Emails review -- review the rocks were placed to shoe the homeless away. Questionable and expensive decisions in Congress. Fireworks expected is a version of the controversy over One Paseo development goes before city Council. I'm Mark Sauer, the KPBS Roundtable starts now. Welcome to our discussion of the week's top stories. Joining me at the KPBS Roundtable are freelance journalist Kelly Davis. Ashley McGlone, of the Voice of San Diego and David Garrick who covers City Hall for the union Tribune. In April the city of San Diego installed jagged rocks on both sides of the Imperial Avenue I-5 underpass. Officials said Sherman Heights residents have expressed concern about homeless people camping under the freeway. The Rox were put there to keep them from setting up their tents. It turns out, people living nearby had really nothing to do with the city's actions. Kelly, what was that reason the? Back in April -- Back in April called homeless news San Diego, on Facebook. Run by Michael mechanical -- McConnell, he posted photos of the pallets of the very jagged rock's, that were being installed under Emporio -- Imperial Avenue. I sent an email to his city of spokesperson and asked what it was about. His response was, the new landscaping is meant to address safety concerns raised by residence in Sherman Heights. They use Imperial Avenue as their main connection to downtown. Acyclic, the residence asked for this. There was a lot of back lash. We do have a right, -- bite, a homeless man who said he fell on the rocks. These rocks are sharp. Have you seen the edges on them? I have bruises here and bruises there. These are pointy, this is shark. -- Sharp. They did all this, so they could stop people from sleeping here, it just didn't do anything paper -- people still sleepier. As Katie got in that interview, there is no way to sit on this. Is it like rip rock? Exactly. Jetty rocks were the inspiration. Which is not comfortable. How did you learn what the real motivation was behind this project? I put in a public records request, just to see what was behind this and the inspiration. It took them two months to respond to my request. They responded with hundreds of pages of emails, and in them there is no mention of Sherman Heights residents asking for this. This was solely driven by, a man named John Casey, he worked for the city, but he was the liaison with the Padres. In these emails, he's saying that he is the point person that picked out the rocks and initially, the plans were to put rocks near the library, near Petco Park, the big parking lot next to Petco. The timeline they were working with, was the All-Star Game. Let's get this done by the All-Star Game. It's coming July 12, it is a huge event and brings national press a spotlight on San Diego. The idea is to showcase San Diego and we don't want those homeless down there. One thing that keep showing up in the emails from John Casey, he wanted Imperial Avenue to be the gateway to East Village. If you look down Imperial, that's a straight shot to Petco. He envisioned it Dean cleared out of these homeless in this kind of wrap garden -- rock garden. What it it costs? $57,000, I believe. McConnell, the homeless advocate, what had he said was the motivation, was he calling this as it was? He lives in East Village, he is out there with his camera, filming these police sweeps, with a clear out in Its. He sees this as a larger effort to push the homeless out of East Village and downtown. We do have another bite, Katie sure love -- shoe of -- We are on them -- on Imperial. It was a place where the homeless would get out of the rain and sleet. They would then pack their tents in the afternoon. It's pushing people closer to our homes. I live it 25th in commercial, most of those neighborhoods have alleys and we are having a lot more homeless people sleeping in the alleys behind our homes. It's dangerous, people have hurt themselves on the rocks. That's an irony, as he points out, it's the Sherman Heights complaint, but they are going deeper into that neighborhood. I went to take photos of the underpass, I noticed the encampments setting up towards evening about two blocks into Sherman Heights. What about the city leaders? Mayor Faulconer's office did he say anything? I got no evidence in the emails that this was led by the Mayor's office. The Mayor's office said it had nothing to do with it. The Padres also claim that they had nothing to do with it. This was a world, employee -- Rog employee. It's amazing if you look at the big picture, it's the first time San Diego will host the All-Star Game. The homeless population is higher than before. It's just sort of bad luck. I'm not saying the reaction was appropriate, I can see how they would be frustrated. They choose to have a here and then homelessness skyrockets in the vicinity of Petco Park. When the Super Bowl was in San Francisco, the Mayor was blatantly saying, homeless folks we are creating this area around the stadium, please move out for the duration of the festivities. He was up front and honest. Here we are not seeing that in the Mayor's office is saying that they have nothing to do with it. There's nothing wrong with just explaining, we've got a lot of national cameras, media, clear out. CityBeat had a story about a pastor who feeds a homeless and he's being threatened by police officials to stop doing that. That's going on as well. Apparently, groups, church groups that provide street feedings, have been asked, during the All-Star Game, to cease or to partner up with father Joe's and help them provide food during that time. We should say, Councilman David Alvarez, Todd Gloria are upset. They said they were not consulted. We will see how this works, as we get closer to this event. We are moving on to the reputation for accurate -- excellent by Poway School's. The superintendent has been placed on paid leave and now an interim replacement has been hired. Ashley, start with some background. What that superintendent John Collins in hot water. He's been on paid leave for two months. They said they put them on leave, so they could conduct an audit of his employment contract. That has to include his compensation. We know he has a $300,000 base salary. His total compensation packages around a half million dollars. That includes longevity pay, stipends and to raises, which kick in when he achieves negotiations with his employees to give them raises, he gets them. That is raised concerns. Who stepped in this week, to be there? They've chosen Edward Velasquez, most finishing up in Alpine union school district. San Sedro -- San Ysidro had received this out last year. He is a fixer. This whole thing got into the news, even national news regarding Poway School's with capital appreciation bond. Tell us about that it was going to provide $105 million for improving physical things at the school district. The cost got out of hand. School districts and Polly put this -- Polly -- Poway , if you want to keep projects going you can obtain bond money with promises to postpone payments for as much as 20 years which is what Poway did . Interest compounds and accrues, the debt balloons and then you spend the last 20 years paying got off. Poway hundred 59 dollars becomes a most $1 billion. That will be repaid by taxpayers come of they hope I then assessed values will rise. Tax payments will jump, based on what is needed to pay off the debt. They are not the only ones doing this, San Ysidro and others have. The state has stepped in and said this is not a good practice. The extent to which Poway in San Diego unified and San Ysidro took the liberties that they did, with the amounts of money that they did, prompted legislators to completely change P she, no district can do today what was done in Poway. Capital appreciation bonds still exist, they can no longer be longer than 25 years. You can't pay more than four times the principal, that's drastically reduced. You were talking 9 to 10 times, the average mortgage owner, paste to a half times over the length of a 30 year mortgage. What happened with the double whammy, the superintendent Collins having a consultant's report of the district's technology education program? Last year, the district tired of third-party consulted to assess their technology department, a cost $40,000. The report was less than flattering. It was pretty critical. Collins took it upon himself, to make edits, to remove some of the harshest criticism. He didn't disclose his role, it was presented as the consultant's report. Folks felt that wasn't transparent or ethical. Kind of like a whitewash. He was placed on leave, with the specifics of regarding that situation, that report and the problems with the bonds. It was accumulation of things? It's not totally clear. They said they were looking at his contract, by extension that meets his compensation. He may have overstepped his bounds by initiating lid -- litigation without approval. It remains to be seen, what exactly, is being looked at. They claim July 11 will reveal what's going on. Is it safe to tail -- tell Poway people that he won't be back ? The board -- the board brought back in its own attorneys. It took a turn for a worse. It's a serious step to put a superintendent on leave. To be clear, that's one more year after this one, that would be the final year of his contract. As we said, the interim, the acting superintendent in this period, that made by everybody reading space and time to have the old regime move out and his assistants move out and get someone else in place. It just so happens, a bunch of top ranking officials are retiring or taking other jobs. There are eight or nine positions that need to be filled. They did choose a new assistant of HR, they still need to fill the top is this chief, the head of planning, lots of eternal -- turnover. The delink a group has been a part. They were the financial advisors on the bond deal. The district was taking their advice. They have stuck around and controlled the districts special tax program. They got a five-year contract in 25 -- 2014 with a limit. The board discovered, some members had inquired and realize they had Artie been paid twice that, $1.27 million. The staff had said you are proving an annual contract, some board members are not convinced and they want an audit. Do you think that's incompetence or corruption are both? Maybe another audit, will determine that took How would that work? They discuss this, the minutes are recorded, what happened at the meeting didn't get into the contract in the gatekeepers of the board didn't read it? They just relied on what they thought they heard? Yes. It will say the term of the contract, the district, I've asked if they were approving it, have not been able to provide that they did indeed do so. It sounds like the staff is more at fault than the board. The board is following protocol and believe what they read. They can't read every 400 page contract. The contract itself, has no dollar, the report that the board approved, that is to limit that, they had an understanding. It implied that it did have a. It is that unusual? Maybe with financial consultants it's normal, typically you would see that amount spelled out. We will see how this plays out a we look forward to more