Morning Report: Vacation Home Tax Is Dead
EM - News Moderator 
The controversial idea to tax empty second homes and short-term vacation rentals officially died on Wednesday — and paid activists from Los Angeles played at least some part in killing it.
The tea: At least 45 protestors were bussed in from Los Angeles to oppose the tax, our reporter Mariana Martínez Barba learned. She spoke to one woman who confirmed she was paid and put up in a hotel the night before. She did not say who paid her.
The woman came with a group called Urbano Strategies, which is part of a coalition that has backed Airbnb in Los Angeles.
Martínez Barba also obtained a message that said people would be paid $25 an hour to support Urbano Strategies in a “paid civic engagement opportunity.”
About that Vote on the Tax
Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera had been pitching the idea to tax empty second homes and short-term vacation rentals for months. Booking giant Airbnb fought back with the full weight of its multi-billion-dollar strength.
When it became clear at the City Council Rules Committee Wednesday that Elo-Rivera didn’t have the votes, he watered down his proposal, attempting to gather support.
Elo-Rivera offered to let “mom and pop” short-term rental owners off the hook. Instead, the tax would only apply to owners of empty second homes and corporate short-term rental owners. The amendment didn’t sway his colleagues.
Councilmembers voted 3 – 2 not to advance the proposed ballot measure to the full Council. Councilmembers Kent Lee, Raul Campillo and Vivian Moreno voted no.
North County Report: Del Mar’s Housing Plans Up in the Air
North County reporter Tigist Layne has been following two affordable housing projects in Del Mar that developers haven’t been able to get across the finish line.
One is a proposal to build housing on the Del Mar Fairgrounds. And the other is a controversial development called Seaside Ridge.
In this week’s North County Report, Layne explains what’s keeping these two projects from moving forward. She also reports that the city of Escondido is getting pushback from residents for allowing federal immigration agents to train at a city-owned shooting range.
The Tax Argument for Smaller Lots
Legalizing smaller lots — zoning, in other words, for more townhomes and rowhomes — is one of the biggest ideas currently working its way through City Hall.
If some version of the policy eventually passes, it could lower home prices for families by 42 percent or more, according to one report. But, as one advocate argues, it also has the potential to massively increase revenue from property taxes to local governments — without raising taxes.
What County Supervisors Did on Wednesday
Supervisors took a crucial second vote to approve new county rules that limit federal law enforcement agencies’ access to county facilities. (City News Service)
Supervisors also voted Wednesday to deploy unlocked reserve funds to combat the Tijuana River sewage crisis and formally created a new county job: county pollution crisis chief. (Times of San Diego)
About those unlocked reserves: These are county reserve funds freed up last year after a policy push by board Democrats allowing supervisors to more easily dip into the county’s large rainy-day fund. Supervisors Terra Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe, who championed those changes, called for their fiscal subcommittee to recommend future unlocked reserve allocations in the months to come. Board Democrats voted to approve that plan despite protests from Republican Supervisor Jim Desmond.
But first: Before the board discusses diving into its rainy-day fund again, Lawson-Remer and Montgomery Steppe say their committee’s looking into how the county could save cash. Their first successful pitch: Phasing out old-school desk phones and fax machines for up to $7 million in savings. (Union-Tribune)
In Other News
- The vacation home tax isn’t the only thing that died at the Council Rules Committee on Wednesday. A ballot measure that would have enshrined free parking at Balboa Park also didn’t get enough votes to pass. (Union-Tribune)
- A man has been sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to robbing San Diego and Orange County surfers, while they were in the water. The way it worked: A lookout would watch surfers stash their keys. Thieves would then access the car, steal people’s credit cards and empty their bank accounts. (U-T)
- A 59-year-old blind man from San Diego announced his plans to sail across the Pacific Ocean to Japan — solo. Hiro Iwamoto previously sailed across the Pacific with a guide, but this would be his first solo crossing. (NBC 7)
- After injecting herself with her mother’s GLP-1, a 7-year-old San Diego girl overdosed. The case illustrates the rising number of overdoses with GLP-1 drugs in California. (CBS 8)
The Morning Report was written by Will Huntsberry and Lisa Halverstadt. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña.
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