Morning Report: Dems Come for Chula Vista City Hall
EM - News Moderator 
Though Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one in South County, the party has not controlled a single mayor’s office in the region since former Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre ascended to the county Board of Supervisors.
That could change after Democrat Francisco Tamayo, a Chula Vista Elementary School District trustee, filed this week to challenge incumbent Chula Vista Mayor John McCann.
Voters of both parties like McCann, a well-known former Chula Vista city councilmember. But county Democrats have been fretting that no one had stepped forward from their party to challenge him, writes our Jim Hinch.
It’ll probably be among the most expensive and bruising races in South County this year. McCann’s already raised more than $100,000, as of Dec. 31 filings. If Tamayo consolidates support from Democrats and labor organizations, he’ll have access to the same cash spigot that enabled Aguirre to defeat McCann in last year’s supervisor race.
Mission Bay High Students’ Improvement Earns Acorn Award
Since 2021, student performance at Mission Bay High has rocketed up, according to Voice of San Diego’s income vs. tests core metric. The improvement has been so dramatic that the school scored our inaugural “Growing Strong” Acorn Award.
You’ll be seeing a lot about these awards this week. Voice is awarding them to schools that performed well on our metric in various categories. “Growing Strong” goes to the school with the most improvement post-pandemic.
Principal Eric Brown says the school already had the building blocks of success. What it needed was a clearer vision and a renewed commitment to putting kids first.
“A lot of times, students’ voices are not heard. When you don’t listen to them, they don’t care,” Brown said.
About that Fake Public Commenter
Remember that guy from the council committee last week everyone was quoting?
The one who owned six homes and kept them empty because renters were “dirty”?
Was that some kind of lefty fever dream of villainy?
It turns out yes, our Bella Ross discovered.
The commenter was none other than Ocean Beach Planning Board Vice Chair Kevin Hastings. He decided parody would be a more powerful tool in advancing the cause of the empty second home tax.
Hastings said far more people paid attention than when he comments earnestly. He called that a “good thing.”
- That tax is going forward, by the way. The City Council voted 8-1 on Tuesday to advance the empty second home tax to the June ballot, reports Times of San Diego. Voters will decide whether empty second homes should be taxed $8,000 each per year. Raul Campillo was the only holdout.
UCSD Distances Itself from Deepak Chopra – Sorta
The latest Epstein documents revealed that new age guru – and once UCSD professor – Deepak Chopra had an uncomfortably close friendship with the infamous sex criminal.
If you haven’t read our story, check it out here. It’s one of our most read of the year by Jakob McWhinney. The two men speak luridly and creepily about sex, cute girls and the nature of existence.
UCSD officials have been mum about the revelations. But now a university spokesperson tells us Chopra’s appointment as an unpaid voluntary clinical professor will conclude at the end of June. He will no longer have “active responsibilities” with the university, they wrote.
“While we are not able to comment further on personnel matters, the crimes Jeffrey Epstein committed were horrific, and any association with him is regrettable,” the spokesperson wrote.
Supes Take Divided Vote on Reserve Spending
County supervisors took a partisan 3-2 vote Tuesday to direct $47.4 million in newly-unlocked county reserve funds toward several existing county programs, maintenance projects and other initiatives.
Refresher: Democratic supervisors voted last year to update the county’s reserve policy to unleash up to $95 million annually in the next few years.
Tuesday’s pitch: County staff, informed by an ad-hoc fiscal planning subcommittee made up of Democratic Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Vice Chair Monica Montgomery Steppe, proposed a series of unlocked reserve line items to support causes including rental assistance, property tax system upgrades, maintenance projects and hunger relief.
The takes: Montgomery Steppe and Lawson-Remer unsurprisingly praised the proposal.
“I do believe that this is certainly an investment in our community that helps our budgetary process,” Montgomery Steppe said, hinting at the likelihood of tough decisions ahead as the county faces expected federal cuts.
Republican Supervisor Joel Anderson criticized the reliance on the two-member fiscal subcommittee to craft the reserve proposal behind closed doors and argued that it was an opaque process to direct funds that likely won’t be spent before the end of the county’s fiscal year in June.
“In a budget process in three months we would be able to do all of these things under the light of day with minutes, with open meetings, with community input, nothing behind closed doors – everything in the light of day – and I’d feel comfortable supporting all of it with that type of scrutiny,” Anderson said.
Montgomery Steppe and Lawson-Remer said they support transparent budget and fiscal processes.
Also: The Union-Tribune reports that county supervisors advanced a plan to potentially revamp an obscure county program that covers San Diegans who don’t qualify for other government health coverage. County officials, unions and hospitals are eyeing the program amid looming Trump administration Medicaid reform.
In Other News
- Military bases in San Diego County (and nationwide) are under heightened security after the U.S. attacked Iran. That looks like possible traffic delays for civilians travelling near Naval Base Coronado. (NBC 7)
- Fill up your tanks: The U.S. strikes at Iran have already impacted local San Diego gas prices, which jumped overnight by 11 cents. (NBC 7 San Diego)
- Rapper Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys bought an entire exhibit of local photography at Por Vida coffee shop and gallery in Barrio Logan. (KPBS)
- Several hundred pounds of almonds spilled from the scene of a huge semi truck fire that closed traffic on I-805 Tuesday. (Fox 5)
- San Diego Unified expanded its free transitional kindergarten program. There are now 5,200 spots available for TK in the upcoming school year. (NBC 7)
The Morning Report was written by MacKenzie Elmer, Jakob McWhinney, Lisa Halverstadt and Will Huntsberry. It was edited by Will Huntsberry.
The post Morning Report: Dems Come for Chula Vista City Hall appeared first on Voice of San Diego.
