Look familiar? We pulled this post from the Morning Report. Subscribe to our daily newsletter to stay up to date on the latest news. Click here. Many of the programs former city councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe championed as a member of the San Diego City Council are on the chopping block in the mayor’s proposed budget — and she has something to say about it.  “I cannot remain silent in the face of a budget proposal that fails to adequately reflect a commitment to equity and fairness for all residents,” Montgomery Steppe, now a county supervisor, wrote in a letter to Mayor Tod ..read more

Look familiar? We pulled this post from the Morning Report. Subscribe to our daily newsletter to stay up to date on the latest news. Click here. The San Diego City Council had a lengthy closed-door discussion Monday on Mayor Todd Gloria’s mega shelter proposal and ended its meeting without any public announcements. As our Lisa Halverstadt previously reported, the City Council scheduled the closed session to discuss the costs and terms of Gloria’s plan to lease a Middletown warehouse and make it a 1,000-bed homeless shelter amid questions about the initial pitch. That discussion went so l ..read more

Many of the programs former city councilwoman Monica Montgomery Steppe championed as a member of the San Diego City Council are on the chopping block in the mayor’s proposed budget — and she has something to say about it.  “I cannot remain silent in the face of a budget proposal that fails to adequately reflect a commitment to equity and fairness for all residents,” Montgomery Steppe, now a county supervisor, wrote in a letter to Mayor Todd Gloria on Monday.  She identified four programs and two other funds she wants the mayor to preserve. The programs include: No Shots Fired, a gun ..read more

Cities along the U.S.-Mexico border are different from those in the countries’ interior. San Diego economist James Gerber looks at the reasons why in his new book, “Border Economies: Cities Bridging the U.S.-Mexico Divide.” It’s a broad analysis of a region that extends nearly 2,000 miles – from San Diego-Tijuana to Brownsville-Matamoros – an area with a population of more than 15.5 million people, the great majority of them living in urban areas.  Migration and drug trafficking have put an international spotlight on the U.S.-Mexico border. But those of us who live and work here know the ..read more

Look familiar? We pulled this from the Politics Report, a Voice of San Diego member exclusive newsletter. Become a member and subscribe to the newsletter here. I’ve had several people ask me about the city’s Historical Resources Board and staff review of whether the Pechanga Arena is historically significant. So I was glad the Union-Tribune explained it well. In short, Midway Rising, which plans to redevelop all the nearly 50 acres under and around the arena, has to study the historic impact of their plans just like they must evaluate the environmental impact. They did tha ..read more

Look familiar? We pulled this from the Politics Report, a Voice of San Diego member exclusive newsletter. Become a member and subscribe to the newsletter here. The ongoing war between public power proponents and San Diego Gas & Electric looked more like a battle between the municipalization advocates and union labor Thursday. Each team’s respective poster-bearing players – with signs that read either “fire SG&E” or “municipalization is union busting” — took turns encumbering the live feed webcast of the City Council Rules Committee’s public comment period. But almost no one from ..read more

Look familiar? We pulled this from the Politics Report, a Voice of San Diego member exclusive newsletter. Become a member and subscribe to the newsletter here. Labor leaders have taken a major interest in the drawn-out choice of the county of San Diego’s new chief administration officer and many of them were furious Friday when news leaked that supervisors had decided not to advance the candidacy of Cindy Chavez, a supervisor on the board of Santa Clara County and the former leader of the South Bay Labor Council. Background: The County offered Chavez the job more than a year ago, on March 29 ..read more

Last week, editor Scott Lewis reported that the search for San Diego County’s next manager was getting political. And now, there’s more. Labor leaders had made it clear that their top candidate for the chief administrative officer job was Cindy Chavez, a supervisor on the board of Santa Clara County and the former leader of the South Bay Labor Council. Remember: On March 29, 2023, the County offered Chavez the job. But that was the same day that then-County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher announced he was leaving the board amid accusations that he sexually assaulted an MTS employee. He has said th ..read more

Two weeks ago, I watched as a group of residents I met with vibrated with energy. “They can’t figure it out,” someone said. The others nodded in agreement. “San Diego is facing a deficit. This could bring millions,” another person added. We met at a park in Spring Valley to talk about cannabis equity. The group was frustrated with the city of San Diego’s failure to get a program off the ground that would help people charged with crimes related to cannabis enter the legal weed market. Everyone I met that day fit that description. They knew first-hand what it was like to lose fathers, brothers ..read more

Labor leaders have taken a major interest in the drawn-out choice of the county of San Diego’s new chief administration officer and many of them were furious Friday when news leaked that supervisors had decided not to advance the candidacy of Cindy Chavez, a supervisor on the board of Santa Clara County and the former leader of the South Bay Labor Council. Background: The County offered Chavez the job more than a year ago, on March 29, 2023 – the same day then-County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher announced he would resign from the Board of Supervisors. An MTS employee accused Fletcher, who was c ..read more