County supervisors will vote today on whether to initiate talks to buy much of a longtime Vista addiction treatment campus to eventually pursue an untold number of behavioral health beds.
North County Supervisor Jim Desmond and Chair Nora Vargas suggest the site could serve as a regional hub with detox beds, sober living spaces and longer-term board-and-care facilities that offer more support.
The 138-acre site in urban Vista, known as Green Oak Ranch, now houses a faith-based, 50-bed sober living program and hosts an annual North County Veterans Stand Down event for homeless veterans. In their proposal to the rest of the board, Desmond and Vargas wrote that the site also boasts about 63 acres of open space.
The supervisors are jointly proposing that the county potentially purchase a portion of the property for up to $12 million, including a roughly $1.2 million down payment. They estimate eventual building costs for the project could total about $51 million.
Desmond told Voice of San Diego the county doesn’t have the funds to begin building on the site this year, but he hopes an affirmative vote can set in motion a years-long plan to help address surging need and state policies expected to increase both demand and opportunities to seek cash to support the project.
“The first step is getting the property,” Desmond said.
In other supe news: Chair Vargas announced Monday that she has developed nodules on her vocal chords and needs to rest her voice. Her staff told Fox 5 her doctor recommended “weeks of recovery.”
San Diego Advisory Groups Strugs to Function
Nearly seven years after its resurrection, a police accountability board might meet its end again. The Union-Tribune reports the chairs of the city of San Diego’s Citizens Advisory Board on Police/Community Relations are suggesting the group disband.
The group’s chair and co-chair wrote in a letter that has been hard to recruit new members. They also say they don’t have the support they need from the city. Read the letter here.
They aren’t the only ones.
The Privacy Advisory Board is down to five members from nine, the U-T reports. They have dealt with some of the same recruiting and support issues board members told the paper.
A spokesperson for Mayor Gloria’s office told the U-T that state law prevents board members from attending virtually, and some people don’t have the capacity to attend in person. There are efforts afoot at the Capitol to change the rules.
Environment Report: Gloria Wants to Empty Public Power Piggy Bank
Mayor Todd Gloria wants to claw back money that’s set aside for climate projects and to pursue a public takeover of the city’s energy grid.
What went down: Gloria’s proposed budget calls for emptying what’s known as the Energy Independence Fund, a sort of savings account, into the general pot of unrestricted cash, called the general fund.
The account was set up to collect San Diego Gas & Electric shareholder money that the city could put toward studying a public takeover of the grid.
Gloria’s spokesperson told Elmer the city is facing hard decisions with budget constraints. The city is facing a more than $200 million deficit.
Read the Environment Report here.
In Other News
- San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance caretakers traveled to China to meet the new pandas they will be looking after at the San Diego Zoo. The pandas are a 5-year-old male named Yun Chuan and a 4-year-old female named Xin Bao. The pair will soon travel to San Diego. (KPBS)
- Did you know there’s a free shuttle that picks you up at the Old Town Transit Center and drops you off at the airport? The Union-Tribune reports that despite minimal promotion, the shuttle’s ridership rose by 73 percent from 2022 to 2023.
- NBC 7 San Diego featured a crew on the USCGC Sea Otter who helped fight the Oceanside pier fire. City officials are asking beach goers and boaters to avoid the 500-yard zone directly around the pier for now, Fox 5 reports.
The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.
“… to eventually pursue an *untold* number of behavioral health beds.”
untold means “not revealed; held secret.” but “County supervisors will vote *today* on _whether to initiate_ talks.
so, perhaps it’s not “untold;” they simply don’t know yet.