A new city of San Diego committee wants to lower the cost of living
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz. It’s Thursday, December 19th.
A new city of San Diego committee wants to lower the cost of living.
More on that next. But first, let’s do the headlines….
Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency to aid California's response to the bird flu outbreak.
The governor says recent cases detected in dairy cows in Southern California mean that the state needs to further expand monitoring of the virus.
Maurice Pitesky is a professor at UC Davis' school of veterinary medicine.
He says there are ways to keep yourself and your animals safe.
“Washing your hands. Having dedicated clothing and boots that only get used in our backyard coop and don't get dragged inside. Because that's one of the ways for example we can transmit other diseases like salmonella.”
There have been 34 confirmed human bird flu cases in California.
Proposition 36 went into effect state-wide yesterday (Wednesday).
In our “Why It Matters Segment” from November, Voice of San Diego’s Scott Lewis walked us through the proposition.
“It will make punishment for theft and drug crimes harsher. It won support from more than 68% of voters across California, and much of that support came because of promises that prosecutors made that it would take care of people suffering from drug addiction.”
Lewis says the county is working on implementing Prop 36 by creating more beds for people navigating treatment.
San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan says her office is committed to successfully rolling out the proposition in partnership with the Sheriff, the county’s police chiefs and the community.
San Diego residents may face higher utility rates in the coming years.
The California Public Utilities Commission will vote on the rate hikes proposed by SDG&E, today (Thursday).
The proposal would result in SDG&E customers paying just over a dollar more per month if they use over a certain amount of natural gas.
And electric customers using 400 kilowatt-hours of electricity would pay $4.34 more per month, which translates to a 2.6 percent increase.
That’s according to reporting from the San Diego Union Tribune.
The proposed increases for 2025 through 2027 have faced opposition from local leaders and consumer advocates.
The commission will discuss and vote at 11 a.m.
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
The San Diego City Council is forming a special committee focused on lowering the cost of living. Metro reporter Andrew Bowen says housing, transportation and food costs are all on the agenda.
The new committee will be chaired by Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera. He's been a vocal advocate for the City Council setting its own policy agenda, rather than simply taking its cues from the mayor's office. That's his intent with the committee: create a new space for the council to pass laws that have a direct and immediate impact on the city's high cost of living. “It is the thing that most threatens the future of our city. More and more San Diegans, from college students at SDSU to seniors, are legitimately wondering whether or not they have a future here. We can't be okay with that.” Elo-Rivera already has one concrete proposal for his new committee: a ban on grocery stores offering digital-only coupons, which he says are inaccessible to many seniors. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.
City staff are recommending removing a footnote from San Diego code, after community pushback and KPBS coverage.
It allows developers to build much more densely, only in certain neighborhoods, home to the most Black residents.
Reporter Katie Hyson says already planned developments are still moving forward.
City staff say removing the footnote would decrease Encanto’s potential development by 465 homes. Their report says the city didn’t use “best planning practices” to pass the footnote. But a city spokesperson says state law prevents them from stopping already planned developments that rely on the footnote. “They knew that that was our primary concern. But they think that they come back and say, ‘We're going to take it out of law. That was not the right thing to do.’ But they're very careful to say that it's not unlawful.” Andrea Hetheru chairs the area’s community planning group. They oppose the pending developments. “If it's worthy of repeal, it's worthy of nullifying any decisions that were based on it.” The report says the footnote supports fair housing by providing home ownership opportunities. Hetheru disagrees. “When you build with greater density . . . if you don't add infrastructure, that is the recipe, that is the architect's plan for a slum.” The planning commission will vote Thursday whether to recommend the city council repeal the footnote. Katie Hyson, KPBS News.
Not everyone knows this, but La Jolla is actually not its own city. It’s part of San Diego — but not everyone wants it to stay that way. For our “Why It Matters” segment, Voice of San Diego’s CEO Scott Lewis explains the latest.
For decades, La Jollans have talked about wanting to be their own city. And now a serious effort yet to separate La Jolla has gotten one step closer to a vote. Supporters collected more than 7,000 signatures from La Jolla residents. All of that puts San Diego’s new Council president in an awkward position. Joe LaCava represents La Jolla and lives in La Jolla. But now he’s also one of the top elected leaders for the city as a whole. He wants to remain open to the idea of La Jolla leaving. “I have chosen at this time to remain neutral because clearly La Jollans are looking for someone who can give them objective answers to their questions.” That prompts an almost endless list of questions. To leave, La Jollans would have to pay the city of San Diego for all the pension debt for firefighters and police and city employees. And for sewage lines or other facilities that serve La Jolla. And even for managing the port of San Diego. The last city to separate was the city of Coronado in 1890. La Jolla will have a long road if it wants to be the next one. I’m Scott Lewis from Voice of San Diego and that’s why it matters.
