Trump offlines website that helped military leaders plan for climate change

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz, it’s Thursday, February 6th.

A website to help military leaders plan for climate change is offline.

More on that next. But first, let’s do the headlines.

San Diego County’s unincorporated areas are receiving funding to support digital learning.

In school districts like Warner, San Pasqual and Vallecitos, high-speed internet is unavailable or unaffordable.

The county has awarded 600 thousand dollars to the office of education to bring high-speed internet service to 900 students in those rural school districts.

The Poway City Council voted earlier this week to censure District 2 City Councilmember Tony Blain.

Accusations against him include bribery, vote-trading and intimidation tactics.

Blain sent threatening emails to deputy mayor Peter De Hoff.

De Hoff presented the motion on Tuesday.

“When a council member fails in this regard, especially as spectacularly as in this case, it's essential that those actions are not swept under the rug, but instead they must be publicly acknowledged and firmly condemned to protect the council's legitimacy and to maintain the public's trust.”

A censure is an official reprimand or formal statement of disapproval. It could lead to penalties such as loss of committee assignments.

President Donald Trump’s threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada is on hold.

His threat has mobilized local leaders.

Jessica Anderson is the interim president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. 

“I think people are really on edge. This is causing a lot of uncertainty in order to make business decisions moving forward.”

The San Diego chamber has taken the issue to elected officials in Sacramento.

And, the Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce is hosting a free emergency webinar tomorrow (Friday) for businesses to discuss legal challenges and next steps.

The event is sold out, but a recording will be available.

From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.

Last week thousands of government websites went offline as agencies moved to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting diversity. Military reporter Andrew Dyer says the Pentagon is also removing information on climate change.

Until recently w-w-w- dot climate dot mil was the home of the D-O-D climate resilience portal. It’s a landing page full of resources military leaders could use to plan for the impacts of climate change. The website had a public-facing side and one accessible only to those with a military I.D. Now, it’s gone. Katherine Yusko specializes in climate security at the American Security Project. "So climate security is just the idea that climate is not an isolated issue. It contributes to and compounds our existing security problems and should be dealt with as a security threat." The defense department didn’t respond to questions about when or why the climate resilience website was removed. Other climate change-related material, such as the pentagon’s climate adaptation plan, remain online. Andrew Dyer, KPBS News

It’s been a topsy turvy week for prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office following a Trump administration offer to federal workers to resign by Thursday. Public Matters reporter Amita Sharma has more.

The Trump Administration sent an email titled “fork in the road” to federal employees Jan. 28. It says the aim is to reform and streamline the workforce and offers everyone a chance to resign. The email also states workers will now be subject to quote “enhanced standards of suitability” and should be “reliable, loyal and trustworthy.” In response to that email, San Diego U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath sent KPBS a statement that read: “At every fork in the road, this office will choose the path of justice, no matter how challenging the terrain.” Former San Diego federal prosecutor Phil Halpern is in touch with some current local prosecutors. He says they view the Trump Administration’s resignation option with suspicion. “There were a lot of people who believed in the office that if you didn't play along, you’d be on a list to be fired.” It’s unclear just how many local federal prosecutors will take the offer. The administration promised to pay those who resign this week through September. But California’s Attorney General urged federal workers to heed union warnings that there’s no guarantee. Amita Sharma, KPBS News.

It's time for our next “Why It Matters” segment. Voice of San Diego editor and CEO Scott Lewis shares an update on La Jolla cityhood efforts.

La Jolla wants to leave the city of San Diego. And that effort just got one step closer. It all has to do with an agency with probably one of the most confusing names ever. The Local Agency Formation Commission or San Diego LAFCO.  La Jolla residents who want to leave the city of San Diego are going to LAFCO. Last week, they gave LAFCO 8,000 signatures. If they have enough, a fascinating negotiation will begin. Like a regular family, La Jollans and other San Diegans bought a lot of things together. With a divorce, La Jolla will have to pay a sort of alimony. That means paying for everything from police and firefighters to sewage pipes. And, just like in a divorce, it means paying for older costs, too—like pension payments that have racked up over time. Then that deal would go back to our confusing name agency, San Diego LAFCO. If that board approves of the deal they came up with, then there would be two votes. First just La Jolla residents would vote. If they approve, then there would be a vote of the entire city of San Diego, including La Jolla. That all will probably not happen until 2028 at the earliest. But with a new mayoral election, that could be a big year in San Diego politics. I’m Scott Lewis for Voice of San Diego and that’s why it matters. 

