When beach closures hit San Diego beaches in early May, it sparked backlash from elected officials worried about losing beach access ahead of the Fourth of July.
The closures were prompted by new, more sensitive water quality testing technology in the county. Critics called on county officials to review how the new tests crippled beach areas and increased pressure on beach communities. Then the county abruptly reopened the beaches.
In a new story, MacKenzie Elmer writes that beaches still fail quality tests. So why are they open?
The county announced at the beginning of this month that it will install new, blue signs on the beaches warning that there may be sewage in the water that could cause illness. Now the county plans to close beaches only when there is a “known” source of contamination.
One environmentalist put it this way: It was done so the public could make their own decision about whether to enter the water. Some critics aren’t so sure.
“I think it’s because (the county doesn’t) trust the integrity of their own test and methodology and they don’t want to face the public backlash that would follow if the beaches were closed for half the year,” Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey said.
Read more about what will happen with new water testing technology here.
Who Really Thinks San Diego Is Going to Reach its Housing Goals
Last week Andrew Keatts checked in on the progress the city has made in increasing housing output. He revealed that the city of San Diego has released numbers showing that the city is not even close to producing the 108,000 homes by 2029 that the state has determined it needs to combat the housing crisis.
Last year, the city issued permits for about 5,000 houses. That means developers should build roughly 15,000 homes a year over the next seven years.
The gap between the numbers the city needs to achieve and its average annual production over the last 10 years is so wide, Keatts asked elected officials: Do you believe the city will issue 108,000 housing permits by 2029?
Read what they said in the Political Report here.
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Oceanside Opens Internal Investigation Into Allegations Against City Treasurer
Oceanside is investigating recent allegations against City Treasurer-elect Victor Roy.
The allegations were made by Treasury Manager Steve Hodges in a June 6 email to Roy and other city officials. In the email, Hodges accuses Roy of making bad investment decisions that cost the city millions of dollars, viewing nudity on a public library computer, inappropriate behavior toward a city employee who has since passed away and more.
City Manager Michael Gossman told the Voice they have hired a third party to investigate the claims, but the investment deals are not under investigation.
The city also issued a statement Wednesday assuring the public that the city’s investment portfolio is healthy.
Click here to read more about the city’s response.
Unanswered Calls
On San Diego’s most popular public affairs podcast, we’ve got a lot of news coming your way.
The big story we shared was from NBC San Diego. Their reporter Alexis Rivas joined the group to discuss her story about the murder of a local woman.
But the real story was the phone calls across the street
Neighbors of the victim called emergency services for almost two hours – begging for help and reporting what they saw. Rivas and podcast co-host Andrew Keatts discussed the details of that June night, the San Diego Police Department’s response to the investigation and what appears to be a systemic lack of police capacity and slow response times to critical calls.
Also in that episode: New trends in veteran suicide data, San Diego’s second housing bust and former mayor Kevin Faulconer’s next big thing.
Listen to the full show here or wherever you drop the pods.
In Other News
The morning report was written by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña, Tigist Layne, Nate John and Lisa Halverstadt. Edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.