The Morning Report
Get the news and information you need to take on the day.
Only 18,964 pledges to go!
Our Scott Lewis made a not-so-modest proposal a few weeks ago: Get 19,000 people to pledge $1,000 each — and one with $21 million — and San Diego could once again have its very own major league soccer team.
The point wasn’t to revive pro soccer here.
“We have a flawed approach to big-time sports and the facilities they need in this country. We think of them as government problems. This is good for the owners of said sports teams,” Lewis writes in a follow-up detailing the big response his proposal received.
“But it’s bad for the sports fan in a place like San Diego. Why? Because we have to wait for the government to get it done.”
In Europe, and Wisconsin, teams often raise money by just turning to their fans. Judging from the response, it could work here — at least for soccer.
“I had no idea how many of you would turn up,” Lewis writes.
Examining Filner’s Job Plan
The buzzword on the mayoral campaign trail is “jobs,” so we’re examining how the major candidates propose to bring them to San Diego.
Next up: Bob Filner. He thinks San Diego’s port is the key to building the city’s job base, and he wants to bring in more ships.
“For his port plan to work, Filner has lots of problems to solve,” our Liam Dillon reports. “The first would be actually presenting a formal plan.”
The matter of cost is a big hurdle, and he’ll have to figure out a way to make the port busier without upsetting the residents of Barrio Logan, who are trying to make the neighborhood more residential.
Our introduction shows just how much (or little) a mayor can truly do for jobs. See Carl DeMaio and Bonnie Dumanis‘ plans, and look for our analysis of Nathan Fletcher’s this afternoon.
U-T Doubles Down on Dream
In January, U-T San Diego and its new owner tried to capture the city’s imagination with a grand, front-page proposal for a stadium-sports arena-entertainment-park-beach complex down at the waterfront. The city’s imagination, to put it mildly, was not stimulated.
We questioned the plan, calling it “bold but airy.” The mayor dismissed it as a $2.5 billion pipe dream that wouldn’t make it through the required bureaucracy in his lifetime. Port commissioners bypassed the plan, and not a single person spoke in favor of it at a big port meeting.
In another front-page editorial this weekend, the paper seized on the legal uncertainty surrounding the Convention Center expansion’s tax increase and jumped in with a new level of detail. The paper wants to foot part of the bill for its plan with a countywide vote on higher fees on hotel guests, a measure which would require a two-thirds majority.
A public vote is exactly what local convention center boosters have been trying to avoid like a rainy day at the beach. The vote would pave the way for a “public-use Mecca” at the waterfront, the paper says.
Opening Night in ‘Ambo Land’
It was opening night this weekend for the play we’ve been closely following behind the scenes, “How I Got That Story.” Now it’s time to see how it went when unveiled to the public. Did you go? What did you think?
Catch Up on City Heights News
Our weekly compilation of news from Speak City Heights, a collaboration of local organizations, offers details about City Council candidate positions on cop-resident relations, a computer center that’s helping residents, a community organizer who’s working with Lady Gaga (no word on whether he has a Poker Face) and more.
Mayoral Rival Woes, Cop Calls, Making Hotels Pay
In our compilation of the week’s top comments from readers, we hear about who should pay for the convention center (hotel owners, but they won’t), non-emergency 911 calls and the possible demise of the consumer advocacy from UCAN, among other topics.
Also, reader Hank Pfeffer isn’t optimistic about the mayor’s race: “Character is a key issue in the race for mayor. I don’t think many folks have any illusions about who is in whose pocket. Do we pick a mayor who won’t get caught? Or should we pick one who will?”
Interesting. My own faux mayoral campaign (Motto: “I Only Take Bribes During Designated Office Hours”) would definitely put me in that second category.
Please contact Randy Dotinga directly at randydotinga@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga.