San Diego county already has one of the highest cost-of-living burdens in the nation and working families are being crushed by recent spikes in inflation.

Despite this, San Diego local politicians want to make things even more expensive by putting 35 separate tax hikes on the November 2024 ballot.

What’s worse, many of these tax hikes are hidden behind deceptive ballot titles that the politicians write to fool voters into approving them.

That’s why in each election, Reform California publishes a “Plain English” voter guide to flag all the tax hikes on the ballot and expose the deceptive word games being played on these measures.

In San Diego county, there is one county-wide sales tax hike on the ballot, 11 city sales tax hikes, and 23 local property tax hikes – mostly tied to bonds.

Measure G is a half-a-percent sales tax hike countywide that backers say will fix our roads. But not a single penny of Measure G is legally earmarked for roads.

Worse, the funds in Measure G will go to SANDAG – the same agency that raised your taxes in 1988 and 2004 promising to fix roads, but has repeatedly raided those road funds ever since.  Recent SANDAG audits have also uncovered millions in waste, fraud and abuse at the agency.

Just like with Measure G, backers of city-specific sales tax hike measures also make false claims on where the funds from their tax hikes would go.  Every city measure has been placed on the ballot claiming the funds will go to specific purposes – with the magic words of “police, fire, 911, road repairs, etc.” being used in almost every measure. Yet none of the city measures contain language legally earmarking the funds for these popular programs.

All of the city tax hike measures go into the general fund of the cities – and politicians can spend the money any way they want. In fact, the fiscal forecasts for each of these cities prove that a massive portion of funds are being diverted by city politicians to cover bloated and overly-generous pension payouts to city workers.

With the exception of a National City property tax hike for their general fund, the 23 property tax hikes on the ballot across the county are tied to bond measures that include parcel tax assessments.

These bonds are all being sold as improving school facilities – with all kinds of promotional language on improving academic outcomes.

The reality is these bonds and associated increases to your property taxes do nothing to improve the quality of instruction in our schools, but instead simply seek to build fancy new facilities.

What backers of these bonds do not tell you is we have a growing problem of underutilized facilities in school districts across the county. That’s because local public school enrollment has plummeted in the past five years – and is expected to drop even more in the coming years. Only a handful of our rural school districts have had stable or modest increases in enrollment.

Instead of building more facilities during a time of declining student enrollment, school districts should be required to do a comprehensive needs assessment of their existing facilities and right-size – using the proceeds from this process to invest in deferred maintenance and improvement of remaining facilities.

Several of these bonds are from school districts who have passed requirements that all of their contracts must be awarded using Project Labor Agreements (PLAs).

PLAs allow school districts to avoid fair and open competition on contracts in favor of union-only firms. In doing so, PLA’s discriminate against small and minority-owned businesses.

According to the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction (CFEC), PLAs result in a 25-40% increase in the cost to taxpayers for projects while reducing the chance that hiring will benefit local workers.

Just who benefits from these discriminatory PLA contracts? School district politicians who receive campaign contributions from union political action committees funded by the dues generated by union-only projects.

So what will approving all 35 tax hikes on the San Diego County ballot cost you?

Our analysis shows the average San Diego household will be impacted by 2-3 of these tax hikes and will end up paying $200-300 more per year in higher cost-of-living. That’s simply too much for San Diegans who already are struggling with their finances.

Vote NO on all 35 tax hikes and tell San Diego county politicians to instead reform their wasteful spending!

Carl DeMaio is a former member of the San Diego City Council and a candidate for the California Assembly.

Joanne Bovee Hickey

OBITUARY

Joanne Hickey wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend to many passed away on September 17, 2024 in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA with her family by her side.Born on June 6, 1930 in Los Angeles, she was the oldest of four children born to Glenn and Helen (Hurst) Bovee. Joanne spent her early years, with twin sisters Merry and Jeri and brother Ronnie, in West Hollywood before moving to Point Loma. Joanne graduated from Point Loma High School (Class of ’48) before attending University of Southern California (Class of ’52), where she made many life-long friends as a member of Chi Omega Sorority.After graduation, Joanne began her 20+ year teaching career in Los Angeles before returning to Point Loma to teach second grade at Silvergate Elementary School and later, Fremont Elementary. Well beyond her retirement, Joanne loved reconnecting with old students and fellow teachers she spent so many special years with. She also never stopped teaching whether to her kids, grandchildren, or peers in Zeta Rho. Joanne’s passion for learning and sharing her knowledge never slowed down.Joanne married Frank Hickey in 1956, who she enjoyed 38 years with until his passing in 1994. While raising their daughter, Beth, and son, Glenn, their marriage was full of Chargers games, hosting dinner parties, and attending their children’s activities. Joanne also dedicated a lot of time volunteering within the Point Loma community. Throughout the years, she was active in the Juniors of Social Services, National Charity League, Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church, La Playa Trails Association, and Zeta Rho.After Frank passed away, she spent a lot of quality time with family, friends, and her wonderful companion, Ed Streicher. She loved taking her grandchildren to the San Diego Zoo and her favorite restaurants (Miguel’s and Pizza Nova), and sharing her favorite books (Anne of Green Gables and Little Women) with them. Joanne was also lucky enough to travel to all the places she dreamed of visiting, experiencing many new adventures with her closest friends, sisters, and Ed.Most of all, Joanne cherished the time she was able to spend with loved ones over a great meal, a glass of wine, and lively conversation. She was incredibly thoughtful, and loved hearing about what was going on in everyone’s life the life of any party.Joanne was preceded in death by her parents Glenn and Helen; husband Frank; brother Ronnie; sister Merry; and loving partner Ed. Joanne is survived by her daughter Beth and her husband Craig Hildebrand; son Glenn and his wife Zena; grandchildren Andrew (Matt Harnos) Hildebrand, Bryan (Kaci) Hildebrand, Sean Hickey and Paige Hickey; her sister Jeri Thompson; and many nieces and nephews.A special thank you to Juanita for the wonderful care you gave Joanne; the team at Belmont Village; her nephew Gregg who spent so much time with her in the last year; and to Anne, Elise and Dave for their weekly visits.A Celebration of Life will be held. Please reach out to the family for details if you would like to join them in celebrating Joanne’s amazing life.

