Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre will break the current partisan tie at the county — hear from one political analyst about what that means. Then, Voice of San Diego CEO Scott Lewis again joins us with his take on the District 1 election. Also, find out why area beaches are subject to closure. And, from reporting partner inewsource, hear about a new affordable housing project in the heart of Chula Vista. Finally, we’ve got a feature story on the 100th birthday of the oldest roller coaster in the county.
Democrats retake control of county board of supervisors
July 3, 2025 at 5:00 AM PDT
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Thursday, July 3rd.
The deadlock at the county board of supervisors is ending …
We’ll have the latest on the election, next. But first... the headlines….
A recent survey finds rents are up in the county over the last year.
The Southern California Rental Housing Association says county-wide rents are up an average of four percent.
But in the city of San Diego, they’re up more than nine percent.
That’s after a decrease in the region of seven percent from 2023 to 2024.
As to why, the association says for 2024 demand was up, vacancies down and fewer new homes were built.
Fireworks go hand-in-hand with the 4th of July holiday, but D-I-Y fireworks bring extra fire risk.
Wildfire researcher Luca Carmignani told Midday Edition’s Jade Hindman about it.
“Fireworks basically act like embers and there’s hot particles there’s hot sparks that could land on a patch of dry grass and ignite it.”
He says wetting down your lawn is one way to prevent ignition.
However, the sale, transport and possession of fireworks of any kind is illegal in San Diego County.
CalFire and Sheriff’s deputies will be patrolling unincorporated areas to look for people violating the law.
Fines start at 50 to 100 dollars, but can be higher.
Expect slightly cooler temperatures today across the county and a warming trend over the holiday weekend.
Weekend highs near the coast will be in the mid to upper 70s, while it will be in the 80s and 90s inland.
The National Weather Service issued a beach hazards statement for San Diego and Orange County beaches.
Through Saturday evening expect elevated surf and strong rip currents to create hazardous swimming conditions.
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.
Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
IMPERIAL BEACH MAYOR PALOMA AGUIRRE HAS BEEN ELECTED TO THE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
AGUIRRE DEFEATED CHULA VISTA MAYOR JOHN MCCANN IN THE DISTRICT ONE SPECIAL ELECTION.
REPORTER ALEXANDER NGUYEN SPEAKS TO A POLITICAL ANALYST ON WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE COUNTY.
With Aguirre’s election … the Board of Supervisors will again have a 3-2 Democratic majority.In many ways … the results were not unexpected. Democrat Nora Vargas won this seat last year with more than 62 percent of the votes.Political analyst Carl Luna says Aguirre’s win means that the board can resolve some of its deadlocks.“providing they can pull themselves together to vote voters at block that will have impact on, immigration and relations between the county of San Diego and Ice and enforcement that will have impact on funding, medical care with, the budget cuts that are about to come down from Washington will have impact on allocating resources to affordable housing, transportation.”That also means tapping into the county reserves to backfill some of the expected funding shortfall from the federal government.Luna cautioned that could be a slippery slope if there’s an economic downturn.Alexander Nguyen/KPBS News
NOW THAT THE COUNTY SUPERVISOR RACE IS OVER, WE WILL BEGIN TO KNOW ITS IMPACT ON THINGS LIKE HEALTH POLICY AND IMMIGRATION. BUT IN OUR LATEST WHY IT MATTERS SEGMENT, VOICE OF SAN DIEGO CEO SCOTT LEWIS SAYS THE BIGGEST CHANGE COULD BE IN HOUSING POLICY.
We finally know which party will take control of the county board of supervisors, which could have big implications for how much new housing is built. This week, voters in South Bay elected Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre to sit on the Board – giving the Democrats a 3-2 majority. The issue with the most at stake may be housing. Aguirre’s election will have a big impact on how many homes can be built in San Diego County and where.The county is a vast area of land and it gets to decide what can be built on all the land that’s not part of cities. The county charges a fee to build in those areas to mitigate for how far people have to drive if they live there.Housing developers became so worried about how much those fees would be that they stopped building.Everyone has been waiting for this election. If Chula Vista Mayor John McCann had been elected, the county would have made it much easier to approve that housing with minimal fees. But Aguirre thinks that would just lead to unaffordable mcmansions in rural areas, hurting the environment. She wants housing concentrated in areas much closer to existing cities and villages. Now that her election has created a democratic majority on the board, it seems more likely her vision will happen.There was a lot of rhetoric in the race about the president, immigration, the border sewage crisis and public safety. But the most significant impact of the race will be on what housing can be built in the county and where. I’m Scott Lewis for Voice of San Diego and that’s why it matters.
BEACH ADVISORIES AND CLOSURES, DUE TO CONTAMINATION, WERE ANNOUNCED IN SAN DIEGO JUST BEFORE THE JULY 4TH HOLIDAY. SCI-TECH REPORTER THOMAS FUDGE HAS THE STORY.
One of San Diego’s biggest beach holidays comes with a warning this year. A handful of beaches up and down the county's 70 mile coastline have been affected by closures or contamination advisories. Imperial Beach is closed due to sewage contamination. A beach on Coronado’s Silver Strand was closed after a sewage spill, but was reopened later in the day. Heather Buonomo directs San Diego county’s environmental health department. She says beaches are closed following sewage or chemical spills. And reopening them depends on conditions. “The flow of the ocean, the direction of the swells. The wind. All of those really play into how quickly that sewage may be dissipated into the larger ocean and bringing those bacteria levels down.”A beach in Cardiff received a beach advisory, warning of heightened levels of bacteria. Buonomo said it resulted from dredging in the San Elijo Lagoon. Thomas Fudge, KPBS News.
