On May 8, 2012, the Port of San Diego Board of Port Commissioners and the Chula Vista City Council unanimously approved the financing agreement for the Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan (CVBMP).  Following a decade-long community participation and planning process, the actions taken by both governing bodies are the first steps in implementing a plan designed to transform 556 acres of Chula Vista’s underused industrial bayfront landscape into a thriving residential and resort destination on San Diego Bay.

The terms of the financing agreement reinforce the feasibility of this important project, said Port of San Diego Commissioner Ann Moore. The unanimous votes underscore the Port of San Diego and City of Chula Vista’s alignment and focus on our end goal a world-class bayfront.

The financing agreement formalizes the ongoing partnership between the Port and City, and identifies revenues necessary for infrastructure improvements that will provide public access to Chula Vista?s waterfront, and protect key habitat areas. Following approval of the CVBMP by the California Coastal Commission, the Port and the City will collaborate on the preparation of an updated market study, which will be used to create a future Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to select a developer for the project.

The agreement by the Port and the City of Chula Vista is another milestone in what has been a deliberate and thoughtful process to establish a sustainable plan for our bayfront, which is in great need of improvement, said Chula Vista Mayor Cheryl Cox. The goal has been to balance economic development with environmental preservation, and now we have taken another significant step.
The CVBMP is expected to create and sustain thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in investment and revenues for the South Bay region and it will provide a much-needed economic benefit to the businesses located on the two existing yacht marinas. In the project?s first 20 years, the plan should generate approximately $1.3 billion for the regional economy, including more than $11.5 million in annual tax revenues. It also will create more than 2,200 permanent jobs, nearly 7,000 construction jobs and numerous indirect jobs.

Approximately 230 acres (more than 40 percent) of the project?s total acreage is dedicated to parks, open space and habitat restoration/preservation; with 130 acres identified for new publicly accessible parks and open space. These areas will include promenades, bike trails and other public access areas linking the entire bayfront. A 46-acre Signature Park, also is a major element of the plan.

The financing agreement announcement follows the recent news that Dynegy South Bay, Inc. selected a contractor to demolish the above-ground structures of the non-operating South Bay Power Plant, which is currently located on Port of San Diego tidelands and located inside the boundaries of the CVBMP site. Additionally, during the closed session portion of the Board of Port Commissioner’s meeting on May 8, the Board directed staff to negotiate an amendment to the Marine Group Boat Works, LLC (Marine Group) lease, provided that the amendment to the lease is brought back to the Board for approval by its July 12, 2012 meeting.

About the Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan
At 556 acres, the Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan (CVBMP) will transform Chula Vista’?s underused industrial bayfront landscape into a thriving residential and world-class waterfront resort destination. The Plan will establish thousands of new jobs, create new public parks, protect natural coastal resources, provide conference and visitor-serving amenities and build an important asset for the San Diego region, the South Bay, Chula Vista residents and coastal visitors. The CVBMP is the result of a decade-long joint planning effort by a broad coalition of stakeholders, the Port of San Diego, the City of Chula Vista and Pacifica Companies. The Plan represents the last significant development opportunity in Southern California and is anticipated to be considered by the California Coastal Commission in summer 2012.

About the Port
The Port of San Diego is the fourth largest of the 11 ports in California. It was created by the state legislature in 1962 and spans five Port cities Chula Vista, Coronado, Imperial Beach, National City and San Diego. The port oversees two maritime cargo terminals, two cruise ship terminals, 17 public parks, the Harbor Police Department and the leases of more than 600 tenant and sub tenant businesses around San Diego Bay. The Port of San Diego is an economic engine, an environmental steward of San Diego Bay and the surrounding tidelands, and a provider of community services and public safety.

About the City of Chula Vista
The City of Chula Vista is located at the center of one of the richest cultural, economic and environmentally diverse zones in the United States. It is the second-largest City in San Diego County with a population of nearly 250,000. Chula Vista boasts more than 50 square miles of coastal landscape, canyons, rolling hills, mountains, and a variety of natural resources and quality infrastructure. Established neighborhoods, contemporary communities, start-up firms, corporations, nationally recognized entertainment venues, the nation’s only warm-weather Olympic Training Center, and award winning nature center.

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Hundreds of parents and teachers rallied outside Monday night’s Sweetwater Union High School District board meeting, expressing their anger about the layoffs their school district is facing.

