Last week, San Diego Rep. Scott Peters said he needed to see a plan from President Joe Biden and his campaign about how he could realistically win the presidential race amid concerns about his age, lagging poll numbers and a disastrous debate performance.
Thursday, Peters joined a growing list of Democratic members of Congress who want the a new candidate to rally behind for president.
“Today I ask President Biden to withdraw from the presidential campaign. The stakes are high, and we are on a losing course. My conscience requires me to speak up and put loyalty to the country and to democracy ahead of my great affection for, and loyalty to, the President and those around him,” he wrote in a statement that immediately became national news.
He listed many accomplishments he attributed to Biden but he said it was time to find someone else.
“The candidate must be selected through a fair and transparent process, and then, when we leave our convention next month in Chicago, we must rally together and fight like hell,” he wrote.
The last convention where the Democrats had to truly choose a presidential candidate as opposed to merely validate the choice of primary voters was in 1968, also in Chicago. It was … memorable.
Housing Agency Ends Review of Father Joe’s Villages
More than a year ago, the San Diego Housing Commission called out a series of problems with Father Joe’s Villages city shelter contracts and demanded changes.
The housing agency has decided the provider has successfully addressed the issues including facility problems at the Golden Hall shelter and a lengthy list of people barred from using Father Joe’s services that disproportionately affected Black clients.
Yet several current and former shelter clients told our Lisa Halverstadt they still see room for improvement, particularly at Father Joe’s Golden Hall shelter.
Father Joe’s declined to comment on the conclusion of the review process but said it remains committed to serving homeless San Diegans.
What’s next: Father Joe’s – which now supplies about a third of the city’s shelter beds – is planning to close one of its large shelter programs by the end of the year to convert it into a non-city-contracted detox and sober living facility. The city has also said it plans to relocate Father Joe’s Golden Hall shelter program by the end of the year, translating into uncertainty about the volume of Father Joe’s future work with the city. Father Joe’salso has a smaller women’s shelter contract and operates the city’s East Village day center for homeless residents.
La Jolla Wants to Evict its Sea Lions (Again)
Some La Jollans feel the precious La Jolla Cove, also part of a protected marine reserve, is suffering from an “unmanaged sea lion takeover.”
That’s how Bob Evans, La Jolla Parks and Beaches board member, recently put it to La Jolla Light. The spit of rocks and sand is California’s only mainland sea lion rookery, where sea lion mothers go to bear and raise their pups.
The sea lions reek, especially on hot days. But their sunbathing also attracts crowds of tourists that often get too close, sparking concerns about dangerous encounters both for the pinnipeds and the people. Those encounters are becoming harder to avoid, sea lion critics say, at the La Jolla Cove. It’s a popular spot for swimmers to enter and enjoy the kelp forests there.
Evans said the sea lions are routinely blocking entry points. The solution, according to the La Jolla Community Planning Association, is a so-called sea lion management plan that could include their removal.
The planning association doesn’t have any true power here. The San Diego City Council, which recently voted to close public access to Point La Jolla year-round for seven years, does. The city declined numerous requests over the past decade to remove or deploy deterrence against the sea lions.
Gloria Offers Cash for Affordable Housing Projects
Mayor Todd Gloria announced Thursday he’ll direct $20 million to affordable housing projects via round four of his so-called Bridge to Home program.
The city this week released a callout to developers to seek gap financing to help fund projects with units for low-and middle-income San Diegans. The initiative has helped get 17 affordable housing projects to the finish line since Gloria unveiled it in 2022. 10 News has more details.
Refresher: Gloria’s Thursday press conference followed his proposal this spring to pull San Diego Housing Commission funds planned for affordable housing projects to shield shelters and other homelessness programs from significant cuts. The City Council ultimately voted in June to direct $6 million that the Housing Commission had planned to offer for affordable housing projects to preserve those other programs. That left the housing agency with only $3 million to offer for affordable housing projects this year, though the City Council decided the $6 million will roll back to the Housing Commission’s affordable housing pot if a proposed homeless mega-shelter in Middletown isn’t approved. The City Council is now set to vote on the proposed 1,000 bed shelter lease on July 22.
In Other News
- The summer monsoon returns this weekend, capable of producing lightning-producing storms and increasing the risk of wildfire in eastern San Diego County. (Union-Tribune)
- KPBS’ Gustavo Solis brings us the story of one Venezuelan woman, her husband and children now living in a homeless encampment in San Diego after a harrowing journey fleeing authoritarian rule, extortionists and drug cartels. He explains why migrants are homeless, after more than 100,000 have been released into the region over the past year.
- San Diego’s libraries need more security guards, but a plan to switch security guard providers has stalled at the city leaving libraries, parks and other sensitive buildings with a lame-duck provider that knows it’ll be replaced soon. (Union-Tribune)
- Jail workers, contractors and anyone else with business in a county jail are now subject to intensified jail screenings designed to keep drugs and contraband out of detention centers, County Sheriff Kelly Martinez announced. (Times of San Diego)
- Chula Vista is reopening Harborside Park, closed since August of 2022 over crime, homeless encampment and drug use concerns. (CBS 8)
The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt, Scott Lewis and MacKenzie Elmer. It was edited by Halverstadt and Lewis.
“The last convention where the Democrats had to truly choose a presidential candidate as opposed to merely validate the choice of primary voters was in 1968, also in Chicago. It was … memorable.”
and the biggest memory is that NIXON WON. please PLEASE do NOT make the same mistake again. calling for Biden to quit before we have a candidate who can win is the worst kind of cart-before-horse thinking.
AGREE