It’s decision time in South San Diego County.
South County voters go to the polls today to pick their new representative on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.
The winner – Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, a Democrat, or Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, a Republican – will break a partisan deadlock on the board and determine San Diego’s political future at a pivotal time.
The District 1 seat on the Board became vacant after former South County Supervisor Nora Vargas abruptly resigned for unexplained reasons late last year.
At stake in the race: A projected $138 million county budget deficit, housing and homelessness policy, the county’s role in immigration enforcement and possible cuts in federal health spending.
Candidates, independent expenditure committees and political parties have spent a combined total of roughly $2.5 million since an April primary vote.
Most of the money comes from the usual cast of characters in San Diego politics: Organized labor, business groups and real estate interests.
Polls have shown a tight race, though recent events outside the candidates’ control – especially a dramatic immigration raid at a San Diego restaurant last month – make it harder to predict the outcome.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The San Diego County Registrar of Voters has an information page with everything you need to know about where, when and how to vote.
Voices of the Voters: In true Voice of San Diego tradition, our reporters will be out and about speaking with voters today. Our Voices of the Voters series offers fascinating insight into what campaign messages and issues most resonated with residents.
We’ll also be watching election returns and posting updates as ballots come in. For a full archive of election coverage, see our South County Decides homepage.
South County Report Is Moving to a New Day
Jim Hinch here! I’m Voice of San Diego’s South County reporter. A quick update to let you know that my weekly South County Report newsletter is moving from Tuesdays to Thursdays.
Why the change? City Council meetings in all three cities I cover (Chula Vista, Imperial Beach and National City), plus many school board and other public agency meetings, all take place during the first half of the week.
Publishing later in the week will enable me to bring you the latest news as it happens – plus all the insight and community voices that put our region in perspective.
Everything else stays the same: Hard-hitting coverage holding leaders accountable, analysis of regionwide changes, and (my favorite) all the passionate, colorful characters who make our part of San Diego unique.
If you haven’t already, you can subscribe to my weekly newsletter here.
Border Report: What Happened to that Orange Pavilion in Balboa Park?
For months, a translucent orange pavilion in Balboa Park’s Plaza de Panama served as a gathering space for ideas and a symbol of cross-border collaboration.
The Exchange Pavilion was part of the San Diego-Tijuana World Design Capital projects – arguably the effort’s most visible legacy. The city of San Diego paid $300,000 for the pavilion, but the nonprofit World Design Capital 2024 owned it.
Where is it now? After sitting in storage for months, the pavilion has made its way to a Tijuana park, writes Voice contributor Sandra Dibble, after “a group of anonymous donors in Mexico” purchased it from the nonprofit.
The designers of the pavilion were not invited to the inauguration of the pavilion’s new home, and learned that the new state government plaque does not credit them. It also fails to recognize World Design Capital.
“One of the things that concerns me is that the story of why this pavilion exists does not get told,” one of the artists told Dibble.
Read more in the Border Report here.
Restorative Justice Funding Dip
Last week, we published a Progress Report on how San Diego Unified is expanding its restorative justice policy to help schools better implement the program.
We updated the story Monday to correct that funding for the program is dipping because a temporary grant the district had has run out, not because the district cut funding.
You can read the updated post with the correction here.
In Other News
- Mosquitos in San Diego’s Rolando neighborhood have tested positive for West Nile Virus. Whether or not you decide to douse yourself in DEET, health officials recommend taking precautions to protect against getting bit. (CBS 8)
- North County Transit has officially taken over management of its bus operations, bringing North County’s fleet of BREEZE buses under their care. (NBC 7)
- Our Lisa Halverstadt joined KPBS to provide a status update on the Midway shelter, which is set to close Aug. 31 after budget votes from the city and county couldn’t commit enough to curb its closure.
- California’s revamped Low Carbon Fuel Standard takes effect today, ramping up requirements for cleaner fuels. While it won’t have an immediate impact on prices at the pump, experts say that what happens to fuel prices later down the line depends on what the oil industry will do. (CalMatters)
The Morning Report was written by Jim Hinch, Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña and Tessa Balc. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña.