The president of the San Diego Police Officers Association is out less than a year after he was installed.
That’s because Police Chief Scott Wahl is trying to fire him, reports Will Huntsberry.
What happened: Earlier this year, Sergeant Jeremy Huff took to Facebook and brashly defended the actions of an officer caught on video beating a man who had his hands behind his head. The police chief had suggested the cop could have reacted better. Two months later, Huff received his termination papers. He had opportunities to challenge his firing. But he didn’t.
Huntsberry delved deeper into Huff’s record on the force, shedding more light on why Huff might have been at odds with the chief.
Huff himself got a written warning for using unjustified force when he excessively punched a homeless person in 2020. He was also charged with falsifying his vehicle registration. And he participated in the shooting of a homeless man during an encampment cleanup, though that shooting was later ruled justified.
State Validates Midway Rising Theory on Height Limit
We reported in November that the developers of the ambitious Midway Rising project were not sweating a court ruling that struck down the second ballot measure voters approved to lift the building height limit in the Midway area.
The developers insisted it didn’t halt their project because they could rely on the state’s density-bonus law. It essentially allows builders to waive local restrictions on things like height if they are building affordable housing.
But the city’s leaders — in particular Mayor Todd Gloria and City Attorney Heather Ferbert — were conspicuously unwilling to say they agreed.
Now, the state has sent a letter to the city validating the theory. We have it in the Politics Report.
Also in the Politics Report: Supporters of a new half-cent sales tax for the county of San Diego are turning in signatures.
Normally this Politics Report is for Voice members only but this one has some breaking news worth sharing more broadly.
Read the Politics Report here.
Point-in-Time Count Shows Drop in Street Homelessness
San Diego’s latest homeless census found a 11 percent drop in unsheltered homelessness and a 12 percent spike in people staying in shelters.
The bottom line: A 1 percent year-over-year drop in homelessness countywide.
Our Lisa Halverstadt broke down the results of the January census overseen by the Regional Task Force on Homelessness and shared year-round numbers that shed more light on the much larger scope of the crisis.
Sacramento Report: State Supreme Court Deals Blow to Coastal Commission
The powerful state commission charged with preserving California’s natural coastlines and access to them lost another battle to housing developers.
The state Supreme Court unanimously overturned the California Coastal Commission’s vote to block four homes from being built in Los Osos over habitat and water quality concerns. While the decision doesn’t impact the commission’s authority, it comes after Gov. Gavin Newsom re-stacked the commission with pro-development appointees. Critics have said the commission has been overstepping its mission to enforce the 1976 Coastal Act.
Our Nadia Lathan gets into the weeds on the battle between coastal preservation and housing interests in her Sacramento Report.
Read the full newsletter here.
In Other News
- This week on the Voice of San Diego podcast, the hosts discuss the meteor heading for the city of San Diego’s budget, plus the fight of a plane on top of a house in Coronado.
- San Diego Humane Society embarked a massive rescue operation at a supposed animal sanctuary near Julian on Friday. (Fox 5)
- As California prepares to share driver’s license data with a private nationwide network, privacy advocates worry the move will give federal agencies access to drivers’ immigration status. (NBC 7)
- Following criticism of its pyrotechnics, SeaWorld’s first fireworks-replacing drone show will debut May 22. “Oceans of Dreams” will run nightly throughout the summer featuring 600 fully synchronized drones forming the shape of marin animals. (Fox 5)
- A former graduate student at the University of California-San Diego is suing the university and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office alleging her arrest at a crack-down of a pro-Palestinian protest violated her civil rights. (Union-Tribune)