Rubber bullet grenades and pizza: How San Diego spent $50K for supplies prepping for Trump's...

[DonViejo]

Rubber bullet grenades and pizza: How San Diego spent $50K for supplies prepping for Trump's border wall prototypes

By Greg Moran

February 19, 2018 6:00 a.m.

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From Costco pizza and brown bag lunches to dozens of exploding grenades that hurl rubber balls in a 50-foot radius, San Diego police rushed to purchase $50,000 of supplies for security in the areas near President Donald Trump’s border wall prototype project, much of it motivated by concerns for mass demonstrations that never materialized, city records show.

The purchases were ordered and made in the weeks before and just after the Sept. 26 start of construction on eight prototype walls on a patch of federal land near the border on Otay Mesa. The project was ordered by the Trump administration, which has made building a wall on the border a centerpiece of its immigration policies.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in January that the city spent $826,354 on security, including about $227,500 in overtime and the balance in wages and supplies. The department was not providing security for the walls but patrolling and securing the area near the build — city streets in an Otay Mesa business park.

The newspaper then requested a breakdown of the $50,000 in supplies as well as other information. Those records produced this week show the extent to which city officials believed they had to prepare — quickly — for possibly large demonstrations against the project.

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http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/sd-me-wall-costs-20180219-story.html