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VOLUME 27 NUMBER 11
District 1 likely to change in city’s redistricting process
MARCH 10, 2011
‘Dance with my father’
In the last issue of the Carmel Valley News, reporter Joe Tash did a story on the redistricting likely to occur for the county of San Diego. The story below focuses on the city of San Diego’s redistricting issues. By Joe Tash It’s 2011, so it must be time for San Diego City Council redistricting. Every 10 years following the U.S. Census, local and state government entities are required to rebalance their legislative districts to ensure the populations are as equal as possible. The idea is that if district populations become lopsided, the ballots cast by voters will not carry equal weight. In the city of San Diego, the process of redistricting actually began last year with the appointment — by a panel of retired judges — of a seven-member redistricting commission that will have the final say on drawing the boundaries of City Council districts. This is the second time such a commission has been appointed in San Diego, following a 1992 ballot initiative that established the process. Previously, the City Council set its own district boundaries. The 2010 redistricting commission will have one additional job that its counterpart in 2000 didn’t face — creation of a ninth council district, mandated last year when city voters permanently adopted the strong mayor form of government. “We’re definitely creating history,” said Anisha Dalal, a high school principal and chair of the redistricting commission. The commission has been holding regular meetings since October, and plans to ramp up its activities in the coming months. Public hearings are scheduled for March 21 and 22, when commission members and staff will provide an overview of the process for the public — the “who, what, when, where and why of redistricting,” said Midori Wong, the commission’s chief of staff. Both hearings will start at 6:30 p.m. The meeting on March 21 will be held at the San Diego Metro Operations Center, 9192 Topaz Way, while the March 22 meeting will be held at the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, 404 Euclid Ave. Public hearings will also be held in April and May in each of the eight existing council districts before the commission files its proposed redistricting map, along with eight more hearings after the map is filed. Final adoption of the new district boundaries is expected in August. Those dissatisfied with the map can challenge it by putting a referendum on the bal
See REDISTRICTING, page 18
JOHN R. LEFFERDINK
619-813-8222
Jim and Samantha Quinlan (left) and Frederick and Edith Kamme (right) take part in Carmel Del Mar and Torrey Hills Elementary School’s 8th annual Father Daughter Dance held March 6 at Del Mar Marriott Hotel. See page B12 for more. Photo/Jon Clark
McClain case against Del Mar school district moves forward By Marsha Sutton A San Diego Superior Court ruling on Friday granted a motion to strike attorneys’ fees from the wrongful termination lawsuit filed against the Del Mar Union School District by former superintendent Sharon McClain, who was hired by the DMUSD in September 2008 and released March 31, 2010. “This was a motion to strike attorneys’ fees that the district filed, and it was granted,” said Ryan Church, an attorney with the law firm of Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz, which represents the school district on this case. “She wanted attorneys’ fees under government code section 800, so the court has now struck those,” Church said, “so she would not be entitled to attorneys’ fees under that government code. It’s not a major motion. It just takes out a portion of a complaint.” Church said the motion was unopposed by McClain and her attorney. McClain’s attorney, Los Angeles-based Dale Gronemeier, said he chose not to challenge the motion “because they’re correct.” He said he expected this motion and said McClain is now “pretty well barred from getting attorneys’ fees.” But Gronemeier said McClain gains something by not challenging the motion. “In order to take this position, they have to give up another position,” he said. The original complaint, filed Sept. 17, 2010, named the DMUSD and four individuals as defendants: attorney Dan Shinoff, former DMUSD trustees Annette Easton and Katherine White, and current trustee Doug Perkins. The First Amended Complaint, filed Oct. 8, 2010, removed the four individuals’ names, leaving the DMUSD as the sole deSee CASE, page 6
Councilman: Pension, retiree health care reform key to city’s ‘Roadmap to Recovery’ By Karen Billing District 5 San Diego City Council member Carl DeMaio said San Diego really has two options in dealing with the more than $72 million deficit expected in fiscal year 2012: “Gut and cut” city services or reform. DeMaio leans strongly toward the latter with his 90-page “Roadmap to Recovery” that assumes that no tax increase will be big enough and no service cut deep enough unless the city reforms the pension program and retiree health
care system. DeMaio has been sharing his plan across the city since November and made his most recent stop at the Carmel Valley Recreation Center on March 2, an event attended by about 40 people. DeMaio said the plan, created by his diligent staff and with extensive help from city attorney Jan Goldsmith, proposes solutions that can balance the budget without making any more cuts to city services—over five years he thinks the city can save $737 million
in retiree health and pension costs and $304 million in savings from reorganization and new delivery models of city services, such as opening up 11 different services to competitive bidding. The roadmap was able to balance the budget with a 4 to 6 percent reduction in salaries. He said people have already paidthe price as far as cuts, with reduced library hours, staffing at parks and recreation
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See RECOVERY, page 19
CONNIE SUNDSTROM
LISA KELLEY
858-334-8114 858-880-5242