One of San Diego County’s most powerful labor unions is backing San Diego City Councilmember Vivian Moreno in the race to fill a vacant seat on the County Board of Supervisors. The union cited home prices and Moreno’s pro-development record in its endorsement, suggesting the cost of living is driving the race.
Why it matters: The financial arms race is under way in the campaign to replace departing San Diego County Supervisor Nora Vargas. Late last week, the union representing construction workers and other laborers announced it is backing San Diego City Councilmember Vivian Moreno for the coveted South County District 1 seat. And the union plans to spend an eye-popping $325,000 to help ensure Moreno wins.
The Laborers’ International union is one of the biggest political spenders in San Diego County. Just last year, they poured more than $600,000 into a single Supervisor race. The union’s offer to spend big on behalf of Moreno immediately raises the stakes for other candidates in the District 1 race.
Why they picked Moreno: A union representative said rank and file members cited high home prices as one of their top concerns heading into the election. They looked for a candidate with a pro-development record.
South County reporter Jim HInch writes that the endorsement stands out because it could also end up putting the laborers in the unusual position of backing a candidate who is also supported by Republican-leaning groups such as the Building Industry Association of San Diego, a trade group representing homebuilders.
The homebuilders group is not expected to make an endorsement in the race until next month.
Sacramento Report: Busy Season Ahead for Lawmakers
Amid wildfires, homelessness, soaring housing costs and myriad other challenges facing California, state lawmakers have big to-do lists as the legislative year gets underway.
Our Deborah Sullivan spoke with members of San Diego’s Sacramento delegation to learn their priorities. They’re still honing agendas before a Feb. 21 deadline to submit bills. But even this early, some issues stand out.
On housing, State Senator Catherine Blakespear introduced a bill to close loopholes in a state law that let developers build denser, taller projects without actually adding much housing.
To help wildfire victims, Assemblymember David Alvarez introduced a bill last week to use bond funds to cover catastrophic fire losses under the FAIR Plan, the state’s high risk insurance pool.
State Sen. Brian Jones wants the state to account for $27 billion spent on homelessness programs since 2019. He said Gov. Gavin Newsom has dropped the ball on tracking homelessness spending.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle also are looking to cut prices for consumers.
Read more in the Sacramento Report.
Politics Report: 101 Ash Apartments
We pulled this section from the Politics Report. The newsletter is available exclusively to Voice of San Diego members. Become a member today.
On Monday, the San Diego City Council will meet in closed session to discuss two different, unsolicited bids to remodel the 101 Ash Street tower into housing.
“The Council will meet with its negotiator to discuss and grant authority regarding the price and payment terms for the potential disposition of an interest or estate in the real property located at 101 Ash Street, San Diego, California,” reads the Council docket for Monday.
What’s going on: The Council could decide to choose one of the developers to begin a long negotiation for how the property could be transferred and developed. Think Midway. That project is also going back to Council this week for an update. And yes, the Ash Street project could drag on and on just like Midway.
Our editor Scott Lewis has a lot of questions about what’s going to happen. You can read more in the Politics Report.
VOSD Podcast: Everything Is on Fire
On the latest show, our hosts unpack the public discourse surrounding all the fires in San Diego County. The public is looking for someone to blame: government agencies, homeless people and elected officials.
“It’s always been politics,” host Scott Lewis says on the show. “Now, there is this rush to blame people for them that I have never seen before.”
Our hosts also explain what new math and English test scores tell us about how some schools have – or haven’t – recovered from the pandemic.
Listen to the full episode here.
In Other News
- Over the weekend firefighters continued to battled a rapidly growing wildfire near the U.S.-Mexico border that triggered school closures and evacuation orders in areas near the Otay Wilderness. (Union-Tribune)
- The fires triggered some closures in South County because of poor air quality. KPBS reports what residents can do to stay safe.
- San Diego Gas and Electric crews on Friday began restoring power to rural areas of San Diego County where the utility had shut off electricity in an effort to prevent wildfires. Power was off intermittently for much of last week amid persistent Santa Ana winds and a series of smaller wildfires throughout the county. (KPBS)
- The Union-Tribune reported Friday that plans by a local developer to transform a downtown property once envisioned as a luxury hotel into hundreds of affordable housing units has fallen apart. As our Lisa Halverstadt previously reported city of San Diego officials broke off talks with an affordable housing developer after both sides agreed that the proposal to build 400 units on an East Village site was not financially feasible.
The Morning Report was written by Jim Hinch and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.