Mike Aguirre called Tuesday evening and said he just secured the endorsement of the San Diego County Democratic Party at the party’s central committee meeting.
Aguirre said Tuesday's meeting was the third time he’s presented to the committee. He said he sent committee members a document outlining in detail his position on various issues facing the city, and that he won the committee over tonight.
“I’m very proud of the committee for standing up for taxpayers and for labor,” Aguirre said. “I think that says something really positive.”
Aguirre’s key endorsement comes after his opponent, Jan Goldsmith, recently unveiled a string of supporters.
Goldsmith announced recently that he has the endorsement of Councilman Ben Hueso and this week the judge rolled out endorsements from a key Latina activist, Rachel Ortiz, and from the board of directors of the Retired Fire and Police Association, Inc., a group that represents retired public safety officials in San Diego.
Wednesday, July 9 -- 12:15 am
Edward Caballero will be reinstated as principal of Sherman Elementary School, Superintendent Terry Grier announced today at the San Diego Unified school board meeting.
The recent transfer of Caballero from Sherman, a mostly Latino school soon to open in Sherman Heights, to Jerabek Elementary, a Scripps Ranch Elementary school, had angered parents and teachers in both neighborhoods.
The board voted unanimously in closed session to reassign Caballero back to Sherman, Grier said.
As we reported last month, Caballero was instrumental in setting up a bilingual education program at Sherman and was subsequently reassigned to Jerabek against the wishes of parents at both schools.
Tuesday, July 8 -- 3:25 pm
After reading this story today about the tens of thousands of dollars in unseen bonuses received annually by officials at the Southeastern Economic Development Corp., Mayor Jerry Sanders sent a memo to the chairman of SEDC's board this afternoon demanding answers.
The mayor wrote:
I have followed the Voice of San Diego's coverage of SEDC and am very concerned about this morning's report regarding possible irregularities in compensation practices. I am now seeking your response to a number of important questions regarding your Board's oversight of compensation policies and practices.
One of the key elements of today's story is the fact that the president of SEDC, Carolyn Smith, paid herself tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars in bonuses and extra compensation without the knowledge of SEDC's board or the City Council, which sits as the city's Redevelopment Agency and oversees SEDC.
The mayor's spokesman, Fred Sainz, said earlier today that the mayor wants to establish for himself whether Smith was allowed to pay herself the bonuses, and whether, indeed, there was no oversight from SEDC's board.
The five board members (of a total of nine) reached for today's story said they had never had any discussions regarding paying Smith or other top officials' bonuses. They said they had no knowledge of the extra payments.
The mayor's memo asks the chairman of the board, Artie M. "Chip" Owen to answer a number of questions about how the bonuses are awarded and what oversight of the payments there is at the board level. (Owen himself is no stranger to SEDC-related controversy)
Owen didn't return calls seeking comment for today's story.
Tuesday, July 8 -- 2:48 pm
So I finally got in touch with the mayor's spokesman, Fred Sainz, to talk about the story we ran today on SEDC officials receiving tens of thousands of dollars a year in hidden bonuses and extra compensation.
I had called Sainz and other spokespeople at the Mayor's Office several times before running the story, but didn't hear back from anyone.
Sainz told me the mayor has seen the story and that, if everything I turned up is correct, the findings about SEDC are "very troubling."
Sainz said the mayor will send a memo to the chairman of SEDC's board today asking him to respond to one of the story's main thrusts: That the SEDC board had no knowledge of the bonus payments, and that SEDC's president, Carolyn Smith, was essentially allowed to determine how much her own bonuses would be. (SEDC's board chairman, Artie M. "Chip" Owen, has found himself in the middle of some SEDC controversy himself lately as well.)
I plan to get a copy of that memo.
Sainz explained why the mayor is concerned about the story, with the caveat that he hasn't yet spoken to the SEDC board.
"If this is, in fact, correct, it is violating any kind of internal control system for one to be able to approve their own bonus, and that's what this comes down to, not a raise or benefits of cost-of-living increase, but a bonus," Sainz said.
Tuesday, July 8 -- 2:04 pm As I pointed out in today's story, the top two officials at the Southeastern Economic Development Corp. have for years been paying themselves five-figure bonuses that are unseen by the agency's board of directors or the City Council.
