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A divided Escondido City Council has approved the 510-unit Palomar Heights project, a development that will replace the former Palomar Hospital campus with a mix of housing types and commercial uses advocates say will spur revitalization of the city’s downtown corridor. The project was approved last week on a 3-2 vote, with council members Mike Morasco, Tina Inscoe and Joe Garcia in favor, and Mayor Paul McNamara and Councilwoman Consuelo Martinez voting no. By the same margin, the council voted to exempt the project from a requirement to join the city’s Community Facilities District, a mechanism established by the council last year to recover the costs of providing city services to new developments. ....
Last week, the Phoenix City Council voted with a 5-4 majority to put the city s first civilian police oversight office on ice. With one of the councilmembers who voted against the ordinance to establish the office stepping down in the spring, the March runoff election to fill his seat could determine the future of police accountability in Phoenix. District 7 Councilmember Michael Nowakowski, who represents parts of downtown and southwest Phoenix and who voted against the ordinance, is leaving the council after a lengthy tenure. (Prior to the vote, Nowakowski said that more community outreach was needed.) Jockeying to replace him are the top-two vote-getters in the November general election who will advance to the March runoff: climate adviser Yassamin Ansari and Laveen Community Council member Cinthia Estela. Councilmember Carlos Garcia, a longtime proponent of police oversight, has said that the initiative is dead until Nowakowski is out of office. ....