Cup of Chisme: Time to Pay Up

Cup of Chisme readers, it’s good to be back!

I took some time off for my wedding and an editor training program. Both were great. Thank you for your patience.

You may notice, if you haven’t already, that our website has a new look! Let me know what you think. If you have any issues or concerns about it, please reach out to me.

OK, we have a lot to unpack today, so let’s get into it.

San Diego’s Trash Fee Passed — Now What?

You’ve likely heard by now that the city of San Diego will begin charging single-family homeowners a monthly fee to collect their garbage.

Not everyone is happy about it, and some have threatened legal action, but in the meantime, here’s what you can expect will happen.

Next Tuesday, the City Council will meet to decide how the fee — which will appear on property tax bills — will be charged.

Once that happens, the fee will go into effect on July 1.

The city plans to launch a portal that will allow homeowners to select the size of their trash bin, which can lower the monthly fee. I found a calculator on the city’s website that can help you estimate how much you’ll pay. You can find it here.

Dig deeper: Curious about how we got here? Our editor Scott Lewis joined our partners at KPBS to explain it all. Watch the clip here.

A Safe Parking Site at a School

Voice of San Diego’s reporters Jakob McWhinney and Lisa Halverstadt have been following the on-again, off-again effort to open a safe parking site for families at a school in City Heights for months.

In January, our reporters revealed that the project wasn’t going to happen. City officials claimed there wasn’t enough money to run it. There was also some tension between city and school district officials over why they couldn’t get the project off the ground.

This week, however, the City Council decided to throw some money its way when they walked back some of the budget cuts Mayor Todd Gloria had proposed.

McWhinney and Halverstadt explain in a new story what the new funding means for the project — and whether it will actually materialize this time around. Read their story here.

More Chisme to Start Your Week

• We are in the final stretch of the San Diego County District 1 Supervisor race. South County reporter Jim Hinch has been closely following what’s at stake and writing about the candidates. If you need to catch up quick, you can find our coverage here.
• Related: Supervisor candidate Paloma Aguirre has weighed in on the county budget throughout the race. Hinch reports that while she’s taken a position on how to improve the county’s finances, she has struggled to handle her own. Read the full story here.
• Sacramento reporter Deborah Brennan explains in her latest newsletter how the fierce war between California’s leaders and the president could play out in San Diego. Read it here.