Category Archives: San Diego County

Power San Diego – Press Release

Contact: Dorrie Bruggemann, 515-974-9239

Initiative Launches to FIRE SDGE!
Aims to Create a Non-Profit Utility


SAN DIEGO – The Power San Diego Campaign today published its initiative to replace SDGE in the City with a not-for-profit, publicly-owned electric utility. Signature gathering to qualify the initiative for the City’s November ballot will begin in December.
“This is a campaign for those tired of paying the nation’s highest electric rates, for those tired of paying to provide more than $1 million of profits every day pocketed by SDGE,” said Bill Powers, chairman of the ballot campaign.
“It’s a campaign to cut utility bills and tap the enormous rooftop solar potential in our community. The Power San Diego campaign will bring a proven, not-for-profit model to San Diego, a model already providing cheaper electricity to millions across our country.”
California has an array of non-profit electric utilities, including in Sacramento, Los Angeles and smaller cities.
“The public utilities around our state are different but they share one characteristic,” said Dorrie Bruggemann, the Power San Diego campaign manager. “They all charge less – in some cases hundreds of dollars less each month– than SDGE.”
Studies indicate a non-profit utility in the City of San Diego could save individuals hundreds of dollars each year, while helping to expand clean, renewable electricity.
SDGE is on track to extract more than $440 million in profits this year from the pockets of the city’s utility customers. Making matters worse, SDGE expects their rates to continue rising by 10 percent each year.
As San Diegans pay the steep price of ever-rising profits for SDGE’s shareholders, one in four customers have fallen behind in their utility bills, racking up an average $600 in back payments due.
Wider availability of rooftop solar could cut costs for hundreds of thousands and help fight climate change. But SDGE has pressed for cuts in solar programs and supported utility taxes to make going solar much harder.
Why? Because rooftop solar threatens SDGE’s profits.
As a non-profit, Power San Diego would encourage the expansion of rooftop and parking lot solar.

It’s time for a change. The campaign’s citizens ballot initiative will create a not-for-profit power electric distribution utility in the City, to be known as “Power San Diego”, that will replace SDGE’s expensive electric
service.
Power San Diego would be directed by a five-member board with oversight by a Citizens Oversight Committee. The not-for-profit utility would need experienced workers and expects to fill most positions with former SDGE staff.
The new utility will welcome union representation and pay employees compensation and benefits equal to or better than those in their current collective bargaining agreements.
Power San Diego’s mission will be to serve the needs of San Diegans, be a good union employer and keep rates as low as possible, while protecting the environment. It will not need to satisfy demands for ever-growing profits from Wall Street investors.
Not-for-profit electric utilities continue to form around the country. Over thirty have been established in the US in recent decades, including New York’s Long Island Power Authority, which services far more customers than the City of San Diego.
In addition to providing lower rates, not-for-profit utilities are ranked high in customer satisfaction surveys. SDGE, meanwhile, ranks lowest the West on customer satisfaction.
Studies commissioned by the City of San Diego project that establishing a public power utility is feasible and a money saver. The Power San Diego campaign will conduct a signature drive to get its initiative on the ballot and, just as important, let residents know we have a choice: San Diego can have a utility that is accountable to its customers and provides affordable, reliable service!
The campaign to get the initiative on the ballot November of 2024 will require just over 80,000
signatures. Signature collection will begin December 7th and continue through May. A formal kick-off and signature-collection training event will be held at First Unitarian Church on Dec. 5th.
Power San Diego is an initiative launched by advocates and experts, along with a growing number of consumer, environmental and community groups. The campaign encourages SDGE’s customers in the City to visit our website, wearepowersandiego.com, and learn how
they can contribute to firing SDGE and create a not-for-profit utility in our community.

From the Archives – 1953

1953 aerial view of the Camino Del Rio (later US 80) / US 395 interchange, looking south. Courtesy – Caltrans

San Diego’s Mission Valley has changed quite a bit over the last century. It has gone from farms to condos. Dairys to grocery stores. Dirt roads to major freeways. In 1947, the first iteration of the current State 163 / I-8 interchange was completed as shown here. Left on and offramps were the order of the day. Challenge Dairy’s San Diego headquarters can be seen in the upper left corner of the interchange. Additional changes to the junction took place in 1959, 1978, and 1991. All of these bridges have been replaced but their legacy remains today with the outer ramps on either side of the 8.

Featured Image – 10/17/2022

I-805 at State 52

Shown here, I-805 (upper) crosses the 52 freeway (lower) at San Clemente Canyon. Built in 1972, it formed the eastern terminus of the 52 for many years. In 1987, was extended to Convoy St. I-805 also follows the former boundary between the San Diego Mission Lands (east) and San Diego Pueblo Lands (west). This becomes quite evident in the North Park area where Boundary Street runs quite close to the freeway.

Streetcar Tracks Exposed – Part 2

Ongoing roadwork in the North Park neighborhood in San Diego has exposed yet more streetcar tracks. This work is a part of a bikeway project which will add raised median islands and pedestrian signals to enhance safety along the route.

The tracks for the #2 San Diego Electric Railway line are temporarily exposed on 30th St at Landis St. Both sets of rails are at least partially exposed, with the southbound rails fully exposed and northbound with one side exposed. I doubt they will remain for very long.

Tracks exposed at Landis St on 30th St
Southbound tracks and one northbound rail exposed

Information on the roadwork from the City of San Diego and SANDAG:

Landis Street and 30th Street: Crews will implement traffic control and begin demolition activities to construct median islands, curb extensions, curb ramps, and pedestrian improvements (including installing Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacons or “RRFBs”) at the intersection.

From the Archives – 1960

Taylor St at US 80 (Now I-8) in 1960, looking east. Courtesy – Caltrans

The view is looking east from the Taylor St ramps on I-8, then signed as US 80, in 1960. A lot has changed in San Diego’s Mission Valley in the 62 years since this photo was taken. At the time, Mission Valley was sparsely developed with mostly open lands and dairy farms filling the valley. This would soon change as shopping malls, apartment buildings, gas stations, and hotels replaced those farmlands.

Some things haven’t changed. The house visible on the left side of the image is still there, as are the overpass and freeway ramps. Can you spot anything else that is still there today?