The Tijuana River Valley is notoriously stinky the closer one gets to the river itself, which more often than not is carrying raw sewage and other trash across the U.S.-Mexico border and into San Diego.
But the intensity of the stank apparently reached fever pitch last month because San Diego County issued an air pollution violation against the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission or IBWC, a federal agency that manages cross-border water issues. A press release Wednesday from the Air Pollution Control District says the county’s received about 150 odor complaints since July 21.
“(San Diego Air Pollution Control District) recognizes this is a complex and longstanding issue, but we will enforce our rules to ensure that South San Diego County residents are not burdened by odors from improper maintenance of the plant,” wrote Paula Forbis, an air pollution control officer, in a press release.
How Many of San Diego’s Landlords Are Mega Corps?
The nonprofit Conrad Prebys Foundation startled affordable housing advocates and local elected officials in 2021 when it announced that it would sell 66 apartment buildings to an infamous private equity firm.
Advocates feared the New York-based Blackstone Group would increase rents in complexes filled with low-income and middle-class renters. A few years later, the Los Angeles Times has a new investigation exploring the impacts of those sales and public pension systems’ roles in real estate investment funds that the newspaper found are incentivized to hike rents. The newspaper cited research showing vacant units in a Blackstone-managed apartment complex in El Cajon saw rent increases 21 percentage points higher than other nearby landlords in just under three years.
Blackstone’s pushback: The equity firm told the Times that most of its San Diego units are “affordable for those earning the area median income” and that it’s invested about $100 million to improve the properties. It also said low housing production and demand, rather than its investments, are behind increasing rents.
Related: Two advocacy groups – the Private Equity Stakeholder Project and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment – published a new analysis Thursday that found Blackstone has increased rents at the complexes it bought in 2021 by 38 percent, surpassing the 20 percent average rent increases that the region saw during the same period.
Meanwhile: KPBS reports on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors new initiative to get a handle on how big of a hold large corporations have on the county’s housing supply, and what impact it’s having on costs.
In mid-July, supervisors decided to move forward with this exploration — and to look at whether the county could pursue legal action against corporate landlords that engage in price-fixing and gouging, as well as tenant harassment, KPBS reports.
Opponents tried to make the case that there are already laws to protect tenants and against illegal pricing. They argued the effort was a waste of time.
Save the Date
Get excited. Politifest is back!
We’re hosting our annual public affairs summit about all the top issues in San Diego. We are hosting debates and discussions on key races on the November ballot, and looking at all our regional issues through one lens: Can our government meet the moment?
It’s all happening on Saturday, Sept. 28.
Learn more about Politifest here. We hope to see you there.
In Other News
- A Pacific Beach affordable housing project got the OK to breach the coastal zone’s 30-foot building height limit, established in 1972 through a voter initiative that limits building over that height west of Interstate 5. California’s Department of Housing and Community Development ruled the local law conflicts with the state’s density bonus law, requiring cities to grant waivers and incentive for projects for low-income households. (Union-Tribune)
- San Diegans getting sick with Covid-19 rose from 5.9 percent in June to nearly 19 percent by the end of July. (10 News)
- Myriad local and state groups are working to clear a large homeless encampment underneath Interstate 5 known as “the island” because it often experiences rising water with the tides. (NBC 7)
- Hold onto your butts! Carlsbad could be first in the county to ban smoking (both tobacco or the devil’s lettuce and even vapes) in apartment buildings and condos. (Union-Tribune)
- The city of San Diego officially has a new fire chief: Robert Logan II, previously a deputy fire chief and appointed by Mayor Todd Gloria. (Fox 5)
- Itching for some maple syrup or Canada-grade hockey? San Diego International Airport will have non-stop service to Toronto beginning in December. (NBC 7)
- A new report calls for improved governance and fundraising to help Balboa Park remain the city’s crown jewel. (KPBS)
The Morning Report was written by MacKenzie Elmer, Lisa Halverstadt and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.