Today’s newsletter is presented by Port of San Diego Waterfront of Opportunity.
Good morning, San Diego ☀️
Here’s what we have for you today:
- The Islamic Center of San Diego went on lockdown yesterday “out of an abundance of caution.” Police did not share what lead to their presence at the mosque.
- Waymo is expanding where its autonomous vehicles can traverse north to La Jolla. Meanwhile, the blue beasts are having a hard time navigating Mission Bay with all this flooding.
Tessa Balc
Audience engagement producer
Top story
Landlords have spent $77K to unseat San Diego councilman. Two local business groups say their $45K donation is unrelated.
Nearly $77,000 over the span of 10 days — that’s how much the California Apartment Association spent to unseat District 4 Councilmember Henry Foster III.
If you’ve received one of their mailers targeting Foster, direct your attention to the small disclosure at the bottom. Campaign finance laws require that the committee — California Apartment Association Housing Solutions Committee — say who its three top funders are. The committee has one funder: The California Apartment Association.
This is technically true. The California Apartment Association Political Action Committee and the CAA Independent Expenditure Committee both funnel funds into the Housing Solutions Committee. Of course, that doesn’t tell you where the funds came from when they went into the CAA Political Action Committee and the CAA Independent Expenditure Committee.
Days before the CAA began spending against Foster, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce PAC and the Downtown Partnership PAC put a combined $45,000 into the association’s campaign accounts. Both the CAA and these local interest groups maintain that the money going toward Foster is from the CAA, and the Independent Expenditure Committee isn’t the one spending against Foster.
But the last-minute opposition spending also came just after both local groups made late endorsements of Foster’s opponent, Martha Abraham.
The CAA is involved in other local races, but to a lesser degree. They’ve thrown $1,000 toward Chula Vista Mayor John McCann’s reelection effort, as well as five other seats in smaller cities in the county.
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Stories you should know about
🛑 City council unanimously pauses data center construction, despite little power over NAVWAR proposal: The pause on data centers will last for 45 days with options to renew for the next 20 months, however, the moratorium has no power over the idea for a data center at NAVWAR that prompted the vote.
📢 Supervisors call for answers about death at Otay Mesa Detention Center: Shortly before noon on Saturday a staff member at the Homeland Security facility called in a medical emergency after finding an unresponsive detained individual, who was pronounced dead before leaving the facility. CoreCivic has yet to release any details on the circumstances of their death.
🌊 Mission Bay flooding continues, raising concerns about winter storms during the holidays: Record high tides are causing serious problems for San Diego’s coastal areas, and scientists are warning the natural lunar tides could compound these issues as a nearly 18-year and 4-year cycle will hit their peak at the same time around Christmas.
What else we’re reading
🗳️ The Tijuana Sewage Crisis is an ever-present issue hanging over Imperial Beach, and the city’s leaders typically take up an active stance on how to address the issue. But with this year’s mayoral race, two of the three candidates are relatively quiet on the issue and the possibility of their election could mean a back seat approach going forward. (KPBS)
🧪 Artiva Biotherapeutics, a San Diego biotech company, is laying off nearly 94% of its staff after a failed drug trial and two patients deaths. This comes nearly five months after the company raised $300 million from investors to test its lead immunotherapy treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. (Union-Tribune)
Times of San Diego thanks our corporate sponsors. Find out more about sponsorships and advertising opportunities here.
Mid-Week News Quiz
Have you kept up with Times of San Diego this week? Let’s see!
🧐 What was the text sent by Mayor Todd Gloria’s chief of staff after being notified of the “trash fee issue?”
A) “That sounds like bad news.”
B) “I have no idea what to do.”
C) “Let me call the mayor.”
D) “Are you sure there’s an issue?”
Reply first with the correct answer to earn a shoutout in tomorrow’s newsletter.