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♦&diams&diams
Prominent local homebuilder Barratt American has finally gone down for the count, but outspoken company president Michael “Mick” Pattinson isn’t leaving the ring without a few more punches.
He told the U-T that builders should have hit the pause button amid huge developer fees and skyrocketing land prices. And he tells us that banks are going to lose millions because they’ve betrayed customers.
Pattinson has long railed against lenders for turning off the spigot and leaving him and others unable to find financing. In a lively profile from earlier this year, we tracked the frustrated builders efforts to browbeat banks and the government into getting loans going again.
That didn’t work.
Remember when scandal broke in 2006 over the firing of U.S. attorneys, including San Diego’s Carol Lam? Newly released Bush White House emails shed some light on behind-the-scenes maneuvering after Lam’s sacking that involved the “Spanos’” and a local attorney.
Spanos? Who’s that (or they)? Your guess is as good as mine.
When it comes to races for county supervisor, there hasn’t been much to guess about over the past 14 years: The members of the “Gang of Five” always win.
Being an incumbent is a good gig. But as we’ve been reporting, high-profile candidates and the prospect of term limits are looming on the horizon.
Today, a look at the big picture: Are these serious threats? And could the crumbling of one incumbent start an avalanche?
A landslide of money is heading our way from Washington D.C. But wait. What’s this about a plastic surgeon getting $807,000 in federal stimulus funds?
Good question. There’s no scandal, and it’s just a loan, but the doctor in question thinks including it as part of the stimulus effort is unfortunate.
Hey big spenders! Yes, you on the San Diego airport authority board. A local politician has a message.
In education news, the San Diego teachers union is supporting “biliteracy,” although it has questions about workload. And on the biotech front, a firm with offices in San Diego is establishing a $500 million life-sciences fund.
If you’ve had just about enough of words this morning, we’ve got images: Three photos from the history of baseball in San Diego, courtesy of baseball historian Bill Swank.
Also on the image front, cartoonist Ashley Pingree Lewis imagines how Mayor Jerry Sanders might fare at the track with his legacy on the line.
Elsewhere, the U-T unravels two rulings that don’t favor SDG&E’s fire-prevention-via-rural-power-outage plan.
The NCT also says former San Diego Police Chief David Bejarano has taken a job as Chula Vista’s police chief, snuffing out his run for sheriff.
Also, San Diego CityBeat discovers that local hotelier and gay marriage opponent Doug Manchester is getting divorced from his wife after 43 years.
His wife, Elizabeth, wants $131,625 in monthly expenses, including nearly $20,000 for clothing and jewelry and $7,000 for electric bills.
Now that’s a good gig.