Morning Report: Council President, City Attorney Clash On Tenant Protections

By Voice of San Diego, the Voice of San Diego

September 27, 2022

This Friday, the city’s controversial no-fault eviction moratorium protecting tenants current on their rent from being booted from their homes will expire and advocates fear what could come next.

City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera is among those worried that a wave of eviction notices could be coming at a time of soaring rents and economic uncertainty, but he hasn’t been able to get a new tenant protection proposal off the ground yet.

Voice’s Lisa Halverstadt asked for a status update and learned that proposed regulatory changes that Elo-Rivera sent to City Attorney Mara Elliott’s office this spring remain under legal review.

Elo-Rivera said the process is held up in Elliott’s office while the City Attorney’s Office says it’s waiting on the council president’s office to respond to concerns it laid out in writing earlier this month.

Elo-Rivera didn’t specify what he’s proposing but stressed that any new proposals – including potential permanent no-fault eviction protections he’s interested in – would require City Council consensus. That isn’t a certainty.

The bottom line: New city tenant protection proposals are unlikely to materialize very soon.

Get the full rundown here.

Environment Report: Why Our Drought Isn’t Going Anywhere This Winter

San Diego’s rainy season probably won’t be that rainy, unwelcome news for the remainder of the southwest that’s already bone dry from consecutive years of persistent drought.

A science lesson from Voice of San Diego’s MacKenzie Elmer on why: a climate phenomenon known as ENSO, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, is favoring its dry-humored sister called La Niña.

The two are born in the humid subtropics, and when one is visiting the western coast of North and South America, its sibling is visiting Southeast Asia and Australia.

Click here to read about how it works.

In Other News

• A proposed mileage fee for San Diego drivers was officially taken out of SANDAG’s $160 billion regional transportation plan after it was voted out at Friday’s SANDAG board meeting. The controversial road user charge would have charged drivers four cents for every mile driven. (CBS 8)
• County leaders will introduce a policy at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting declaring homelessness a public health crisis in San Diego County. Supervisors Nora Vargas and Nathan Fletcher are introducing the policy in hopes of gaining more access to resources and to providing new incentives for cities and communities to further collaborate on solving homelessness. (CBS 8)
• San Diego County has settled a lawsuit over an in-custody death for $1.35 million. The county was sued by the family of a Mexican citizen who died after Sheriff’s deputies arrested him in 2018. The family alleged that authorities used excessive force during the arrest, which led to his death the following day. (Union-Tribune)
• Encinitas is exploring an ordinance that would ban smoking anywhere except on private property. The proposal would expand the city’s current ban on smoking in public places to include sidewalks and roadways. (Union-Tribune)

The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt, MacKenzie Elmer and Tigist Layne. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.

Voice of San Diego is a nonprofit news organization supported by our members. We reveal why things are the way they are and expose facts that people in power might not want out there and explain complex local public policy issues so you can be engaged and make good decisions. Sign up for our newsletters at voiceofsandiego.org/newsletters/.