The manager of the football stadium in Mission Valley says the city will save money if the Chargers don’t play compared to if they do. At the moment, the city actually loses money when the team plays. It’ll just lose less if there’s a lockout.
As for all the money you might assume is coming into the city from out-of-town fans, plenty of research has suggested that pro sports have little or no effect on local economies.
So how much would it cost to shut down the stadium entirely and just let it sit there and decay, like an old car you’d keep in the back yard until you have money to fix it up? We don’t have any statistics on that, and there is the pesky matter of the city still having to cough up stadium-related bond payments. But it’s sure sounds like a prospect worth exploring, since the city is expected to lose $11 million a year on the stadium if the Chargers leave and other events continue.
A Who’s-Who and What’s-What
We’re holding a free “A Meeting of the Minds” event this evening, “a rapid-fire glimpse of six stimulating local arts & culture happenings.” Topics include contemporary furniture design, art installations in Tijuana’s Colonial Federal neighborhood, an effort to make local classical music hip, internationally renowned artists making murals spring up in La Jolla, the local theater ecosystem and a new, renovated space for art in San Ysidro.
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You can also check out details about the event in Behind the Scenes TV.
Also in the broadcast world, our KOGO radio show tackles “The Dissolving City,” our piquant description of how San Diego is pushing municipal responsibilities onto citizens and neighborhoods.
Preschool Inspection Bill Quashed
A state bill to strengthen California’s inspections of preschools has failed to get anywhere in the legislature. Preschools can go without inspections for as long as five years. Interesting. Imagine how much trouble your body could get into if you didn’t get a checkup for that long. On second thought, don’t imagine that.
DeMaio Dinged over ‘Donation’
A local labor official went online yesterday, tried to give $5 to Councilman Carl DeMaio’s campaign for mayor, then made a stink about it. It’s too early for mayoral candidates to raise money. The DeMaio camp says it didn’t accept the attempted donation, which it blamed on a version of a campaign website being accidentally posted too early.
Polly Wanna Clairemont?
I used to live in Clairemont, and I can’t remember much about it other than my polling place (in the local mortuary) and my address (5150, the police code for crazy person).
But Clairemont actually has a personality that goes beyond its namesake serial killer and the high school that inspired “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”
As our Adrian Florido discovers, it’s home to plenty of seniors, some of whom are very protective of their favorite dining spots, and to a 12-year-old parrot who stubbornly won’t learn how to say something naughty.
Florido also meets a man who found a unique way to get away from his spouse: he moved upstairs — to the second story he built for that purpose, giving him one of Clairemont’s few two-story houses. The man also provides a few choice quotes (“I’ve got a bad disposition”) that may make it tougher for him to find a wife the fourth time around.
Grad Sues Local Law School over Job Stats
A graduate of Thomas Jefferson School of Law has filed a class-action lawsuit, saying the school failed to accurately represent statistics about how many of its students went on to get jobs, The National Law Journal reports. The school denies the allegation and says it follows guidelines.
A nonprofit group has questioned the school’s statistics. The suit “is notable in part because it challenges the legality of a practice that is nearly universal for law schools: that of combining all graduates with jobs into one job statistic, regardless of the nature of their employment,” the journal says.
Overdue for a Hurricane
A meteorologist says San Diego is overdue for a hurricane, second-most overdue behind Honolulu. The last one hit in 1858. “A rare set of circumstances must be in place for a hurricane to make it all the way up to San Diego. As in 1858, the hurricane must be moving fast enough, over waters just warm enough, to maintain its intensity on the way north to California.”
Scientists have used old newspaper articles and meteorological records to reconstruct the 1858 storm in the journal of the American Meteorological Society.
Otay Ranch Feels a Bit Sheepish
Living in South Bay’s Eastlake development is challenging enough in the most normal of times. (“Is that my house? Naw, that’s my house. Hey wait, my door trim isn’t ecru. It’s French beige! Oh man, where is it?”) Things got a little weirder earlier this week: a handful of sheep decided to roam around the Otay Ranch neighborhood until folks from the animal shelter came and got them. Our news partner NBC San Diego has a nice photo.
Maybe they were trying to find a foreclosed home to buy? Here’s a hint, woolies: Do the right thing and stay away from that cute real estate agent. He’s a total fox.
Please contact Randy Dotinga directly at randydotinga@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga.