Good morning from Hillcrest.
- We’ll lead off this morning with the impasse over the city of San Diego’s stalled outsourcing program, “managed competition.” After lawsuits, thousands of negotiating hours and various administrative and other delays, this move comes as no surprise. Disagreements between the city and the two affected unions remain on issues such as health care. The matter could go before City Council as soon as Oct. 13.
- Watkins alert! Today’s edition of the embattled Airport Authority chairman reveals that Bob Watkins failed to pay city taxes on two of his businesses with an investigation looking into two others. Our own Rob Davis shines a light on the Airport Authority’s $2.5 million marketing budget, which includes hiring a model and spending $86,000 for a yet-to-be-determined new logo.
- San Diego Chargers stadium issues are coming up in the oddest places. This L.A. Times story about the Padres low attendance spends half the time discussing Chargers stadium woes and how the team might move to Los Angeles County. The San Francisco 49ers, also considered a candidate to move to Los Angeles, just completed an environmental impact report on their proposed stadium project.
And this week I’m interviewing David Ferguson, an Escondido attorney and point man for the Chargers stadium efforts in that city. If you have questions for him, let me know.
- We’ll end with news that California’s redevelopment agencies have won their most recent court battle against the state, which grabbed money for the agencies to fix its budget hole.