EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

June 25, 2015 (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 top “Roundup” headlines include:

LOCAL 

• A more representative county democracy? (U-T) 
• Planners’ Density Dreams Are About to Come True on El Cajon Boulevard (Voice of San Diego) 
• Fact Check: Where San Diego’s Poorest Live (Voice of SD) 
• 3 water districts, 154 customers (UT San Diego) 
• San Diego: The Eighth Largest City — But Still Mostly a Suburb (Voice of SD) 
• FAA eyes changes to flight paths around SD airports (U-T) 
• Nearly 40K SD homeowners 'underwater'
• There’s Still Not Much Transparency Surrounding Those Transparency-Boosting Body Cameras (Voice of SD)  
• Mission Valley Needs More of What It Doesn’t Have, No More of What it Does (Voice of SD) 
• San Diego County Supervisors OK $5.4 Billion Budget (KPBS) 
• Krav Maga Another Non-Lethal Tool For San Diego County Law Enforcement (KPBS) 
• San Diego County's Taxable Property Is Valued At $439B (City News Service) 
• Renters pay up as homeownership drops (UT San Diego) 
• Entrepreneurs founded 446 San Diego startups last year (UT San Diego) 

STATE

• Debate over California’s renewable energy expansion goes through the roof (Sacramento Bee)
• Report calls for CPUC reforms (UT San Diego) 
• The secret life of Michael Peevey (SF Guardian) 
• Reverse "rape of the ratepayer" (SD Reader) 
• CPUC reform brings fairness, transparency (UT San Diego)
• Dispute flares over city charges on utility bills (U-T)
• Audit says state bar too lax on bad lawyers (U-T)

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

LOCAL

A more representative county democracy? (U-T)

Would more supervisors, smaller districts mean better government? 

Planners’ Density Dreams Are About to Come True on El Cajon Boulevard (Voice of San Diego)

El Cajon Boulevard is about to become a test case for San Diego’s vision of a neighborhood packed with dense, affordable urban housing.The question is whether public funds and community plans will keep up with the boulevard’s development boom.

Fact Check: Where San Diego’s Poorest Live (Voice of SD)

El Cajon has a high population of low-income, unemployed and homeless residents and San Diego County’s highest poverty rate. 

3 water districts, 154 customers (UT San Diego)

A look at three of San Diego Count's tiniest water providers

San Diego: The Eighth Largest City — But Still Mostly a Suburb (Voice of SD)

Just three of the country’s 10 largest cities were predominantly suburban 

FAA eyes changes to flight paths around SD airports (U-T)

Federal aviation officials want to tweak flight paths around San Diego County and other Southern California airports to reduce air traffic congestion and carbon emissions — a move that sparked noise complaints when rolled out elsewhere. 

Nearly 40K SD homeowners 'underwater'

8.6 percent of local property owners owe more on their homes than they’re worth

There’s Still Not Much Transparency Surrounding Those Transparency-Boosting Body Cameras (Voice of SD)

…Unfortunately, neither the San Diego Police Department nor civil liberties experts can offer much clarity yet on how average folks might practically benefit when they’re the ones captured on body camera footage. 

Mission Valley Needs More of What It Doesn’t Have, No More of What it Does (Voice of SD)

Donna Frye -- Instead of creating one more boring development project typical of Mission Valley, we could recognize the potential that now exists and do something really great for the public by creating a massive river park that everyone could enjoy.

San Diego County Supervisors OK $5.4 Billion Budget (KPBS)

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the $5.4 billion budget for fiscal 2016. It increases spending by 6.1 percent over this fiscal year, with more money allocated for public safety, libraries, parks and other departments.

Krav Maga Another Non-Lethal Tool For San Diego County Law Enforcement (KPBS)

Some San Diego County law enforcement officers are training in a technique that could be an extra tool when situations escalate. 

San Diego County's Taxable Property Is Valued At $439B (City News Service)

Assessor Ernest Dronenburg Jr. said the tax roll includes nearly 987,000 parcels of land, 59,800 businesses, more than 13,000 boats and nearly 1,800 aircraft. 

Renters pay up as homeownership drops (UT San Diego)

A study released Wednesday by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies says the rate of homeownership in San Diego County fell to 53 percent in 2013, continuing a decline that started before the Great Recession. San Diego’s home ownership rate trails the national average of 64.5 percent, which fell for the eighth straight year. 

Entrepreneurs founded 446 San Diego startups last year (UT San Diego)

Connect Innovation Report shows software sets pace for new local companies. 

STATE

Debate over California’s renewable energy expansion goes through the roof (Sacramento Bee)

State could get half of its energy from renewable sources in the future. Policy would provide a boost to energy companies seeking to grow. Solar rooftop industry fears it will be left out.

Report calls for CPUC reforms (UT San Diego)

Study says utilities commission is not serving the public.

The secret life of Michael Peevey (SF Guardian)

California's top energy regulator rolls with power company executives behind the scenes.

Reverse "rape of the ratepayer" (SD Reader)

In a strongly worded statement, San Francisco–based consumer group TURN (The Utility Reform Network) asked the California Public Utilities Commission to set aside its decision to stick ratepayers with an almost $3.3 billion bill for the shutting down of the San Onofre nuclear power plant.  

CPUC reform brings fairness, transparency (UT San Diego)

Imagine if the state of California decided to change how gasoline was priced to a system where consumers are charged varying prices per gallon of gasoline based on how much they drove…It is hard to believe, but California currently has a similar structure for how electricity is priced as a result of a law enacted 14 years ago.

Dispute flares over city charges on utility bills (U-T)

Lawsuits challenge city surcharges on utility bills as "illegal tax." 

Audit says state bar too lax on bad lawyers (U-T)

The State Bar of California, the agency charged with regulating the nearly 250,000 licensed lawyers in the state, let scores of attorneys off with easier punishments than they should have received in an effort to reduce a swollen backlog of cases, a new audit concluded. The scathing report from State Auditor Elaine Howell said the bar put the public at risk and forfeited its responsibility to protect consumers from bad lawyers in a rush to eliminate thousands of pending cases of misconduct.