Portable classrooms at a Ramona elementary school have needed to be replaced for decades. Some walls have water damage and you can see the sky through one roof. Reporter Katie Anastas says voters in Ramona had the chance to fund renovations in November, but they voted not to.
“Several of the portables here on campus are 40 plus years old.” Chris Gunnett attended Ramona Elementary School as a kid. Now, he’s the principal. He remembers when one portable, now used as storage, was still a classroom. He points to the ceiling. “We do have a gap here. As you'll see, the light is actually coming through the roof. This is where the two portables are seamed together.” He says they have to move supplies away from the gap when it rains. Water has already seeped into the school’s oldest building. Gunnett thinks it was built in the early 1900s. He presses a finger into wood near the bottom of an outside wall. “The substructure here, you can see that it's soft. Just some water damage over time.” This year’s bond measure could have funded new portable classrooms, bigger construction class facilities, and better plumbing and fire alarm systems. School bond measures have been on the ballot in Ramona seven times since 1986. They’ve never passed. Brian Thurman is the district’s superintendent. “Usually the life of a portable is around 20 years. We've got portables that are past the 50 year mark.” The district is facing a $9 million structural deficit. Thurman says they spent $2 million this year and last year on roofs. “That was general fund dollars that could have been spent on all kinds of things – instruction, students, playground equipment, lots of things.” Local bonds are also key to accessing school construction funding from the state. This year, California voters approved Prop 2, replenishing the pot of money for school repairs. Thurman says the district would have been eligible for $31 million in matching grants from the state. He says it was an opportunity to bring state tax money back to Ramona’s kids. “This pot is created with all Californians, from the Oregon border down through San Ysidro, all of our tax dollars. And so the real message that I wanted to get across is that Ramona has never taken advantage of that.” The more districts can raise through local bonds, the more state matching funds they can get. Some advocates argue that this system is unfair to districts with lower property values or where voters don’t pass local bonds. John Affedlt is a managing attorney with the San Francisco-based law firm Public Advocates. They’ve called the school facility funding system unconstitutional. “The state's role should not be to replicate the wealth disparities with how they hand out the state dollars. The state's role should be to counter or redress local wealth disparities with state dollars.” Bonds get paid back by increasing local property taxes. Ramona’s would have gone up by $59 per $100,000 of assessed property value. “As we saw at the national, state and local levels, cost of living and inflation were still at the top of mind for voters.” Thad Kousser [COW-zer] is a political science professor at UC San Diego. He says three things drive voter behavior on bonds. “One, how people are feeling about their pocketbook and whether they want to open it up to government overall. And that means that your bond can live or die, it has nothing to do with your school district. The second thing is what people are thinking about that government function, right? Do they like the direction of education in California? And the third is what they're hearing from the groups that take positions for and against these bonds.” The Republican Party of San Diego County’s voter guide said it opposed all ballot measures that increased taxes. Forty percent of voters in San Diego County’s unincorporated areas are registered as Republicans. Thirty percent are Democrats. “Voters rarely care about the size of either a bond or a tax increase. Right? Either they believe in the cause and are willing to invest in it or not.” Back at Ramona Elementary school, Principal Chris Gunnett says the maintenance department works hard to keep its buildings functional. But newer buildings would have fewer emergency repairs…and better prepare students for the future. “We have a lot of pride here, that is for sure. People choose to come here. I chose to come here as well and be a leader at this school. But it is that sense of pride when you do have a new school. Kids feel a little more connected.” Thurman says the district will continue to use the money it has to pay for increasingly costly repairs as they come up. Katie Anastas, KPBS News.
Telehealth has been around in one form or another since the early 1900’s when heart sounds could be listened to by a doctor over the telephone. Earlier this year, Telehealth became available for pets in California. Reporter John Carroll tells us about the San Diego connection to that benefit.
“Sadly, we’re about 10 years behind human medicine and the fact that it hasn't happened in veterinary medicine is really astonishing, and this bill and this law now makes it possible for us to do that.” San Diego Humane Society President & CEO Dr. Gary Weitzman talking about how important it is for veterinary care to catch up with the human variety. It’s why, earlier this year, the Society was at the forefront of a bill that makes care for pets much more accessible… vet telehealth. San Diego county is huge… more than 45-hundred square miles. The Humane Society’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Zarah Hedge says the availability of telehealth can be critically important for folks in rural areas.“Can potentially see a veterinarian sooner and determine if whatever’s going on with their pet, is something that they do need to go in person for, or if it’s something that could be managed through telemedicine.” And then - there’s the affordability factor. “Because they may not want to walk into a vet hospital because they know they can’t afford the cost.” Dr. Hedge says a Google search will turn up plenty of vet telehealth options. More ways to care for the ones who bring us that very special kind of joy. John Carroll, KPBS News.
That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org.
For your next listen, make sure to check out the Midday Edition podcast this afternoon. They’ll be talking about free art exhibits and Christmas movies to check out.
I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Thursday.