Why Encinitas is fighting state housing law

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Friday, April 4th >>>>

Encinitas is pushing back against state housing lawsMore on that next. But first... the headlines….

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San Diego County residents have one week left to pay the second installment of their property taxes.

To avoid a 10-percent penalty and 10 dollar fee, property owners need to pay their taxes before the April 10th deadline.

According to the county, property tax payments are expected to generate a record 9 point 1 billion dollars.

Residents can pay online, in person or by mail. For more information go to S-D-T-T-C dot com.

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UC San Diego is bracing for massive budget cuts. That’s according to reporting from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said in a statement the university could be forced to slash as much as 12.5 percent of its 9 billion dollar budget.

To cope, the university has shelved two major construction projects and Khosla said lay-offs could be coming.

The financial crisis stems from multiple things, including the loss of some N-I-H funding for research, state budget cuts and potential Medicaid reimbursement reductions.

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For the second year in a row, San Diego Chef Tara Monsod is a finalist for a coveted James Beard Foundation award.

She’s up against four others in the Best Chef: California category.

Monsod is the executive chef at Animae, an Asian fusion steakhouse in downtown and at Le Coq, a contemporary French steakhouse set to open in La Jolla later this year.

The James Beard Foundation awards are considered the pinnacle of culinary achievement.

The winners will be announced June 16th in Chicago.

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

In an effort to manage the affordable housing crisis, California law requires cities to plan for more housing or face consequences.

But one North County city is planning to push back.

KPBS North County reporter Tania Thorne joins me now to tell us more.

TANIA: Thanks for having me Debbie.)

So what is going on with this law and how is it affecting encinitas?

These laws are something all CA cities have had to follow but recently the city of Encinitas was forced to pass a large development that they truly didn’t support. The Quail Meadows Project is a 448 unit development which includes 90 affordable units. That development is proposed to go on Quail Gardens Drive, but there's been a lot of community pushback because this 2 way lane is already getting new developments on both ends of it. You drive down it and you will find construction crews working away. Residents were already worried about traffic, safety, and fire evacuations but due to state housing laws, city council was forced to pass this additional 448 unit development.

DEBBIE: What do you mean by they were forced?

TANIA: CA laws require all cities to have a housing element. This plan outlines how the city will provide enough housing for all of its residents, including low income residents, middle income and high income. The plan often shows developments already in the works, potential sites for development, and projects that are on the way. Cities either have a compliant housing element or don't-

DEBBIE: What happens if they don’t?

They could face violations, fines, and even litigation from developers as well as CA’s attorney general-. -Encinitas got a letter from the state -department of housing and community development -warning of these things if they were to deny the Quail Meadows Project. The city would lose its compliant housing element, face fines and lawsuits and also trigger something else. Builders remedy. By having a non compliant housing element, developers are allowed to bypass zoning rules and restrictions in order for the city to meet its housing goals. Here’s a clip of Mayor Bruce Ehlers when they approved the project:

We are approving this project under duress, and only because the credible threats made by HCD and the state leave us no choice.

TANIA: HCD is the state’s department of housing and community development… they oversee city housing plans.

DEBBIE: Tania you mentioned Encinitas wanting to fight back against the state's housing laws. How will they be doing that?

REPORTER: Well Encinitas isn’t the only city with these plans in mind but what we’ve seen in the past are cities taking on the state often alone. What Mayor Ehlers plans on doing is joining other cities and coalitions to stand together and fight the state for local land use control. He says many Northern CA cities are already doing this and have created coalitions and groups and he wants to talk to nearby San Diego cities to join forces. He also hopes the community will speak up and get the attention of their elected officials. Here is a clip from an interview I had this week with Mayor Ehlers. We actually met off Quail Gardens Drive where all this construction is already happening for the other approved developments.

Senators and Assembly people count votes. And when they start seeing the number of people fed up, and it's exactly this kind of project that and the other projects coming, it's exactly these projects that will get the voters motivated and talking to their assembly members and senators saying, stop it.

TANIA: It looks like Encinitas could be the force, that pushes San Diego cities to challenge the state’s housing laws.

DEBBIE: We will stay tuned. Thank you for that report.

TANIA: Thanks for having me

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As new tariffs go into effect, Congressman Mike Levin says he’s worried about working families.

Reporter Katie Anastas says he visited Feeding San Diego yesterday (Thursday), which stands to lose more than 1 million dollars in USDA funding.