One point I made in the story is that while SEDC's budget does make a vague allocation for certain bonuses and "miscellaneous" salaries and wages, in at least a couple of years that allocation has been largely swallowed up in bonuses and extra compensation for just the top two officials, President Carolyn Smith and Finance Director Dante Dayacap.
One thing I didn't mention, and that I just figured out, is that in fiscal year 2006-2007, the last year for which records are available, just Smith and Dayacap's bonuses and extra compensation appear to have exceeded the agency's entire budget for any extra compensation for all its employees.
In fiscal year 2006-2007, SEDC's budget listed a maximum of $94,000 that the agency could spend over and above base salaries. Just to be clear, that means that SEDC was cleared to spend no more than $94,000, total, on overtime, merit pay, bonuses, temporary positions and any "miscellaneous" payments to employees throughout the fiscal year.
But that year, according to a very conservative calculation of Smith and Dayacap's bonuses and extra compensation, those two officials earned at least a combined $110,000 in bonuses and extra compensation -- $16,000 more than the agency's budget for non-salary payments for all employees.
My calculation assumes that Smith and Dayacap saw a 20 percent increase in their benefits last year. I had to subtract those estimated benefits from the total compensation each employee received in fiscal year 2006-2007 because SEDC decided that year to include benefits in the "compensation" figures listed on its tax forms. I have asked them why they did that, but no one at the agency has answered my calls since last Friday. (In previous years, benefits were accounted for in a separate line-item.)
One thing to remember is that Smith told me in an interview two weeks ago that most of the bonuses -- i.e. the annual holiday bonus and the annual cost of living payment -- are paid to all employees, not just Smith and Dayacap. For example, all employees receive cost-of-living payments and holiday bonuses, Smith said. All employees also have the option to cash in on their unused holiday time and their unused sick days.
Then there are also the entire agency's overtime payments, and any temporary staffing they have to pay for.
As I mentioned in today's story, I can't, as yet, calculate how much all the other employees have received in these extra payments because the tax records for those employees aren't in SEDC's tax forms. But I will certainly be putting in a request to find out how much, in total, SEDC has been paying out in these hidden, unapproved, bonuses for the last few years.
I already know that SEDC exceeded its total allowance for such payments in fiscal year 2006-2007 just in paying Smith and Dayacap their extra bonuses and compensation. Once they provide me with the information on all employees, we'll have a better idea of how the amount paid in bonuses and extra compensation matches up with the budget.
Tuesday, July 8 -- 1:54 pm It's official. Today is "National Council of La Raza Day" in San Diego.
City Council this morning unanimously approved the resolution from Mayor Jerry Sanders and Councilmen Tony Young and Ben Hueso to honor the Latino rights organization.
Council approved the resolution over the strenuous objections of a few anti-immigration protesters, most notably Christian rights activist James Hartline.
National Council of La Raza is holding its annual convention in San Diego from Saturday through next Tuesday. Sanders is scheduled to speak at the convention on Monday.
Tuesday, July 8 -- 11:39 am After thinking about it for a few days, San Diego Independent Budget Analyst Andrea Tevlin has decided to travel to Sacramento Tuesday to be interviewed again for the open state legislative analyst job.
The high-profile position became open in recent months after Liz Hill, who has held the job for 22 years, announced her retirement.
Tevlin says she remains undecided as to whether she would take the job if offered. She was first contacted by recruiters for the state's joint legislative budget committee early last month, and confirmed last week that she had made it to another round of interviews.
"It's an honor to have been called," Tevlin said. "And it is something I should follow up on."
Tuesday, July 8 -- 11:07 am
The bureaucratic wheels driving San Diego's new internal auditing framework mandated by the voter-approved Proposition C slowly began to turn Monday.
In short, the screening committee that will provide San Diego City Council with candidates for its revamped audit committee now has three of its five members.
Council unanimously selected Councilman Kevin Faulconer to be its representative on the screening committee. Faulconer joins City Chief Financial Officer Mary Lewis, Independent Budget Analyst Andrea Tevlin and two financial experts to be named later. The experts are to be named by July 28, subject to council approval.
[Deep breath]
Then the full screening committee will begin a search for six qualified citizens to be candidates for the new audit committee. Once those six people are identified, the City Council will choose three of them, plus two council members to fill out the audit committee. The goal is for the audit committee to have its first meeting in early October.
