EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

December 19, 2023 (San Diego’s East County) -- East County Roundup highlights top stories of interest to East County and San Diego's inland regions, published in other media.  This week's round-up stories include:

LOCAL

• County school districts graded on bond spending (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Family Reunification Pilot Program launches in East County (CBS 8)
• Migrant advocates say county-funded center is mismanaged and lacks transparency (KPBS)
• Migrants falling from border wall with traumatic injuries spikes (10 News)
• Not your grandma's granny flat: How San Diego hacked state housing law to build ADU 'apartment buildings' (KPBS)
• At odds over where low-income homes must be built, City Council rejects sweeping package of housing incentives (San Diego Union-Tribune)
•  Fake badges sold by a San Diego County tribal police chief gave ‘VIPs’ cop privileges  (MSN)
• Urgent Care doctors sound the alarm over Imperial Beach water quality  (CBS 8)
• White gold’ could revolutionize Imperial Valley. Will locals be included?  (KPBS)
• El Cajon mayor calls on SANDAG to probe South Bay expressway tolls  (KPBS)
• SANDAG's online mapping tool aimed at improving street safety receives hundreds of submissions (CBS 8)
• Mayor Todd Gloria signs use of smart streetlights, license plate readers into law  (KPBS)
• Eric Kutsenda accepts role as Padres’ new chairman, interim control person ‘with a heavy heart’(San Diego Union-Tribune)
• After cyberattack, Tri-City Medical Center documents reportedly found on dark web (KPBS)

STATE

• Potentially Fatal Mystery Illness Is Sickening CA Dogs (Patch)
• California’s budget deficit swells to record $68B as tax revenue falls (Politico)
• As hospitals close labor wards, large stretches of California are without maternity care (KPBS)
• The Colorado River’s biggest user will conserve some water in exchange for federal dollars (KPBS)
• The Future of the Colorado River Hinges on One Young Negotiator (ProPublica)
• Utility regulators to defend new California solar rules in court this week  (KPBS)

For excerpts and links to full stories,  click “read more” and scroll down.

LOCAL

County school districts graded on bond spending (San Diego Union-Tribune)

All but 5 of 26 got B grade or better for transparency from taxpayers group... Every year the association grades K-12 school and community college districts on how transparent they are about their bond programs, which are voter-approved and often involve hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for school facilities...Mountain Empire Unified and Borrego Springs Unified, both rural districts with relatively small enrollment, got F grades. Sweetwater Union High, the county’s second-largest district, and Lemon Grove both received D grades.

Family Reunification Pilot Program launches in East County (CBS 8)

The Family Reunification Pilot Program is focused on serving people experiencing homelessness in East County unincorporated communities and El Cajon, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, and Santee....  Whether it's in North County or anywhere in the United States, this new program will reunite them. The families must first be willing to take them in before they get sent away. Those who are part of the program may also receive services like housing navigation, case management and supportive services. … The program is open to anyone experiencing homelessness in East County. Referrals to participate in the program can be sent to HSEC-OHS.HHSA@sdcounty.ca.gov.

Migrant advocates say county-funded center is mismanaged and lacks transparency (KPBS)

Every night for at least a week more than 100 asylum seekers and other migrants have been sleeping in the baggage claim areas of the San Diego International Airport, according to volunteers helping the migrants. Some were stranded at the airport for as long as 36 hours before their flight departed, the advocates said. Others showed up without tickets and nowhere else to go. This was not supposed to be the reality after San Diego County last month gave $3 million in taxpayer dollars to the nonprofit SBCS to establish the Migrant Welcome Center to help this specific migrant population.

Migrants falling from border wall with traumatic injuries spikes (10 News)

UC San Diego Health reports seeing seven times as many injuries related to falls since the new barrier was constructed four years ago.  It stands up to 30 feet tall and it's supposed to stop people from crossing into the United States. It's not slowing the mass migration we've seen unfold in San Diego.

Not your grandma's granny flat: How San Diego hacked state housing law to build ADU 'apartment buildings' (KPBS)

The city’s one-of-a-kind ordinance offers landlords a one-for-one deal. If they agree to construct an ADU and keep the rent low enough for San Diegans making under a certain income, they’re automatically permitted to build a second “bonus” unit, which they can rent at whatever price they like…. In parts of the city far from public transit, the 2021 city program offers a one-off: Alongside the main house and the two ADUs already permitted under state law, the city allows for a maximum of five units on one property.  But in bus-and train-adjacent “transit priority” areas — a designation that covers much of San Diego’s urban core — a landlord can alternate affordable and bonus units again and again and again.

