The South County wing of the local Democratic Party is in disarray.
Party leaders are hoping for more unity heading into the general election in November. First, they’ll have to quell an uprising.
The region’s top party leader just resigned after cameras caught him shouting at one party activist who opposed the leader’s pick in a school board race.
Democrats also splintered over a key mayoral endorsement and are gearing up for another fight over a labor union-backed ballot measure that would radically overhaul Chula Vista’s government.
The underlying source of tension, a group of party activists say, is a growing sense that party leaders are abandoning their principles to curry favor with deep-pocketed organized labor groups.
County Party Chair Will Rodriguez-Kennedy disputed that accusation but acknowledged the party’s southern wing is in disarray.
He said he’s “planning a series of efforts to break bread and heal the divisions.”
Del Mar and Fairgrounds Feuding Again
Whatever happened to that affordable housing project on Del Mar Fairgrounds, you ask? Not a whole lot.
The city of Del Mar and the board that oversees the Fairgrounds are feuding again, reports our Tigist Layne in her North County Report newsletter.
The latest: Board members say that a recent study of the proposed housing didn’t take into account the operation of the Fairgrounds or potential impacts to its bottom line. One board member even hinted the whole idea of affordable housing on the Fairgrounds should be scuttled.
Del Mar Mayor Tracy Martinez fired back. Martinez said the study’s findings were misconstrued and that the potential sites for the housing would only minimally impact operations.
Read the full North County Report here.
Quotable
“Great things have happened at the police department since Chief Peak took over,” said Chula Vista’s police union boss. “Under Chief Peak, the future of the Chula Vista Police Department is bright.”
For months, Chula Vista’s rank-and-file police officers have kept silent about their city’s messy dispute with Police Chief Roxana Kennedy. But on Tuesday at a City Council meeting, the police union’s president broke the silence. David Martinez invoked the name of Acting Police Chief Dan Peak multiple times and listed half a dozen reasons why officers are happier under his leadership.
Kennedy, who sued the city last month for discrimination, defamation and workplace retaliation, is on extended medical leave and, technically, remains chief.
Her officers, it appears, are moving on.
In Other News
- Following an in-depth report on deteriorating conditions at an Otay Mesa immigration detention center, reporters at inewsource on Wednesday published an account of activists’ and elected officials’ efforts to gain access to the facility and document problems.
- Imperial County supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a 45-day moratorium on data center projects in the county following outcry over a massive proposed data center that reports showed could consume more power than the entire county uses in a year. (KPBS)
- A San Diego police vehicle struck and killed a University of San Diego student early Wednesday morning near the university’s Linda Vista campus. Police revealed few details about the 1:30 a.m. collision. The student, who was in his early 20s, was not identified. (NBC San Diego)
- U.S. Rep. Scott Peters this week said the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown has continued unabated in San Diego even though there have been no high-profile raids since one last year on a restaurant in San Diego’s South Park neighborhood. Speaking in La Jolla, Peters called the ongoing crackdown “an indiscriminate cleansing of immigrants from the United States.” (Times of San Diego)
- We may have budget problems and crumbling streets in sunny San Diego, but at least our new $3.8 billion airport terminal was just named one of the world’s most beautiful airport buildings in an annual French architecture competition. Bon voyage! (Union-Tribune)
- Correction: In yesterday’s Morning Report, we misidentified Wesley Morgan as a current board member of the local chapter of YIMBY Democrats. He is a former board member.
- FYI: Friday is Juneteenth or, as some folks call it, Liberation Day. We’re taking the day off to celebrate and so should you. There will be no Morning Report and we’ll scale back our other offerings as well. Here’s a great rundown of Juneteenth events around the city. (Daylight San Diego)
The Morning Report was written by Jim Hinch and Will Huntsberry. It was edited by Will Huntsberry.