For 18 months, Mayor Todd Gloria has fought to prove he does not need to hire a top manager to oversee the city’s day-to-day operations. He has steadfastly refused to appoint a chief operating officer after he fired the last one. He’s resisted attempts to force him to appoint one.
This week, that got even harder to defend.
Tens of thousands of people received property tax bills that included extremely high trash-collection fees — in some cases three times more than what they owe, as the Union-Tribune first reported Tuesday. The details of the mistake and impending fallout reached the mayor’s office Monday right as he was returning from a trip to New York City, where he had been representing the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He also serves as the president of that organization.
The fix: City leaders insisted Wednesday that County Treasurer-Tax Collector Larry Cohen had agreed to help them make it right as soon as possible with minimal need for refunds. But there was no more sensitive subject in city politics than the trash fee — and the fact that the trash fee was put on property tax bills rather than a collection system managed by the city itself, like water bills.
It’s hard to think of a worse place for an accounting error of such magnitude.
It will only fuel election campaigns across the city arguing leaders are in over their heads.
The backlash: Councilmembers skewered the mayor at a committee meeting Wednesday and renewed their push for him to rehire a chief operating officer.
“The mayor needs to look himself in mirror. And if it’s time for him to step down, then he needs to step down,” Councilmember Henry Foster, the committee chair said. (His comments begin at the 25:00 minute mark in this video.)
Councilmembers believed they had found their way out of the trash fee backlash with a settlement agreement earlier this year that capped the fee and eliminated paid parking at Balboa Park. But the latest blunder has renewed criticism that Gloria’s administration has not only been ineffective, but also incompetent, as our Will Huntsberry reported earlier this year.
Councilmembers Kent Lee and Sean Elo-Rivera also said it was time for the mayor to hire a top professional manager for City Hall. Gloria fired the previous COO last year.
“San Diego needs someone who wakes up every single day with one job, and that’s making sure the city is clean, services work and residents’ bills are accurate,” Elo-Rivera said, as the Union-Tribune reported.
The mayor’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment on if he’s stretched too thin with his responsibilities as mayor and president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in addition to the leader of the city’s day-to-day operations. He said he’d put safeguards in place to make sure a mistake like this doesn’t happen again.
“When we fall short, my responsibility is to acknowledge it, correct it and make sure it does not happen again. That is what we are doing,” he said in a press release.
Chula Vista Aims to Become Biotech, Drone-Manufacturing Hub
The Chula Vista City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an economic development plan that, if implemented, would transform the city into a hub of drone manufacturing, medical device technology and cross-border maquiladora production.
“Chula Vista may be growing up,” City Councilmember Jose Preciado said of the plan.
David Graham, the city’s economic development director, said Chula Vista already has more assets and a more sophisticated economy than people realize.
Citing existing aerospace manufacturing, a major new bayfront resort and a strategic location at the heart of what he called the “cross-border mega-region of San Diego and Tijuana,” Graham said Chula Vista is looking to cement its status as a major player in the San Diego economy.
“We’re laying out the vision for why Chula Vista is the place for businesses to locate,” he said.
Graham said the city is poised to become a hub of drone manufacturing because of its historic aerospace industry and the police department’s early embrace of drone surveillance technology.
The city’s proximity to lower-cost Mexican factories also makes it an ideal location for medical device companies and other biotech businesses that develop products in the U.S. and manufacture them south of the border, he said.
“Other parts of the region are running out of space,” Graham said. “We present an opportunity to relocate… People forget what’s here.”
Imperial Beach Hate Crime Victim Speaks Out
A Jewish woman whose house was vandalized with antisemetic graffiti in Imperial Beach is speaking out. Longtime Democratic activist Sandy Brillhart spoke with our Jim Hinch, following a series of hateful acts of vandalism in IB.
Brillhart said twice this month she and her husband, Bryan, awoke in the morning to discover antisemitic graffiti on the front of their house and on a rear garage. The graffiti included Nazi and white power symbols and a Nazi-associated military insignia used by white supremacist groups.
The first incident occurred the night before Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year celebration, Brillhart said. The second occurred the night before Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Brillhart said one of the tags included her name.
“I was really afraid,” she said. “I was angry… It’s part of a rise of facism and intolerance all over the world and I felt very much like my privacy has been violated.”
Sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday arrested 18-year-old Kristoffer von Hassel of Imperial Beach for allegedly scrawling Nazi, white power and anti-Latino messages on two properties in the city earlier this month.
In an interview with the Union-Tribune, von Hassel’s parents denied their son was involved and said they planned to fight any charges in court.
The vandalism, along with an apparently related incident at a property on Seacoast Drive, follows another incident last month at the home of Democratic mayoral candidate Karl Bradley.
Bradley said one of his wife’s tires was slashed and someone appeared to have poured something into the gas tank of his pickup truck.
“There’s a layer of intolerance in Imperial Beach,” Brillhart said. “I have experienced in the past a lot of negative political activity.”
Brillhart also said she felt grateful for the many neighbors and community members who reached out to her with support.
North County Report: A Tale of Two Mayoral Races
Encinitas and Escondido are very different cities, but their mayoral races this year seem remarkably similar.
In both cities, conservative-leaning incumbent mayors are facing off against Democratic-aligned challengers amid debates over housing and homelessness, reports our Tigist Layne.
In Escondido, Mayor Dane White, a Republican, faces Dem-backed Elias Velazquez. Encinitas Mayor Bruce Ehlers, a conservative-leaning independent, faces Democrat Rimka Visconta.
Both mayors have helped spearhead more conservative policies on the hot-button issues of housing and homelessness. Under their leadership, both cities have sought to put the brakes on affordable housing projects and pursued a more enforcement-driven approach to homelessness.
The challengers say their cities need a new direction and their conservative opponents’ policies aren’t working.
Read the North County Report here.
Extra! Extra! Hard-Bitten Journalist Takes on New Beat: Kindness
Journalists, as a type, are, well, a little jaded. But every now and then, something breaks through and reminds even the most seen-it-all reporter that good people are still out there.
That’s what happened late last year when retired Union-Tribune journalist Leigh Fenly saw a sign in the window of her Mission Valley dry cleaners.
“If you are unemployed and need an outfit cleaned for an interview, we will clean it for free!” the sign said.
As KPBS reporter John Carroll wrote this week, Fenly, was moved by the sign’s simple generosity. Like any good reporter, she started asking questions.
The couple who own VIP Cleaners, Karla and Salvador Villareal, told Fenly helping people get back on their feet just seemed like the right thing to do.
Are people really that kind, Fenly wondered?
The answer to that question became the motto of Fenly’s unexpected new journalistic endeavor. Along with a crew of old journalism colleagues, she now reports, writes and publishes Kindness Happens Here, a monthly newspaper dedicated to all things kind and generous.
“Kindness is everywhere in San Diego,” the paper proclaims atop its website. “You just need to know where to look.”
In Other News
- Rapidly strengthening Hurricane Polo – one of the largest hurricanes ever recorded in the eastern Pacific Ocean – is likely to send powerful waves to San Diego County early next week, causing possible coastal flooding, beach erosion and transportation problems, especially in North County, forecasters said. (Union-Tribune)
- The National City Council on Tuesday punted a third time on approving new contracts for city towing services. Though the city’s current towing contracts expire at the end of this month, councilmembers, after twice delaying a decision, raised more questions about companies vying for the contracts and postponed a vote for another two months.
- KPBS spoke to UCSD computer scientists about new AI safety regulations Gov. Gavin Newsom recently mandated. Scientists’ alarming conclusion: An AI kill switch, a key strategy to rein in the rapidly advancing technology, may be unfeasible at this point because of how AI has developed. (KPBS)
- CIF San Diego Section Commissioner Joe Heinz died Tuesday following a stroke. Heinz, 56, was a longtime fixture in San Diego County high school athletics. Students, parents and fellow coaches called Heinz’s unexpected death a “gut punch” and a blow to youth sports. (Union-Tribune)
- Construction crews in Oceanside unearthed remains of what a paleontologist said could be a “thunder beast” – an ancient hoofed mammal that lived 45 million years ago. If you think that’s a cool name, consider the other possible species identification for the remains: What scientists call a “swamp rhinoceros.” (Union-Tribune)
- The Ocean Beach Library is closing for a massive renovation. (Times of San Diego)
The Morning Report was written by Jim Hinch, Scott Lewis and Will Huntsberry. It was edited by Will Huntsberry.