Board of Supervisors Approves Redistricting

Here's a roundup of news from San Diego County for the week:

1. New districting in San Diego will take effect with the 2012 county Board of Supervisors elections. An ordinance to redistrict the county was approved at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. The change came about as a response to the public. Many districts will remain the same, but a few have changed, including La Jolla and 4S Ranch. A full list is available on the redistricting website.

2. Statewide prisoners will be begin being transferred to county facilities. In accordance with Assembly Bill 109, low-level state prisoners will be moved to county jails in order to combat overcrowding in many of the state’s prisons. An urgency ordinance will take effect with AB 109 Oct. 1. San Diego is expected to receive 4,000 prisoners. Part of the bill stipulates that there must be a plan to implement change.

3. San Diego County recently received $3 million to help prevent chronic diseases. The county and the Health and Human Services agency received the grant Tuesday. The money will be used in a plan to promote healthier lifestyles for San Diegans and to prevent diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

4. As part of breast cancer awareness month, the County Administration Center will be pink. Light fixtures will be tinted pink.

5. Five county parks will be improved. The Board of Supervisors voted to authorize improvement projects for parks in Julian, Fallbrook, Spring Valley and National City. Two parks in Spring Valley are on the list, which are Goodland Acres and Sweetwater Lane. The Goodland Acres Park will receive a new basketball court costing $100,000 and Sweetwater Lane will get an exercise path costing $250,000. Both projects are expected to be completed by spring of 2012.

6. The county won several awards for government innovation. The California State Association of Counties gave eight awards to San Diego County, the most received by the county. The honors included five merit awards, two Challenge Awards and the California Innovation Award.

7. New parking restrictions will prevent visitors from parking on residential streets near Cedar Creek Falls. The Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to approve the matter. Cedar Creek Falls has been closed since July when a hiker died at the falls. The board voted to restrict parking on weekends and holidays on certain residential streets.

8. The County Health and Human Services Agency is urging teens to receive meningitis and other preventative vaccines. Although meningitis is a rare disease, it can be fatal to anyone, including young people.  Approximately half of San Diego’s teens have not have not been vaccinated.

9. Although an outbreak of Listeria has been linked to cantaloupes from Colorado, no cases have been reported in San Diego. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 72 illnesses and 16 deaths have been reported. Only one case has been recorded in California, but San Diego authorities are carefully following the outbreak.