San Diego, CA
This budget season, San Diego asked the public to take a first-ever survey. It faced some limitations.
As Mayor Todd Gloria has prepared his budget proposal for the next year, the city says its leadership has factored in a range of considerations for what to prioritize — including the results of a recent survey that led San Diego residents to give their own input.
The survey, which launched in February and closed Friday, asked San Diegans to weigh in on which city services they care most about and which ones they would feel comfortable reducing, especially as the city faces a $146 million deficit for the coming fiscal year.
It was the first time the city conducted a budget survey. But the survey, built by the city’s Performance & Analytics Department, faced some limitations.
There was no set limit to how many times a person could take it, although residents were asked to respond just once. It was technically possible for people outside the city to respond, though they weren’t supposed to. And the city only offered it in two languages, English and Spanish.
Some community members questioned how the results could accurately represent city residents and their different needs.
“Survey data can sometimes be taken as the word, but it’s not necessarily always reflective of what the full community is saying,” said Erin Hogeboom, director of San Diego for Every Child, when the budget’s first draft was released last month.
The budget the mayor proposed last month included cuts to several services, including $11 million from arts and culture and reductions to funding for parks, libraries and youth services. He is set to release his revised budget next Wednesday.
The city closed the survey on Friday. It will share a final report of the responses with the mayor early next week before the revised budget is released, said city spokesperson Nicole Darling.
By the time it closed, the survey received more than 13,000 responses from across the city, and just over 12,000 respondents included their council district. The largest share of responses, at about 2,600, came from District 3 — which covers the neighborhoods around Balboa Park and downtown. It was followed by Districts 2, 7 and 1.
The fewest responses came in District 8, which includes Barrio Logan, Grant Hill, Shelltown, San Ysidro and Otay Mesa, at 572.
Respondents were asked about which city services they most want to protect. They could also identify city services — from parks and open space to homeless programs to graffiti removal — that they would feel comfortable reducing, on a scale of very unacceptable to very acceptable.
The latest results through Wednesday show respondents are most concerned about poor street and sidewalk conditions, homelessness and housing costs. They want to protect street repairs and resurfacing, police and fire-rescue services from funding cuts, according to the city’s survey data.
Responses show that the biggest share of survey takers — 40% — prefer to see a mix of some service cuts and some new revenue to address the city’s financial crisis. Slightly fewer, 37%, said they preferred eliminating some city programs to preserve others.
Over 70% said they wanted to see new revenue come from hotel or tourism taxes. Just 15% said they want new revenue to come from additional parking fees.
The priorities recorded in the survey, centered around the city’s core services, haven’t changed in the months that the survey has remained open, Darling said.
But Bob Lehman, executive director of San Diego Art Matters, says he feels that the survey guided takers toward certain responses and didn’t provide enough context about the impacts of cuts.
The bulk of the questions listed groups of city services that survey takers could rate on whether or not they thought cutting funding for that service would be acceptable.
“It kind of shapes what your response is, when core services are listed alongside arts and culture,” Lehman said. “Without any context, people are nudged towards protecting the obvious essentials.”
The city says the groups of categories were random and that there was no limit to how many times the survey taker could select one of the ratings on the scale for those questions.
Mark Baldassare, survey director at the Public Policy Institute of California, said it’s a good sign that the city has asked for feedback from the public, especially when big financial decisions must be made. But he stresses that analyzing the survey should go beyond the top-line results.
“You have to be careful that it’s going to be representative and … that you’re looking at different age groups, different income groups and different parts of the city, to make sure that you’re not missing any important details about how city services need to be delivered in times when the budget is in stress,” he said.
The city’s survey included optional demographic questions, including a respondent’s age, income level and race and gender. But Darling says the survey wasn’t meant to be a “statistically representative sample, but rather a snapshot of resident perspectives.”
Most of the survey questions were optional. The only required response was a respondent’s ZIP code, though the survey could be submitted with a ZIP code outside of the city limits. In late April, the city said that fewer than 1% of responses were invalid or from outside the city’s ZIP codes.
