Recently, we’ve written about three transparency issues in county government.
Supervisors have held secret subcommittee meetings behind closed doors; Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer spent $89,000 in county funds to poll-test potential ballot measures; and we sued the county because it has delayed, and refused, the release of public records.
On Wednesday, County Supervisor Joel Anderson pushed forward policies to try to usher in more transparency on all of the above – and his fellow board members unanimously approved them.
Our Lisa Halverstadt has a rundown of the proposals. They would make secret committees public, create guardrails and other requirements for county-funded polling and standardize part of the county’s response to public records requests.
Next steps: All three policy pitches require work and reports back from county staff before they are enacted. We’ll be watching to see what happens next.
North County Report: Ex-Fair Leader’s Checkered Past
Earlier this week, our Tigist Layne unearthed a new lawsuit that may be connected to the sudden ouster of former Del Mar Fairgrounds CEO Carlene Moore. The Fairgrounds’ board of directors abruptly fired Moore on April 14.
Turns out, the problems leading to Moore’s firing were just the latest in what Layne reveals were years of troubled leadership both at Del Mar and in Napa County, where Moore led the fairgrounds for nine years before coming to San Diego.
A 2017 citizens’ Grand Jury report found the Napa Fairgrounds had declined markedly under Moore’s leadership. Facilities had deteriorated and the fairgrounds faced a structural budget deficit and declining attendance.
The Napa fairgrounds to shut down completely in 2020, soon after Moore left.
“This is a hard job here, you’re running a big business,” one Napa Valley resident previously said of Moore’s fairgrounds leadership there. “She can’t do it.”
Read the full North County Report here.
In Coronado, a Rooftop Jet Showdown
Call it the granddaddy of all HOA disputes.
A group of Coronado Cays property owners filed suit to halt construction of a home that features an unusual design touch: the fuselage of a 40-foot Gulfstream 550 jet on the roof.
The suit contends the Coronado Cays Homeowners Association failed to follow its own rules when it approved plans for the house. The jet, says the suit, “will create the unmistakable and grotesque appearance of a plane crash site atop a private residence.”
Some residents have even created a website to the fight the plan. “A 40-foot jet fuselage has no place on a residential roof,” it reads.
Carlos Cortez, a neighbor of what construction plans call “The Jet House,” said residents in the neighborhood of multi-million-dollar custom-built homes plan to speak out at an HOA meeting today. Cortez said residents fear drones and selfie-seekers will swarm their neighborhood.
“If this is allowed to happen, what’s to stop someone from putting an Artemis II rocket on the roof?” he said.
In Other News
- Correction: Yesterday’s Morning Report contained an error related to the city’s Climate Equity Fund. The mayor’s budget proposal would redirect millions of dollars away from the Climate Equity Fund and into the city’s general fund. It would not raid money already in the fund.
- State water officials on Tuesday approved rules guiding distribution of up to $50 million in bond funds to clean up the Tijuana and New rivers in San Diego and Imperial counties. State officials said they expect to begin reviewing applications for cleanup projects later this year. (KPBS)
- City councilmembers on Wednesday endorsed a possible November ballot measure that would levy a tax on corporations that own and rent out more than 10 single-family homes. Councilmembers said they hoped the measure would free up houses for individual homeownership. (Union-Tribune)
- The Encinitas City Council on Wednesday was set to consider removing a member of the city’s Urban Forestry Advisory Committee in response to a social media post by the committee member. The committee member, Steven Houbeck, posted a message in February describing a video of African-style dance as “scenes of blacks dressed in tribal gear banging on drums.” (inewsource)
- Former San Diego County Department of Animal Services Director Rachael Borrelli filed an $8.5 million claim against the county alleging her ouster from the animal services department last year was an act of retaliation for complaining about what Borrelli said were a colleague’s repeated defamatory remarks about her. (KPBS)
- Times of San Diego has all you need to know about this Saturday’s San Diego Book Crawl – the “Super Bowl of Books.”
The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt and Jim Hinch. It was edited by Will Huntsberry.