After being dormant for roughly four months, three of the City Council's policy committees come roaring back to life this Wednesday and Thursday -- Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods, Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations, and Environment. POLICY! YES!!

Remember, if you'd like more detail on anything summarized here, click the agenda, then click on the item. Over on the right side of the page, you'll see links to a staff report and other pieces of supporting material.

Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods -- Wednesday, July 15

The PS&LN Committee meeting, chaired by Councilmember Monica Montgomery, starts at 9 a.m. The agenda begins with a consent item that won't be discussed unless someone wants it to be -- a request for a concession agreement with the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition for Building 191 at the Naval Training Center Park as a bike center.

The big issue on the discussion agenda is a proposed ordinance establishing rules for the City's acquisition and use of surveillance technology and an ordinance establishing a Privacy Commission. 

These proposals emanate from controversy over the City's Smart Streetlights program regarding privacy concerns and rising cost. In January, the City's Sustainability Department, which runs the program, presented to the PS&LN Committee a draft policy on use of the data captured by the smart streetlights. The committee rejected that proposal and directed the City Attorney's office to work with committee staff on a new proposal. The two ordinances being presented here are the result of that process.

We'll quote from the staff report here:

The Transparent and Responsible Use of Surveillance Technology Ordinance requires essential transparency, accountability, and oversight for all surveillance technology proposals, and it ensures the public has the opportunity to learn about the civil rights and civil liberties impact of surveillance technologies before local officials acquire them. If acquired, technologies must be reexamined to ensure any benefits outweigh the civil liberties and civil rights costs.

The Privacy Advisory Commission would provide advice and technical assistance to the City of San Diego on best practices to protect citizen privacy rights in connection with the City's purchase and use of surveillance equipment and other technology that collects or stores citizen data.

Here's the rest of the discussion and information agenda: 

• Complete Communities: Play Everywhere: The City is in the process of considering the proposed Complete Communities program, a multifaceted initiative to facilitate equitable, healthy, and sustainable neighborhoods across San Diego. It's focused on four areas: housing, mobility, parks, and infrastructure. One of its components is Play Everywhere, which includes the City's Parks Master Plan, as well as a new park development impact fee to replace existing community-focused park development impact fees to enable the City to create more parks more quickly.


• San Diego Fire Department Response to COVID-19: The San Diego Fire Department will fill the committee in on its activities related to the pandemic. 

Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations -- Wednesday, July 15

The ED&IR Committee meeting, chaired by Councilmember Chris Cate, starts at 2 p.m. The agenda begins with a single consent item -- a compensation agreement with Civic San Diego for the construction of the Park Boulevard At-Grade Crossing, Downtown Wayfinding Signage, and Imperial Avenue Streetscape Improvements projects.

The highlight of the discussion agenda will be a conversation about what to do with a 20,000-square-foot piece of City-owned property -- known as the Popular Market Site -- located on the south side of Broadway, between Park Boulevard and 13th Street in East Village. Last July, the Kilroy Realty Corporation bought the rest of this particular block from the Salvation Army, as well as the full block directly to the east, between 13th and 14th streets. Kilroy wants to buy the Popular Market Site and turn both blocks into a mixed-use development of office and retail. Problem is, as a former asset of the Redevelopment Agency, the site is supposed to be used for affordable housing. While not interested in using this site for housing, Kilroy is reportedly open to helping further the City's affordable-housing goals some other way. The site has been valued at $7 million by Kilroy's appraiser, $8 million by the City's appraiser.

Here's the rest of the discussion and information agenda:

• Donating end-of-life computers to San Diegans in need: The City's Information Technology Department will ask the committee to consider an ordinance allowing the City to donate desktop computers that have reached the end of the line for City workers but are still useful. They would go to the San Diego Futures Foundation, which would refurbish them and distribute them to some of the estimated 30,000 households in San Diego that don't have computers. Currently, there are 2,271 computers ready to be donated.


• Modification of Loan to 900 F Street Partners: The Economic Development Department is recommending that the committee support a modification of terms of a loan that it made to 900 F Street Partners, developer of a 115-unit apartment project at -- you guessed it -- 900 F Street in East Village. The original loan, for acquisition, construction, and carrying costs, was worth $3.3 million. The current outstanding loan balance of nearly $5.3 million includes $1.7 million in principal and nearly $3.6 million in accrued interest. The proposal is for all of that to be converted to principal and for the payments to be turned from variable based on cash flow to fixed. The loan termination date would be extended from 2051 to 2061, as would the income and rent affordability restrictions on the 86 affordable apartments in the project.


• 2020 State Affairs Update: The committee will hear a report from the Mayor's Government Affairs team and representatives from the City’s state legislative consulting firm on state legislative issues and the City's advocacy objectives.


• Small Business Relief Fund Update: The committee will also get an update on the status of the Small Business Relief Fund, which was created in March to help local small businesses struggling due to COVID-19 keep employees on the payroll. The City originally seeded the fund with $6.1 million, which was quickly exhausted. As part of the new budget approved last month, the City Council added another $12.8 million to the fund from the federal CARES Act. The Economic Development Department will break down how much has gone out so far and what businesses have received funding.

Environment -- Thursday, July 16

The Environment Committee's special meeting, chaired by Councilmember Jennifer Campbell, starts at 1 p.m. The agenda includes just one item, and it's a big one -- consultant reports on the City's proposed franchise agreements for gas and electric service.

Way the heck back in 1970, the City signed a 50-year franchise agreement with San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) to provide gas service and electricity to residents and businesses within city limits.

(To imagine what it was like for the people of 1970 to look ahead to 2020, just imagine yourself looking forward to 2070! Actually, they conjured flying cars and jet packs, while we try to avoid picturing a Mad Max-type scenario, amirite.)

Anyhoo, with the agreements expiring next January, the City enlisted NewGen Strategies & Solutions to perform a valuation of SDG&E's infrastructure, study what severing ties with SDG&E entail if another entity were to win the new franchise, and look into municipalization of gas and electric infrastructure. And the City hired JVJ Pacific Consulting (JVJ) to draft recommendations for what a new franchise would look like. 

On Thursday, NewGen and JVJ will discuss their findings and recommendations with the committee.

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Only City staff and credentialed members of the press may attend these meetings in person. However, anyone can participate and make comments by dialing 619-541-6310 and entering the access code 877861 followed by # when the item you're interested in comes up (full call-in instructions). Watch the meetings on cable TV channel 24 or AT&T channel 99, or stream it online.

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