On its webpage, the city asked respondents to take the survey only once — but there was no way to prevent them from submitting a response multiple times, which the city acknowledges was a limitation.
The city says the survey is just one of several factors informing the mayor’s budget decisions — with others including legal obligations, economic conditions, departmental needs and the city’s responsibility to maintain services like public safety, infrastructure and homelessness response.
“The survey is one tool to understand how residents are thinking about tradeoffs in a difficult budget year,” spokesperson Joya Patel said. “It does not drive decisions on its own.”
San Diego, CA
Coast Guard intercepts 17 suspected migrants off San Diego coast
SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The crew of the Coast Guard Forrest Rednour caught 17 suspected migrants aboard a panga-style vessel about 10 miles off Sunset Cliffs Sunday.
At around 1:18 a.m., the Sector San Diego Joint Harbor Operations Center watch standers received notification from a Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento HC-130 Hercules aircrew of a vessel near the southwest of Point Loma.
The team found 17 suspected migrants abroad, claiming Mexican nationality and one unaccompanied minor claiming Guatemalan nationality.
They were later transferred to U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations for transport to Ballast Point, where they were taken into U.S. Border Patrol custody.
San Diego, CA
Dog Beach visit sends San Diego pup to emergency hospital with meth exposure
OCEAN BEACH, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — A San Diego man is warning other dog owners after a recent trip to Dog Beach landed his pup in the emergency room with meth exposure.
Luckily, that pup is doing just fine now, but only after being rushed to the hospital, where his owner spent around $1,000 in vet bills.
“It was like a 30-hour ordeal. He had sedatives seven times and even on sedatives, he is just going crazy. He had to be held down,” said Justin Voeller.
It’s a day at Dog Beach in Ocean Beach Voeller will never forget. For his four-legged friend, Angus, it could’ve ended his life.
Late Tuesday morning, the 8-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was doing what he always does at Dog Beach — playing by the water. Then a quick dash towards the dunes.
“When we got him, he was sniffing some feces, so we grabbed him away from that. Took him home everything seemed fine at first,” said Voeller.
Angus’ pupils were dilated and he couldn’t hold still so Voeller rushed him to the ER.
“He already had a fever of almost 107, and they said that they were worried that he was going to get so hot that he would fry his little brain,” said Voeller as he described the ordeal.
Then a drug test proved his suspicion. “He tested positive for methamphetamine,” said Voeller.
Dr. Danielle Clem with the San Diego Humane Society said quick action offers the best chance of survival. “Some of these symptoms can progress to death, and so that would be the ultimate consequence, but they could even cause permanent damage. These drugs can sometimes affect the nervous system, the heart,” she said.
Clem added that while it’s not something they see often, it’s not unheard of, and while immediate medical care is best, some overdose reversal medications are safe.
“Narcan is effective in dogs just as it is in humans, but depending on the toxin, it may not be effective,” said Clem.
Meanwhile, Voeller wants other dog owners to be alert after seeing social media chatter of a similar incident the same day.
“I saw the post though on OB Social and that’s how I knew someone else was dealing with it so that makes us want to stay away for a while,” said Voeller.
He also noticed something else in the comments he believes deserves attention.
“Over 300 comments, and I think a lot of the angst was directed at the unhoused population here, which is unfortunate. There’s so many times when people want and need help and they’re turned away because there’s no available place for them at the time so it’s something that the city needs to address,” said Voeller.
Clem said pet owners can help keep animals safe by staying aware of their surroundings, keeping dogs leashed and reinforcing training.
San Diego, CA
Griffin Canning lets game get away early as Padres start trip with loss to Orioles
BALTIMORE — The Padres scored right away and repeatedly on Friday night, but the Orioles just did better against the wild starting pitcher they faced.
Griffin Canning’s command showed up late and appeared only briefly at Camden Yards, and the Orioles scored three runs in each of the first two innings on their way to a 7-3 victory.
