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Nathan Fletcher definitively declared his state Assembly campaign account closed when announced his intention to run for mayor.
Since then, though, he’s collected nearly $35,000 from corporations into that account. (Corporations can’t give to his mayoral account because of tight city restrictions.) And Fletcher spent money on staff, literature and a donor list.
“The expenditures raise questions about his compliance with election rules that prohibit spending money from one campaign account on a different election unless the money is formally transferred,” writes political reporter Liam Dillon.
Fletcher says he didn’t realize the account remained open and all the donations had been pledged before he declared for mayor.
Taxation, and Many Other Things, Without Representation
The city of San Diego’s been thrown for a bit of a loop: It’s creating a new City Council district that’s scheduled to go into effect next month. But the people in that district won’t actually have a council person to represent them until after the 2012 elections, leaving them without their own representative to call for potholes, curb cuts, traffic complaints and any other municipal worry.
One of the architects of the change said the city’s got it all wrong and is making it more complicated than it needs to be. Adrian Kwiatkowski, one of 15 who sat on Mayor Jerry Sanders’ Charter Review Committee, says the district wasn’t supposed to formally go into effect until a council member was elected.
Still, Council President Tony Young’s office says that’s not the advice it got from the City Attorney’s Office. It is proceeding with a plan to ensure that the 145,000 people in the district, which includes City Heights, Kensington-Talmadge and the College area, don’t remain voiceless if the proposed districts are finalized.
Suspected Cop Killer Left Suicide Note
The man suspected of killing San Diego Police Officer Jeremy Henwood and shooting a woman in the face at an In-N-Out over the weekend left a two-page suicide note in his City Heights apartment before the spree, police said. (Union-Tribune)
Police Chief Bill Lansdowne called Henwood’s killing “an assassination.” (Los Angeles Times)
The death of Henwood, a Marine who returned from Afghanistan earlier this year, marks another loss for a department that’s been hit hard this year. Officer Chris Wilson was killed on-duty in a shootout in October. On July 28, Det. Donna Williams was laid to rest after being killed, allegedly by her son. (City News Service) And an officer facing criminal charges in a traffic incident took his own life last week. (NBC7 San Diego)
Runaround the Blueprint for How San Diego’s Backcountry Grows
The county of San Diego put 13 years, $18 million dollars and plenty of terse debate into redrawing its blueprint for how the backcountry grows.
Now, advocates fear, it completely undermined that effort immediately after finalizing it. (North County Times)
Supervisors gave nearly 200 property requests that weren’t adopted new life last week, promising them another round of hearings. Supervisor Ron Roberts doesn’t think it’s a big deal; Dianne Jacobs thinks her colleagues could be undoing what they just finished up.
• Background: I hit the backcountry with NBC7 San Diego earlier this year to explain what this new blueprint is all about.
Fact Checking the Violent Imagery of Redevelopment
In the wake of the state’s move to curtail redevelopment, local politicians have claimed it was some kind of political burglary. From press conference to press conference, local mayors and city council members have decried the move as Sacramento taking money from local cities. The imagery has gotten downright violent.
The Union Tribune fact checked the claims of a Sacramento heist.
“This is a gun at the head of each and every one of our agencies,” reporter Matt Hall quotes National City Mayor Ron Morrison as saying.
Hall wondered:
So all that money’s going to Sacramento then, right?
Well, no.
The state isn’t actually “taking money” from local officials.
He jokingly asked if VOSD had trademarked “Fact Check.” No, we didn’t. But we did do a similar fact check of Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher. He had claimed that, without his legislation dramatically expanding redevelopment downtown, the money was “going to be sent to Sacramento.”
Property taxes never go to Sacramento. They stay here to fund local agencies, schools, the county and cities. Here’s a short video explainer about where that money goes.
Jets vs. Sharks with Pedals
San Diego knows pedi-cab political drama. The permanent and somewhat charming pedi-cabs have been a staple of downtown San Diego for years. Several years ago, how to regulate them became one of City Hall’s annoying yet necessary crises.
Now, a San Diego pedi-cab operator is expanding into San Francisco, and it’s becoming a problem. The Bay Area city is just now getting to know the transportation phenomenon, reports the Bay Citizen and New York Times. And the San Diego company is rubbing its competition the wrong way.
“But the arrival of West Coast Pedicab, which the police say does not have all the proper permits, has touched off a small war.”
Medical Marijuana Status Quo Endorsement
Mayor Jerry Sanders refused to get involved in discussions to regulate medical marijuana in San Diego, going so far as to neither sign nor veto the laws the City Council passed. Now, advocates managed to gather enough signatures to force the council to repeal those laws.
The Mayor’s Office tells the Union-Tribune he does not plan to crack down on the estimated 160 collectives operating without clear rules from the city.
Why Do Robots Creep People Out?
That’s what researchers at UCSD are trying to figure out as robots and human-ish characters are being used more and more to teach and assist people.
Hey robots, here’s a start: Stop showing up in the middle of the night at my bedside trying to feast on my brain.
I’m the editor of VOSD. You can reach me at andrew.donohue@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0526.
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