Today’s top story reveals that the city of San Diego has spent more than $17 million on the stalled downtown library project.
We provide an update on the status of the library project and the prospect of a “charterbrary”— a library/charter school combo.
If the library isn’t built, much of the money spent “would be, in essence, wasted.”
Meanwhile, a couple council members weigh in on the slow-as-molasses process. One is diplomatic, and the other is blunt: he thinks “we look like idiots.”
How much is $17 million? At 25 cents a day, you’d have to hold onto a library book for more than 186,000 years to accumulate an overdue fine that large.
Even after all that, there still might not be a new library to return it to.
(By the way, nobody has taken up my suggestion that the city name the new facility after a movie star. “Halle Brary,” anyone?)
In other City Hall news, a local judge has cut potential San Diego police officer retirees some slack: He’s giving them a reprieve of sorts while the fate of the DROP program is up in the air. We’ve got the details as this complicated case winds its way through the legal system.
Also in the halls of power, Councilwoman Donna Frye is anointing her favorite candidate to replace her when her term ends in 2010. She didn’t have to look very far. Find out the name of her pick here.
In education, a brouhaha is brewing over plans for construction at a Chollas View campus that houses two middle schools. The problem: One school is more independent than the other. And guess which one is peeved?
“The clash will test the role of charter schools in decisions about the new bond,”our post explains.
Maybe the students can teach the adults how to share.
On the commentary front, our cartoonist Ashley Pingree Lewis imagines how the hip but troubled W Hotel is keeping up with the times.
And real-estate columnist Rich Toscano takes a brief look at mortgage rates, which he tells me are “jumping like a scalded dog.” Homebuyers may get burned.
Finally, a routine KPBS-FM story about ship traffic in San Diego Bay includes this surprising anecdote from a Coast Guard official:
“… just a couple of months ago, a group of jet skiers got too close to an aircraft carrier being escorted through the bay, and did not respond to repeated calls to move away. [The official] says the use of force — firing on the men — was narrowly avoided. He says it was a very close call.”
Aircraft carriers have the right of way: Make a note of it.
— RANDY DOTINGA
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