The bluffs in Del Mar recede at a rate of 6 inches annually, and in some spots, the train tracks that support many tons of passenger and cargo weight every day are just a few feet from the eroding cliff.
SANDAG has an ambitious and expensive project, known as the LOSSAN Rail Realignment, to move a portion of the tracks into an underground tunnel.
However, the slow pace of infrastructure funding and the difficulty of getting public officials to agree means it’s going to take a while.
Earlier this year, SANDAG released the highly anticipated route options for where the tunnel might go. But local cities and stakeholders, including including Del Mar, Solana Beach and the Del Mar Fairgrounds, immediately attacked each of those options.
And this past election, voters rejected Measure G, a proposed countywide sales tax increase, that could’ve helped fund the $4-billion train tunnel.
As part of our ongoing series on what we learned this year, our Tigist Layne looks at just how troubled is our troubled plan to move the train tracks.
Yesterday’s learnings: In case you missed it, our edition yesterday included Jim Hinch’s take on what we learned about South Bay this year. Many leaders have big ambitions for the area.
Escondido Clears Creek Encampment
The Escondido City Council on Monday confirmed the city manager’s weekend declaration of a local emergency after water quality tests in a section of Escondido Creek called Harmony Grove revealed elevated bacteria levels.
The area, which is colloquially known as “The Jungle,” is a large homeless encampment home to approximately 100 homeless people.
The city’s police department started moving homeless people out and toward services, said city staff at a special Council meeting. And the public works department will be removing trash and debris from the site throughout the week. After clearing the encampment, the city plans to install fencing around the site.
Several service providers set up information tables and tents in the parking lot of the Escondido Church of God on Monday for people exiting the creek to access services if they chose to do so.
City staff said at the meeting that everyone who wanted shelter on Monday received it. Mayor Dane White said the city’s priority is to create more shelter beds in the city.
Also: Disability Rights California sent a letter to city officials ahead of the encampment sweep expressing concern for the many homeless people with disabilities living in the encampment and urged them to postpone. The organization has filed lawsuits on behalf of homeless people before.
Environment Report: How to Cook From Your Local Ocean
Our MacKenzie Elmer recently ventured to San Diego’s Tuna Harbor Dockside Market to expand her dinner options only to realize that cooking local fish isn’t as easy as it seems.
“We bought something called a skipjack, because I liked the name and my husband knew it was a kind of tuna, and a scarier, snake-like thing we guessed might work for fish stew,” she writes.
Her experimentation with fish cuisine didn’t totally work out.
For her latest Environment Report, Elmer reviews a book that captures San Diego’s fishing history and offers some delicious meal ideas.
Read the Environment Report here.
In Other News
- Mayor Todd Gloria’s office and the City Attorney’s Office reported Monday they had no updates to report following a closed-door City Council briefing on an updated proposed mega-shelter deal.
- Latino voters who consume news in Spanish on social media may be more likely to fall for election lies, according to UC San Diego researchers. That’s largely because programs designed to detect and remove disinformation are weaker for stories in Spanish. (KPBS)
- The San Diego Union-Tribune put together an interactive analysis of how each city and neighborhood voted for different measures across the county this past election. (Union-Tribune)
The Morning Report was written by Tigist Layne, Andrea Lopez-Villafaña and Lisa Halverstadt. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña and Scott Lewis.