It’s nearly here amigos.
Tuesday is the last day to vote in the election that will determine which political party will control the county. The San Diego County Board of Supervisors has been split since former Supervisor Nora Vargas decided to … well, split.
The candidates running to replace her, South Bay mayors John McCann and Paloma Aguirre, have been battling it out over the last few months. Our South County reporter Jim Hinch has been following the race. You can read our coverage here.
I’m dying to know who will win. Do you have any predictions? Email me at andrea.sanchez@voiceofsandiego.org.
Next week: Hinch will spend Tuesday talking to voters in South County. Our Voices of the Voters coverage is always fascinating because it’s when we learn which campaign messages and issues resonated with residents.
Then, we’ll have the early results in Wednesday’s Morning Report. If you’re not a subscriber already, subscribe here so you can get the results in your inbox.
OK, grab some cafecito and let’s get into the chisme.
Special Guest: Vivian Moreno
San Diego Councilmember Vivian Moreno joined us in the studio for a recording of the VOSD Podcast. It was perfect timing because it was a busy week at the City Council.
Moreno dished on the city’s budget discussions. She told us she didn’t support the budget the Council approved on Monday because she didn’t believe the budget allocated enough money for stormwater infrastructure.
She explained why she supported a trash fee, after she had reservations about it. And she also got spicy about the job and responsibilities of an elected official.
It’s a good show. You can listen to the conversation here.
Speaking of the budget: The City Council voted to override some of Mayor Todd Gloria’s vetoes. It was a tense meeting. You can catch up here.
A Win and a Loss
San Diego Unified could get millions of dollars in additional funding for its before- and after-school care program, PrimeTime. That’s a big deal for the thousands of families who have been waiting for a spot.
Our Jakob McWhinney previously wrote about one single father who was struggling to work because of his son’s school schedule. After he finally secured a spot in a program, he was able to get a job with the U.S. Postal Service.
If the district gets the money, and can work to open more spots for kids, this could be a huge game-changer for many families. Read the full story here.
Meanwhile: Some child care providers are waiting for the other shoe to drop. Voice of San Diego contributor Walker Armstrong spoke to child care providers about how the threat of tariffs is hanging heavily over their bottom line.
“It’s already a miracle to make the budget work,” one child care provider told us. “Then you add in tariffs, and it starts to unravel.”
More Chisme to Start Your Week
- Voice’s Will Huntsberry is going to update his resume to add “Emmy-award winning journalist!” All jokes aside, Huntsberry and NBC 7’s Monica Dean were recognized for their work on the documentary, “Deadly Failure: A sailor’s struggle in a fractured military mental-health system.” The hour-long documentary is based on Huntsberry’s Voice article. You can read the story here. And you can watch the doc here.
- A proposal to raise the minimum wage for employees at San Diego venues, zoos and hotels is moving forward. Editor Scott Lewis explains what you need to know about the proposal in this post.
- The city of Poway is taking a look at its in-lieu fee. That’s a wonky way of saying the fee that developers can choose to pay instead of including affordable units in their projects. City reps wouldn’t say if the fee would change, only that they plan to study it. But critics argue the fee is way too low and fails to encourage development of affordable homes. Tigist Layne dug into some housing numbers for this story. Read it here. FYI if you care about North County coverage, you can subscribe to Layne’s bi-weekly newsletter, the North County Report.
- Our Lisa Halverstadt collaborated with reporters at CalMatters and LAist to look at the impact of camping ban enforcement across California. Read the story here.