Sweetwater Union board meetings have become volatile since some board members were criminally charged for using their positions for personal gain. On Monday night, there were at least three Chula Vista police officers outside the meeting and four security guards inside.

Though there was not enough room for everyone inside the meeting, those standing outside made sure their voices were heard. Some had megaphones.

The district is facing a $27 million deficit. At issue Monday evening was a controversial vote to lay off about 200 teachers.

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The Chula Vista Elementary School District has appointed longtime educator Glendora M. Tremper as its newest trustee. Tremper, a bilingual language-speech and hearing specialist and former student services coordinator at South Bay Union School District, was sworn in by Superintendent Francisco Escobedo at a special board meeting Monday night at the Education Service and Support Center.

Board members, minus Douglas Luffborough who was absent, unanimously approved Tremper, 57, to replace Russell Coronado who resigned in March, citing “personal reasons.” Tremper will serve out the remainder of his term which ends in December.

The board decided not to fill the vacancy through a special election because of its estimated cost of $770,000 to $800,000. Casting its net throughout the community, the district received 12 applications and winnowed the field down to two candidates, Tremper and John Mendez, a local businessman with four children who are current or former school district students.

Tremper and Mendez made brief presentations and answered questions posed by trustees at Monday’s special meeting.

“We can’t go wrong with either candidate,” said board member Larry Cunningham during discussions. “The easiest way out is to expand the board.”

Board President Pamela Smith said in her 18 years on the board, she has been through the process of choosing a new member four times, but “this is the toughest in terms of neck and neck candidates.”

This is third time since 2007 the board has appointed a new member. Trustee David Bejarano was chosen out of a pool of 39 candidates in 2007 after Cheryl Cox stepped down following her election as mayor of Chula Vista. Luffborough was selected out of 23 applicants in 2009 after Bertha Lopez resigned to serve on the Sweetwater Union High School District board.

Born in Cincinnati, Tremper is currently a lead language-speech and hearing specialist at River Springs Charter School in Temecula. She was coordinator of student services for South Bay Union School District for nine years, and a bilingual language-speech and hearing specialist for that district for seven years.

Tremper has a master’s degree in speech-language pathology from San Diego State University and a bachelor’s degree in speech-language pathology from the University of Texas at El Paso. She lives in Chula Vista with her family and has a 6th grade son in the Chula Vista Elementary School District.

caroline.dipping@utsandiego.com; (619) 293-2823
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In an effort to give the community an opportunity to see various areas of the police station, the Chula Vista Police Department has partnered with 360i Tours, to offer a virtual police station tour.

Every year, the Police Department receives a great amount of requests for station tours from the community. Unfortunately, the present staffing levels do not allow police department personnel to fulfill all requests for tours and the ability to provide a virtual tour will reduce the need for personalized tours. The virtual tours will also serve as a recruitment tool, allowing police department applicants from all around the world the ability to see what kind of working environment the Chula Vista Police Department provides.

Through the police department website, the viewer will be able to observe the following locations:

· Firearms Range
· Jail Cell
· Communications Center
· Roll Call Room
· Community Room
· Exterior of Station/Law Enforcement Memorial
· Men’s Locker Room
· Interior Courtyard
· Crime Lab

The tour is accessible online at www.chulavistapd.org and can be viewed on a desktop computer or on an iPhone/iPad by downloading the 360i Tours App.

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But wait, there’s more! On March 31, the Chula Vista Firefighters will be hosting their Second Annual Easter Egg Hunt at Mt. San Miguel Park at 8:30 a.m.

Activities include car seat safety and child fingerprinting, arts and crafts for kids, police and fire dog demonstrations, fire equipment displays, and more. Admission is free, however, there is a limit on the number of participants. Last year over 700 kids
and parents enjoyed the event. A free ticket is required to participate in the Egg Hunt, and can be picked up at any of the City’s nine Fire Stations between 8 a.m.and 5 p.m. seven days a week.

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Chula Vista City Councilmember Rudy Ramirez, Democratic Candidate for the 79^th Assembly District will be meeting with community members at 3 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 25, at Starbucks Coffee, 5030 Bonita Road, CA.

Rudy has been visiting neighborhoods of the 79^th District, meeting with voters and exchanging ideas with them in an informal environment.

This is an extension of his work as a Chula Vista City Councilmember. Once a month Rudy goes to neighborhoods with city staff to meet with residents to discuss their issues and make city government more responsive to their needs.

