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Board Of Supervisors Divided Over SANDAG Transportation Proposal

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Charles T. Clark

A majority of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors rejected key parts of the San Diego Association of Governments’ new multibillion-dollar plan for regional transportation. The divided board voted 3-2 Tuesday for the county to oppose much of the new proposal, which would dramatically shift regional transportation priorities toward expanding public transit and away from building highways and roads. Supervisors Dianne Jacob, Jim Desmond and Kristin Gaspar voted for the measure, while Supervisors Greg Cox and Nathan Fletcher voted in opposition.

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New Invasive Species Found In Carlsbad, Threatens To Spread Across Southwest

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Phil Diehl

A new invasive weed that can grow into a dense mat, choking off most other plants, has gained its first North American foothold in Carlsbad and is threatening to spread across the Southwest with seeds that can travel on clothes, boots and tires. Ward’s weed, a native of the Mediterranean region and Western Asia, has already conquered Australia. It arrived on the small continent in 1915 and now can be found in every Australian state, with the most extensive concentrations on the country’s arid southern coast.

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Bonita Museum To Display Winners Of Sweetwater Authority’s Photo Contest

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Hernandez

The images capture water in everyday life. One shows the reflection of a mural in a puddle. Another captures rain drops on a sunroof. The photographs are among a dozen images taken by high school students in South Bay who won a contest put on by the Sweetwater Authority, which provides water for about 190,000 customers in National City, Bonita and western and central Chula Vista. The water district’s photo contest yielded more than 85 entrees, each of which included a short essay about the images and the tie-in to the the theme (“Water in Daily Life”). The contest included two categories: color and black and white.

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OPINION: San Diego Is Ready For Some Big Water Solutions

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Jim Madaffer Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Back in the early 1990s — near the start of my career at San Diego City Hall — the San Diego County Water Authority launched a historic effort to sustain the region’s economy and quality of life by diversifying our water supplies so that we didn’t depend on one source for 95 percent of our water. That effort took many forms, many billions of dollars and more than two decades — but it paid off in spades. Even though we are at the literal end of the pipeline, today we have among the most diversified and secure water supply systems anywhere.

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Assemblyman Todd Gloria Holds “Inaugural Dialogue” With Mexican Officials On Tijuana Water Pollution

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith

Officials met in Imperial Beach Friday to discuss the sewage pollution that continues to plague South Bay shorelines — shuttering beaches more than 100 days every year. The event was billed as an “inaugural dialogue,” which in the future will include a host of other binational issues, including climate change and commerce. Assemblyman Todd Gloria (D-San Diego) and others met on Friday with Baja California officials to discuss future collaboration on how to address Tijuana’s lack of wastewater infrastructure and the potential for California to help with funding. “It’s a statewide concern elevated at the highest levels of state government,” Gloria told a crowd of concerned residents and elected officials, largely from Imperial Beach and Coronado.

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New Recreational Amenities, Restored Marshland Proposed For Mission Bay Park’s Fiesta Island

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Garrick

San Diego officials are proposing a variety of upgrades to Mission Bay Park’s Fiesta Island including new parks, playgrounds, volleyball courts, marsh areas and habitat preserves. The proposed master plan for the mostly undeveloped 470-acre island is envisioned as a balance between improving the island and retaining its rural ambiance, city officials said. While it would include some significant changes, city officials stress that the plan is less intense than some previous proposals for the island, which has occupied much of eastern Mission Bay since it was created by dredging in the 1940s.

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Escondido Moves Forward With New Recycled Water Plant Plans

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby J. Harry Jones

The Escondido City Council has decided to move forward with building a recycled water treatment plant off Washington Avenue, in the western part of the city in an industrial area where, unlike two other locations, there aren’t any residents nearby to complain. The council on Wednesday unanimously approved spending $3 million for initial engineering, design and pre-construction costs. Director of Utilities Chris McKinney said the expenditure signals the council’s acceptance of the location at 901 W. Washington Avenue near Interstate 15. The plant, which now has an estimated cost of $47 million, is needed to further treat already treated recycled water in order to desalinate it to a point where it can be used to irrigate avocado groves and other crops in the eastern and northern parts of the city.

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Mild Week Ahead, With Light Rain Possible On The Weekend

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Robert Krier

Another powerful storm is expected to barrel into California later this week, but once again, San Diego should be on the southern fringe and get very little rain. In the meantime, mild weather is forecast for the workweek in San Diego County, with minor fluctuations in temperature and the reach of the low clouds. Up north, it’s a different story. An extremely wet storm, with seven times the amount of moisture usually seen this time of year, is expected to pound the Bay Area Thursday through Saturday with a couple inches of rain. National Weather Service forecaster Joe Dandrea said the Sierra could get 4 to 6 inches — a welcome, late-season addition to the state’s water supply after a subpar winter.

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March Blossomed Across San Diego County

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Robert Krier

Forget March madness. For nature lovers and hikers on the thousands of miles of trails in San Diego County, there was March gladness. Wildflowers flourished. Poppies populated the green hillsides, and lilacs and lupines scented the air. Butterflies flitted in swarms from Carlsbad, to Escondido to Borrego Springs. The bugs will be back later this spring, although some may not be as dainty and welcome as the painted lady butterflies that still have plenty of nectar to feast on. “This is an incredible year – absolutely,” said Richard Miller, the chapter director of the San Diego Sierra Club. “This year we’re seeing flowers we have rarely seen before – like 10 years or more.”

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OPINION: Why California Needs Water Tax

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Phoebe Seaton

California is the only state in the nation that has codified the human right to water. Along with the innovation that streams out of the Silicon Valley, the food that feeds the world that grows in the Central Valley, the creativity that flows from Los Angeles and the beauty that pours out of San Diego, Californians should be proud that we recognize the human right to water. Our pride, though, is diminished by the more than 1 million Californians who do not have access to safe, affordable drinking water in their homes and in their schools.

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