Meanwhile, Mayor Jerry Sanders has to appoint an auditor who will report to the audit committee. Sanders spokesman Fred Sainz said Monday that there is not yet a timetable for the auditor appointment.
Read here for more about Prop. C.
Monday, July 7 -- 6:09 pm
Encinitas Union School District is pushing to shut down a charter school, alleging self-dealing, lying and secret meetings held by its board of directors.
Theory Into Practice Academy was asked to address a list of allegations in May, including that school director Deborah Hazelton pressured the board into hiring her husband Mike Hazelton for a $95,000 position. Five trustees, including the Hazeltons, resigned, according to the Union-Tribune.
Parents at the school sent a letter to the school district that stated, "We are confident that there will be future compliance at TIP Academy with all applicable requirements. If there was a lesson to be learned, it has indeed been learned."
In a May interview, one mother said she was unsure if mistakes were made, but the school's success should grant it a chance to restructure and fix the problems.
"My son would come home and say things like, 'Mommy, I'm a lifelong learner, did you know that? And you're a lifelong learner, too!'" said Susanne Hoover. When her son attended other schools, "I used to get answers like, 'We did nothing today.'"
But Encinitas school officials believe their response fell short and say their investigation turned up more problems, such as meetings that went undisclosed to the public. Their report concludes that three TIP trustees gained paid employment or consulting jobs with the school after joining the board, that one trustee got an unexplained $8,000 payment, and that Deborah Hazelton did use her influence to secure her husband's job.
"TIP Academy has lost credibility through their extensive violations, through their insufficient and inappropriate Response, and through their continuing inappropriate conduct," the report concluded.
Encinitas trustees will review the report at a school board meeting Tuesday. Read the full report here.
Monday, July 7 -- 6:01 pm When San Diego Unified posted a draft of potential projects for a proposed facilities bond, a few eyebrows shot up. The list included replacing sewer systems and wiring at brand-new schools such as Lincoln High School.
San Diego Unified's answer to the alarm? Oops.
"The new schools are not getting work they don't need via the proposed bond. ... We made a mistake," facilities spokeswoman Cynthia Reed-Porter wrote to me in an e-mail. "It was a computer glitch that occurred when creating that document, and we didn't catch it."
A revised list is now available to the public, replacing the older list we linked to last week. Trustees will review the bond projects Tuesday in a first step towards placing the issue on the November ballot.
Monday, July 7 -- 3:50 pm
San Diego City Hall has been inundated in recent days with hundreds of e-mails and scores of phone calls protesting a proposed City Council resolution to declare tomorrow "National Council of La Raza Day."
National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Latino advocacy organization, is holding its annual convention in San Diego July 12-15. Featured speakers include presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, as well as Mayor Jerry Sanders.
The resolution, sponsored by Sanders and council members Ben Hueso and Tony Young, will be voted on tomorrow morning. The e-mails and calls, which have been generated at least in part by local right-wing bloggers and radio talk show hosts, are largely angry and anti-immigrant in nature.
Here is an excerpt from what Sanders spokesman Fred Sainz described as a typical e-mail:
Anyone supporting the open degradation of America through the continued invasion of people who come here wantonly illegally is incredible to me.
Sainz said Sanders is "more than happy" to welcome La Raza to San Diego and speak at the convention.
"This is an important organization that represents an important perspective in the San Diego community," Sainz said. "They are no different than the NAACP or a lot of other groups dedicated pursuing their role in American society."
Monday, July 7 -- 3:47 pm
The New York Times' DealBook blog has this news about the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System looking to dig into the world of private equity.
San Diego's pension fund is still working its way out from under a huge shortfall that nearly bankrupted the city. The private equity business faces serious challenges of its own these days. So it might seem like a strange time for San Diego to start private equity investing.
But the sun-drenched city is taking the plunge.
The Times continues:
The allure may be especially strong for funds like San Diego's, which needs big returns to help close the gap between its assets and the benefits it has promised to workers.
Although few investment managers expect private equity funds to reap the stellar gains, sometimes exceeding 30 percent, of recent years, the profits may still be above what they could get from stocks or bonds.
One risk is that private equity funds tend to show small returns, or even losses, in the early years, a phenomenon often described as the J curve.
Even so, San Diego is hardly the only pension fund that is increasing its bets on buyouts.
