Tensions were running high at Mayor Todd Gloria’s state of the city address, when councilmembers defied the Mayor’s request to sit in the front row and instead sat on the dais above and behind him.
Moments after his speech, our City Hall reporter Mariana Martínez Barba learned Gloria had a message for Councilmember Moreno who led the seat move.
“He told me that I could smile, which I found to be a very sexist comment,” said Moreno in an interview with Voice. “How many women of power have been told to smile more?”
The statement from Moreno comes after the Mayor insisted his relationship with the Council is “extremely functional.” But the round of musical chairs on his big day signals a deepening fracture between him and the City Council.
Politics Report: More from the Mayor
In this week’s Politics Report, Will Huntsberry offered more from his long conversation with the mayor that he cited in his profile.
Members can read the Politics Report here.
Barrera’s State Supe Campaign Gets Main Boost
The board of directors of the state’s largest teachers union announced in an email to members that its board had recommended backing San Diego Unified Trustee Richard Barrera’s bid for state superintendent.
The recommendation doesn’t mean the endorsement is a done deal. It will go to a vote by the California Teachers Association’s state council next week.
If approved, the endorsement will add serious fire power to Barrera’s underdog campaign, writes education reporter Jakob McWhinney.
The CTA, which represents more than 300,000 educators statewide, is a major funder in the state superintendent race. The union’s endorsed candidate has won every election for nearly 30 years.
Trump Pardons Convicted El Cajon Fraudster – Again
The New York Times on Friday reported that President Donald Trump pardoned an El Cajon businesswoman whose multiple fraud convictions and involvement in local politics became an issue in last summer’s race to fill a vacant seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.
Trump’s Jan. 15 pardon of Adriana Camberos, along with her brother, Andres Camberos, marked the second time Trump pardoned the businesswoman after federal courts twice convicted her of cheating consumers and business partners in multimillion-dollar fraud schemes.
Trump’s commutation became an issue in the supervisor campaign when it emerged that Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, a candidate in the race, had written a letter to Trump supporting Camberos’ bid for clemency.
During the campaign, Voice of San Diego reported on other ties to the siblings.
Last April, a San Diego federal court judge sentenced both Camberoses in a second fraud scheme involving goods earmarked for sale in Mexico. The Times reported that the siblings secured the pardon from Trump with help from lawyers connected to the president.
Sacramento Report: Chula Vista Assemblymember Wants to Shake Climate Money Loose
With the passage of Proposition 4, California voters approved the state’s biggest initiative to combat climate change yet. Assemblymember, David Alvarez, wants to let the dollars allocated from the proposition loose.
A slew of conservation groups backed a proposal from Alvarez to cut procedural rules to fund programs for water, wildfire, drought, and flooding resilience.
Alvarez said the proposal, Assembly Bill 35, could speed up funding to help clean up the millions of gallons of sewage flooding out of the Tijuana River into San Diego County.
“In terms of putting your money where your mouth is, this is probably the most significant thing,” Alvarez told our Sacramento Reporter, Nadia Lathan.
Read the Sacramento Report here.
VOSD Podcast: A Summary of the Mayor’s Disappointments
The podcast crew is firing on all cylinders this week. Our CEO and editor-in-chief Scott Lewis gets into whether Wonder Woman would be disappointed there are no immediate plans to expand the Convention Center now that the city is collecting a higher hotel room tax from 2020’s Measure C. Maybe she’ll be at the next Comic-Con.
Bella Ross reveals major news: the San Diego River does exist! She gets into how the river could have been the city’s centerpiece, why Fashion Valley always seems to be underwater, and all your need-to-know issues on floodplains.
And speaking of issues – the Gloria administration is riddled with them. Our senior Huntsberry sat down with the crew to explain where Gloria has come up short on policies and promises.
In Other News:
- Anxiety rises in San Diego’s Somali community over TPS (temporary protected status) revocation that will affect a number of Somalians living in City Heights. The revocation takes effect on March 17, but lawsuits are expected which could delay it. (KPBS)
- The County is looking at setting up parameters on large scale data centers that could hit the unincorporated area soon. They unanimously gave the green light for staff to work on protections for residents related to things like water usage or infrastructure cost-sharing. (NBC 7 San Diego)
- Researchers are driving up and down the coast using high-tech laser scanners to measure erosion along beaches and coastal bluffs following the powerful storms that hit San Diego over the holidays. The researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography say factors like high tides, large waves, and heavy rain can have lasting impacts on the coastline. (Fox 5 San Diego)
The Morning Report was written by Mariana Martínez Barba. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña.