Activists Sue City to Block Flock

A coalition of refugee and civil liberties advocates this week sued the city of San Diego seeking to shut down the city’s network of Flock police surveillance cameras.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, a refugee advocacy organization, along with the ACLU, urged a judge to shut down the surveillance system, calling it a violation of residents’ constitutional right to privacy and a waste of public funds.

“We must recognize that flawed surveillance technologies like [Flock cameras] put us all at risk,” said Homayra Yusufi of the refugee organization.

A spokesperson for the San Diego Police Department said the city does not comment on pending litigation.

The suit calls the city’s Flock cameras a “mass surveillance system” that collects license plate, location and other information about cars throughout the city. It then stores the data, shares it with other agencies and makes it available to police officers for 30 days.

Police used the database to conduct close to 250,000 searches last year, the suit says.

“Most drivers are unaware that San Diego’s police department is tracking their locations and do not know the extent of what all their compiled saved location data can reveal about their private lives and activities,” the suit says.

San Diego city Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera voiced support for the lawsuit. 

“For years, San Diegans asked the city to invest in [the] community instead of spending millions on creepy surveillance,” Elo-Rivera said in a statement. ”More than 200 cities have ended their contracts with Flock and similar companies this year. San Diego should follow their lead.”

City Council “Slush Fund” Enters National City Mayor’s Race

National City Councilmember Marcus Bush this week launched an effort to abolish controversial discretionary funds that city budget hawks have derided as a “slush fund” for elected officials.

Councilmembers currently get $100,000 which can be used to hire staff or pay for other city-related expenses. The money is separate from their part-time council salaries. 

Bush, who is running for mayor, plans to bring his proposal before the City Council next week. 

“I want to zero them out,” Bush said of of the discretionary budgets. 

Bush said city councilmembers should lead by example and eliminate non-essential expenses at a time when the city faces a multimillion-dollar deficit.

Plus, he said, “There have been instances of abuse.”

Bush actually was the main driver behind the city’s initial decision in 2023 to award each city councilmember – but not the mayor – a $100,000 annual discretionary fund.

At the time, Bush argued councilmembers, who earn a $1,701 monthly stipend plus benefits, deserve equal status with the full-time mayor, who earns $5,733 per month, plus a car allowance.

Critics immediately lambasted the funds as a waste of city resources with no guidelines to ensure they were properly spent.

Two years ago, the City Council censured fellow Councilmember Jose Rodriguez, who also is running for mayor, for allegedly using staff he hired with his discretionary fund to boost his 2024 re-election campaign. Rodriguez denied the allegation.

Can a Non-Democrat Still Win an Election in San Diego?

That’s what voters in San Diego’s City Council District 2 will decide this November.

The race pits former Coronado Mayor (and now Point Loma resident) Richard Bailey against Deputy City Attorney Nicole Crosby. The two will debate at Politifest this Saturday. 

Bailey has lots of proposals that might appeal to residents of his coastal district weary of City Hall incompetence and inaction. He wants to trim city staff, hire more police and even rebuild the Ocean Beach pier with an unspecified public-private partnership.

But Bailey is also a former Republican who changed his party identification to independent earlier this year. He’s on record supporting President Donald Trump. 

Can he withstand a Democrat who will relentlessly make that connection?

It’s a question that could be asked of the entire city. Voters are down on the current state of San Diego governance. Will they blame Crosby as part of the problem? Or will antipathy toward Trump override every other fact about Bailey?

The debate between these two candidates is sure to be one of the most-watched at this weekend’s Politifest. Read the full story here and get your tickets here.

In Other News

• Federal prosecutors on Wednesday unsealed hate crime charges against three men who allegedly went on a racially-motivated rampage last year at the Oceanside pier, seriously injuring three people, including two Marines. (Union-Tribune)

• The nearly 50-year-old California Wolf Center in Julian is expanding its efforts at a time when federal protections of endangered wolf species are faltering. The center has been instrumental in bringing back from near-extinction the local Mexican gray wolf. (KPBS)

• Authorities temporarily closed the Otay Mesa border crossing Wednesday morning after discovering what they called a “suspicious package.” The crossing reopened after roughly an hour of stalled traffic. Officials did not give further details about what prompted the closure. (Union-Tribune)

• Some lawyers and policy experts are voicing alarm at a little-discussed provision in Measure A, the county charter reform measure on the November ballot. Lawyers say a provision giving elected county supervisors the ability to fire the county’s public defender without cause could politicize legal representation for vulnerable San Diegans. (inewsource)

• Didn’t get to watch surfers riding the big hurricane-generated swell that pounded the San Diego coastline earlier this week? We’ve got you covered. Check out these action shots by local photographer Matt Swinden.

The Morning Report was written by Jim Hinch. It was edited by Will Huntsberry.

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