For National City leaders, some trucks appear to be better than others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A divided City Council on Tuesday voted to send a letter of support to the Port of San Diego endorsing a Port proposal to build a 4.8-acre electric truck charging station on Tidelands Avenue with capacity to recharge up to 70 big-rig trucks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The charging station, to be built by a Nashville, Tennessee-based electric vehicle infrastructure company called Skycharger, is part of a wider Port effort<\/a> to convert maritime operations from diesel to electric power.\u00a0<\/p>\n The letter councilmembers voted 2-1 to send to the Port on Tuesday voices city support for the project and urges Port officials to remain responsive to community input. Councilmembers Marcus Bush and Jose Rodriguez were not present for the vote. Bush, who is traveling in connection with his role as a Metropolitan Transit System director, appeared for part of the meeting via video but signed off before the port discussion.\u00a0<\/p>\n The letter supporting the charging project is short, about half a page. But it represents a remarkable turnaround.\u00a0<\/p>\n When Port officials first selected Skycharger to build the charging station in 2024, National City councilmembers, including Mayor Ron Morrison, voiced deep concerns<\/a> that the station would expose residents to increased truck traffic and possible lithium battery fire pollution resulting from truck accidents.\u00a0<\/p>\n Morrison and other councilmembers urged the Port to conduct a full environmental review of the project. Residents at a public forum voiced their own fears<\/a> about fires and new technology replacing traditional port jobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Port moved forward with the project anyway. In response to community concerns, officials held multiple meetings<\/a> with community groups and members of the public.\u00a0<\/p>\n In February, the Port released an Environmental Impact Report<\/a> that found the charging station would cause \u201cno significant environmental impacts.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Port officials delivered a lengthy presentation<\/a> to the City Council highlighting the project\u2019s pollution-fighting benefits and reiterating the environmental report\u2019s findings.\u00a0<\/p>\n The outreach seems to have worked. On Tuesday, following a brief discussion, councilmembers voted to send the endorsement letter.\u00a0<\/p>\n Morrison remained a lone holdout.\u00a0<\/p>\n In brief comments before the vote, he reiterated concerns about the risk of battery fires and cited increased city costs to pay for insurance related to fire risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSaying that we\u2019re wholeheartedly supporting this without addressing the concerns I think is rather disingenuous,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n This being National City, the Council took the opportunity to argue.\u00a0<\/p>\n Councilmember Ditas Yamane cut Morrison off in the middle of his remarks.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMr. Mayor, we heard that already,\u201d she said. The two raised their voices and interrupted one another.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou are out of order,\u201d Morrison said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I\u2019m not out of order,\u201d Yamane responded.\u00a0<\/p>\n The vote to support the charging station stands in marked contrast to the Council\u2019s vote last year to reject a proposed biofuels transfer project<\/a> that also would have brought increased truck traffic to the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n But that proposal involved diesel, not electric, trucks. And it would have elevated the city\u2019s role in San Diego County\u2019s petroleum infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n Residents roundly opposed the biofuels project. They packed Council meetings and spoke long into the night about their fears of seeing their communities turned into dumping grounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n In contrast, residents wholeheartedly supported the electric charging station.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI agree with this project,\u201d said resident and environmental activist Alicia Sanchez at a June 16 Council meeting. \u201cThat\u2019s what we need here in National City because it would help reduce pollution.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Residents to New City Manager: Watch Out\u00a0<\/p>\n Doug Schultze, National City\u2019s new city manager, got a very National City welcome from residents at Tuesday\u2019s City Council meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n A parade of public speakers addressed Schultze and said, in essence: We\u2019re glad you\u2019re here, but\u2026don\u2019t let those hooligans on the City Council bamboozle you.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYour many years of experience is going to be well, well received here,\u201d said local watchdog Ed Nieto, who is running for a seat on the Council. \u201cWe\u2019ve heard from the public how the Council interacts with the city manager\u2026We don\u2019t want you to fall into that same trap again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Nieto and other speakers Tuesday were referring to a widespread belief in the city that City Hall has been in turmoil<\/a> in recent years<\/a> and someone needs to rein in what many residents say is a fractious and, at times, out of control City Council.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe City Council has really guided itself for quite a few years,\u201d said resident Ted Gottschalk. \u201cThe city\u2019s financial condition, policy, budget, audits and reserves have been sliding downward during this time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Gottschalk warned Schultze that councilmembers \u201cwill try to manipulate your process to suit their personal political agendas and policies\u2026The government and the community would benefit from a city manager who walks the streets and halls to see for himself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019ve covered many government agencies during my time as a reporter. I have never seen residents warn bureaucrats against their own elected bosses.\u00a0<\/p>\n Residents\u2019 comments at Tuesday\u2019s meeting reflect a feeling of exhaustion and frustration in the city over worsening budget problems, vacancies on commercial streets, a lack of affordable housing and public safety concerns ranging from prostitution to the lack of adequate lighting at city parks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Overall, residents feel councilmembers (at least some of them) devote more time to bickering and burnishing their own future electoral prospects than to solving the city\u2019s problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n Schultze, a veteran city official with decades of experience in cities in California and Washington state, took it all in stride.\u00a0<\/p>\n Speaking in the level tone of a seasoned bureaucrat, Schultze said he was already making the rounds in National City to listen to community members, assess the city\u2019s problems and consider ways to move the city forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a significant budget deficit,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re actually in a position where we\u2019re at the edge of a cliff. And if we don\u2019t take drastic action, we\u2019re over the cliff.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n By the end of the discussion, the Council voted unanimously to solicit bids for an outside facilitator to stage a series of events, including a focused retreat, designed to help the Council and city manager work together effectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s basically been about three years now we\u2019ve had this rotation of leadership within management that has caused a lot of voids,\u201d said Mayor Morrison. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of fractures that need to be brought together so that we can effectively, as a group of individuals who are very different from each other, address the needs of this community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Bring on the Graffiti\u00a0<\/p>\n One final National City item so I can end this newsletter on a positive note.\u00a0<\/p>\n The city is just a few bureaucratic hurdles away from being folded into a very cool graffiti art event that will take place in South County July 15-19 as a sort of warmup to San Diego Comic-Con.\u00a0<\/p>\n Vision Culture Foundation, a local arts nonprofit, plans to host a day of live graffiti mural-making<\/a> July 19 at an industrial intersection in National City near a freeway underpass and the city\u2019s Public Works Department yard.\u00a0<\/p>\n The event will be part of a week-long international graffiti art festival called Meeting of Styles that includes other painting events in and around San Diego\u2019s Barrio Logan.\u00a0<\/p>\n