Morning Report: The Food Waste Bins That Never Showed

By Voice of San Diego, the Voice of San Diego

August 29, 2022

As of the start of this year, the city of San Diego, like cities throughout California, was supposed to dramatically cut down on the amount of food waste that ends up in landfills by launching a new service that collects food waste from households. This would mean each of us would be setting out a food waste bin alongside our trash and recycling bins.

Have you been doing that? We haven’t either.

It turns out, the city is now hoping to roll out that service at the start of next year. Better late than never, especially when there’s no indication the state is upset over the blown deadline. If only our editors could be so forgiving.

Our MacKenzie Elmer checked back into the status with the city’s unlaunched food waste collection program in a new story. The city has bought new trucks and hired new truck drivers in anticipation of getting the new program up and running, but still has a few more months at least before it could start. The city of Chula Vista, for its part, has already launched its service, though the smaller city had a smaller lift.

Read more about San Diego’s food waste program here.

What Ever Happened To: Elmer’s story is the first in a new series we’re rolling out all week. We’re checking in on the stories that were front page news, but have since slipped out of the spotlight. Get ready for some throwbacks.

If that reminds you of a story you read about at Voice or anywhere else that you haven’t heard about in a while, reach out to us. Maybe all we need is a little nudge to dig back in and see what’s what. Send Andrew Keatts an email at andy@voiceofsandiego.org, and we’ll see what we can do. In the meantime, enjoy the stories we’ve got coming all week.

Over the Pod

This week on the VOSD Podcast, Scott Lewis, Andrew Keatts and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña discuss the political dynamics of San Diego’s energy companies — one company is offering a lower price and competitors are arguing that the rate is deceptive.

The crew also gets into statewide news about electrification. Keatts and Lopez-Villafaña (aka the Andys) share what they learned on a recent trolley ride with the state’s head of transportation, Toks Omishakin.

Listen to the episode here.

The Latest 101 Ash Legal News

A Superior Court judge on Friday denied an attempt to halt the city’s plan to sell bonds to help fund a buyout of its 101 Ash St. lease that followed a settlement with the city’s former landlord and lenders.

The Union-Tribune notes that while Judge Joel Wohlfeil decided against granting an injunction requested by attorneys representing taxpayer John Gordon, he also wrote in a tentative ruling that “there is a reasonable probability” will prevail in its lawsuit raising constitutional issues.

Former city attorney Mike Aguirre, one of Gordon’s lawyers, cheered the acknowledgement while a spokeswoman for the City Attorney’s Office declined to comment.

The Gordon suit will face another test next month. Lenders behind the Ash deal have asked Wohlfeil to rule on the merits of the case on Sept. 22.

Need a refresher on the Gordon case and the tangle of other legal cases surrounding the city’s 101 Ash debacle? Check out this guide.

In Other News

• The Union-Tribune reports that a San Diego State athletic director reached out to a well-known sexual assault survivor, turned activist and public speaker, to talk to the football team, more than two weeks after officials learned that San Diego police were investigating an alleged sexual assault involving several football players.
• Related: The Buffalo Bills cut punter Matt Araiza from the team two days after a civil lawsuit was filed alleging that Araiza and two former teammates from SDSU gang-raped a 17-year-old girl. (KPBS)
• Fox 5 reports that San Diego’s sidewalk vending ordinance will now also include beach areas.
• And say goodbye to beach bonfires … at least the ones outside city designated rings. City officials are moving forward with a ban that has some people fired up. (Union-Tribune)
• More beagles will be up for adoption soon. (KPBS)

The Morning Report was written by Andrew Keatts, Lisa Halverstadt and 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/.