National City Mayor Ron Morrison drives around town in a black Ford Mustang with a license plate reading, \u201cNATCITY.\u201d For 34 years, he has defined politics in his scrappy, diverse, working-class hometown.<\/p>\n
His surprise retirement announcement<\/a> last weekend marks the end of an era in an urban\u00a0 linchpin of San Diego\u2019s industrial economy. But Morrison is making his way to the door even as his city faces existential questions about its future.<\/p>\n City finances are headed toward insolvency<\/a>, we recently last week. And more fundamentally, a chorus of concerned residents says the city needs a new economic vision and a reset after years of turnover among top bureaucrats and dysfunction among elected leaders.<\/p>\n Morrison said he\u2019s proud of many accomplishments, most notably a renewal of civic pride following a previous era of rampant gang violence, widespread neglect and shady political dealings.<\/p>\n Even the budget, he said, could have been worse if he hadn\u2019t applied the brakes to what he called some of his fellow city councilmembers\u2019 free spending ways.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is realizing there\u2019s a problem and starting to realize the severity of it,\u201d he said. \u201cUntil you get to that point, nothing can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n Bonus: Go behind the scenes to see the taxidermy and Wild West arcana in Morrison\u2019s City Hall office.<\/p>\n Read the full story here.<\/a><\/p>\n What Bathroom Closures?<\/p>\n It was as inevitable as the tides.\u00a0<\/p>\n City Hall has reversed course on its disastrous decision to close half the bathrooms at Mission Bay Park. The 13 restrooms will be reopened until at least the end of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The closures united people across the political spectrum in fury \u2014 and only saved the city a meager half million dollars a year, which is far less than the park generates in lease revenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n Councilmember Raul Campillo had suggested in mid-July where Mayor Todd Gloria might find the money to reopen the bathrooms. Gloria said \u201cno.\u201d He said the city might run into other unexpected expenses in the coming months and also\u2026 El Ni\u00f1o<\/a>?\u00a0<\/p>\n The reversal itself is not quite so surprising as the frequency with which predictable reversals have occurred in recent years. From the quiet phase out of the Covid vaccine mandate for public employees to the very definitive reversals of paid parking at Balboa Park and the elimination of city arts funding, City Hall can\u2019t seem to stop stepping in it, as one former councilmember (and almost-mayor) recently put it<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you missed it earlier this year, read our Will Huntsberry\u2019s comprehensive takeout on Gloria\u2019s legacy<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n New and Related: In an op-ed San Diego researchers make the case for increased access to public restrooms across the city. \u201cDowntown is a sanitation desert \u2013 it lacks the basic water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure to support its residents and visitors,\u201d they write. Read more here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n RFK Jr. came to town Wednesday.<\/p>\n The secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services was in town to promote what Times of San Diego described as a \u201cfaith-based\u201d approach to housing.<\/a><\/p>\n RFK and several other federal officials heavily trashed what\u2019s known as the Housing First approach \u2014 which posits that getting people into housing, as opposed to treatment, is the first and most important step in getting homeless people stabilized.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRecovery requires treatment and accountability,\u201d Kennedy said, according to Times. \u201cFor many Americans it is a spiritual battle \u2026 We are giving state and local leaders a practical roadmap to help Americans win that spiritual warfare.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Someone posted a picture of RFK in the Gaslamp on Reddit. Check it out for the comments<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTell him the swimming\u2019s best off Imperial Beach. No snorkels, just raw dawg it champ. That\u2019s what real men do,\u201d one person wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n People who fight against new housing are notorious for making a multitude of arguments that, on their face, seem disingenuous. (It\u2019s ok to just say you think it\u2019s ugly, will mess up parking and irrevocably change the neighborhood\u2019s character.)\u00a0<\/p>\n A picture of a poem posted somewhere in San Diego, and circulating on X<\/a>, appears to add a very genuine list of new reasons to the NIMBY critique.\u00a0<\/p>\n A smattering of lines:\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cnew condos coming as in they\u2019re destroying an infinity of Palestinian life and culture\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cnew condos coming as in 56% of violence against women happens in the home\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cnew condos coming as in homes for hip cops\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the logic is a little harder to argue:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cnew condos coming as in ugly piece of shit\u201d<\/p>\n In Other News<\/p>\n Sharp HealthCare on Tuesday announced plans to layoff or reassign<\/a> roughly 260 employees in what the healthcare provider called a strategic \u201crealignment.\u201d The move, which leaders blamed in part on federal budget cuts, follows layoffs last year of 315 employees. (Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer on Wednesday proposed new ethics requirements<\/a> for county employees, including a two-year ban on lobbying for private clients following county employment and a ban on county employees\u2019 use of prediction markets to place bets on matters related to county business. (Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n