Morning Report: City Moves on Mission Bay RVs

In the streets and parking lots around Mission Bay, RVs and large vans have set up camp for years since the pandemic. Some of the RVs are clearly worth a lot raising suspicion that their occupants aren’t down on their luck. Some of them are barely staying together. 

But all of them have started facing a crackdown from city police who have stepped up parking enforcement and referrals to the new safe parking site at H Barracks. That site has freed city to push the campers to move along. 

Our Mariana Martínez Barba, a Report for America member, talked to Council President Joe LaCava about his long- and short-term plans for the people living in Mission Bay. He’s floating the idea of re-striping parking lines to make them diagonal and thus unable to fit RVs, for example.

She also, though, talked to two people who say the city’s overnight parking site doesn’t work for them because they have to leave every day and they can’t afford even the minimal gas that takes. 

Read her story here.  

Desmond Requests Federal Probe of County 

County Supervisor Jim Desmond wants federal authorities to dig into alleged misconduct in county government.

Desmond, a Republican running for Congress, sent a letter Monday to U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon requesting an independent investigation into “the circumstances surrounding the retirement of County Counsel Claudia Silva and alleged dealings tied to ongoing litigation.”

Desmond’s letter follows the new Democratic majority on the county Board of Supervisors led by Chair Terra Lawson-Remer moving to schedule a last-minute July performance review of Silva, who then announced her retirement. Voice of San Diego revealed last week that Silva will receive at least a $535,000 payout.

Desmond cited a La Prensa San Diego story on the alleged motivation behind Silva’s firing and its publication of a December email that the county’s former top bureaucratic sent Silva about an alleged quid-pro-quo attempt by Lawson-Remer. Voice previously wrote about the allegations last October after a former county executive claimed Lawson-Remer and ex-supervisor Nora Vargas unlawfully stymied his pursuit of a promotion.

In an interview, Desmond said Voice’s reporting also motivated his referral and that he had previously asked the county District Attorney’s Office to investigate.

A District Attorney’s Office spokesperson confirmed Desmond contacted prosecutors last year but declined to confirm whether they opened an investigation.

A U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson said Monday she could not say whether the Department of Justice was digging in.

Desmond, who did not attend two closed-door meetings about the county counsel position, said he was shocked when he learned Silva’s severance would be far more than what was required per her 2022 county contract.

“I thought somebody outside needed to take a better look at this,” Desmond said.

Lawson-Remer spokesperson Spencer Katz pushed back.

“Desmond missed the meetings, but not the chance to launch a partisan Fox News smear to mislead voters with false rumors and boost his congressional campaign,” Katz wrote in a statement. “San Diegans deserve better.”

Environment Report: The Case of The Bobcats

A flamingo, a magpie goose and an antelope walk into a San Diego Zoo facility … and get eaten by bobcats.

Yes, really. Bobcats broke into a San Diego Zoo facility three times back in December, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report. Its unlucky prey were a flamingo, a magpie goose and an antelope.

Our MacKenzie Elmer writes the zoo has since taken steps to better secure its animals from bobcats after the tragic incidents, including an effort to trap and relocate bobcats.

Also: Bobcat hunting became illegal in California in 2019, but there’s a chance it may be reinstated this year.

Read the full Environment Report here.

In Other News

• Higher parking rates are coming to downtown San Diego near Petco Park during Padres games and other events. Parking meters will increase to $10 per hour in the new “special event zone” for a total of eight hours during events and games. (Union-Tribune)
• An inmate at San Diego Central Jail died in his cell last week, becoming the sixth person to die in a San Diego County jail this year. Karim Talib, 82, was found dead in his cell after other inmates said he was in medical distress, but was not given medical attention. (CBS 8)
• San Diego’s downtown City Operations Building is up for sale or lease, city officials announced last week. The building is currently nearly empty and poorly maintained. (Union-Tribune)
• Cannabis sales tax revenue in San Diego has been on the decline, records show. San Diego collected half the amount of cannabis tax in fiscal year 2025 than it did in fiscal year 2021. (NBC 7)

The Morning Report was written by Tigist Layne and Lisa Halverstadt. It was edited by Scott Lewis. 

The post Morning Report: City Moves on Mission Bay RVs appeared first on Voice of San Diego.