Morning Report: ​​Connections Emerge Between Chula Vista Superintendent and Builder

New documents show that the superintendent of Chula Vista Elementary School District and a company he pushed as a prospective district contractor have been connected since at least 2018. 

Al Renteria, the operator of Dr. Build, donated $100 to Superintendent Eduardo Reyes’ campaign for school board in 2018. 

Reyes, allegedly pressured a district employee multiple times to award a contract to Renteria, as our Will Huntsberry revealed earlier this week. The district employee who made the allegation is also under investigation for allegedly having an unusually close relationship with a separate company. 

A district spokesperson has repeatedly not answered questions about how long Reyes and Renteria have known each other. The spokesperson previously said they have no personal relationship. 

“The idea that Dr. Reyes would be influenced by a publicly disclosed $100 contribution is preposterous,” the spokesperson wrote. 

Read the full story here. 

Two D1 Candidates Push for Delayed County Budget Vote

A quiet campaign to delay the county’s annual budget vote got a lot louder on Wednesday but also didn’t seem to get any more likely to succeed – at least directly.

Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre and Chula Vista Deputy Mayor Carolina Chavez, who are both vying for the open District 1 supervisor’s seat, argued that county supervisors shouldn’t approve a budget until the South Bay seat is filled.

One big complication: A now politically divided County Board of Supervisors would need to vote to agree to formally shift a budget timeline now scheduled to end with a vote by the end of June – and Supervisors Joel Anderson and Terra Lawson-Remer told Voice of San Diego they don’t want to do that.

But also: District 1 candidates may get their wish anyway. While Lawson-Remer doesn’t want to change the county’s budget timeline, she also doesn’t expect the political divided board to pass a budget by the end of June. She predicts the winner of the District 1 race, widely expected to be decided in a July 1 runoff, will be the deciding vote on the county’s budget.

Read the full story.

The Learning Curve: What Trump’s Cuts Mean for One University 

UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla is calling attention to how funding cuts proposed by the Trump administration could impact the university. 

In the email sent to staff on Tuesday, Khosla wrote university officials had received notices of the disruption of funding sources to around 50 UCSD researchers. The university has also seen a “concerning rise,” in delayed payments for projects not paused or cut.  

The actions pose a “significant financial risk to the university,” Khosla wrote. Still, they were “unable to predict exactly what the losses will be,” he continued. 

The university leader also laid out a series of actions the school is taking to deal with the shortfall, Jakob McWhinney writes in the latest Learning Curve. 

Read more here. 

Save the Date: Politifest 2025

That’s right, Politifest is back, baby! 

Mark your calendars for Politifest 2025 on Saturday, Oct. 4, at University of San Diego. We’ll be back with a great lineup of speakers and panel discussions.  

In Other News

• The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce has a new CEO: Chris Cate, a former San Diego councilmember. Axios San Diego spoke to Cate about what’s next and what this means for the Chamber. (Editor’s note: Chris Cate currently serves on Voice of San Diego’s board.) 
• National City has replaced security guards with police officers at its library. (inewsource)
• It should come as no surprise that newly built homes are hard to come by in San Diego. A new report found that last month the region only saw 50 developments of single-family homes, condos and townhouses. (Union-Tribune)  
• Chula Vista and the Port of San Diego are celebrating more access to the bay with a new park near the Gaylord development.(KPBS) Also, the Port is planning to increase parking rates along the bay. (NBC 7) 
• Speaking of fees: The city of San Diego’s Environmental Services Department will recommend to the City Council that the city’s new monthly trash fee be $53. (NBC 7) 
• In 2018, a couple called on police to get their son help. He was making threats to drive his sports car the wrong way on the freeway. San Diego police said they couldn’t do anything. Later that day, he followed through and died after colliding with a van – the woman and daughter in that car died as well. Following several lawsuits from both families, SDPD has made policy changes to how officers respond. (CBS 8)  

The Morning Report was written by Will Huntsberry, Lisa Halverstadt and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.