It takes a long time and red tape-hopping to get a major development done in any San Diego community. Proposed developments have to match up with each neighborhood’s community plan. The process of hearings, meetings and permitting can take years. Some say the process stifles development in blighted areas that are desperately in need. Enter redevelopment.
Andrew Keatts reports that Civic San Diego, a redevelopment organization, wants to streamline the process for some specific development projects, namely in the area around Euclid and Imperial Avenue in southeastern San Diego.
Civic San Diego’s main job is to settle all the old redevelopment projects San Diego had in the fire when Gov. Jerry Brown shut down the redevelopment financing model. After that, the whole organization should shut down. “To keep the lights on, the agency needs to reinvent itself and becoming the shepherd for specific plans across the city does that,” Keatts writes.
Filner Pictured Everywhere
Since he took office, Mayor Bob Filner has been very busy making appearances at various groups, organizations and events around town. His unpredictable appearances have been one of his most predictable behaviors.
Lisa Halverstadt rounded up some of the best photos that we’ve seen of Filner appearing all over the city. The Morning Report’s favorite? Filner sitting comfortably in Voice of San Diego CEO Scott Lewis’ office chair, feet propped on the desk.
The Cost of Having More Water
A state overhaul of the California water system could impact San Diego ratepayer’s wallets, reports U-T San Diego. The plan could potentially bring more water to the area from Northern California. “Water officials say the alternative is to continue to rely on antiquated state water works that are in danger of being shut down at any time to protect fish,” writes the U-T. In its current form, the project could end up costing San Diego ratepayers around $100 per year, “although there are signals that the final bill will eventually shrink,” notes the U-T.
No Backing for ‘Portland Loos’
The U-T also reports on two new public restrooms that are coming to San Diego. The “Portland Loos” are prefabricated, metal restrooms. One will be located downtown at Market and Park, the other at 14th Street and Imperial Avenue in Tailgate Park.
But it’s unclear who will pay to maintain the new toilets. Each toilet costs approximately $21,000 per year to maintain. Despite its close proximity to Petco Park, the Padres have so far declined to pitch in for one of the units.
“It will fall upon some funding source of the city,” said Civic San Diego’s Paul Graham, if another source is not secured. “Otherwise, they’ll remain locked.”
News Nibbles
• Liam Dillon appeared with Councilmember Mark Kersey on NBC San Diego’s “Politically Speaking” to talk about how the city can efficiently deal with sidewalk and pothole repairs.
• Filner wants part-time La Jollan Mitt Romney to chair the “whole effort” to host a cross-border Olympics in San Diego and Tijuana in 2024.
• Border Patrol cracked open a gate near Friendship Park at the border on Sunday to let some people visit their cross-border relations for a few minutes. Filner was, of course, there.
• The tide has turned on public opinion for the idea of purifying wastewater and delivering it as drinking water.
• The starship Enterprise bridge as depicted in the TV show “Star Trek: The Next Generation” may be coming to the San Diego Air & Space Museum.
Cell Phone User, Heal Thyself
Speaking of “Star Trek,” San Diego State University is the most recent competitor to enter the Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize contest. The contest offers a large award to the team that can come up with a device similar to the “tricorder” device used in “Star Trek,” in which characters would wave the device over an injured person to instantly determine what ails them.
San Diego State’s prototype is essentially a modified Android phone whose attachmentscan spot and track medical problems, writes the U-T.
Other technologies that have sprung into reality from the TV show include visors that help the blind see, “telepresence” video conferencing, and the very intimidating addition to your cutlery collection, the “Klingon Batleth.”
Seth Hall is a local writer and technologist. You can reach him at voice@s3th.com or follow him on Twitter: @loteck.