You might remember that down the street at the county's retirement system, investments in hedge funds got the San Diego County Employees Retirement Association into some trouble. My colleague Scott Lewis wrote extensively about it in 2006.
Update: I originally paraphrased The New York Times story incorrectly by saying SDCERS was getting involved in hedge funds. While there are similarities between private equity and hedge funds, I should have been more careful. My apologies.
Monday, July 7 -- 5:56 pm
Volunteers who cleaned up after the July 4 holiday scooped up 4,000 pounds of trash from six area beaches, according to the Surfrider Foundation's local chapter.
That's an improvement from last year, when volunteers picked up 9,000 pounds of left-over litter. (The same number of volunteers, 1,000, came out this year and last year.)
The beach cleaner-uppers also dug 28,000 cigarette butts out of the sand this year, up from the 20,000 they found last year.
I wondered whether volunteers counted as they went or whether there's a designated cigarette-butt counter, so I called Bill Hickman, a spokesman for Surfrider's local chapter. He said volunteers tallied as they went. But he liked the idea of putting all the butts into one pile. "That'd be a great visual," he said.
Monday, July 7 -- 1:42 pm
A change in how San Diego Unified describes what services it will provide for each special education student has worried parents, volunteers and school district staff, who cited it as a top concern in an annual special education report.
Here's a short explanation of the change from an article I wrote in March on the issue:
Today, special education students who don't attend ordinary classes are split between four programs, which use different teaching methods and are tailored to different disabilities. Elementary schools, which tend to be small, usually host only a few of the programs, if any, at their sites. That means that many disabled students can't attend their neighborhood school.
Instead, specific schools that offer the programs act as magnets, drawing disabled kids from a larger region. Emotionally disturbed kids board buses to a handful of schools, where specially-trained teachers coach them; most mentally retarded kids head to another school, equipped with another specialist.
Those categories will vanish in name this fall, disappearing from the individual education plans that schools write for disabled students. And over the next two years, San Diego Unified plans to dissolve those categorized classes, which split kids among schools based on disability. Instead, disabled kids will attend their neighborhood schools, where a cadre of special education teachers will tailor the classes offered on-site to the kids.
The yearly report of a special education committee cited the changeover as causing "a great deal of confusion and misinformation," topped only by the perennial concern that San Diego Unified doesn't follow the legally binding plans. Other concerns are excluding disabled students from standardized testing and a lack of well-trained staff.
The school board will review the report Tuesday.
Monday, July 7 -- 11:20 am
San Diego Unified Superintendent Terry Grier is scaling back one of his first initiatives after hearing parent and principal complaints.
His original plan would keep all students in the same classes between kindergarten and second grade. It's called the cohort idea. Grier also wants to ban parents from choosing their child's kindergarten teacher, instead requiring that schools randomly assign students to classes.
Grier has told school board members and principals that the cohort idea will only happen at 30 schools. At all schools, principals will still be asked to randomly assign students to classes instead of bowing to parent requests.
Why was this controversial? School board member Mitz Lee said that Grier's mandate reminded some parents and teachers of the top-down directives of former superintendent Alan Bersin. The initiative was never approved by the school board.
"They don't want this one-size-fits-all thing like [Bersin's] Blueprint," Lee said. "We've been there before."
Parent blogger Paul Bowers has an interesting post about one aspect of this plan. (He also gives us props. But I'm not biased.) He gives his thoughts on a Grier e-mail that states that "our best teachers" should teach disadvantaged kids in their early years:
[W]hy is just fine and dandy that children who are not "particularly disadvantaged" (it’s too much typing, let’s call’em NPD and PD) are assigned these teachers who cannot do their jobs? Is there some standard by which staff should discriminate (ding! special word!) which children are PD from those who are NPD and thereby deserve the lower quality education? Should my family apply for the free lunch program or something so our child can qualify as PD?
I’ll grant you, in any workforce, there are employees who are stronger or weaker than some statistical norm. But none of the teachers we pay for should fall below the line of being unable to produce a minimum of one year’s academic growth.
Thursday, July 3 -- 3:43 pm
Want to know what a new San Diego Unified facilities bond would do for your neighborhood school? A tentative list of projects, broken down by school, is now available.
Even new schools such as Lincoln High School are slated to get repairs under the proposed bond list. Lincoln's list includes repairing "inefficient, outdated heating and ventilation systems" and replacing "frayed or aging wiring." Marshall Middle School is booked for new or repaired plumbing and sewer systems.
