Their numbers were bad. Or their assumptions were wrong. Or they just didn’t get it. Whatever the case, the people we called out in the San Diego Fact Check blog this year shared one thing in common: they all lost touch with reality, at least momentarily.
Which was the biggest whopper of them all? We’d like your help in figuring that one out. We’ve complied a list of 15 claims that we declared to be false — or worse — in 2010.
The district attorney is there. And a couple county supervisors, a now-former city councilman, a congressman and San Diego’s mayor. And there are a couple of unusual suspects: a former Playboy playmate and the guy who may be San Diego’s most famous (“K-Uuuuuuuu-SI!”) weatherman. Let us know who’s the worst of the worst.
Gearing Up for Gridlock:
The battle cry of local slow-growthers used to be: Stop Los Angelesization! Now, the neighborhood of Serra Mesa — perched to the north of Mission Valley — is waging another battle. Their mission: Keep Mission Valley Out!
It’s the traffic that they’re worried about. A little proposed road would link the neighborhood to the valley, and residents fear it will serve as an escape valve for the ever-congested region of malls, homes and stadium. But Mission Valley residents look up and see a solution to their own traffic woes.
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Um, About Those Lawsuits…
Regrets, the San Diego police union has a few. It’s sorry for suing the city — it has “a new lawyer who called two of three lawsuits ‘frivolous’ and has filed two malpractice lawsuits against the attorneys who sued in the first place.” (Watchdog Institute)
Who’s for Whom?
Check our maps of the election results in the two City Council races: one shows where the most Democratic and Republican voters seem to lurk in the district that covers Clairemont, Serra Mesa and environs. Mission Valley, for one, seems to have quite a red/blue split.
Play Ball! (Maybe):
Escondido is moving ahead with plans to build a minor league baseball stadium but it’s not a done deal yet. The team would be an AAA-level farm team of the Padres. (NCT)
No Houses Here:
“Roughly 1 million acres of forest land in Southern California — including a swath in San Diego County — will gain protections against development under a new agreement worked out between conservationists, off-road vehicle enthusiasts and the U.S. Forest Service.” (U-T)
Not So Fast:
A parent is gearing up to battle the San Diego school board over its decision to focus money for disadvantaged children on the schools with the poorest kids instead of spreading it around a larger group of schools.
Lyrical Notes:
• What does it take to be a part-time artist? Stamina, and not just during performances. Our weekly Arts Report (kind of like the Morning Report but wearing a hot pink tutu) highlights stories about how artists often must cobble side jobs together to make it financially. A singer writes to tell us that it’s possible to get by on music-related jobs, but even that can be harder than hitting a high note.
• Arts editor Kelly Bennett alerted me to a quirky song about Pluto, the rock that lost its planetary status thanks in part to an astronomer who uses the Palomar Observatory to study the sky. Pluto, by Clare and The Reasons, is pretty enjoyable considering that it has lyrics like this:
Pluto I have some frightful news, dear.
In the New York Times
They’ve just reported you’ve been overthrown
(aah ahh ahh)
from your solar throne for good.
• Rock singer Tom Waits, who grew up in Chula Vista, is going to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Maybe he’ll play one of his songs, Had Me a Girl, at the ceremony. You may know it best by its chorus: “And my doctor says I’ll be alright/But I’m feelin’ blue.” There’s more. He actually mentions his hometown in this lyric:
Then I had me a girl in North Dakota.
She was just fillin’ her quota.
Then I had me a girl in Chula Vista.
I was in love with her sister.
The morals of the song: Rhyming is hard. Sisters are trouble. And so, obviously, is Tom Waits.
Please contact Randy Dotinga directly at randydotinga@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga.