Eight years ago, former Voice of San Diego reporter Andrew Keatts realized that a 2004 transportation tax measure wasn’t pulling in the cash that officials projected it would.
That initial discovery would eventually lead to a bigger one with major implications for 2016 ballot Measure A and San Diego Association of Governments, which relied on the same problematic forecasting models for both measures.
Keatts ultimately revealed that forecasters recognized the forecasting errors and notified their bosses, who then did nothing. The eventual fallout was significant at SANDAG, whose longtime leader ultimately departed.
Our Will Huntsberry’s breakdown of how Keatts’ bombshell reporting came together is the latest chapter of our 20th anniversary series on Voice stories that made a major impact.
Read more about our impact here.
Homeless-Serving H Barracks Lot Opening Soon
The city’s H Barracks safe parking lot can open this month after clearing a crucial legal hurdle.
Superior Court Judge Gregory W. Pollack on Wednesday told the developer behind Liberty Station that he wasn’t inclined to grant an injunction halting the city’s plan to open the lot for homeless people living in vehicles until the challenge goes to trial next February.
“I think it would be obscene to keep this lot fully paved and ready to serve for the next nine months these people but instead have it vacant for nine months,” Pollack said.
Our Lisa Halverstadt previously revealed developer McMillin-NTC’s attempt to at least temporarily halt the project.
Pollack noted that attorneys for both the city and developer McMillin-NTC made strong arguments about whether the city’s plan to open the homeless-serving lot complied with a 25-year-old agreement with the federal government and city permitting requirements. But he concluded that the city could prove greater harm than McMillin-NTC, which has argued that the lot could present challenges for a new hotel.
McMillin is for now set to argue in a February trial that the project shouldn’t continue.
In a Wednesday statement, McMillin Chairman Scott McMillin reiterated that his company tried to collaborate with the city on potential solutions and vowed to continue the legal fight. He argued that his company has complied with past agreements and laws that impacted the Liberty Station redevelopment but that the city has not.
“We trust the court will ultimately evaluate these legal violations with the scrutiny they deserve,” McMillin wrote.
Mayor Todd Gloria, meanwhile, cheered Wednesday’s decision.
“Today’s ruling is a win for all San Diegans, as it clears the way for the use of city-owned land near the airport for people living in vehicles to come off the streets to safety and get connected to the services that will help end their homelessness,” Gloria wrote in a statement. “Not only is safe parking our most successful homelessness intervention; it also addresses the region’s fastest-growing segment of unhoused people.”
The Union-Tribune provided more details on the Wednesday hearing.
Speak Now, Or Forever Hold Your City Together
The city of San Diego is officially objecting to a decision to allow La Jolla’s succession efforts to move forward.
As we wrote yesterday, Mayor Todd Gloria was outraged to learn that the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, OK’d hundreds of signatures previously rejected by the Registrar of Voters. There’s a required threshold for such separations, as we explained here.
So, Gloria did what any upset person would do, he wrote a letter.
The mayor’s “formal letter of objection” lists a number of grievances with how LAFCO reached its decision. Chief among them is: Who gave LAFCO the power to overturn the Registrar of Voters’ conclusion? City representatives sat in on discussions about the signatures and his letter offers insight into how LAFCO OK’d some of the signatures. A LAFCO official had already explained to us why they have different standards.
Gloria referred to their process as “arbitrary and capricious.”
The Learning Curve: The Kids Are Not Getting Vaccinated
It should come as no surprise that fewer parents are choosing to vaccinate their children, especially given the deep politicization of shots during the pandemic.
That trend, however, is troubling given the resurgence of diseases that were once virtually extinct. Take the measles outbreak in Texas, for example. Two children already died and hundreds got sick.
How bad is that trend here in San Diego? Our Jakob McWhinney wanted to know too.
He used data from an EdSource project and found that 12 local schools have vaccination rates lower than 70 percent – all of those schools are private or charters.
At one private school only 5 percent of students are vaccinated. The school, Heritage Christian, partners with parents to homeschool their children. McWhinney writes that the school is tied for the third lowest vaccination rate in California.
Read more in the Learning Curve here.
City of Poway Is at War with Its Own Councilmember
The city of Poway has filed a lawsuit against one of its sitting elected officials–District 2 Councilmember Tony Blain.
The lawsuit is an effort to force Blain to comply with the California Public Records Act and stop destroying public records, according to a press release from city officials. The statement called the move “unprecedented” and a “last resort to prevent significant liability for the city.”
City officials say they have documentation of Blain conducting city business with city staff using private email accounts and discussing city business using text messages and the encrypted Signal messaging application. But when asked to disclose some of those communications in response to Public Records Requests, Blain destroyed records or denied that records exist, according to the press release.
Our Tigist Layne previously wrote about how Poway residents have started a recall effort against Blain after the Poway City Council censured, or officially reprimanded, him for attempting to vote trade with another councilmember. Emails also show Blain threatening and harassing elected officials and city staff members on multiple occasions, including City Attorney Alan Fenstermacher, who accused Blain of bullying and harassment at a Jan. 21 City Council meeting.
In Other News
- Homeless-serving nonprofit Father Joe’s Villages says it’s seeing a spike in unhoused people seeking therapy this year. (KPBS)
- A new safe parking lot for Oceanside’s homeless residents who live in vehicles opened this week. (10 News)
- CalMatters spotlighted an Escondido neighborhood designed to be “wildfire resilient.”
- The Trump administration is axing federal grant funds that back 30 mental health staffers in the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District. (KPBS)
- NBC 7 reveals the beach and park bathrooms that Mayor Todd Gloria’s draft budget proposes closing to address a city budget shortfall.
- CBS 8 reports that the San Diego County Grand Jury is not a fan of the city’s parking meter program.
- In other parking news: Fox 5 San Diego revealed that San Diego police have written 4,200 tickets for violations of the state’s new daylighting law.
The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt, Tigist Layne and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.