A man who allegedly threatened to shoot his former girlfriend and was later shot by a San Diego police officer after fleeing with the couple’s baby has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the officer and the city of civil rights violations, including excessive force.

Steffon Nutall, 29, was shot on the evening of May 19 in the city’s Chollas View neighborhood after his former girlfriend called 911 when he allegedly entered her apartment with a gun, threatened to kill everyone if police came — and then fled with their 11-month-old daughter, according to a San Diego police video.

Nutall was shot several times outside a nearby apartment a short time later. He has been charged with multiple felonies, including assault with a firearm, criminal threats, child endangerment and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, police said. He has pleaded not guilty and is in custody without bail pending a preliminary hearing.

Police later found he had dropped his weapon and was not armed when he was shot, authorities said. The baby was found nearby and unhurt.

The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, claims Officer Robert Gladysz “unreasonably and unjustifiably” discharged his weapon though Nutall never posed a “credible threat of violence,” leaving him with injuries that limit his ability to move his legs and in need of a wheelchair.

“It’s a bad shooting. His back was turned to the officer. There was clearly no gun,” attorney Douglas Hopson, whose firm filed the lawsuit, said Saturday. “There’s too many facts, too many circumstances that should have made it clear that Nutall was not armed.”

Hopson said Nutall went to the apartment because he feared for his child’s safety, declining to elaborate. “He’s there to get his child, because he, in his mind, believes his child is in danger,” he said.

Police have said that Nutall was holding the baby when he was shot, but Hopson said that was not true. The city of San Diego and police did not respond Saturday to messages seeking comment.

San Diego police had earlier released a 10-minute video of the incident that includes the 911 call, police attempts to find Nutall and the shooting, which occurred at 10:27 p.m.

The 911 call is partly unintelligible, but police said his former girlfriend opened her bedroom door after he threatened to shoot through it. A man, identified as Nutall, then grabs the phone, not knowing who is on it and that police were on the way, and states, “If the police come to this door I am going to kill everything in here. I promise you that. So you call 911, I’m killing people.”

When officers arrived, police said Nutall ran away with the infant, and he was later found hiding in bushes near other apartments. The body camera of Gladysz shows the officer ordering Nutall to show his hands or he will shoot, right before the man darts out of the bushes and Gladysz fires several shots.

The officer can be heard saying Nutall pointed a gun at him but he didn’t see the baby. The police later found the gun in the parking lot of a trolley station that Nutall had run through while trying to evade police. In a video still, police highlighted what they said was an object in his right hand that Gladysz may have mistaken for a weapon. The infant was found near Nutall after he was shot. Police said he was holding the girl under his left arm at the time of the shooting.

However, Nutall had already put his daughter down prior to the shooting, Hopson said, “expecting and praying it wouldn’t be the case that the officers would just start shooting at him.”

An investigation into the shooting is being conducted by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, which will be reviewed by the San Diego County district attorney’s office to determine if criminal charges are warranted against officers, according to the police video.

The investigation is being monitored by the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office, while the Police Department’s internal affairs will look to see if any policies were violated. A shooting review board will also evaluate the officers’ tactics, according to the video.

Gladysz, a patrol officer, had been employed by the department for a year and a half prior to the shooting, according to the sheriff’s department.

The federal lawsuit seeks various damages and claims the shooting resulted from “policies, practices and customs” that result in “unconstitutionally inadequate treatment for individuals of [African] descent.”

Hopson said Nutall was shot four times, once in each limb, and has suffered nerve or orthopedic damage that has made him bound to a wheelchair. He was hospitalized for more than a month after the shooting, and his release on bond is being sought so he can receive better medical care, Hopson said.

The lawsuit was filed by Hannah Hopson, a California attorney who is a partner in the Hopson Firm, a Chicago law firm founded by her father Douglas Hopson. Hopson said he plans to seek permission to participate in the case, though he is not admitted to the state bar here. Another attorney is representing Nutall in the criminal case.