School board members will discuss the list Tuesday, but the bond is not likely to be finalized until a later meeting. If you notice anything interesting, please shoot me an e-mail at emily.alpert@voiceofsandiego.org.
Thursday, July 3 -- 3:00 pm Remember that whole back-and-forth over how much, exactly, San Diego Unified has in deferred maintenance? Those overdue repairs that get put aside when budgets drop or when other needs take priority?
The question of how big the problem is has proved sticky at San Diego Unified, alarming the San Diego County Taxpayers Association, which is concerned by the backlog.
Proponents of the new facilities bond are trying to clear up the confusion and win support from the Taxpayers Association with the help of a simple one-page document that breaks down the different kinds of repairs needed, and how much San Diego Unified spent on repairs during the last facilities bond, Proposition MM.
The Taxpayers Association hasn't given its verdict yet.
Confused? Let me jog your memory: A year ago, the school district estimated the repair backlog at more than $600 million. That number chagrined the San Diego County Taxpayers Association, which asked why the repairs hadn't been mopped up during MM.
Critics said a promise had been broken. The school district argued it hadn't.
Fast forward to this year. As San Diego Unified looks at a newer, possibly bigger facilities bond to succeed Proposition MM, the undone repairs were still a worry for the Taxpayers Association. And the school district was quoting a far smaller number for its deferred maintenance problem -- a trimmer $104 million -- and saying that the $600 million-plus number included other projects that weren't really deferred maintenance.
Taxpayers Association President Lani Lutar said the school district was either clueless or "playing games with the numbers." When it comes to public works projects, them's fightin' words. And the confusion persisted. A month later, Lutar was still worried that the new number seemed unreasonable.
So the outside consultants handling the bond campaign hammered out a simple one-pager that breaks down the repair and renovation numbers.
They total nearly $700 million. The smaller $104 million number that caused the confusion is from a state deferred maintenance program list that isn't an exhaustive rundown of every necessary repair, said Scott Barnett, who is consulting the campaign and was once the Taxpayers Association president.
Which number do you use -- $600-plus million or $104 million? It depends on how you define the problem -- and there haven't been consistent definitions of what deferred maintenance means. But Barnett hopes the list, which was sent to the Taxpayers Association, will help smooth over the confusion and win the group's endorsement for the facilities bond.
Check back next week for the latest in the deferred maintenance saga.
Thursday, July 3 -- 2:18 pm
My colleague David Washburn just got a call from the Navy wishing to respond to his story today on what the judge's recent ruling means for the future of the controversial development at Navy Broadway Complex.
This was the crux of Washburn's story:
The decision by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller requires that the Navy show its plans to the public and allow for input on how the project will impact its surrounding environment. But, lawyers on both sides say, the impact of the ruling will largely depend on how the Navy interprets it.
If the Navy sees the ruling as a mandate to complete a new environmental assessment on the project, it could lead to a more in-depth study, known as an environmental impact statement. If that becomes the case, then public input could significantly change the scope of the project, said Cory Briggs, a lawyer for San Diego Navy Broadway Complex Coalition, a group of activists opposing the project.
But Washburn's in Missouri celebrating the Fourth of July, so Navy spokesman Matt Brown forwarded this response to me via e-mail:
The Navy will comply fully with the Federal District Court's June 26, 2008, decision regarding the National Environmental Policy Act. The Navy will provide the public further opportunities to weigh in with their views on environmental considerations relating to the redevelopment of the Navy Broadway Complex and thus assure informed federal decision making on this important project.
I followed up with Brown because his response didn't specifically address how far the Navy would go. Would it see the ruling as a mandate to complete a new environmental assessment?
Brown said that will depend on what they hear from the public.
"I can't tell you really what's going to happen because we haven't taken those comments," he said.
Thursday, July 3 -- 1:59 pm Sports Illustrated staff photographer and Carlsbad resident Robert Beck had this article today, describing the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines as "The Greatest Event" he has ever photographed.
The piece, which ran on sportsshooter.com, a photojournalism trade website, is a bit jargony when it comes to camera talk, but paints an interesting picture of what it was like to cover the event.
