Four months after increasing water rates, the San Diego City Council on Tuesday approved a program to help poor water customers pay their bills.
"Water is a human right," Councilman David Alvarez said. "We need to be focused on providing this ... to every person, so that everybody can have access to it and everybody can afford it."
The San Diego City Council's Rules Committee advanced a proposal from Councilman David Alvarez to increase the city's hotel tax by one cent in order to fund homelessness services. "To me there's a very clear nexus between promoting San Diego as a destination and making sure we have programs in place to ensure we don't have outbreaks, such as hepatitis A, or other dangerous pathogens," Alvarez said.
Read MoreAn effort to overturn San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s budget veto failed to win support Tuesday, despite strong criticism from angry Democrats on the council. Councilmember David Alvarez called the mayor’s action to slash district funds ‘shameful’, and criticized the mayor for “failing to show his face here.”
Read MoreThe San Diego City Council has announced plans Wednesday to sue the federal government over millions of gallons of raw sewage that poured into the Tijuana River. City Councilmember David Alvarez said that the City of San Diego will join forces with the cities of Chula Vista and Imperial Beach, along with the Port of San Diego, in taking the first step to prevent sewage spills in the future.
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