stories on this. One Paseo is getting a second chance. Killroy Realty adopted the attitude of the camp them join the. They downsized, there's enough opposition to force the city Council to move the final showdown on Monday from City Hall to the larger, Golden Hall. David start by reminding us, what or how big was One Paseo? The key was, it was almost the size of a mall, out of 24 acre plot. It's been in the pipeline for several years. The idea was that this is the future of San Diego, this is smart growth. They claim it's near coaster station, and that it's near freeways. This is what we are going to need, we will need more housing. When you say smart growth, that means we will get people in transit. Traffic was the big concern. The idea is you're going to build on existing transit corridor doors -- corridors. How did members of the community managed to block the developers initial plan? They been opposing it all along. City Council approved at 7-2, then they did a referendum campaign. San Diego has a lower threshold for referendums, it's not as hard to get the signatures to get it on the ballot. They managed to do that and polls show that One Paseo was not popular, because it's so intense. I think the issue is caught fire, a lot of people across the city worried that the same thing will happen in their neighborhood if you live in a smaller neighborhood, you worry that it will happen in yours -- your neighborhood. This could be a great success story. People call it ballot box planning, maybe the city Council should take the lead. On the other hand, it looks like we will get a reasonable result. What is the scale down? Give us the highlights. It's 20% smaller, the housing stays the same. 600 condos or apartments. The retail and office will go way down. Those things generate more traffic. If you live in your apartment, there are retail and movie theater generates more traffic. That's the big impact in that satisfied. 44% less traffic. They had concern about the bulk and scale, a term they use for the visual impact. This is an empty piece of property off of Delmar Heights Road, it's completely empty. All of a sudden it will have one point 4,000,000 ft.² -- 1.4 million square -- one point 4,000,000 ft.². What sort of things did the Kilroy develop do? They have more focus groups, they had meetings, they hired a new architect. They are pretty savvy and they realized, they are not going to get what what they wanted. The residents did want a main street, a downtown. They were excited when it first came up. The problem is the developer got carried away. Maybe this is closer to what they wanted. We should explain, for those who don't know, community planning groups of folks that take it upon themselves to be knowledge about the community and they are representing, what people want to see and the excitement about developments are not. They are still split on this. They vehemently opposed it. Progress is always in the eye of the beholder. There's a little bit less opposition. It is very intense. It looks smaller know, in relative terms to what was before. It's still quite intense, for server -- for Carmel Valley. It's very suburban and one story construction. Will it be considered as a town draw? It will be town center light. The office and retail in particular, they wanted more restaurants, that was also the most traffic. Housing stays the same, then you've got the traffic. There was no way to please everyone. Is there any organized opposition? Part of the agreement to settle a lawsuit, a lot of the opponents through up a lawsuit. Part of the settlement was, they had to agree to not oppose this, aggressively. The developer said okay -- I don't know if people are quietly in their livings -- in their living rooms and swearing. Most of the vocal folks are not allowed to say anything. Is this still going to be considered an example of smart growth, as the city to find that? That's a big term. I would say, it's less of an example. Smart growth would typically be dearer -- nearer to transit. This was always the way to smart growth. Theoretically, someone could manage one of the retail stories -- stores and live in an apartment. It's near freeway, if you are generous, it is still smart growth. If you commute and work downtown you could still take that shuttle? Yes. It's close. Let's talk about the Council, they did okay the plan, do you think they will again? If the approve the gigantic one 7-2. It's hard to vote against a smaller scale one. They must be putting the feelers out, the staff was be asking question. They've moved it from City Hall to larger place. They are going to get some people. Or they are paranoid. It's in Sherri Lightner's test -- district. If it does get approved, walks through the timetable, when would we see construction and people moving in? I think it will be two years before people would move in. They would get their entitlements quickly. Construction should start in around six months. As you say, it is a very big project, it will take a while. Can we safely say that this was ugly democracy, but in the end it looks like it might work? Yes. I think you're right. It will be interesting. I'm sure you will be covering that on Monday. We will take a look. A lot of developers will be watching this as a model. Everyone has been watching, for a while. It was a defeat, maybe now they will get a tie. We are out of time. That does wrap up another week of stories at the KPBS Roundtable. Thank you to Kelly Davis, Ashley McGlone and David Garrick. All these stories are available on her website KPBS.org. I'm Mark Sauer. Thinks for joining us on The Roundtable.
Rocks were for All-Star game
In April, jagged rocks suddenly appeared under the I-5 Imperial Avenue overpass in an area where some homeless people set up camp.
A spokesman for San Diego said the rocks were put there at the request of Sherman Heights residents concerned about their own safety — but not to move the homeless out of the way for the July 12 All-Star Game at Petco Park.
San Diego City Councilman David Alvarez, whose District 8 includes Sherman Heights, says he was not told about the project in his district.
However — and it's a big however — emails obtained by a Voice of San Diego public records request show that Sherman Heights folks, who may have complained about encampments blocking the sidewalk, had nothing to do with the rock installation.
The emails showed those rocks were, in fact, part of a larger plan to discourage camping around Petco before the game. Rocks were also to be installed on streets lining Tailgate Park and outside the Central Library.
The rocks under the Imperial Avenue overpass have driven the encampments into the neighborhoods of Sherman Heights.
In another development, San Diego CityBeat published a story this week wherein the head of a religious nonprofit says he was told by San Diego Police Department officers not to continue to offer water and food to the downtown homeless during July.
VOSD: All-Star Game Prompted Rocks To Deter Homeless Encampments, Emails Show
Poway Unified has a few problems
Poway Unified School District placed highly paid superintendent John Collins on paid administrative leave this April, with a year left on his contract.
Poway, a highly regarded district, has had big problems during Collins’ tenure, beginning with the notorious 2011 capital appreciation bond deal, which will eventually cost the district $1 billion to pay off $105 million in general obligation bonds. The deal spawned a new state law limiting the principal-to-debt repayment ratio for school bonds.
And that's not all. In August, 2015, Voice of San Diego reported that Collins had softened a harshly critical report on the district’s technology department before releasing it to the public.
Several top administrators have quit, but not before recommending pay raises for themselves. And they recommended the district again hire the tax consultants, the Dolinka Group, who engineered the $1 billion deal. The board did hire them, but had no idea how much they were paying them.
The board has named an interim replacement for Collins.
VOSD: Poway Unified Board Puts Superintendent on Administrative Leave
Another pass at One Paseo
Killroy Realty will seek approval of the San Diego City Council on Monday for a scaled-down version of One Paseo, a mixed-use development in Carmel Valley.
The original project, 20 percent larger and with a much bigger traffic footprint, faced lawsuits and a public vote.
The new project has 61 percent less retail space; 42 percent less office space; six-story (instead of nine) office buildings set back 30 feet from the streets; and a shuttle to the Solana Beach Coaster station, rather than Sorrento Valley.
Killroy negotiated all these elements of the new plan with opposition groups. Nevertheless, the Carmel Valley Community Planning Group was deadlocked in an approval vote 5-5 in January. The city council approved the original, denser, version in February and will vote on this one on Monday.
SDUT: Developer shrinks controversial, potentially precedent-setting project to appease residents
