The Escondido Democratic Club is no longer supporting four Democratic Palomar Health board members because of a new contract the board members voted for back in February.
Some background: Palomar Health’s board recently approved a new 15-year management agreement with a private nonprofit company called Mesa Rock Healthcare Management, Inc.
Palomar is a public health care district that operates Palomar Medical Centers in Escondido and Poway. Its seven-member board is elected by the public and the hospital system is subject to all of the rules that apply to public institutions, like the California Public Records Act, for example.
Because Mesa Rock is a private company, it doesn’t have to adhere to the same rules that public institutions do. Palomar officials say the move puts them on a level playing field as other hospital systems, and that it doesn’t change the district’s public status.
The club’s leaders say the move is an attempt to privatize Palomar Health and reduce public access, and they’re not happy with the four Democratic board members who voted for it.
They’re promising to never endorse or support the candidates again in any future elections they may choose to run in.
Power Line Undergrounding But Even Slower
The city of San Diego is giving its undergrounding process another makeover, and this time, city leaders want to make sure it’s as equitable as possible.
For decades, the city prioritized richer neighborhoods when considering where to bury power lines. In 2022, that changed when the city struck a deal with San Diego Gas & Electric and both parties agreed that underserved areas or areas with high fire risk should get power lines buried first.
That means other projects that had priority before this may get delayed. The total undergrounding process already takes around seven years, and sometimes longer, so those waiting to get their power lines undergrounded may have to wait longer.
In Other News
- Claudia Sheinbaum is the new president of Mexico, becoming the first woman president in Mexico’s history. Mexican nationals in San Diego were able to cast their ballots in person for the first time ever at the Mexican consulate in Little Italy. (Union-Tribune)
- Thousands of UC San Diego’s academic workers went on strike Monday, along with other UC campuses, to protest the university system’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrations. (Union-Tribune) We did an Instagram version of the news if you’re into easily-digestible, short videos explaining the situation and if you’re willing to risk the next 30 minutes of your life as you’re tempted to keep scrolling and scrolling and scrolling…
- San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit will retire this week after six years as San Diego’s chief of police. (Union-Tribune)
- A panel of residents from all five San Diego County supervisorial districts has been selected to interview candidates to lead the sheriff’s civilian oversight board. The previous executive officer, Paul Parker, quit earlier this year. (Union-Tribune) Side note: It’s far more transparent than the panel signed up to interview the finalists for the chief administrative officer job. We found out they only ended up interviewing one candidate and the identities panelists are not public.Â
- There’s an effort underway to make La Jolla its own city, separate from the city of San Diego. Proponents are working on gathering enough signatures to put the measure on a future ballot. (Union-Tribune)
- A beach in Del Mar was closed Monday after a swimmer was attacked by a shark over the weekend. (KPBS)
The Morning Report was written by Tigist Layne and Lisa Halverstadt. It was edited by Scott Lewis.
Palomar Health is a public health care district whose board recently approved a new 15-year management agreement with a **private nonprofit company** called Mesa Rock Healthcare Management, Inc.
ding, ding, ding — alert, alert!! not a good idea!
also, is a “private nonprofit company” an oxymoron?