San Diego, CA
San Diego’s Veterans Village says it won’t appeal license revocation
Veterans Village of San Diego will not appeal a state decision to revoke its license to operate a residential substance use treatment center on its campus, the Board of Directors announced following its Friday afternoon meeting.
The move ends VVSD’s service to non-veterans at its Mission Hills campus.
The California Department of Health Care Services on Sept. 5 notified the nonprofit that it was suspending the program and would revoke its license, and VVSD had 15 days to appeal. The suspension of the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System program, which provides substance use disorder treatment for eligible Medi-Cal members, went into effect Monday.
The program had been at VVSD since 2019, and most of the 76 clients were non-veterans who had been referred by San Diego County Behavioral Health Services.
“We embarked on the DMC (Drug Medi-Cal) program with a bold vision: to extend our world-renowned treatment approach to civilians in need,” the VVSD board said in a statement released Friday. “We undertook this mission amidst an unprecedented surge in fentanyl use, reaching out to the most vulnerable members of our community with crucial support. As we move forward, we proudly refocus our efforts on our core mission — dedicated service to our nation’s heroes.”
Tessa Outhyse, information officer for the California Department of Health Care Services, said the state has revoked the license or certification of five other residential substance use disorder facilities in the past three years.
The California Department of Health Care Services had cited “serious concerns about client safety” and the deaths of seven clients in its notice to VVSD and its program.
VVSD President and CEO Akilah Templeton said the news was devastating to staff members who had worked with clients and now fear they may relapse or return to the street. County staff members were on hand Monday to place people in new programs, but VVSD counselors said they are in the dark about what happened to them.
“I know that on that first day, so many of our residents just left and went back out to the street, just going back to using,” said Meghan Ripley, a program manager who worked with clients.
“And it just breaks my heart, because they were doing so well here,” she continued, fighting back tears as she remembered the program’s last day. “It was so sad. I had clients coming up to me crying, begging me to let them stay, like I had any control over it. Begging, saying that they would come up with the money to be able to pay out of pocket just to be able to stay here because they were safe here. And then they just lost all hope and left.”
“It was so swift, the way they came down,” said clinical associate Isaac Salas, also in tears. “It was so traumatic for everyone involved. It was just devastating. The population we work with, they’re already a bunch of traumatized people. They already have a lot going on. And the way that they handled this, it was inhumane.”
Founded in 1981 to serve veterans facing a variety of challenges, VVSD offers programs to overcome unemployment, addiction, barriers to health and mental health care and other challenges. It created the annual Stand Down event to connect veterans with homeless services, and the program has inspired similar events throughout the country.
A perfect storm
Templeton said several things aligned to lead to the license revocation, beginning with complaints within the organization itself from people who objected to VVSD expanding its programs to include non-veterans, a move she said involved many factors, including a need for additional funding.
VVSD also was restricted from expelling disruptive people from the program during the pandemic, and critics went public with accusations that the environment was unsafe, she said.
And then there was the overall increase in fentanyl use among addicts. All of the overdose deaths cited by the state involved the drug, which is considered more lethal than other street drugs.
“And so this was all the perfect storm,” Templeton said.
Restrictions on the program prohibit clients from being searched, and Templeton said an investigation into one death revealed the fentanyl involved had been brought onto the campus by another client who hid it in a body cavity.
“We can’t do everything,” she said, adding that drugs were rarely found on campus. “We can’t even pat someone down. We can’t say with absolute certainty that substances won’t make their way into the environment.”
“If you have drugs on campus, you are discharged,” said counselor Teresa Najera, who had worked in the program. “No exception. You’re putting the rest of the clients at risk of relapsing.”
Templeton also acknowledged there were deficiencies in the program, but said they had been corrected and none were related to the deaths, which included one from apparent natural causes and others outside the campus.
On-, off-campus deaths
The state cited seven deaths in its notice, with four in 2022, two in 2023 and one last March. Four were on campus, including two that were drug-related.
One client died of a heart attack on campus in February 2022. That same month, another person who had been ill died on campus after he returned from a hospital that had cleared him for discharge.
A third person died in April 2022 of a drug overdose on campus. Templeton said that man had been referred from the County Probation Department and was on campus just two weeks when he died. After his death, Templeton said they learned he had 20 prior drug overdoses and other issues that might have disqualified him from the VVSD program.
In September 2022, a client who was not responding to treatment, relapsing and not complying with urine testing was off campus and supposedly looking for a sober living home when he died of a drug overdose.
Because he was still technically enrolled in the VVSD program, his death was considered to have happened on their watch. The state put VVSD on an 18-month probation because of the deaths in 2022, and the probation was set to end Sept. 9.
In May 2023, a man in the program created a fraudulent pass to leave the campus and died of a drug overdose at his brother’s house, although he was considered still enrolled in VVSD.
In September of that year, another client who was off campus died when he was struck by a train while riding a bicycle.
Last March, two clients overdosed on campus, and one died.
The closing of the program affected 36 employees; Templeton said 19 were furloughed and 17 were assigned other positions.
VVSD still has 199 beds funded for residential treatment, but the action leaves an additional 123 beds without funding.
The nonprofit had submitted $87,136 to the state to renew its license last March, and Templeton said the money is not refundable.
Originally Published:
San Diego, CA
Automated license plate readers and public surveillance cameras are coming to Imperial Beach
The city of Imperial Beach will soon install four Automated License Plate Readers and two additional “public safety cameras” in hopes of improving public safety.
On June 3, Imperial Beach city councilmembers voted to enter into an agreement with the San Diego Sheriff’s Office to place four license plate readers manufactured by surveillance giant Flock Safety at four proposed intersections, and they will also install two cameras in the city to monitor for criminal behavior.
The cameras, part of a two-month pilot program, seek to improve public safety in the South Bay coastal town.
The four proposed locations for the license plate cameras are Imperial Beach Boulevard and 13th Street, Palm Avenue and 13th Street, 13th Street and Elm and 9th Street and Elm Ave.
The proposed locations for the public cameras are on the median of Palm Avenue and 8th Street, Palm Avenue and Seacoast Drive and Imperial Beach Boulevard and Seacoast Drive.
For the license plate readers, city staff said they have proven their usefulness in cities and unincorporated areas throughout San Diego County for years.
“[License Plate Reader] technology has contributed to multiple arrests, including identifying suspects’ vehicles involved in retail thefts, gas station thefts, and vehicle burglaries. [License Plate Readers] have also assisted in identifying a suspect vehicle in an international hit-and-run homicide in Lemon Grove and a vehicle involved in a [pellet] gun case in Encinitas,” reads the city’s staff report to the city council.
City staff said the Sheriff’s Office recommends a total of eight license plate readers, but the city opted for four.
“This is a pilot program. We have to consider the trade-off of privacy for security,” said public speaker Vivian Dunbar. “People have been falsely arrested and falsely identified through the use of these cameras.”
Imperial Beach Mayor Pro-Tem Jack Fisher said that while he understands the privacy concerns, the benefits outweigh any negatives. “This is one of those programs where IB is not leading the charge. A few weeks back, everyone was aware of the tragedy that happened at the Islamic Center of San Diego and the license plate readers were key in tracking those individuals down. It’s good for us to do our part.”
Added Fisher, “The era of big brother has passed, if you have a cell phone, you know there is already tracking.”
The council unanimously voted in favor of the pilot program.
Utility man Samad Taylor was selected to the Major League roster from Triple-A El Paso in a corresponding move.
Tuesday night was a tale of two parties. Two election night parties.
At Liberty Station’s Stone Brewing, a small coterie of Democratic elected officials and functionaries and a larger coterie of news media shuffled around trying to make sense of the lackluster returns trickling in.
Meanwhile, at downtown’s US Grant Hotel, a much more spirited collection of Republican operatives and supporters laughed and drank in a blindingly-lit convention room, backed by a pianist’s rendition of “Billie Jean.”
The takeaway seemed clear: this was a not-so-great night for San Diego’s Democratic in-group. Chula Vista’s Republican mayor had a huge lead over his Democratic opponent. A tax on second homes lagged behind in the vote count. And several Republicans seemed to make it out of crowded primary fields in local races.
Hell, even if it was only a just-OK night for Republicans – that still seemed worth celebrating to them.
Normally we now get long stretches of days, even weeks of fingernail-biting anticipation as the county so slowly tallies the rest of the votes. But there doesn’t appear to be many close races to watch this time around. There are a couple. We start at the top:
It’s Becerra vs. Hilton
As of 11 p.m., with more than 50 percent of votes counted, it appeared that a Republican and Democrat — rather than two Democrats — would make it through to the general election. Steve Hilton and Xavier Becerra led the race, with billionaire Tom Steyer on the outside looking in. The New York Times has a nice tracker here.
Empty Homes Tax Goes Down
Measure A presented a simple choice. What do voters in the city of San Diego have more disdain for – people with enough money to own a second home they leave empty, or new taxes? Turns out, it’s additional taxes. For now, at least.
Championed by Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, Measure A would have placed a tax on homes left vacant for more than half of the year. It was pitched as a way to both raise badly needed revenue for the city and, potentially, make available badly-needed housing.
As of Tuesday evening, the measure’s prospects looked grim, with about 58 percent of voters casting a ‘No’ vote. It will become the second citywide tax increase rejected by voters in as many years. Despite the poor showing, intern Naomi Granata found the pitch resonated with some voters in North Park.
San Diego County Assessor-Recorder-Clerk Jordan Marks was one of a number of local electeds who came out in opposition of the tax. He said the city’s housing problems couldn’t be solved by what he called “bad taxes.”
“This result reflects that Sean Elo-Rivera and the City Council have lost the trust of the public and that voters are reading the fine print,” Marks said.
Elo-Rivera said it wasn’t looking good, but he was hopeful the picture would improve. Ultimately, he thought the money spent opposing the tax — and the distorted message he felt it sent — was too big to overcome.
“There was an enormous amount of money spent, and not just money spent, but money spent to trick voters into thinking that something was going to impact them that wasn’t,” Elo-Rivera said.
No Ammar
Republican County Supervisor Jim Desmond led the way in the 48th Congressional District on Tuesday night.
What we were waiting for is the candidate who would go with him to the runoff. It will attract a ton of national attention and money. It was one of the seats made more competitive by Democrats in the special redistricting vote last year.
San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert and Ammar Campa-Najjar, squared off for a chance to wrest the seat out of longtime Republican control. With 53 percent reporting, von Wilpert held a commanding lead over Campa-Najjar. The councilmember will advance to face Desmond in November.
On the ground in the district, reporter Tigist Layne found that the national politics that led to the redistricting fight were also front and center on voters’ minds as they headed into vote.
Bailey vs. Crosby in Coastal Council District
Former Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey and Deputy City Attorney Nicole Crosby will advance to the November election in District 2 of the San Diego City Council.
Bailey, a Republican-turned-Independent, seemed destined to finish in the top two after he attracted significant attention on social media. The race for the second spot was more uncertain. Josh Coyne, like Crosby, attracted significant Democratic support. And Mandy Havlik — a more development-resistant candidate — also had strong grassroots support in Point Loma.
Our new intern Fiona Bork talked to voters in District 2, which covers the city’s southern coastline, who said that affordability was the most important issue. Exactly how that explained their electoral choices differed by a lot. One voter said Coyne’s market-driven approach to building more housing appealed to him. Another liked Havlik’s approach to limiting vacation rentals. A third voted for Bailey because she wanted less development and more public transit. It seems unlikely that Bailey, who is fiscally conservative, would support massively expanding public transit options. Read the full story here.
City Council District 4: The race for southeastern San Diego’s council district featured three candidates: incumbent Henry Foster, Martha Abraham and Johnny Lee Dang.
Abraham was highly critical of Foster in her campaign and that seemed to resonate well with voters. At the latest count, she led Foster by several hundred votes.
Foster has many supporters in the district, but the city’s handling of catastrophic flooding in January 2024 — among other issues — has led to massive distrust of City Hall.
Council District 6: Incumbent Kent Lee had one prominent opponent, Mark Powell, who is a former member of the County Board of Education. They will both make the runoff but Lee got 55 percent of the vote in early counting.
City Council District 8: San Ysidro School Board Member Antonio Martinez and current District 8 chief of staff, Gerardo Ramirez, lead in this race — which was crowded with Democrats. Venus Molina, who serves as the chief of staff to Councilmember Jennifer Campbell, trailed closely behind in third place. This is one of the races close enough to change as the registrar continues counting votes. Molina’s count improved slightly as the night went on.