Levin toured Feeding San Diego’s warehouse, where volunteers and staff organize fresh produce and canned goods.

He says the tariffs will hurt families already struggling with the high cost of living. He’s also worried about potential cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Families get good nutritious food through that program. And we need that program to thrive.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has already cut two programs that provided more than $1 billion to schools and food banks. About half of that funding was for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, which allowed states to buy food from local farmers.

Bob Kamensky is Feeding San Diego’s CEO.

We work with 24 farms, one as small as four acres, others up to 300 acres.

As costs for imported goods go up, he says, demand for food assistance could grow.

Those neighbors in our communities are going to have to look for an alternate source to help cover that hunger gap they're experiencing.

He says that means Feeding San Diego will rely more heavily on private donors in order to meet the demand for help. Katie Anastas, KPBS News.

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The special election for San Diego County’s District 1 supervisor is getting a lot of attention from outside political groups.

South Bay reporter Kori Suzuki says they’ve already spent more than two million dollars on the race.

If you live in the South Bay, you might be getting a lot of campaign mailers or texts about the special election for county supervisor.

That’s because outside groups are putting a bunch of money into the race – for and against the candidates. These groups have already spent millions of dollars on text blasts, canvassers, pamphlets and digital ads. That’s according to an analysis by Edgewater Strategies, a local political consulting firm. 

These supervisor races over the years have gotten pretty expensive.

Mason Herron is a partner at Edgewater. He says this election will determine whether the board of supervisors leans left or right. 

Because this race is seen as potentially deciding whether or not it's a 3-2 Republican majority or a 3-2 Democrat majority, you're seeing a relatively high amount of spending in this one.

The outcome will influence how the board votes on major issues like immigration, homelessness and the cross-border sewage crisis.

So far, most of the outside spending has focused on the top two Democratic candidates: Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre and San Diego City Councilmember Vivian Moreno. AND the top Republican candidate, Chula Vista Mayor John McCann. 

The last day to cast your ballot is Tuesday, April 8th.

Kori Suzuki, KPBS News.

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The San Diego Botanic Garden has increased their collection of curative plants four-fold, after creating the Medicinal Plants Initiative. Sci-tech reporter Thomas Fudge has more on the effort to create better plant-based medicines.

This greenhouse at the San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas has specimens of artemisia, ephedra and yerba santa. Ben Naman is the director of medicinal plants research at the botanic garden. He says in the three years since the initiative was begun, their medicinal plant collection has gone from less than 600 to more than 23 hundred. He says the initiative is a partnership between plants, scholarship, and the pharmaceutical industry.

“Here in San Diego county we would have everything needed to go from a medicinal plant that’s out in the environment, study them for chemistry, biology, their genetics, then actually translate those through the pharmaceutical pipeline into botanical drug products or Western medicines.”

One partner in the initiative is the Salk Institute. Their genetic research into plants seeks to identify the gene pathways that create a plant's curative chemicals. Thomas Fudge, KPBS News.

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The city of San Diego is renaming a block in North Park, “Lucky Lane.”

Reporter Katie Hyson says it’s to honor the man who served their community for 50 years.

“Lucky” Wong opened Lucky’s Golden Phenix Restaurant in North Park in 1975.

For half a century, he cracked eggs and jokes there.

He gave Christmas gifts to customers. Remembered their orders by heart. Cooked and served them himself.

Lucky’s daughter, June.

He's an example of how one person can impact many. And I think anyone can do that.

North Park changed. But Lucky and his prices never did.

A full breakfast plate for under ten bucks. 

One customer called it “a place for the crustiest of punks and the bluest of collars.”

After a rough night, it was the place that they could afford, sit and be made to feel at home.

That’s Matt Lyons. He owns Tribute Pizza across the street. And created the petition to rename this block of Grim Avenue “Lucky Lane.”

Within weeks, more than 4,000 people signed.

Lucky died in December at 90, in the same place he lived. His restaurant.

Lyons said Lucky had tried to sell it to him. To keep it going.

I told him that I didn't think that his legacy was that counter or that that old Coke machine. His legacy was him.

Lyons is raising money for the cost of changing the sign.

Any extra will become seed money for the Lucky Wong Memorial Scholarship for underprivileged culinary students in San Diego.

Katie Hyson, KPBS News

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That’s it for the podcast today. This week’s podcast was produced by Andrew Dyer and Brenden Tuccinardi. The podcast is edited by Brooke Ruth. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.