice for D4 City Council
In this week’s Politics Report, Chida Warren-Darby, the mayor’s choice to replace Monica Montgomery Steppe on the City Council, weighs in on the flood, a sales tax, cops and more.
Warren-Darby is also backed by the San Diego Police Officers Association. Her opponent, Henry Foster, is backed by Montgomery Steppe, who stepped down from the council after being elected to the board of supervisors, as well as the union for city employees.
Warren-Darby surprised our Scott Lewis when she spoke critically of the city’s response to the Jan. 22 floods, given that she currently works for the mayor.
“A lot of individuals tried to call in and wanted things cleared in the creek and I want to understand the historical context and see where the break was in the process,” she said.
Lewis also wrote about a deceptive practice he is seeing a lot of in political advertising right now. He’s even come up with a name for the move: a “bank shot.”
Read the full Politics Report here.
On the Airwaves: Elections and the Flood Survivors
On this week’s podcast Scott Lewis, Jakob McWhinney and Will Huntsberry talked about deceptive political mailers and yard signs that are hitting voters’ door steps.
They also talked about a wave of political distrust that has been left behind in the wake of the flood waters. (Huntsberry wrote about that as well, last week.)
Southeastern San Diego residents had been asking for flood canals to be cleaned for years. City officials knew they were a problem, but never got around to fixing it. That has led the flood survivors to reason that one of two things must be true. Either, politicians don’t care about them. Or worse, politicians actually want them out of the city.
Listen to the full episode here.
GOP Candidate Carl DeMaio Bought Ads for a Dem Challenger
Republican Assembly candidate Carl DeMaio is promoting a Democrat to nudge a Republican opponent, Andrew Hayes, out of the crowded race for San Diego’s 75th Assembly District, a reliably red seat. Deborah Brennan explores this funhouse version of campaign politics in this week’s Sacramento Report.
DeMaio placed a recent online ad noting that Democrat Kevin Juza is the officially endorsed candidate of the county Democratic Party, and warning Democratic voters against splitting the vote. If DeMaio’s strategy succeeds, he could avoid battling a well-heeled Republican opponent in the general election, and face an underfunded Democrat instead.
Also in this week’s newsletter: Hayes’ boss, State Sen. Brian Jones is taking a third stab at a bill to limit placement of sexually violent predators in neighborhoods.
Read the full Sacramento Report.
In Other News
- The organization running the county-funded migrant welcome center says it’s closing this week. (KPBS)
- From dealing with damage from the Jan. 22 floods to helping families, local schools are still dealing with the recovery process. (Union-Tribune) Related: President Joe Biden has agreed that California needs federal dollars to recover from the floods. That federal assistance will go to San Diego County’s recovery efforts. (CBS 8)
- Chula Vista Councilwoman Andrea Cardenas resigned from her seat on Monday. The Union-Tribune reports that the announcement comes a day before she is set to appear in court. Reminder: Cardenas, and her brother Jesus, are facing fraud and money laundering charges.
Correction: In our post about distrust among flood survivors we stated that City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera held a press conference on Beta Street during his campaign for City Council. It was after he was elected.
The Morning Report was written by Tigist Layne, Lisa Halverstadt, Will Huntsberry, Deborah Sullivan Brennan. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.
“Flooding caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage to residents’ businesses and homes.”
“…deceptive political mailers and yard signs that are hitting voters’ door steps.”
so according to this, people in Encinitas are residing in their businesses.
and yeah, i wouldn’t want those yard signs hitting MY doorstep (one word) either.