"So what we have here is a helicopter that is buildling a fire hazard, and if a fire breaks out, it will respond in two to four hours--and taxpayers will be charged $7,500 an hour." -- Steve Whitburn, candidate, 4th Supervisorial district

June 16, 2010 (San Diego) – By a 5-0 vote, San Diego’s Board of Supervisors voted to allow Sunbird, a San Diego Gas & Electric Company helicopter intended to construct Sunrise Powerlink, to also be utilized for firefighting. View video of hearing.

 
Democratic candidate, 4th Supervisorial District
Stephen Whitburn ran for City Council in 2008, receiving 45% of the vote. Now he’s set his sights on winning Ron Roberts’ seat on the County Board of Supervisors.
“My background is in journalism,” the award-winning reporter says. “I covered government for many years and I know how to ask the tough questions and get to the heart of the matter, and tell people what’s going on. Our Republican Supervisors have done a poor job of telling people what’s going on.”

Democratic candidate, 4th Supervisorial District
April 14, 2010 (San Diego) -- “I think the County needs a leader to represent all of the families inside the Fourth Supervisorial District,” says Shelia Jackson, president of the San Diego Unified School District. “Ron Roberts hasn’t reached all the families,” she concludes. “The Supervisors are out of touch.”
San Diego has a 16.6% poverty rate, the highest since 2000, Jackson observes.

By Miriam Raftery
 
July 13, 2009 (San Diego) – San Diego County employees today held a press conference at the San Diego County Administration Center to announce a ballot initiative that would impose term limits for the San Diego County’s Board of Supervisors. Margaret Johnson, a long-term County employee, filed an initiative with the San Diego Registrar of Voters that if approved by voters, would limit Supervisors to two four-year terms.

""There is no evidence that the shut-off plan will prevent fires. But...in a matter of hours, we will be left without electricity and our customers will be left without water...SDG&E will create actual emergencies," - Jennifer Healy, Padre Dam Municipal Water District

By Miriam Raftery

ECU Intern Kyle Sezian also contributed to this story

June 23, 2009 (San Diego)—“The risks to life and property are higher with the power shut off than without it,” Supervisor Dianne Jacob said at a hearing today on whether or not SDG&E should be allowed to shut off power to up to 60,000 area residents during dry, windy, fire-prone conditions. By a 4-0 vote, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors passed a motion asking the California Public Utilities Commission to reject SDG&E’s proposal.

SDG&E claims shutting off power during hot, dry, windy days is necessary to prevent firestorms. The utility faces litigation and has admitted in CPUC documents that its lines have been implicated in 167 fires over the past five and a half years.