The costs of a warming planet, clean water and maintaining biodiversity are beginning to crystalize for the city of San Diego.
By that we mean the bill is coming for record-smashing rains on Jan. 22 that tore through whole streets of homes after overtopping unkempt storm channels.
Today the City Council will deliberate Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed budget, which includes $88 million for flood control projects, pipeline replacements and pump station repairs, as CBS 8 reported. That’s on top of the $10.3 million the city spent on emergency work cleaning-out storm channels (channelized creeks) so the flooding wouldn’t repeat itself during subsequent rains after the 22nd.
That doesn’t include how much the city will have to pay to restore wetlands it tore out of those storm channels. Cleaning vegetation out of creek beds often triggers requirements from the state and federal government to rebuild the endangered habitat. One acre of wetland restoration can cost $575,000. The city still owes regulators 27 acres of wetlands from channel cleanings past. The city’s stormwater department has not yet disclosed how much more they’ll have to do following the Jan. 22 event.
They want money: The City Council advanced a tax on surfaces that aren’t porous, and allow water to reach the soil – like concrete driveways, parking lots or even swimming pools. Los Angeles already does this, but San Diego’s proposed tax would be higher, 7 cents per square foot of paved property, as the Union-Tribune reported. The City Council’s Rules Committee OK’d the tax for the November ballot – but it has to pass the full council first.
Another Budget Hot Topic: Homelessness Funding
The City Council is likely to tip its hand today on how it might approach tough budget calls on the city’s homelessness response along with a slew of other topics.
Budget Steps: The City Council is set to vote Tuesday on the city budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 plus the budget for the Housing Commission, which oversees many of the city’s homelessness programs. The City Council is holding a hearing today that’ll give it a chance to hash out potential tweaks to Gloria’s budget plan.
Two Big Debates:
- The City Council will likely discuss whether to proceed with funding for the mayor’s controversial mega shelter proposal despite the lack of certainty on whether the shelter itself will move forward. The City Council’s also set for a Monday closed-door discussion where it’ll get updates on lease negotiations for the Middletown warehouse being eyed for the mega shelter. This means Gloria’s team will give councilmembers an update that could shift votes before their Tuesday budget vote. For now, multiple councilmembers are skeptical – and hesitant to pledge money for a shelter that isn’t certain yet.
- As our Lisa Halverstadt reported last month, Gloria’s budget forces the City Council to decide whether to forgo at least some city funding for housing projects that help combat homelessness to keep homeless service programs afloat. Multiple councilmembers have expressed discomfort with this move and want to see some homelessness programs get more funding.
After a Thursday press conference on his homelessness plans that protestors attempted to crash, Gloria told Voice he disagrees with the suggestion that his budget steps away from affordable housing commitments. He said his budget includes millions of dollars for affordable housing projects via his Bridge to Home program.
A Gloria spokesperson later said the Bridge to Home program is expected to direct $15 million to $20 million to housing projects in the upcoming year.
Gloria’s budget separately proposes redirecting another $6 million for affordable housing projects now included in the city housing agency’s proposed plan.
Gloria acknowledges hard calls: “The fact of the matter is that we’ve got a significant budget gap,” Gloria said. “We’ve gotta find a way to deal with it and right now the priority has to be in making sure that we can get more people off the streets quickly because shelter is only a way station to permanent housing. We need to get them off the streets, triaged, connected to care and then into that housing.”
Arizona State Acquires San Diego News Site
An Arizona State University nonprofit venture called Newswell has acquired the local news website Times of San Diego. Times has run as a for-profit under the owner and editor Chris Jennewein and will now convert to a nonprofit.
Jennewein’s article announcing the move said it would usher in a “New Model for Local Journalism.” He wouldn’t elaborate on the model.
“Over time you’ll see increasing coverage of news events here and across the state and we’re committed to covering San Diego responsibly for the long term,” he said. While Times had relied on advertising to support a crew of freelance writers and Jennewein, he said it would now seek philanthropic support.
Nicole Carroll, the executive director of Local News Transformation at ASU, who is leading Newswell, told Voice that she would not say more about plans for the site than the article included. “We’re going to share more in the weeks to come,” she said.
The Baby Sea Lions Are (Generally) Alright
Good news, sorta.
Researchers who discovered an abnormal amount of dead baby sea lions on one of their Channel Island breeding grounds say the trend has not continued.
Scientists raised alarm when they spotted hundreds of dead pups on Año Nuevo Island which looked like they were stillborn, premature or malnourished. The corpses were tested for bird flu and toxic red tide to determine whether the deaths signaled something more ominous.
But, Patrick Robinson, director of the Año Nuevo Reserve, told Voice of San Diego Thursday that the number of still-born pups has since “dropped to very low levels.”
“We are seeing a normal number of healthy live births and mother-pup pairs,” Robinson wrote in an email.
In Other News
- A City Council committee earlier this week advanced proposed sales-tax hike and flood prevention ballot measures – and for now, city officials think both might pass in November with less than the two-thirds vote that has killed many past revenue measures. (Union-Tribune)
- Another ballot decision that’ll face the Council soon: A campaign to nix the city’s longtime dealings with San Diego Gas & Electric and switch to a cheaper and more renewable-focused municipally-run utility nonprofit has gathered enough signatures to push the City Council to decide whether to forward its ballot measure to voters in November. (Times of San Diego)
- Thursday was David Nisleit’s last day as the city’s top cop. (10 News) As we’ve previously reported, incoming Police Chief Scott Wahl, a 26-year department veteran who helped create the police division focused on homelessness in 2018, is now taking over an agency with lots of challenges.
- Awkward: Coronado keeps topping best beach lists despite frequent closures due to the Tijuana sewage crisis. (NBC 7)
The Morning Report was written by MacKenzie Elmer and Lisa Halverstadt. It was edited by Lisa Halverstadt and Scott Lewis.
“That doesn’t include how much the city will have to pay to restore wetlands it tore out of those storm channels. Cleaning vegetation out of creek beds often triggers requirements from the state and federal government to rebuild the endangered habitat.”
Think about that for a minute. Storm channels/drains are built for the purpose of redirecting excess waters to prevent storm water damage. Yet the state calls these “wetlands” that need to be replaced? Looks to me like weasel words to get out of paying for damages caused by the city’s willful neglect of the storm drain system
One note: A lot of these “storm drain channels” were actually natural creeks first — as is the case with Chollas Creek. Wetlands came first. Then the storm drains.
Overtopping unkempt storm channels……your words….wetlands in unkempt storm channels…..correct?
Chollas creek flooded in the mid to late 1950’s before there was a lot of housing. One of the reasons concrete channels were built. To call them “wetlands” in 2024 is a joke.
The City Council advanced a tax on surfaces that aren’t porous, and allow water to reach the soil – like concrete driveways, parking lots or even swimming pools.
Another tax, huh? We must be swimming in money for all these taxes coming on the ballot. Vote incumbents out.