San Diego City Council voted 7-2 late Monday to postpone its vote on the proposed mega-shelter lease until at least next Tuesday.
A City Council majority – excluding Councilmembers Kent Lee and Vivian Moreno – voted to have city attorneys and officials work on lease revisions and analyses in hopes that they can get that work done by next Tuesday at 10 a.m. It’s not certain they will.
Senior Deputy City Attorney Kevin Reisch acknowledged he’s unsure they can meet that deadline and Steve Cushman, Mayor Todd Gloria’s chief mega-shelter negotiator, asked councilmembers to send the mayor’s team more specific directions to clear up confusion. The mayor later reiterated Cushman’s request in a post-midnight statement.
The final motion approved by the City Council after 11 p.m. also called for a state of emergency declaration on homelessness during a July 31 special meeting, presumably the City Council’s last meeting before its month-long August recess.
It’s unclear if Douglas Hamm, the owner of the Middletown warehouse, will be willing to hang on if the lease deal isn’t done before the City Council’s August recess.
The motion, first introduced by Council President Sean Elo-Rivera after two hours of public comments, also directed city staff to prepare a short-term action plan on the crisis – and to address the impending loss of hundreds of existing shelter beds – to present to the City Council in early September.
The hiccups and beefs: Multiple councilmembers said they felt uncomfortable with the proposed 30-year lease deal Among their concerns: Councilmembers Henry Foster III, Jennifer Campbell and others were upset that the City Attorney’s Office didn’t get the chance to do a line-by-line analysis of the lease. Lee criticized the updated lease rates and questioned the sustainability of the hefty operational costs expected along with the new shelter. Councilmember Marni von Wilpert zeroed in on uncertainties surrounding building upgrades and risks for the city.
What homeless and formerly homeless San Diegans think: Our Lisa Halverstadt and Emily Ito asked homeless and formerly homeless San Diegans to weigh in on the mega-shelter proposal. The bottom line: Most of the two dozen who spoke with Voice of San Diego have major concerns about such a large shelter. You can read their full story here.
Related: Will it truly be a 1,000-bed shelter? When pressed Monday night, the city’s homelessness point person acknowledged that the proposed mega-shelter site can accommodate 1,000 beds but the final plans will be set when – or if – the project is approved. And when asked whether the San Diego Housing Commission would be open to operating the mega-shelter, the housing agency’s CEO said she thinks the services, amenities and security necessary to make the shelter a success would likely translate into fewer beds at the facility. (As Halverstadt reported last week, the CEO of the Regional Task Force on Homelessness has a similar take.)
Council Unanimously Sends Sales Tax Measure to November Ballot
The San Diego City Council voted unanimously Monday to place a 1-cent sales tax increase on the November ballot.
Mayor Todd Gloria and Councilmember Raul Campillo, who have championed the tax hike, argue it could allow the city to address a longtime structural budget deficit and improve city services and infrastructure. City Councilmembers made similar points before voting to send the tax increase to the November ballot.
“It is an opportunity to address the longstanding shortage of resources that for decades has held our city back and caused our infrastructure like streets and sidewalks and public assets like parks and police stations to fall into disrepair,” Gloria and Campillo wrote in a joint statement.
Critics, including some who spoke during Monday’s hearing, have raised concerns about how the tax increase will impact budget-strapped San Diegans.
More details: The proposed 1-cent tax hike would bring the city’s sales tax rate to 8.75 percent. The measure would be a general tax increase, meaning it will only require a simple majority to pass.
Eccentric Political Activist Dies
Giorgio Kirylo, a former Marine who was previously associated with Larry Turner’s campaign for mayor, died recently. Turner found out about Kirylo’s death on Friday morning, he said in a post on X.
Kirylo had a wild presence online. He frequently posted about homelessness and veteran mental health. But he also ventured into surreal comedy. Once, to protest against people who were protesting a rodeo at Petco Park, Kirylo ate 25 protein-style hamburgers from In-n-Out, outside the stadium. He did push ups after each one.
“Unfortunately, things did not turn out well for me,” Kirylo said in his Instagram reel at the time. “Eventually, I got real sick. I felt like less of a man.”
At times, Kirylo railed against government inaction related to homelessness — in a way that was not always empathetic toward homeless people. But he was also passionate about promoting mental health and understanding the effects of trauma, as in this video of him speaking at a conference.
Kirylo was a key witness in the trial of now-retired Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher. His testimony — that Gallagher did not stab a detainee in Iraq — contradicted that of several other witnesses.
Environment Report: Vandals Hit Mission Bay Bird Nesting Site
As if the seabirds in Mission Bay didn’t have enough to deal with, now their homes are getting vandalized.
Here’s what went down: Environment reporter MacKenzie Elmer reports that a nesting ground for endangered California least terns at Mariner’s Point was vandalized on Friday.
The vandals allegedly smashed eggs, uprooted trespassing signs and ripped a protective cloth fence that prevents chicks from falling into the nearby water, according to a San Diego Audubon Society press release.
This is the latest bird drama at Mission Bay. Last week, Elmer reported that conservation advocates were asking the city to revoke SeaWorld’s fireworks permit because the Fourth of July show caused elegant terns on another island further north to leave their nests and they died.
Read more in the Environment Report here.
In Other News
- The owners of the Vista ranch at the center of a bidding war among the county, the city of Vista and nonprofit Solutions for Change have made their choice. They are selling the 110-acre property to the nonprofit, which is looking to use the space to expand its programs. The county had envisioned using the property for substance use and mental health care treatment programs. Our Tigist Layne profiled Solutions for Change here. (KPBS, Union-Tribune)
- A horse died on Sunday at the Del Mar racetrack marking this year’s first death. Five horses died in 2023 from injuries. (KPBS)
- A 41-year-old mom from National City and her husband reunited with the medical professionals who saved her life six weeks ago. Her heart stopped beating while she was at home after complaining about acid reflux and vomiting. First responders took turns performing CPR for 86 minutes. She was put on a life support machine that is part of a new program for patients suffering sudden cardiac arrest. (County News Center)
The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt and Will Huntsberry.
The San Diego City Council has placed a general Tax increase on the ballot. Do not be fooled by the language the taxes raised can be used for anything including travel and benefits for the Mayor and Council. They were so concerned that their marketing deceptive language might misrepresent the general nature of the tax; that they paid for a a specialist legal opinion to tell them that the weasel language was OK . Vote no on Sales Tax increase