A discussion of the future of the San Diego Convention Center and consideration of a legal settlement with a victim of a wayward police officer top an unusually busy agenda for Thursday’s City Council special meeting.
The council is scheduled to deal with the convention center and legal settlement issues in closed session.
Last week, state appellate justices ruled that the mechanism that was to be used to fund the bulk of the cost of a planned expansion of the convention center — a levy that area hoteliers imposed on themselves — was unconstitutional because it amounted to a special tax that needed to be approved in a public vote.
The council has to decide — either tomorrow or in the near future — whether to appeal to the state Supreme Court or come up with another way of paying for the expansion project. Making the facility larger is considered critical to retaining Comic-Con International and bringing other huge trade shows to San Diego.
Also last week, lawyers for the various sides approved a settlement with a woman who testified that former Officer Anthony Arevalos led her into a convenience store restroom in after a traffic stop March 2011 and demanded that she give him her panties and display her breasts. He also placed his finger in her vaginal area, she said.
The woman, identified only as “Jane Doe,” sued both the city and the officer, who was imprisoned on various sex-related charges.
The City Council has approved about a dozen settlements with women connected to the Arevalos case.
City officials only comment on closed session items when a final decision is reached.
Several other important items are on the public portion of the special meeting docket.
The council will take a second vote on a tentative 10-year, $1.5 million deal with medical device-maker Illumina to provide tax incentives in exchange for keeping around 300 manufacturing and sales jobs in the city. The agreement was unanimously approved July 21, but requires a second vote.
The council will also consider:
- a resolution supporting the Port of San Diego’s bid to bring the 35th America’s Cup yacht races to San Diego Bay in 2017;
- a resolution calling for the mayor’s office to immediately bring for consideration a plan to respond to climate change; and
- an agreement with the city’s labor unions to implement a financial incentive initiative for employees who bring money-saving ideas to the mayor’s office.4
— City News Service