“Any time you get seven runs as a starter,” Orioles starter Shane Baz said, “the world is your oyster.”
It can’t be said the Padres never had a chance, despite being down 6-2 early.
They stranded runners at second and third base in each of the first two innings and another in the third and finished 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position en route to dropping the opener of a nine-game trip.
“We tried to battle there,” Manny Machado said. “We could have (stayed) in the game a little longer if we had scored a couple runs there when we had an opportunity, and we didn’t.”
What can be asserted is that it was a minor miracle both starting pitchers completed five innings.
Between them, Canning and Baz threw 196 pitches before they were lifted at the start of the sixth.
The Orioles just did far more with Canning’s inability to locate many of his 93 offerings.
“Just not very good,” Canning said. “… It doesn’t feel good right now.”
The seven earned runs Canning allowed were second most he had ever surrendered in 118 career starts.
Four of the five walks he issued and five of the six hits he allowed came in the first two innings.
The Padres took an immediate 1-0 lead, thanks in large part to Orioles third baseman Coby Mayo being unable to handle a routine grounder by Fernando Tatis Jr., who stole second base, went to third on Xander Bogaerts’ infield single dribbled up the first base line and scored on Gavin Sheets’ double.
Canning would throw 10 strikes among his 21 pitches in the bottom of the first. One of the pitches he put over the plate was hit 105 mph on a line and another was his 389 feet to the seats.
The inning began with walk to Taylor Ward, who went to third on Gunnar Henderson‘s hard single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Adley Rutschman.
Canning then made his best throw of the inning when he stepped off the rubber and got the ball to Tatis at second base to get Henderson attempting to steal for the second out.
But Canning went back to throwing balls to Pete Alonso, who drew a four-pitch walk before Samuel Basallo launched a changeup left in the heart of the strike zone well beyond the wall in right-center field to put the Orioles up 3-1.
Baz’s wildness helped the Padres to a run in the second.
Ty France took a pitch off his elbow guard, and Will Wagner drew a four-pitch walk to start the inning before Freddy Fermin’s fly ball moved France to third. Tatis followed with a single that scored France. Both runners moved up on Jackson Merrill’s groundout before Machado grounded out softly in front of the plate.
Canning began the second by walking Colton Cowser before Tyler O’Neill looped a single into center field, moving Cowser to third. He scored from there on Jackson Holliday’s sacrifice fly.
Canning struck out Ward for the second out before Henderson hit a grounder at 104 mph back up the middle that almost certainly would have resulted in a double play had Canning not slowed it with his glove. Henderson’s infield single was followed by Canning’s fourth walk and a two-run single by Alonso that got just under Machado’s glove and into left field.
Bogaerts walked to start the third inning, and he reached second on Samad Taylor’s one-out single before a strikeout by France and groundout by Wagner made the Padres 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Two half-innings in which no one reached base ensued, and Canning was an out from getting through a second consecutive scoreless inning when he left a sinker up and on the inner third of the plate, about where every left-handed hitter with any power loves to see pitches. And Henderson, who does have some power, hit his 14th home run of the season to extend the Orioles’ lead to 7-2.
The Padres succeeded in getting Baz to throw a lot of pitches in the first three innings. But he got through the fourth in 12 pitches to bring his total to 86. And he finished five innings after Machado’s lead-off double and a one-out single by Sheets got the Padres their third run.
Canning followed a walk of Alonso with a double-play grounder and a strikeout to finish his night.
Wandy Peralta and David Morgan kept the deficit where it was, but four Orioles relievers worked a scoreless inning apiece.
Really, though, this one was lost at the beginning.
“To keep momentum going, you’ve got to get off to a good start, and we just got off to a bad start,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “We scored a run, but then you don’t have a shutdown inning and give up three, and that puts us behind the eight ball. We score another one. We’re right back in the game and then give up another three-spot. Just tough for us to keep the positive attitude and the momentum going on our end.”
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