Rudy, a two term Chula Vista City Councilmember, organizer of the International Friendship Games and local businessman, is running for State Assembly to restore the California promise of opportunity for all. He is committed to rebuilding our state infrastructure, access to affordable education and healthcare, defeating childhood poverty, creating jobs through innovation and dedicated to a more creative and responsive state government.

The 79^th Assembly District includes more than 200,000 voters in Mission Valley, portions of East San Diego, Lemon Grove, Eastlake, Bonita and East Chula Vista.

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The public is invited to help the City of Chula Vista meet its budget challenges. City finances are getting back on track thanks to the hard work and dedication of residents, community and business leaders, as well as City officials and staff. While progress has been made through pension reform, a leaner workforce, and efficiency measures, more work needs to be done.

Reduced state funding along with decreased sales and property taxes have slashed the Citys coffers.

Without additional revenues, it will be difficult to maintain existing services and impossible to provide more.

Join City staff at a public workshop to share your ideas for increasing revenues. The open-house workshops will be held Thursday, February 23, at Otay Ranch Town Center – enter the Food Court and follow the signs to the location next to Nestle Toll House Café, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Input also may be provided by using an interactive form at www.chulavistaca.gov/goto/budget. In addition, a special telephone line is available to record your budget revenue suggestions. Please call (619) 407-3556 and leave your message.

These revenue enhancement ideas will be shared with the City Council and staff as contribution into
the development of the Fiscal Year 2012-2013 budget.
For more information, contact Anne Steinberger, Marketing and Communications Manager, at
asteinberger@chulavistaca.gov.

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Following a ruling by Superior Court Judge Richard E. L. Strauss dismissing a recent challenge from the City of Chula Vista, a trial date has been set for a class action suit seeking millions of dollars in restitution for allegedly illegal utility taxes levied by the City on cell phone users within its boundaries.

The lawsuit stems from a now outdated tax — levied on users of telephones, electricity and other utilities – which was introduced in 1970 and generates more than $9 million in revenue for the city each year.  An attempt by the City to amend the law with Proposition H in 2010 was defeated by voters.

According to Thomas Penfield, a partner with San Diego-based Casey Gerry and co-lead counsel, the City of Chula Vista recently filed a legal objection to the suit — technically known as a demurrer — which challenged the sufficiency of complaint.  “The City cited its local ordinance which said you cannot file a class action for a tax refund,” said Penfield. In their briefs, Penfield and co-counsel James Capretz of Orange County-based Capretz & Associates argued that municipalities are not permitted to enact their own patchwork means of claiming tax refunds. “The judge agreed with our argument and ruled in our favor – stating that state procedure overrules the local ordinance,” Penfield explained.

According to Capretz, the case is now set to go to trial January 18, 2013.  “This is about a flagrant violation of the law and disrespect for the will of the people,” he said.  Ultimately, “the City of Chula Vista’s illegal taxing of its citizens shows a dangerous disrespect for the law.”

“Through this class action, we seek a refund for back taxes unlawfully collected over the years,” Penfield added.  “Chula Vista taxpayers are entitled to a refund of all utility users taxes (UUTs) improperly collected for the maximum period permissible, along with all other relief provided by law.”

The City of Chula Vista – the second largest City in San Diego County — is taxing without authority, Penfield said. “The tax on cell phones is illegal, as the law introducing it was passed before the invention of cell phones,” he said. Moreover, “the UUT is automatically added to the monthly charges and embedded in detailed billing statements, so most tax payers are not even aware of the tax. The monies collected were siphoned from the local economy and belong to the cell phone using residents of Chula Vista, and in all fairness, should be returned,” said Penfield.  “That’s what fair and responsible representatives would do.”

About Casey Gerry
San Diego’s oldest plaintiff’s law firm, Casey Gerry was founded in 1947, and since then has worked to help recover hundreds of millions of dollars for families and individuals who have suffered serious injury or lost loved ones. The firm’s 13 attorneys practice in numerous areas, including asbestos, personal injury, product liability and pharmaceutical litigation. Located at 110 Laurel St. in the Banker’s Hill neighborhood of San Diego, the firm also has a satellite office in Carlsbad, Calif.  For more information, call (619) 238-1811 or visit the website at www.caseygerry.com.

