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Voice of San Diego
Father Joe’s to Replace 350-Bed Shelter with Detox Facility
Father Joe’s Village’s Paul Mirabile Center has for years sheltered up to 350 homeless San Diegans each night. Now, the nonprofit is preparing to step away from the city shelter contract it has held for the East Village facility for nearly a decade and instead offer detox and sober living beds backed by private donors.
Morning Report: Another City Shelter Closure
Another big, city-funded shelter will be closing by the end of the year. It came out during City Council budget deliberations this week that Father Joe’s Villages plans to shutter its 350-bed Paul Mirabile Center shelter in East Village and convert the facility in coming months. Our Lisa Halverstadt...
The Learning Curve: San Diego Unified’s AI Future Is Now
I’m an AI skeptic. You’ll know that much if you read about my attending a bizarro edtech conference in April that felt like a three-day megachurch retreat for AI Jesus. What you may not know is that I’m also a student. In the year or so since...
Song of the Week: ‘funeral clothes’
Klurax’s music is all over the place. Tracks like “u me forever,” are maximalist, hyperpop-influenced explorations of some distant galaxy. Meanwhile, “enough,” feels more like the soundtrack to a sweaty night of club hopping. This is an artist who is not afraid to throw things against the wall and see what sticks. Turns out pretty much everything sticks. Throughout it all, though, klurax’s delicate, ethereal voice gently floats amidst the chaos.
Morning Report: San Diego City Council Thwarts Mayor’s Proposed Cuts
After Mayor Todd Gloria dropped his proposed budget for fiscal year 2025 that sought to address a major budget deficit, residents of some historically underserved of communities turned out to decry a slew of one-time cuts to programs created in the name of equity. City Councilmembers, with help from their...
Morning Report: The Disparity Between Grades and Test Scores
Many high schoolers across San Diego Unified School District are getting good grades, but they aren’t overall performing equally well on standardized tests. A new analysis by Voice of San Diego found wide gaps between the rate of juniors passing classes and the rate of juniors demonstrating proficiency on standardized tests.
San Diego Unified High Schoolers: Getting Great Grades But Troubling Test Scores
At the School of Creative and Performing Arts, a magnet school that draws students from across the district, 96 percent of juniors passed science classes during the 2022-23 school year. At Lincoln High, 86 percent of students passed English classes. At Madison High, 85 percent passed math classes. The scores...
Border Report: Asylum Cut Off, But Little Difference Felt
President Joe Biden moved last week to restrict access to the asylum system at the U.S.-Mexico border. In an executive order that went into effect at 9:01 p.m. local time Tuesday evening, Biden said his administration would begin quickly expelling border crossers without giving them the chance to apply for asylum. Border officials will not ask them if they fear returning to their home countries, which officials previously were required to do. Agents are still supposed to pass along migrants for screenings if they insist, unprompted, they are in danger if they return, but those screenings will use a legal standard that is more difficult to meet.
Morning Report: Renderings Alert! Mega-Shelter Edition
Today the City Council is set to gather behind closed doors for a third time to discuss lease negotiations for a warehouse that could house a 1,000-bed homeless shelter. Concern about what the city may pay to rent the Middletown warehouse has dominated the discussion about San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s vision for the project. Our Lisa Halverstadt, though, tried to answer another question: What exactly is the city’s plan for the shelter? It would be the biggest the city has ever had, except for when it temporarily converted the Convention Center to a shelter during the pandemic.
Inside the City’s Mega Shelter Plan – and Concerns About It
If the city moves forward with its largest ever long-term shelter, the city’s point person on homelessness is adamant it won’t look like a typical shelter. Sarah Jarman, who leads the city’s homelessness department, envisions ample outdoor space, artwork and other amenities that she hopes can make the warehouse at Kettner Boulevard and Vine Street an inviting space. Jarman and her team also want to provide onsite medical, dental and behavioral health services.
City Council Wants Equity Money Restored in Budget
It was clear from Friday’s debate over Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed budget that city councilmembers remain dissatisfied that some of the inevitable spending cuts hit programs built to support the city’s least fortunate. “This budget is balanced on the backs of those who have the least,” Council...
Politics Report: (Another) New Chief for the Chair
County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Nora Vargas has a lot of jobs. Not only is she the leader of the elected supervisors but also SANDAG’s Board of Directors. She’s also on the California Air Resources Board and the executive committee of the California State Association of Counties. I...
Sacramento Report: Assembly Candidate Carl DeMaio Accused of Campaign Finance Violations
Assembly candidate Carl DeMaio is facing investigations for alleged campaign finance violations, in the most recent brawl of the raucous 75th Assembly race. The California Fair Political Practices Commission is investigating complaints filed by an attorney representing DeMaio’s opponent, fellow Republican Andrew Hayes, claiming that DeMaio accepted campaign contributions over legal limits, and blew past a voluntary spending cap by nearly $300,000.
Morning Report: We Still Don’t Have the Full Flood Bill
The costs of a warming planet, clean water and maintaining biodiversity are beginning to crystalize for the city of San Diego. By that we mean the bill is coming for record-smashing rains on Jan. 22 that tore through whole streets of homes after overtopping unkempt storm channels. Today the City...
Morning Report: Escondido’s Ongoing Budget Pains
Escondido keeps finding ways to plug its budget hole — but the city is running out of options to keep its current level of city services. Many San Diego cities face a bleak budget situation in 2024. But Escondido has been has dealt with a structural deficit for several years, as our Tigist Layne reports in the North County Report.
Morning Report: What Happens When Golden Hall Shelter Closes?
Just before Memorial Day, the city announced plans to shutter the 264-bed homeless shelter at its City Hall complex shelter by the end of the year and pledged to find new landing places for the men who now sleep there. But as our Lisa Halverstadt reveals, the city’s permit for...
Why San Diego Community Power is Offering Dirtier Energy
San Diego Community Power is now offering a new power mix that’s dirtier – but cheaper – than those it currently offers. That’s a curious move for the government-run power company created in 2019 for the main purpose of getting its member cities to run on 100 percent renewable energy by at least 2045 (for San Diego and others the goal is a full decade earlier).
Song of the Week: ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’
Organist and lead singer Doug Ingle, the last living member of Iron Butterfly’s classic lineup, passed away last week. Though Iron Butterfly was born in San Diego, in a familiar tale, the band moved to Los Angeles to pursue a real career. It was there, in the garage of the Laurel Canyon home Ingle and drummer Ron Bushy shared, that the psychedelic tour de force “In-A-Gadda-De-Vida,” was penned.
Number of Shelter Beds Could Plunge as Golden Hall Closing Date Set
The city’s fire permit for its City Hall complex shelter where more than 250 homeless men sleep each night is set to expire in October. On the eve of Memorial Day weekend, the city abruptly announced the Golden Hall shelter would need to close by the end of the year and the facility would stop welcoming newcomers.
Morning Report: Privatization Fears Mount Around Palomar Health Move
The Escondido Democratic Club is no longer supporting four Democratic Palomar Health board members because of a new contract the board members voted for back in February. Some background: Palomar Health’s board recently approved a new 15-year management agreement with a private nonprofit company called Mesa Rock Healthcare Management, Inc.
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