Beck describes the scene on the 18th hole on Sunday:
The crowd grew very still and very quiet. As I framed Tiger in my lens I could not see the hole. I would rely on his eyes and body expression to tell me what was happening. I think the entire crowd inhaled at once as Tiger addressed the ball. Then he putted. Sounds so simple doesn't it? I shot a few as the ball rolled out of the frame. Then I waited --- shooting raw and jpeg tend to eat a cards way to the buffer very quickly! I watched. Tiger's eyes widened a bit. Then he raised his club towards the hole...his eyes widened a bit more.
Then all at once the world went crazy. Tiger pumped like never before. Kojo [Beck’s assistant] later said he could hear the roar of the crowd IN THE BLIMP. Every person watching on TV jumped out of their seats and screamed. People did not leave the 18th. They just kept cheering until Tiger had walked to the scorer's tent. Then they just kept buzzing. We had just watched the best U.S. Open ever. And it was not done yet. Tiger had played through the weekend on one leg and had managed one more miracle --- or whatever you care to call it --- on the last hole on Sunday.
There would be 18 more holes to play on Monday.
Thursday, July 3 -- 12:07 pm If you were thinking of getting around the booze ban at local beaches and state parks this holiday weekend by pouring your adult beverage into a different container, the plan just got more difficult.
Lifeguards and park rangers in Del Mar spent the day testing a passive alcohol detector device -- a high-tech gadget that "sniffs" the air to detect if there is alcohol nearby.
According to a video here from our media partner NBC 7/39, Del Mar lifeguards got the device on loan two weeks ago and will be using it this weekend. Check out their coverage here:
 The device uses a pump to detect alcohol. Colored lights on the side of the flashlight-shaped gadget glow red if alcohol is sniffed out, green if not. Lifeguards said most violators will just be asked to throw out the booze, but that "depending on the attitude or what the situation is" they could be cited $100 for the first offense. Del Mar will have the device on loan for another couple of weeks. Officials are trying to determine whether each device is worth an $800 investment. Just a reminder: Alcohol is illegal on every beach in San Diego County except for the Silver Strand State Beach and a stretch of Camp Pendleton. -- DARRYN BENNETTWednesday, July 2 -- 5:53 pm
Chinese schools usually leave visitors from the U.S. feeling pessimistic about the educational chops of U.S. kids. But when San Diego Unified school board member John de Beck returned from visiting China, he reflected that U.S. students could be in the catbird seat globally. (Check out this previous post about the China trip, who's paying for it and why.)
De Beck said that his visit showed that China is investing heavily in its highest-achieving kids, who apply for selective regional schools with top-notch facilities. But its average students are afforded far less support, he said.
"There, the most able students get the very best of everything," he said. "In our country, we're trying to raise the average of all the kids. And in the long haul, this education race may be won with the average student. The average student in the U.S., I think, will be far superior to the average student in China."
Still, top students in China may have advantages over U.S. high-achievers, he added. And he believes that the key problem for U.S. students is motivation -- a problem that he thinks is less serious in China because education is considered a privilege.
"If you don't demonstrate a willingness to study day and night and to work to the point of personal sacrifice to the very best education you can get, you're not going to make it in China," de Beck said. "We asked, what do you do for kids who aren't doing well? Their answer was, there are 600 kids waiting for their seats" in the selective schools.
Closer to home, de Beck is trying to boost student motivation by launching the third year of Catch a Rising Star, a program that rewards kids for hard work or good behavior with field trips to museums, the zoo, the aquarium and other attractions. The program is privately funded and costs about $150 for a bus of 40 kids.
But donations are lagging just as gas prices skyrocket, making field trips pricier, de Beck said. If you're interested in learning more, you can contact de Beck at the San Diego Unified school board: 619.725.5550.
Wednesday, July 2 -- 4:04 pm I spent part of my morning talking about the region's border sewage pollution problems on KPBS. It was part of an hour-long discussion examining the issue -- every time it rains, hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage are washed across the U.S.-Mexico border.
I was joined by Oscar Romo, coastal training program coordinator at the Tijuana Estuary in Imperial Beach; Bruce Reznik, executive director of San Diego Coastkeeper; and John Robertus, executive officer of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board.
The show examined the competing ideas that have arisen in the wake of the federal government's dismissal of the controversial Bajagua Project, which we detailed in a recent story.
