{"id":501124,"date":"2026-01-08T10:37:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/501124\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T10:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:37:11","slug":"morning-report-ex-mayor-still-haunts-encinitas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/501124\/","title":{"rendered":"Morning Report: Ex-Mayor Still Haunts Encinitas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Catherine Blakespear hasn\u2019t been mayor of Encinitas since 2023, but to many of the city\u2019s most politically-active residents her ghost still haunts the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The biggest reason some people can\u2019t let Blakespear go: They believe she opened the door for too much new housing in 2019, when she helped upzone certain parts of the city. Residents have other complaints too, reports our Tigist Layne, but housing looms largest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blakespear, who is now a state senator, says the reason she still gets so much hate is that she got stuff done. She describes her time as \u201cactive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Protestors once marched on Blakespear\u2019s house calling for her recall, because of a plan she had championed for a coastal bike path and trail. Residents were worried about potential fencing and how the project might affect traffic. Today, the coastal trail is beloved, despite the intense pushback at the time and Blakespear said she is glad she stuck with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s current mayor Bruce Ehlers accused her of focussing on \u201cbeautification\u201d projects instead of the city\u2019s real infrastructure needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read the full story here<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Mayor Rejects Call to Suspend Parking Fees<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria delivers his State of the City address on the 12th floor of the City Administration Building in downtown San Diego on Jan. 15, 2025. \/ Photo by Vito di Stefano for Voice of San Diego <\/p>\n

Mayor Todd Gloria isn\u2019t interested in suspending parking fees at Balboa Park.<\/p>\n

After Councilmembers Kent Lee and Sean Elo-Rivera called for the city to suspend parking fees for San Diego residents<\/a>, the mayor wrote in a memo<\/a> Wednesday that rolling back fees would have \u201cimmediate and serious fiscal consequences.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The paid parking program, \u201cwas not developed or imposed unilaterally by my administration. It was shaped, amended and approved by the City Council,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The parking revenue is key to addressing the city\u2019s budget deficit. But as our City Hall reporter Mariana Martinez Barba explained, projected revenues from the parking program don\u2019t look great because of delays and reduced fees<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gloria wrote that despite an \u201cadjustment period\u201d the program is working. The city has received and approved 1,285 applications, according to the Mayor\u2019s Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And more on the push to rollback other fees: <\/strong>At a press conference Wednesday, Councilmember Raul Campillo announced a proposal dubbed the \u201c5\/5\/5\u201d plan to roll back downtown special event parking fees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under his proposal, the city would reduce rates from $10 to $5, shorten the enforcement window from six hours to five, and limit the special event parking zone to five blocks around Petco Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can support special events without punishing the people who live, work, and do businesses downtown,\u201d he said in an email statement.<\/p>\n

About that Chollas Creek Project\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The city of San Diego took issue with a line in the last Environment Report<\/a>, that it doesn\u2019t have the $111 million it will take to fix the stormwater infrastructure in Shelltown to prevent flooding.<\/p>\n

Technically, the city\u2019s taken out enough debt to fully fund the project price, providing that doesn\u2019t change. Designing it will take until 2028, according to the city\u2019s Capital Improvements Program<\/a> documents. Construction is supposed to be finished by 2031.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project has fully identified funding and it\u2019s being fully designed right now,\u201d wrote Jordan Moore with the city\u2019s Independent Budget Analysts Office.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s taking out about $41 million in debt to make the project happen. That\u2019s financing San Diego is required to put up in order to get another $59 million in loans from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act.<\/p>\n

The Beta Street project in Shelltown is one among 26 stormwater projects in the Chollas Creek watershed, which stretches from North Park to Shelltown.<\/p>\n

The Learning Curve: San Diego Unified\u2019s Big Housing Project<\/strong><\/p>\n

It looks like big changes won\u2019t be in store for the multiple housing projects that developers are pitching to San Diego Unified, reports our Jakob McWhinney.<\/p>\n

Backstory<\/strong>: School officials have offered up multiple plots of land for affordable housing developers to build housing for teachers and families. Board members were set to approve the projects, until a surprise vote to delay the final decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, developers will spend two days pitching board members on their projects. Board members are expected to vote on the winners during the two-day pitch process. One board member wanted developers to be able to make relatively last-minute changes to their pitches, but it turns out that\u2019s now not going to happen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read the Learning Curve here.\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In Other News\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n