The Morning Report
Get the news and information you need to take on the day.
It may be the dog days of August, but you’ve been busy letting us know your thoughts about the proposed Convention Center expansion, the airport authority’s spending and the departure of the man who crafted the Union-Tribune’s editorial perspective.
We’ve posted more than 140 letters and comments about these topics this week, stoking a dialogue about the city’s future and the responsibilities of public officials and opinionmakers.
One VOSD user called out County Supervisor Dianne Jacob for not, herself, more forcefully calling out the chairman of the airport authority board for his spending practices revealed in this week’s humdinger of a story. Another user spawned debate in comments over whether the airport authority is a “boondoggle” whose plug needs to be pulled.
As for Bob Kittle, the U-T editorial page editor who got laid off this week after a controversial career, contributors had a lot to say about his departure.
Who said newspapers are dead? Despite its troubles over the past three years, the U-T still has the power to vex its foes. But where are Kittle’s supporters?
Meanwhile, a Convention Center expansion supporter took issue with a recent post by a leader in the local technology committee, telling him that if he doesn’t like the expansion discussion, he should just form his own government. That wasn’t the only response spurred by TechAmerica’s Kevin Carroll when he said the expansion discussion was yet another example of City Hall overlooking the “true” economic engine in San Diego.
On a related note, for the weekend Q&A, we interviewed Carol Wallace, the convention center’s chief, about the need for more space and how the city will pay for it.
“You can’t have anybody say take my name off the list, I don’t want to play,” she says of community reluctance to embrace the project.
If you’re still thirsty for more after the story, we’ve got excerpts from our interview, including discussion of the expansion’s price tag.
In other news, we have reports on the departure of the city’s managed competition program guru and a proposal to boost support of “biliteracy” in South Bay high schools. We also explain how we discovered that some medically fragile East County residents who depend on electricity are in the dark about possible pending power outages.
The U-T says SDG&E is sending flashlights and corded telephones to more than 900 of these vulnerable rural customers.
Now, a quick look back at San Diego history.
They didn’t bake a hacksaw in a cake. But according to legend, love-struck “señoritas” did help a man flee San Diego’s first jail back in 1851 by bringing him flowers and tamales. The escapee would become one of the Old West’s most colorful characters and inspire a Paul Newman movie.
The Coffee Collection
Rookies Once More: Local television stations are slashing news budgets by, among other things, returning reporters to their roots as one-man bands. And: Does it matter whether the local weatherman is local?
Wannabe Gangbusters: They’re known as the “Gang of Five,” and they’ve run the county government for 14 years. But next year’s election could rock their world.
Also check out our photographer Sam Hodgson‘s striking photos from his visit to his homeland of New Zealand.
Quote of the week: “What are you, Marie Antoinette in drag?” — A letter writer on the airport authority board chairman, who seemed to imply that our lowly reporter couldn’t understand what he has to deal with.