Wednesday, July 2 -- 1:37 pm
The San Diego County Taxpayers Association summed up its criticisms of the Unified Port of San Diego's $59,000 advertising campaign in a letter sent yesterday to the port.
Lani Lutar, the association's executive director and CEO, said this in the letter:
While the letter specifically calls the message “educational” and urges readers to “examine the facts” and “learn about the Port,” the underlying assertions expressed in the letter encourage readers to oppose the “Marine Freight Preservation and Bayfront Redevelopment Initiative.” Simply omitting a statement that explicitly urges voters to support or oppose a ballot measure does not qualify the message as “educational” when its implications clearly represent an argument for one side only.
We examined the issue of whether the campaign is legal in a story today.
Wednesday, July 2 -- 1:15 pm
A team of scientists from the University of California, San Diego have identified more than two dozen "novel and promising" compounds that could give rise to new bird-flu drugs.
The mathematical calculations involved in the research were so complex that scientists had to run their data through a supercomputer -- a machine that is top-of-the-line in its processing capacity and unmatched in its speed of calculation, according to a news release put out by the university today.
Researchers have been worried that if there is a global outbreak of bird flu -- properly called avian flu -- existing anti-flu remedies could fail to be effective because some strains of the virus have already developed a resistance to them.
"If those resistant strains begin to propagate, then that's when we're going to be in trouble, because we don't have any anti-virals active against them," Rommie Amaro, a postdoctoral fellow in chemistry at UCSD, said in the release.
The newly-identified compounds appear to be equal or, in some cases, better at inhibiting the virus than available remedies are, experts said.
The research is on its way to the laboratory, where the compounds will be tested against the virus.
-- DARRYN BENNETTWednesday, July 2 -- 1:16 pm With all the details that went into this story today by my colleague Will Carless, there wasn't room to explain another interesting detail of the Valencia Business Park saga.
Carless' story focused on the fact that the development project, which had to be put out to bid again because of questions surrounding the original bid, was just re-awarded to the same developer, Pacific Development Partners. The twist: This time PDP's purchase price on the bid is nearly $1 million less for the land. (The story explains why that's important.)
Anyways, there's another storyline to the deal, too.
The Southeastern Economic Development Corp., the redevelopment arm of the city of San Diego responsible for overseeing the development, and its president, Carolyn Y. Smith, have been sued for breach of contract and fraud by a local business that claims it was duped into abiding by a legal settlement that SEDC and Smith never planned on fulfilling.
You can read about the details of that deal in this special report we published last year and in this copy of the lawsuit. The suit is currently in mediation.
Wednesday, July 2 -- 12:59 pm There's plenty of talk right now about what life will be like at the beach on the Fourth of July without booze. If this Los Angeles Times travel section piece is any harbinger, it's going to be pretty laid back and family friendly.
Here's a snippet:
San Diego officials are declaring the ban a success.
"I've been down there a lot, talking to locals and tourists alike. Even though we are still in a trial period, so many people have commented on how the vibe is much nicer and more relaxed," says San Diego City Councilman Kevin Faulconer, who led the efforts to pass the alcohol ban. "The beach is cleaner, people feel safer and it is particularly great to see more families out there."
Darrell Esparza, sergeant with the San Diego Lifeguard Service, agrees. "Alcohol-related injuries have gone way down, and people aren't afraid to walk down the boardwalk anymore. It is a safer environment for my lifeguards and the public."
But "the number of rescues we've had to do has gone up," Esparza says. "We have had a lot more families coming out to the beach, so there are more kids in the water."
My colleague Will Carless was recently talking to lifeguards for a different story he was working on and he reported hearing similar comments about more rescues at the beach. More children, fewer intoxicated people. So just as many people using the ocean as a bathroom?
Wednesday, July 2 -- 10:44 am The controversy over transferring principal-to-be Edward Caballero from Sherman Elementary to Jerabek Elementary in Scripps Ranch is still simmering.
Yesterday, parents and teachers met with outgoing Deputy Superintendent Geno Flores to share their concerns about Caballero's transfer. Some had hoped for answers from the school district about why Caballero was reassigned.
"He said he was there to answer questions, but he didn't really," said Renee Oswald, who will be teaching at Sherman this fall. "We still don't know what's going on."
Teodora Cruz, chairwoman of the District English Learner Advisory Committee, said Sherman community members will meet with Superintendent Terry Grier this afternoon to discuss the issue. Unless Caballero is assigned back to Sherman, Cruz said the community is still mobilizing to protest his transfer en masse at the next San Diego Unified school board meeting.
Wednesday, July 2 -- 10:27 am
We are teaming up with the San Diego Foundation to work on an exciting new project and we need your help.
Over the next year, we are going to be putting together 10 stories highlighting San Diego's community success stories, and we are actively looking for story ideas and suggestions.
We want to find individuals at a grassroots level who have spotted something wrong or something that needed fixing in their community and conquered it -- someone who has helped improve housing, transportation, parks, streets or other quality-of-life issues in the county. We're not looking for politicians or high-profile types. We're hoping to find everyday people whose experiences can serve as a guide for other San Diegans looking to help their families, their neighbors, and maybe even their employees create the best homes and communities possible.
So please, do me a huge favor and pass this post around to everyone you know. And e-mail me at andrew.donohue@voiceofsandiego.org with any and all of your thoughts, ideas and suggestions.
Thank you for your help.
Wednesday, July 2 -- 10:22 am
An interesting detail popped out at me in Nick Canepa's column today in the Union-Tribune on the Chargers' stadium search:
The Spanos family has spent more than $10 million trying to find a way to keep its team in this area, and $10 million, no matter how silver your spoon, isn't stuff used to nourish poultry.
I'm still trying to figure out that little word play. But let's not get distracted. It's the number that stuck out to me.
 | | Mark Fabiani is one of many outside advisors the Chargers say have cost them $10 million since the new stadium search began. |
I've been wondering about this for a while. The Chargers have been at it now for nearly six years. They've had lawyers from one of the more prominent law firms in the country, Skadden Arps, working with them. They've had Mark Fabiani, who helped run Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, as their special counsel -- a hybrid communications director, spokesman and I suppose attorney as well -- nonstop in that period. I didn't figure any of that was cheap. So I wrote Fabiani today and asked him what that $10 million comprises. Here's what he said: (1) Legal fees
(2) Financial advice, analysis and studies on multiple sites, including the sites in Mission Valley, National City, Oceanside and Chula Vista.
(3) Stadium design and planning
(4) Urban design and planning
(5) Traffic and infrastructure advice, planning and studies
(6) Other infrastructure studies and advice
I'm sure I am leaving some categories out, but these would be most of the major ones. Fabiani also had this to say: We have not gone out of our way to talk about our costs, because we don't want anyone to think that we are complaining about having to spend those resources. Costs like these are par for the course for a major project such as this. Tuesday, July 1 -- 5:12 pm
Deputy Superintendent Geno Flores is leaving San Diego Unified, according to a high-ranking source within the school district who spoke on condition of not being identified. According to the same source, Flores is being replaced by Charles Morris, president of Edpro Consultants, Inc., a Greensboro-based group. Morris was hired in June, but his position was left to-be-determined.
Flores' departure is yet another in a growing list of school administrators picked by former superintendent Carl Cohn, now departing under the leadership of Superintendent Terry Grier.
Tuesday, July 1 -- 4:23 pm
This Just In Archives: Advanced Search
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The incumbent city attorney gets a key endorsement from the San Diego County Democratic Party.
Wednesday, July 9 -- 12:15 am
San Diego school board and superintendent decide against the controversial switch.
Tuesday, July 8 -- 3:25 pm
Sanders asks SEDC for details on unsupervised bonuses to top officials.
Tuesday, July 8 -- 2:48 pm
SURVIVAL IN SAN DIEGO
My dad caught some salmon, my sister's getting hitched and the Great White North beckons.
Friday, June 27 -- 5:42 pm
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
City’s 'oily' alter ego has resurfaced thanks to recent conduct at SEDC.
Tuesday, July 8 -- 7:54 pm
CAFÉ SAN DIEGO
Two voiceofsandiego.org reporters field your questions about their investigative reporting into San Diego redevelopment.
Tuesday, July 8 -- 7:26 pm
COMMENTARY: SLOP
The agency joins a long list of San Diego governments willing to spend the public's money telling them how to vote.
Sunday, July 6 -- 6:57 pm
COMMENTARY: RICH TOSCANO
The spring selling season has come and gone with no hint of the the typical seasonal rally in home prices.
Friday, July 4 -- 1:35 pm
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