About Capretz & Associates
James T. Capretz is the principal of the Newport Beach law firm of Capretz & Associates, a firm that emphasizes complex civil and multidistrict litigation in its practice. He is consistently listed in the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Registry of Preeminent Lawyers. He was the only attorney in private practice named in the initial publication of the top 50 most influential business people in Orange County by the Orange County Business Journal. He has held positions of responsibility in federal class action lawsuits across the United States. He is a charter member of the prestigious Santa Monica-based RAND Institute for the Civil Justice, So Cal 50 Executive Committee. His contact number is 949-724-3000 and website is www.capretz.com. His firm is primarily involved in mass tort litigation over defective pharmaceutical drug and medical devices, consumer protection law, public law and class actions.  The firm represents clients across the US and globally.

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By Wendy Fry

City Council members pushed ahead Tuesday with the idea of changing the way the city elects its representatives by dividing Chula Vista into districts.

The council decided 3-2 to ask voters in November whether officials should be elected from specific neighborhoods. Currently, candidates run in at-large elections, meaning all council members are chosen by all city voters.

There are different types of district elections. Methods can include election by districts or residency requirements on specific seats of the council with an ultimate citywide vote, along with other hybrid models. Which method the council will put forward to voters, and whether the ballot measure would include a map, has yet to be decided.

Mayor Cheryl Cox and Councilwoman Pamela Bensoussan opposed the motion to move the issue forward, but Bensoussan said she supports asking residents to decide. She indicated she voted against Councilwoman Pat Aguilar’s motion because it specifically excluded a requirement that a panel of neutral judges select the committee to draw the maps.

“Ms. Aguilar’s motion allows the council to be more involved in designing its own districts. I believe this is ill-advised and could at the very least have the appearance of politicizing the process,” she later explained.

Aguilar said she was not definitively supporting the concept of district elections for Chula Vista, only the idea of pushing the question out to voters.

The City Council asked the Charter Review Commission last summer to make a recommendation for the upcoming June ballot. With several details undecided, coupled with a March 9 deadline for the June ballot measure, the council decided to hold off until November when there will also be more residents turning out to vote.

Proponents say district elections help reduce campaign costs and limit the influence of special interests. District elections are also often aimed at preventing disenfranchisement of minority voters. Currently, a majority of the council members are of Latino heritage.

The concept for Chula Vista came forward last year with tentative maps that split Chula Vista into quadrants with H Street and the 805 corridor as the dividers. Those lines would have put Aguilar, who lives near Bonita, in the same district as former councilman and now-Sweetwater trustee John McCann. Aguilar is not up for re-election until 2014. The map would have also placed council candidate Mary Salas, a former assemblywoman, in the same northwest quadrant as Bensoussan. Salas is running for seat four, which is held by Deputy Mayor Steve Castaneda, who lives in southwest Chula Vista and is termed out this year.

Four members of the public all spoke in favor of the change.

“District elections is the model for a local representative democracy and is good for both the voters and candidate’s representation of the American values, basic rights and principles,” said Jerry Thomas of the Southwest Chula Vista Civic Association.

Former Otay Water District board member Larry Breitfelder, who is running for a council seat against incumbent Bensoussan and favors the change, has said there tends to be a disparity between the amount of city resources dedicated toward the west side of Chula Vista versus the more affluent east side.

But, that’s not because of a lack of council representation from southwest Chula Vista. A majority of current council members were elected while residing on the west side of Chula Vista. Councilman Rudy Ramirez has since moved to the east side, a relocation coinciding with his bid for a state Assembly seat in the 79th district.

Charter Review Commissioner Randy Bellamy, who was originally opposed to the idea, said the committee conducted extensive public outreach to gauge interest in a ballot measure before recommending the council move forward.

Results from seven public outreach meetings, mostly held on the west side, and online surveys indicated about equal support and opposition, Bellamy said.

Chula Vista has a population of about 250,000, according to latest census data, and it is the 14th largest city in the state. It’s also an ethnically diverse city with large Latino communities and smaller Asian neighborhoods, according to the latest U.S. Census data. The west side of Chula Vista has a median per capita income pegged at $32,000 a year compared with $80,000 in eastern Chula Vista.

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Councilman Rudy Ramirez will host his Public Office Hours at 6:00 PM on Monday, February 6, 2012 at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School at 2295 MacKenzie  Creek Road, Chula Vista, CA 91914.

Councilman Ramirez will be discussing an alleged housing scam where foreclosed homes are being rented out by a company that does not own the properties.

“Everyone has a role in stopping this type of fraud,” Ramirez said, “The City needs to take a lead in the situation.  We need to understand and then act on it.”

For more information, please contact Councilman Ramirez by phone at 619.585.5717.

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