Morning Report: Mayors Say Out With The New, In With The Old Water Quality Test

By Voice of San Diego, the Voice of San Diego

July 29, 2022

The mayors of South Bay wanted a better, faster way to open and close beaches when sewage from Tijuana spilled along the coastline.

They got it. Now they don’t want it.

In a letter addressed to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, Mayors Richard Bailey of Coronado and Serge Dedina of Imperial Beach urged the county to return to the method that takes longer to return results but doesn’t trigger beach closures as often.

Bailey doesn’t want Coronado to be the guinea pig for a brand new science or brand new county beach closure policies which, for that matter, have confused beachgoers on whether it’s actually safe to enter the water or not.

But Dedina is more frustrated with the county’s abrupt rollout of a new testing program, which he says kept stakeholders like himself out of the loop. He’s particularly mad at Supervisor Nora Vargas, who he feels is punishing the city for the mayor’s criticism of the county’s rollout of another public health program during COVID-19.

Vargas, in response, basically told the mayors: If you don’t like it, complain to the state.

Meanwhile, beachgoers are still stutter-stepping around South Bay shorelines.

Click here to read more about what the mayors want.

Escondido Voters Will Decide on Sales Tax Measure This November

The Escondido City Council voted to send a proposed sales tax measure to the November 2022 ballot two years after rejecting a similar measure in 2020.

A recent poll commissioned by the city indicated wide support for the measure, which could generate $21 million annually.

The city’s budget deficit has steadily increased over the past decade, resulting in significant cuts to city services and public safety resources. City leaders and residents are hoping the new revenue from the measure will close the budget gap.

If approved by voters, the measure would implement a 3/4 sales tax increase for the next 15 years.

Read more about the ballot measure that Escondido voters will see this November.

San Diego Scores Big Bucks for Books

San Diego’s Oak Park Public Library got a whopping $20 million to support construction of a new Oak Park Public Library after years of community advocacy for the project.

It’s one of the smallest of the city’s 36 branches in an area of town that advocates say often feels left out when it comes to public funding.

San Diego State Assemblywoman Akilah Weber grew up just blocks from the current library’s location and made the trip back to her neighborhood for the announcement.

The library is getting the largest single portion of funding that the state allocated for San Diego. The budget includes $68.5 million for the city to support libraries, parks, cultural projects and more.

Read more about the city’s plan for the library.

In Other News

• The city of San Diego’s new chief operating officer will be Eric Dargan, city officials announced Thursday. Dargan comes from the city of Houston where he led the public works department. (Union-Tribune)
• KPBS reports that UC San Diego students are fighting to have a say in a heated zoning debate in the neighborhood of University City.
• Chula Vista is hosting a series of community meetings to help draft a policy for its surveillance technology. (NBC 7)
• There’s a higher chance than normal that lightning may strike across San Diego’s coastline over the weekend, which increases the risk for wildfire. (Union-Tribune)

The Morning Report was written by 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/.