{"id":297883,"date":"2025-10-12T18:06:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T18:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/297883\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T18:06:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T18:06:12","slug":"cup-of-chisme-unintended-consequences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/297883\/","title":{"rendered":"Cup of Chisme: Unintended Consequences"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s always great when one of our reporters starts a sentence with, \u201cI got a tip\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Tips can sometimes lead you down rabbit holes, but most of the time they help our reporters dig in and reveal something someone doesn\u2019t want us to find. <\/p>\n

This week, Jim Hinch had a tip. He learned that more than a dozen farmers and local families who grow vegetables, fruits and flowers at a community garden near the Tijuana River received eviction letters from the agency that manages the garden.<\/p>\n

The Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County was kicking out all of the 217 individuals who use the space. Gardeners and farmers freaked out. For some, this represented a threat to their livelihood and the food they put on the table.<\/p>\n

So, what gives? <\/p>\n

Hinch revealed that the evictions were brought on because of warning signs the county placed near the garden. The large red signs read, \u201cWarning! Elevated levels of Hydrogen Sulfide gas have been detected due to Tijuana River pollution.\u201d Theses signs were put up at the behest of San Diego County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre. <\/p>\n

Leaders with the district worried the signs would expose them to legal liability and endanger their employees. <\/p>\n

Aguirre disagreed that the signs were responsible for the closure. She told Hinch it wasn\u2019t her intention to close the garden and that she\u2019s working with the gardeners and county staff to come up with a solution.<\/p>\n

Read the full story here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

So, What Now? <\/p>\n

Aguirre held a Town Hall and told the gardeners that she\u2019s working on finding someone to manage the property and she hopes the county can install air quality regulators that can warn gardeners when the air is not safe.<\/p>\n

The supervisor has made it her mission to bring more attention to the pollution that has plagued San Diego\u2019s South County communities. But now, those actions have resulted in some unintended consequences. Our Jim Hinch will keep following the story.<\/p>\n

What do you think about all of this? Send me a note at andrea.sanchez@voiceofsandiego.org. <\/p>\n

Politifest News Factory <\/p>\n

\"\"Mayor Todd Gloria at Politifest on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. \/ Vito di Stefano for Voice of San Diego<\/p>\n

As promised, we\u2019ve uploaded recordings of our Politifest 2025 Solutions Showdown panels to our site. You can find the videos here. <\/a><\/p>\n

We also had a lot of news from Politifest. <\/p>\n

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria participated in a debate about how to get the city we want. One of his ideas was to merge the Harbor Police Department<\/a> with San Diego\u2019s to address the city\u2019s officer shortage. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn this time of real challenges financially, we should be asking ourselves fundamental questions about the way we\u2019ve chosen to organize ourselves and wonder if we can be more efficient,\u201d Gloria said.<\/p>\n

After we mentioned his idea in our Morning Report, Port of San Diego leaders let their staff know that they weren\u2019t into it. <\/p>\n

\u201cMayor Gloria\u2019s suggestion to merge Harbor Police with San Diego Police has not been discussed between the Port and the City of San Diego and it will not be entertained,\u201d Port CEO Scott Chadwick wrote in a memo to staff Monday evening.<\/p>\n

One person was excited. Keene Simonds, leader of San Diego\u2019s boundary refs aka the Local Agency Formation Commission, told our Bella Ross that a merger would be complicated but he liked that Gloria was asking the question. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, the question is, do the two agencies\u2019 police protection services have enough commonality in their mission to make it work?\u201d Simonds said. <\/p>\n

When we asked Gloria about his idea during the panel discussion, Gloria mentioned that the assignment for Politifest was to \u201cthrow ideas out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bring on the big ideas. Catch up on our stories from Politifest here.<\/a> <\/p>\n

More Chisme to Start the Week <\/p>\n