ZOMG!! Three committees are in action this week!!! The Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee and the Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations Committee both meet on Wednesday. And the Environment Committee meets on Thursday. For background on the agenda items mentioned here, click on the agenda, then click on the item and find the staff report and supporting documents over on the right. Committee meetings take place on the 12th floor of City Hall, 202 C. St., Downtown. You can watch them on Channel 24 on Spectrum and Cox cable, or stream them on CityTV.

Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee -- Wednesday, Feb. 12

Just three items on the agenda for the PS&LN Committee, chaired by Councilmember Monica Montgomery -- highlighted by a presentation from the San Diego Police Department on the education and training it's providing for officers and recruits on how to deal with resistance, de-escalate tense situations, improve human relations and cultural awareness, and interact with people suffering from mental illness.

The presentation will include comparisons to other large U.S. cities and a rundown of new legislation governing police response to resistance.

Also on the agenda:

• STAR/PAL Update. STAR/PAL (Sports Training, Academics, and Recreation / Police Athletic League) is a nonprofit organization that partners with the San Diego Police and County Probation departments to empower underserved and at-risk youth through free programs that focus on violence prevention, mentoring, leadership, civic engagement, outdoor enrichment, and physical fitness. This will be the first program update in more than two years.


• Committee work plan for 2020. Council rules state that each policy committee must develop an annual work plan and post it online. The PS&LN Committee will approve its work plan on Wednesday.

The committee meeting starts at 9 a.m.

Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations Committee -- Wednesday, Feb. 12

The first ED&IR Committee meeting of 2020, helmed by a new chair, Councilmember Chris Cate, starts with principles and priorities and ends with progress (or lack thereof). Alliteration!

Kicking off the agenda is a review of the city's 2020 State and Federal Legislative Platform. Prepared by the Mayor's government relations team, the legislative platform serves as a blueprint for how the city will react to state and federal policy proposals and advance its goals in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. Its guiding principles are:

• Preserving Local Control


• Promoting Fiscal Stability


• Supporting Funding Opportunities

And its specifics are broken down into categories:

• Homelessness, Housing Affordability & Neighborhood Services


• Infrastructure, Water Reliability, & the Environment


• Jobs & the Economy


• Open Government & City Funding


• Public Safety


• Veterans Affairs


• Workforce Development & Youth Opportunity.

Tune in and see what the committee members think.

Next, the committee will approve its work plan for 2020.

And finally, the committee will be presented with reports from two external organizations:

• San Diego Workforce Partnership. The Workforce Partnership recently looked into the relationship between child care and economic development, and the results weren't pretty. Here's how committee staff summarized the report: "According to the study, child care options in San Diego are 'scarce, inconvenient, unaffordable, and of varying quality.' In addition, the study found that on average the cost of child care for two young children takes up 40% of the budget for a family of four. Many employees in San Diego have a hard time securing child care which, in turn, affects businesses and the economy, and creates a $57 billion loss in earnings annually nationwide."


• San Diego Tourism Marketing District (SDTMD). SDTMD is a nonprofit organization representing the lodging businesses in San Diego that pool their money to market San Diego as a destination to the rest of the world. Under its agreement with the city, SDTMD must present an annual performance report that summarizes its goals, accomplishments, returns on investment, and expenditures. This is that.

The committee meeting starts at 2 p.m.

Environment Committee -- Thursday, Feb. 13

Lots of business for Chair Jennifer Campbell and the committee to take care of here (full agenda), and for us, the highlight is the 2019 Climate Action Plan (CAP) annual report, presented by the city's Sustainability Department. Adopted in December 2015, the CAP sets a goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half, and using only renewable sources of energy, by 2035. The annual report will detail progress made as of calendar year 2018, compared with the baseline year, 2010. Here are the highlights, according to the sustainability folks:

• 17.6 percent growth in sustainability-related jobs


• 15 percent reduction in residential energy use


• Per capita water use has decreased 14 gallons per day


• 8,800 linear feet of sidewalk constructed or improved in 2018


• 42 miles of bike lanes added or improved in 2018


• 65 percent of waste is diverted from the landfill in 2018

In a related item, the Sustainability Department will present another report, this one on the Climate Equity Index. The index is a tool the city will use to make sure that all residents benefit from the solutions in the Climate Action Plan. The CAP identifies "Communities of Concern" that are economically disadvantaged and/or vulnerable to environmental-health issues. The city assembled folks from organizations that work in these communities, and one of the things they did was develop this Climate Equity Index.

They found that 125 out of 297 census tracts in San Diego show very low to moderate access to opportunity. Of those, 13 have very low access to opportunity, 48 have low access, and 64 have moderate access. The 13 census tracts with very low access to opportunity are in the communities of Barrio Logan, Lincoln Park, Nestor, the Tijuana River Valley, Logan Heights, Palm City, Mountain View, Stockton, Grant Hill, Southcrest, Teralta East, and Shelltown. These communities are home to a disproportionate number of people of color.

Staff will lay out a series of actions the city can take to bring greater opportunity to these communities.

Also on the agenda:

• Youth vaping and its environmental impacts. County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher will make a guest appearance to present an overview of how the County of San Diego is cracking down on flavored tobacco products.


• Cigarette Butt Pollution. The committee will hear a report on the environmental impacts of tobacco products from the Cigarette Butt Pollution Project, which includes researchers from San Diego State University, the Surfrider Foundation, San Diego Coastkeeper, the California Product Stewardship Council, the San Diego Tobacco Control Coalition, and other public health and environmental groups.


• Waste-services agreement with Republic Services of San Diego. The city's current contract with Republic Services to pick up garbage from city facilities expires at the end of March. Republic submitted the lowest bid on a new contract, so city staff is recommending a five-year contract extension. 


• Sewage Transportation Agreement. The committee will consider a recommendation to allow the City of El Cajon to continue to discharge its sewage into San Diego's sewer system. Under the agreement, El Cajon would pay approximately $160,000 in sewage transportation charges; $891,428 retroactively for past operation and maintenance of East Mission Gorge Pump Station, and about $100,000 annually going forward; and $3.6 million for already-completed sewage-facility projects.


• Work plan for 2020. The Environment Committee will be the final one to set its priorities for this year.

The committee meeting starts at 1 p.m.

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