This is our last post before the election, so after this, we'll see you on the other side! Whatever you do to calm anxiety -- do lots of that!

Two of the City Council's policy committees are in action this week -- Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods and Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations -- both on Wednesday.

If you'd like more detail on anything summarized here, click the agenda, then click on the item. Over on the right side of the page, you'll see links to a staff report and other pieces of supporting material.

Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee -- Wednesday, Oct. 28

The PS&LN Committee meeting, chaired by Councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe, begins at 9 a.m. The agenda comprises one consent item that will likely be approved without conversation and four discussion items, highlighted by an analysis of the San Diego Police Department's annual budget. 

One day after the City Council approved a City budget for the current fiscal year (July 2020 through June 2021), PS&LN Committee Chair Montgomery Steppe sent a memo to the Council's Independent Budget Analyst (IBA), asking for a deep dive into the police budget. Council President Georgette Gómez followed soon after with her own request. The IBA responded with a thorough analysis that IBA staff will present to the committee on Wednesday.

Here's the rest of the agenda:

• Neighborhood Policing Programs Overview: The Police Department established the Neighborhood Policing Division in 2018 to put a number of "quality-of-life" programs under one chain of command, including the Homeless Outreach Team, Psychiatric Emergency Response Team, Serial Inebriate Program, Prosecution and Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Services, and the Direct Placement and Safe Parking Diversion programs. The department will give the committee an overview of these programs.
• Joint Use Agreements with San Diego Schools: The City's Parks and Recreation Department is asking the committee to bless five proposed 25-year agreements between the City and the San Diego Unified School District for joint community and student use of school facilities and fields at Curie Elementary (in University City), Lindbergh-Schweitzer Elementary (Clairemont Mesa), Pacific View Leadership Elementary (Paradise Hills), Paradise Hills Elementary (Paradise Hills), and Rowan Elementary (Gateway). The school district will cover the cost of improvements to recreational facilities. The City will be on the hook for roughly $269,000 in annual maintenance costs.
• San Diego County Food Vision 2030: The San Diego Food System Alliance was created in 2012 to cultivate a healthy, sustainable, and just food system in San Diego County. Since then, it's collaborated with public institutions, nonprofits, and other community-based organizations on food-systems planning, and one of the results is San Diego County Food Vision 2030. On Wednesday, representatives will present to the committee the first phases of the plan and next steps for implementation of the vision.

Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations Committee -- Wednesday, Oct. 28

The ED&IR Committee meeting, chaired by Councilmember Chris Cate, begins at 2 p.m. The agenda includes one consent item that will likely be approved without conversation, and these discussion items:

• East Village Quarter (Tailgate Park): The committee will weigh in on a recommendation from a panel of City staff members that the City enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement with a development team led by the Padres to transform a 5.25-acre City-owned parking lot known as Tailgate Park. The land, adjacent to Petco Park, is bounded by 12th Avenue and 14th Street on the west and east, and by K Street and Imperial Avenue on the north and south. Included in the developer's proposal are: 612 affordable and market-rate homes, 236,000 square feet of public open space, 65,000 square feet park and plaza space, 1,350,000 square feet of office space, 50,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and a 1,600-space parking garage.

• Valencia Business Park: The committee will also consider a panel's recommendation that the City enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement with a development team that has proposed creating the San Diego Energy Equity Campus at the City-owned site currently known as Valencia Business Park. The 4.33-acre piece of land is located on Stevens Way in Valencia Park. The developer proposes to develop an energy-efficient, three-story, 25,000-square-foot office building and a one-story, 40,000-square-foot industrial building, along with active public spaces, a nature trail, and outdoor educational and meeting space. The plan is to populate the development with sustainability- and community-equity-focused tenants.

• Temporary Moratorium on Rent Increases for City Lessees: The City leases land to a wide variety of organizations, including senior centers, childcare facilities, museums, community centers, youth development centers, nonprofit groups, learning institutions, cultural centers, hotels, community gardens, veterans’ centers, golf courses, transitional housing providers, medical clinics, and behavioral health centers. Committee Chair Cate is proposing a temporary moratorium on rent increases for lessees who can demonstrate financial hardship due to COVID-19. The ban on increases would be effective from January 2020 through December 2021, and lessees whose rent was increased before the ban becomes effective would be credited an amount equal to the increase.

Cate would like the City Attorney and the Independent Budget Analyst to work with his staff to return to the committee with a legal and economic analysis within 45 days. 

• Resolution Urging the Governor to Act on Hotel Group Meetings Re-Opening Plan: California currently doesn't allow business meetings in hotels, and San Diego's lodging industry has crafted a proposal to change that with some health and safety standards attached. The proposal was sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 29, and he has yet to respond. On Wednesday, Councilmember Mark Kersey will asked the committee to consider a resolution urging Newsom to act.
• San Diego Tourism Marketing District Report of Activities: San Diego's Tourism Marketing District (TMD) is a mechanism by which the lodging businesses within the city assess themselves a 2-percent fee on hotel-room stays and use that revenue to market San Diego as a destination. The district operates under an agreement with the City of San Diego that regulates how the district does its business and handles its money. Partly due to the economic impacts of COVID-19, the TMD and the City this past June scrapped their existing operating agreement and approved a new one. The TMD is now back with proposed amendments based on changing economic conditions and an update on its planned marketing activities.

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Anyone can participate in these virtual meetings and make comments by dialing 619-541-6310 and entering the access code 877861 followed by # when the item you're interested in comes up (full call-in instructions). Watch the meetings on cable TV channel 24 or AT&T channel 99, or stream them online.

After these committee meetings are done, the Council will be on legislative recess until it holds a special meeting on Monday, Nov. 9. So, "The People's Business" will be back on Friday, Nov. 6, with a post summarizing that meeting. If you haven't voted yet, please vote! 

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