Our South County reporter, Jim Hinch, spoke with voters outside the Otay Mesa/Nestor Branch Library. One voter told Hinch she voted for Molina because she liked that she is local and a single mother. Read the full story here.
Election Watch Party Bonus: Ramirez’ supporters and family gathered at the Landing Strip, a bar and restaurant at Brown Field Municipal Airport, to watch results roll in. They broke out into applause when results showed him coming in second.
“For some of the folks it might seem like ‘hey man’ you’re second place, but we’re in there. This is a huge, wonderful sign,” said Ramirez.
DeMaio’s Gonna Gloat
Two local elections were something of a proxy battle between two warring factions of the Republican Party. Assemblymember Carl DeMaio’s team won, again. Every time local Republican leaders unite to oppose him or the people he supports, DeMaio wins. This time it was about two races: the one to replace County Supervisor Jim Desmond and the one to replace State Sen. Brian Jones.
In the county supervisor race: San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones left no doubt she would make it to the runoff. The only remaining question is who will face her — Vista Mayor John Franklin or Kyle Krahel, the former chair of the Democratic Party. After the first votes were counted, Krahel held a slight advantage with 20 percent of the vote compared to Franklin’s 19 percent. DeMaio went all in for Jones and she led the field with more than 41 percent of the vote.
In the state Senate race: As expected, former San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott made the runoff for the state Senate District 40 seat. She got nearly 45 percent of the votes counted so far. The real question was who would go with her. That Republican battle between Kristie Bruce-Lane and San Marcos City Councilmember Ed Musgrove seems to have also gone DeMaio’s way with Bruce-Lane holding a 4.7-percentage-point advantage over Musgrove.
That’s not enough of a gap to call the race but it’s significant.
Teachers Union Pushed Barrera to Runoff in Statewide Race
The race for State Superintendent of Public Instruction became something of a flex test for the state’s largest teachers union. Could the California Teachers Association almost singlehandedly lift a relatively unknown San Diego board member over a bevvy of better financed, higher profile candidates? Yup. Easily.
Fueled by nearly $5 million in spending from the state’s largest teachers union, longtime San Diego Unified Trustee and labor-darling Richard Barrera sailed to a convincing second place finish in the race for state supe. In his nearly two decades as the power behind the throne of the second largest district in the state, Barrera has engineered a progressive labor friendly transformation that the union hopes can be taken statewide.
He will now face off against Republican Chino Valley Trustee Sonja Shaw in November.
Brews and News + Your Chance to Win Padres Tickets
Meet our team and get an election debrief at our Brews & News Live Podcast at Soda Bar on Thursday, June 11. We will be joined by San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera. Get your tickets here and you’ll be automatically entered to win two tickets to a Padres game. Winners will be announced at the event.
Obligatory note: No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or win the Brews and News Live Podcast Giveaway. A ticket purchase or donation will not increase chances of winning. All applicable federal, state, local and municipal laws, rules, and regulations apply. Void where prohibited by law.
In Other News
- Opinion: A retired lifeguard finds irony in SDG&E’s stance on residents putting solar panels on their balconies. The company once argued against rooftop solar because it was unfair to renters, but now, he writes, “a low-cost system allows most of those same people access to solar, but SDG&E seeks to deny them as well.” (ICYMI: Our MacKenzie Elmer wrote that plugging in such a device could put her at risk of getting her power cut.)
- San Diego County officials warned South Bay residents to limit their exposure to the outdoors after a broken pipe spilled millions of gallons of sewage into the Tijuana River. (Union-Tribune)
- NBC 7 reports that a judge ruled that the city of San Diego illegally collected parking ticket late fees for three years.
- About that cross-border tunnel: The U.S. Attorney’s office says a recently discovered, massive tunnel stretching from Tijuana to Otay Mesa leads to a fake store in the southern San Diego neighborhood. Four people have been charged in connection with drug trafficking linked to the tunnel.
The Morning Report was written by Jakob McWhinney, Mariana Martínez Barba and Will Huntsberry. It was edited by Will Huntsberry, Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña and Scott Lewis.
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