Morning Report: Push to Dip into County Reserves Fails – For Now

A push by Democratic County Supervisors Terra Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe to amend the county’s reserve policy to unleash cash to address potential federal and state cuts failed Tuesday.

Republican Supervisor Jim Desmond thumbed his nose at their pitch, arguing that the county should right-size its budget rather than dig into its rainy-day fund. But fellow Republican Joel Anderson wasn’t a no.

So you’re telling me there’s a chance? Anderson previously said he wasn’t on board, penning a Times of San Diego op-ed describing the Democrats’ pitch as a “last minute and reckless proposal to gut the county’s safety net.”

After tense exchanges between Desmond and the two Democrats who argue now is precisely the time to set the stage to tap the county’s large savings account to preserve county services, Anderson took the mic.

“We don’t need to yell at each other,” said Anderson, often considered a dealmaker on the board. “We can work through this.”

Then he said the obvious: Tuesday’s vote was essentially a campaign ad for Democratic District 1 candidate Paloma Aguirre, who wants to dig into county reserves. Anderson argued the vote especially drove home the stakes of the South Bay supervisors’ race for the county’s largest labor union.

As if on cue: Desmond and Aguirre’s opponent John McCann are holding a press conference outside the County Administration Building Wednesday morning “standing up for taxpayers and opposing efforts to raise taxes and drain county reserves.”

What’s next: Lawson-Remer and Montgomery Steppe say they aren’t giving up. They wrote in a joint statement Tuesday that they plan to bring the proposal back at a future county board meeting.

What also didn’t happen: Supervisors postponed a vote on proposed amendments to the county’s homeless camping ban. They are now set to hear the proposal today.

New Renderings! Civic Center

It’s been a while since San Diego got to indulge its favorite civic pastime: releasing new renderings. But we got a good batch Tuesday when the Prebys Foundation outlined its vision for the city of San Diego’s Civic Center, right now dominated by a decrepit City Hall and the uninspiring space around it.

Omar Blaik and Alex Feldman, from the city planning firm U3 advisors, presented the work they have been doing to collect input on the future of the six city blocks at the Civic Center and how it could be a cultural hub you may actually want to look at.

“We have lost the art of city building,” Blaik said.

The vision would include 4,000 housing units, a new Civic Theatre, educational facilities and three acres of public park space.

The U-T has a longer piece about the presentation here.

South Bay Dems Censure Chula Vista School Board Member

South San Diego County Democrats on Monday voted to censure Chula Vista Elementary School District Trustee Francisco Tamayo for allegedly “undermining Democratic Party ideals, attacking members of the LGBTQ community and abandoning the students he was elected to protect,” according to a resolution approved by two-thirds of attendees at a meeting of the party’s South Area Caucus.

Our Jim Hinch reported previously on the reason for the censure: Tamayo’s successful but divisive effort last year to unseat fellow Democratic board member Kate Bishop by running against her in November even though he already had a seat on the board and was not up for re-election.

The censure vote now goes to countywide party officials, who will review the caucus’ allegations and make a final determination.

In separate statements to caucus members and Voice of San Diego, Tamayo denied the censure resolution’s allegations and said he was being targeted for bucking the interests of Democratic Party insiders.

“This censure will not distract me from the mission at hand,” Tamayo said. “I will continue to lead independently, work constructively and put students above politics every single time.”

New Twist: In a brief text exchange with Hinch on Tuesday, Tamayo said he was now considering leaving the Democratic Party altogether “if the party decides that there is no room for moderate Democrats in the ranks.”

More South County news: National City residents show no love (yet) for a proposed electric truck charging station at the city’s port facility. And the county budget becomes a hot topic in the race for a vacant South County seat on the County Board of Supervisors.

Read the South County Report here.

Councilmembers Fight Unpopular Service Cuts

The San Diego City Council faced hours of uncomfortable budget decisions at a Tuesday committee meeting, including proposals to reduce library and recreation center hours, install parking meters at Balboa Park, close some public restrooms and remove all beach fire rings.

The mayor’s draft budget calls for across-the-board service cuts, yet many councilmembers want to see targeted cuts which would maintain more services for low-income communities.

“Every time we need to cut the budget, it’s the families from the communities who have the least who get impacted the most,” Councilmember Vivian Moreno said.

Another Water Letter

Gary Arant the general manager of the Valley Center Water Authority sent a letter to San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera suggesting maybe he was too young to remember what it was like to fear drought and unreliable water supplies.

Elo-Rivera’s suggestion that the city of San Diego should consider dissolving or breaking up the San Diego County Water Authority has generated some severe umbrage among water leaders in the region. We had the Water Authority’s general manager on the podcast last week to discuss it.

Now Arant has jumped in. He pointed out that the city and its leaders had not only supported but orchestrated the many investments in water supplies that have now driven water bills so high for ratepayers.

“Since all of those investments were made, water demand has plummeted in response to changes in consumer habits, the development of local supplies, and compliance with state water use efficiency mandates. Yes, we do have a surplus of water right now, and unfortunately, the debt service, operational, and maintenance costs of our regional water importation supply and infrastructure remain.

“Restructuring the Authority, or having the City leave the agency will not solve this problem for San Diego or any other communities in the region,” he wrote.

About Paid Parking in Balboa Park…

Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera took a hard stance against paid parking in Balboa Park, saying any efforts to do so should target tourists — including county residents who don’t live in city boundaries.

“I do not care how much non-residents pay for parking at Balboa Park … Folks who come here from other cities and use the city of San Diego as a playground, and their cities charge us when we go there, can pay their fair share.”

Councilmember Stephen Whitburn said any such plan should include “a significant amount of free parking,” especially as visitors brace for service cuts across the park.

The council will be presented with a revised budget later this month.

In Other News 

• County supervisors on Tuesday directed county staff to explore ways to persuade more landlords to rent to homeless veterans at a time when federal support for veterans is uncertain. (Union-Tribune)
• Our education reporter Jakob McWhinney and editor Andrea Lopez-Villafaña went on UCTV to talk about Voice of San Diego’s A Parent’s Guide to San Diego Schools. Watch the interview here. 

The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt, Jim Hinch and Bella Ross. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña. 

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