The City Council is set to vote today on whether to move forward with a proposed 1,000 bed shelter campus pushed by Mayor Todd Gloria.
The 30-year lease agreement for the Middletown warehouse the city wants to turn into the city’s largest long-term homeless campus – and the concept itself – have spawned major questions: What’s the value of the building? Can the city count on the site and its potential landlord? Should the city open a big shelter and pull from housing funds to pay for it? Is it sustainable?
Our Lisa Halverstadt tackled these four big point dogging the mayor’s mega-shelter plan. Read the full story here.
Related: City Attorney Mara Elliott’s Office issued a scathing review of the proposed mega-shelter lease Friday afternoon. Read more here.
Here’s how Assistant City Attorney Jean Jordan put it in her memo: “As currently written, the proposed lease does not adequately protect the city’s legal or financial interests, and the city would benefit from further negotiation, legal analysis, and due diligence.”
Need to catch up fast? Our VOSD Podcast crew invited Halverstadt on the latest show to breakdown everything you need to know about the proposal. Listen to the episode here or wherever you get your pods.
Homelessness Leader Weighs in on the Mega-Shelter
Halverstadt also chatted late Friday with Tamera Kohler, CEO of the Regional Task Force on Homelessness, after she toured the site where Gloria envisions a 1,000-bed shelter.
Kohler designed the Convention Center shelter operation during the pandemic that, at its height, temporarily housed 1,355 people. Gloria has often touted that initiative as proof that the city can deliver a successful large shelter operation.
So what does Kohler think of the city’s mega-shelter plan? “I can see potential there, but I don’t see that you could get 1,000 people in there.”
Those who dig it: The Navy Region Southwest and the Lucky Duck Foundations separately issued letters of support for the shelter.
Politics Report: RIP Flood Prevention Ballot Measure
Our fearless leader is out on vacation, but that didn’t stop us from delivering to the politics nerds.
Our MacKenzie Elmer reported in the latest Politics Report that San Diego Council President Sean Elo-Rivera withdrew the measure that would have funded stormwater infrastructure from the ballot.
What killed it? Elmer writes that Elo-Rivera, in his statement to the press, blamed ACA 1, a statewide proposition that was supposed to make it easier for local tax increases to pass – until it didn’t.
Elmer explains why ACA 1 killed it, according to Elo-Rivera, and what this means for San Diego’s aging stormwater system.
Read more in the Politics Report.
How to Have Our Coast and Develop It Too
For the latest Sacramento Report, Capitol reporter Deborah Brennan writes that one bill has changed so much that its author is no longer certain he supports it. Here’s what’s going on in Sacramento.
Assemblymember David Alvarez, D-San Diego, set out to streamline the construction of affordable housing in the coastal zone with AB2560. It would have essentially made it so developers who include affordable housing in the coastal zone could get all the benefits of the Density Bonus Law, “notwithstanding the (Coastal) Act.”
The Coastal Commission did not like that. They worried the bill would chip away at coastal protections.
The bill was amended in the Senate and now it looks very different from what Alvarez was proposing. Read the Sacramento Report here.
San Diego Reps React to Biden Dropping Out
Call it the full moon effect, but our very own Social Media Producer (astrology extraordinaire) Bella Ross predicted on the VOSD Podcast that President Joe Biden would drop out of the 2024 presidential race on Sunday. (If you needed a sign to start listening to our podcast, this is it.)
Local lawmakers responded to the news. Some also backed his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. Fox 5 San Diego has a roundup of what reps had to say. Read it here.
In Other News
- The San Diego Union-Tribune’s photojournalists documented San Diego Pride’s 50th anniversary here. Related: In honor of the celebration, Voice contributor Randy Dotinga took us back to a time when San Diego fought over an effort to ban gay and lesbian teachers from the classroom. Read the story here.
- San Diego is almost too pretty to function, but it does and it does it well. The New York Times’ travel section spent 36 hours in our fine city. Here’s a look at our city through their eyes.
- Lemon Grove residents turned up in droves at a community meeting to oppose the 70 sleeping cabins the county plans to place on Troy Street and Sweetwater Road. (NBC 7)
“Call it the full moon effect, but our very own Social Media Producer (astrology extraordinaire) Bella Ross predicted on the VOSD Podcast that President Joe Biden would drop out of the 2024 presidential race on Sunday. (If you needed a sign to start listening to our podcast, this is it.)”
San Diego’s Doug Porter also predicted Joe’s announcement would drop on Sunday. see his column here: https://substack.com/@dougporter
Lisa..1..why are we having a big shelter.2.its sounds like a mini mall for unsheltered.people.
3.its a supply.for . investment.for new.unshelter.touris too come .too visit.
…(Who’s gonna be in charge)
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