Good morning from Point Loma.
- Build. Build. Build. That’s what San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said about three major downtown projects whose billion-dollar-plus combined price tags shouldn’t cow the city during the economic downturn, booming pension bill and budget busting deficits. And he had harsh words for the “defeatists” who believe he can’t do it. The U-T gets balanced reaction and listen to KPBS’ report here. Our own columnist/blogger Scott Lewis previewed the speech yesterday morning and delivers a point-by-point response here.
- Here’s a good reminder of the importance of addressing San Diego’s fiscal situation. City Chief Operating Officer Jay Goldstone spoke at a state public finance conference this week and said the city was against complicated bond offerings. The city, Bond Buyer also reports, has issued $2.5 billion in debt in five sales over the first six months of the year.
- Big development in the Airport Authority saga. Turns out Chairman Bob Watkins didn’t take a member of British Parliament to a Chargers game in London and didn’t just take a British businessman to a Chargers game in London. He hadn’t disclosed that that businessman was his niece’s husband. He expensed the $1,200 tickets before repaying them last month.
- You wouldn’t know it from all the other news yesterday, but both the San Diego City Council and County Board of Supervisors met. The supervisors approved revisions to their controversial community development grant program, but not before approving two that aren’t allowed under their new rules. The City Council approved a state of emergency to clean out channels of a perpetually flooding river and blocked the development of a storage facility in Tierrasanta to the arm flailing approval of a big crowd.