The San Diego City Council recently voted to increase parking meter rates to help close a budget deficit of more than a quarter billion dollars. And more changes could be on the horizon. Metro reporter Andrew Bowen says parking policy has long been a third rail in San Diego politics, but crumbling infrastructure and the ongoing threat of climate change are forcing the city to change course.

If you've swiped your credit card at a parking meter in San Diego lately, you may have gotten sticker shock. The hourly rate at most meters is now $2.50 — twice as much as it was a few weeks ago. “It's been years, if not decades, since we've done something like this.” Jordan More is a staffer with the Independent Budget Analyst's Office. It found even the city's new rate of $2.50 an hour is a steal compared to private lots and garages. San Diego has billions of dollars in unfunded infrastructure needs, and a structural deficit of more than a quarter billion dollars. More says subsidizing parking via discounted rates is getting harder to justify. “The city has large budget problems. There's only so many levers we can pull. So to the extent that there are levers the city can pull to solve these problems, we should pull them.” “The big problem with not charging enough for parking is that people tend to use it in ways that are pretty inefficient.” Henry Grabar is a staff writer for Slate Magazine and author of Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World. “One thing that happens when parking is underpriced is that it tends to fill up really quick. And so these spaces where there's a lot of demand for parking but it's not properly priced, generate thousands and thousands of miles of driving every year from people looking for parking spaces.” Grabar's book chronicles a notorious case study of how NOT to manage city parking meters. In 2008, Chicago was facing a budget crisis. So it signed a deal with a group of Wall Street investors. For $1.15 billion, those investors won the right to lease the city's parking meters for 75 years. The investors promptly jacked up the rates and made back their investment in no time. Today, parking meters in Chicago charge up to $7 an hour. “I think the worst part for Chicago is even if the investors recognized the market clearing price for these meters, the money that was raised is going right into the investors pockets rather than being funneled into improvements in the city of Chicago.” “Committee members, good afternoon and thank you for having us here today.” Privatizing street parking is nowhere on the agenda in San Diego. But a number of other parking reforms are. “And we're here to give you an update on the results of a parking demand management study that we recently concluded.” At a city council committee meeting last week, staffers shared an analysis of more than 16,000 public parking spaces in meter zones and at major attractions like Balboa Park. To increase the availability of parking, the city is considering a host of changes. Like, charging for parking on Sundays when private lots raise their rates because free street parking is so hard to find. It could also implement dynamic pricing. For example, meters around Petco Park could get more expensive during ball games. Jordan More of the city's Independent Budget Analyst's office says some meters could also get cheaper. “You might be able to lower parking rates at certain times to try to entice demand to come at different times. And so that's what dynamic pricing is all about, is trying to match up that supply and demand to create the optimal situation and utilization of the curbspace.” Of course, raising parking rates isn't exactly popular. But the revenue it generates can be spent on things that are popular, like planting trees, fixing sidewalks and improving public transit service. Things that also reduce greenhouse gas emissions. More says San Diego hasn't done much of that because parking meter revenue just hasn’t amounted to much. “If you can improve ways for people to get to an area without needing their car, that is a huge benefit to the amount of parking that you need to supply. Right? Fewer cars means fewer competition for spots, means that those spots can have a turnover faster, more readily available, those kinds of things.” As San Diego continues to grow, demand for parking will only get more intense. And the lines between commercial streets and residential streets are increasingly blurred. Many of the new apartments in the city don't come with an off-street parking space. But so far, all the reforms the city is contemplating are for short-term parking around businesses and attractions. Charging more residents for long-term street parking is not on the table. At least for now. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.

That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org.

Check out the Midday podcast this afternoon. They’re sharing the weekend arts preview. Plus, a conversation with Ira Glass.

I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Thursday.