At odds over where low-income homes must be built, City Council rejects sweeping package of housing incentives (San Diego Union-Tribune)

The San Diego City Council rejected a wide-ranging package of housing incentives Monday based on concerns about concentrating more poverty in San Diego’s low-income areas and over-complicating city regulations.

 Fake badges sold by a San Diego County tribal police chief gave ‘VIPs’ cop privileges  (MSN)

Two LA men pleaded guilty for their involvement in the scheme, revealing new details about the money-making plot by former chief of Manzanita Tribal Police Department, which had no real authority

Urgent Care doctors sound the alarm over Imperial Beach water quality  (CBS 8)

Doctors say more people, even those who have not gone into the ocean, are now getting sick.

White gold’ could revolutionize Imperial Valley. Will locals be included?  (KPBS)

The massive, untapped repository in Imperial Valley – worth $500 billion by some estimates – could help make the United States a new – and key – player in the industry worldwide.

El Cajon mayor calls on SANDAG to probe South Bay expressway tolls  (KPBS)

El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells Tuesdy called on the San Diego Association of Governments to conduct an independent investigation into the South Bay Expressway possibly incorrectly charging tens of thousands of motorists.  That figure is quoted in a lawsuit filed Friday by Lauren Warrem, the former director of accounting at SANDAG who was fired Nov. 7. Her lawsuit alleges retaliation and wrongful termination and also that SANDAG charged the wrong accounts on the 10-mile stretch of State Route 125, which serves as a toll road.

SANDAG's online mapping tool aimed at improving street safety receives hundreds of submissions (CBS 8)

San Diego County residents can use the tool to identify high-risk locations, including intersections, bike lanes and pedestrian walkways. 

Mayor Todd Gloria signs use of smart streetlights, license plate readers into law  (KPBS)

On Nov. 14, the City Council approved the public safety technologies, and with the mayor's signature on Wednesday, the San Diego Police Department will enter into a five-year agreement with Ubicquia Inc. for 500 Smart Streetlight cameras, paired with Flock Safety's ALPR technology.

Eric Kutsenda accepts role as Padres’ new chairman, interim control person ‘with a heavy heart’(San Diego Union-Tribune)

New Padres Chairman Eric Kutsenda: ‘Our north star remains the same: to win a World Series Championship for the city of San Diego’

After cyberattack, Tri-City Medical Center documents reportedly found on dark web (KPBS)

While the hospital is back to running at full operations, there are worries about whether a ransomware group has posted stolen data to the nefarious corner of the web.

STATE

Potentially Fatal Mystery Illness Is Sickening CA Dogs (Patch)

Dogs in California are at risk of a mysterious and potentially fatal respiratory illness that has sickened dogs in a dozen states.

California’s budget deficit swells to record $68B as tax revenue falls (Politico)

The shortfall threatens to force the state’s deepest spending cuts in a decade.

As hospitals close labor wards, large stretches of California are without maternity care (KPBS)

At least 46 California hospitals have shut down or indefinitely suspended labor and delivery since 2012….

The Colorado River’s biggest user will conserve some water in exchange for federal dollars (KPBS)

The Imperial Irrigation District in California, which uses more Colorado River water than any other farm district or city in the West, has agreed to conserve 100,000 acre-feet in 2023 in exchange for payments from the federal government. It's less than half the amount of water the district originally proposed saving last spring.

The Future of the Colorado River Hinges on One Young Negotiator (ProPublica)

[27 year old] Hamby’s ascent was swift. In a three-year span, he rose from a recent Stanford University graduate, with a resume that touted little beyond a history degree and internships with Uber and a senator, to vice president of the Imperial Irrigation District board and chair of the Colorado River Board of California. The former post gave him sway over the single largest user of Colorado River water, and the latter made him California’s interstate negotiator for issues affecting the river basin.

Utility regulators to defend new California solar rules in court this week  (KPBS)

A California appeals court will hear a challenge of the state’s new solar rules this week. Three environmental groups, the San Diego-based Protect Our Communities Foundation, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Environmental Working Group asked the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco to force California regulators to reconsider new rules for rooftop solar.