NEW AFFORDABLE HOUSING IS COMING TO CHULA VISTA … BUT DON’T BRING YOUR CAR. INEWSOURCE REPORTING INTERN CHRISTOPHER EDWARDS HAS MORE.
CE: Chula Vista is loaning as much as 4 million dollars to help bring nearly 80 new units near Third Avenue. Most will be studios. But even though the project does not include any additional parking for residents, it still has support from most local elected officials. Councilmember Jose Preciado says it could offer housing for people who work in the service industry.JP: It's rare that you have this kind of pricing available.City officials say they plan to target renters who don’t have cars, and those who work nearby. For KPBS, I’m inewsource reporting intern Christopher Edwards.
INEWSOURCE IS AN INDEPENDENTLY FUNDED, NONPROFIT PARTNER OF KPBS. THIS STORY IS PART OF OUR PUBLIC MATTERS PARTNERSHIP. TO FIND OUT MORE, GO TO KPBS DOT ORG SLASH PUBLIC MATTERS.
TOMORROW MARKS A VERY SPECIAL BIRTHDAY FOR A SAN DIEGO ICON. THE GIANT DIPPER ROLLER COASTER AT BELMONT PARK WILL TURN 100. THE COASTER AND THE PARK HAVE BEEN THROUGH SOME GOOD - AND A LOT OF BAD TIMES. REPORTER JOHN CARROLL LOOKS BACK TO SHOW US HOW THE AMUSEMENT PARK AND THE COASTER GOT TO WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.
Belmont Park - on a sunny summer day…Between the rides - the arcade - the various food offerings… the place is bustling…And towering above it all… the Giant Dipper, which carried its first riders a century ago - tomorrow.But the story of this beloved ride, and the park in which it sits goes back even further…The year was 1914… John D. Spreckels had already lived in San Diego for 8-years having moved his family from San Francisco following the great earthquake of 1906.Spreckels saw opportunity everywhere he looked… including Mission Beach. That year, he and another man proposed a new resort for the area that is now Belmont Park. Sometime later, the resort plans turned into an amusement park, called the Mission Beach Amusement Center. Construction began in the spring of 1924… the first thing to be completed was a roller skating rink, that opened a year later… followed by the Plunge pool and a dance club.In early June, a permit was issued for construction of the roller coaster. Construction began immediately - and on July 4th,1925 - the roller coaster started rolling. Over the last 100-years, there have been setbacks… fires that seriously damaged the ride… at least one person has died on the Dipper, and - it’s almost been torn down more than once. But 100-years later and it’s still rolling strong.“Belmont has had - I mean, I grew up in San Diego. It has a bit of a checkered past.”That’s Steve Thomas… he’s the general manager of Belmont Park. Since 2011, it’s been owned by Pacifica Enterprises Management, a local, family-owned company. Thomas says they knew making this place a success once again would be a challenge.CG: Steve Thomas/Belmont Park General Manager“It was a bit of a fragmented park at the time, where you had a bit of the strip mall mentality with lots of different operators, and when Pacifica came in one of the goals was for us to start to buy up those independent operators and unify the park - and make a real solid and unified beach boardwalk.”The cost of making a real solid boardwalk amusement park has meant some major financial outlays over the years. When Pacifica began a restoration project for the Plunge pool in 2017, it was estimated to cost about 4-million dollars. By the time it reopened in 2019, Thomas says the cost had ballooned to 20-million. And then… there’s the constant upkeep of everything else… a challenge when you’re right next to the Pacific Ocean with its never-ending salty air.“We have a team of about 32 maintenance and facilities, some focused on the rides solely. We have dedicated coaster mechanics, plus dedicated ride mechanics, then we have a facilities and a paint team, so we’ve got 3 or 4 full time painters. It’s like the Golden Gate Bridge. They start at one end and they go around to the other.”“Every 3 years, we repaint Giant Dipper, just the whole thing, but it is a constant challenge, and it takes year-round work. We’re constantly replacing lumber, fixing, you know repairing parts.. It is never ending.”“Just for a rough number, it’s about 700-million people have been to Belmont Park in 100 years, and over 70-million Giant Dipper rides… It’s pretty fantastic. This past Tuesday - a special celebration marking the occasion, held on the second floor deck of the Plunge pool. It included a brief history lesson from Mayor Todd Gloria.“The Star of India arrived after Belmont Park was open, the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park came after Belmont, the Old Globe Theater, the El Cortez Hotel, the San Diego Padres weren’t even a minor league team at the time of the creation of Belmont Park, and San Diego State University did exist, but at the time it was San Diego Teacher’s College.”Finally - Back to the star of this coastal show and a bit of fact checking… by way of reporter involvement. … Full disclosure, I am a big roller coaster fan… so how does the Giant Dipper stand up at its century mark?Good enough to make this reporter laugh with childlike glee - just like the millions who’ve ridden these rails over the last 100 years. John Carroll, KPBS News.
That’s it for the podcast today. We’ll be off tomorrow for the July 4th holiday but we’ll be back Monday. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. The podcast was produced this week by Andrew Dyer and edited by Brooke Ruth. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.