What We Learned This Week

Kelly Bennett is wrapping up our neighborhood tours with a week-long stint downtown and in the uptown neighborhoods that make up the new District 3.

Searching for the issues that matter most to residents, she found two different worlds to the north and south of University Avenue in North Park.

Residents want more and better parks. On Wednesday, Bennett found where the sidewalk ends in Mission Hills. And on Friday, she told us how everyone’s talking about the homeless in the East Village.

She met with Councilman Todd Gloria on Friday to discuss what we’ve found. He’s running unopposed but he still needs to deal with his constituents’ concerns and observations. That’ll post next week.

Where the Mayoral Candidates Stand

Liam Dillon (with graphics assistance from Keegan Kyle) has produced a mayoral candidate scorecard on the issues. The similarity on major city issues between the Republicans is quite striking.

What We Learned This Week

All We Could About the District 1 Candidates: The district includes La Jolla, Carmel Valley and University City and people really like to talk about issues in those areas. What they told us, we took to the four candidates trying to represent them in the City Council. Keegan Kyle’s reader’s guides on the candidates each had a tidbit I found comical. Here’s the pensive incumbent Sherri Lightner; the chief Republican rival, Ray Ellis; the Democrat and carpet-bagging lawyer Bryan Pease; and the wonky, lesser-known Republican, Dennis Ridz.

Two Can Record an Interview: Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher absorbed a U-T San Diego broadside about whether his integrity as a Marine was in question after he abandoned the Republican Party. And he responded by releasing his own audio and transcript of an interview he did with the U-T editorial board. I’ve never seen anything like it. The U-T’s editor, Jeff Light, was quite forthcoming to Fletcher about how worried the paper was about what he was doing to the GOP brand. And I used that to make a point about the difference between party and principle.

Oh, also: Bob Filner can go ahead and write off any hope he had of getting the U-T’s endorsement. They made it clear keeping him out of the Mayor’s Office is a top priority.

Bob Filner Has a Pension Plan: After many months of absorbing the scorn of his rivals who ridiculed his repeated promises to release a detailed pension reform plan, Congressman Bob Filner let it loose. Our City Hall maven, Liam Dillon, highlighted the three questions you should have about it (and their answers). I offered my take on it (I think Filner should have just defended pensions as is rather than promise he could save as much as he does). What did you think?

A San Diego Legend Passed: Nobody was more beloved in this region than the football star, generous mentor, philanthropist and surfer Junior Seau. San Diegans are still absorbing the shock of his suicide Wednesday. He shot himself in the chest just like former Chicago Bears star Dave Duerson, who requested that scientists study his brain for trauma from his years in football. Now Seau’s family has decided to allow researchers to look for the same problems in his brain. We collected a reader’s guide on the concussion crisis plaguing the sport of football. U-T San Diego on Thursday highlighted the concerns of Seau friend Eric Allen, who is one of the more than 1,500 retired players suing the NFL. Here’s a nightmare scenario for football fans.

Top 5 Comments of the Week

Dagny Salas rounded up your best comments of the week on the site. My favorite was William Moore’s about Sherri Lightner, under a post about the six highlights from a debate in District 1. “Sherri looks uncomfortable, but knows every inch of the district.”

• And Salas posted her weekly collection of the reads that may or may not have anything to do with San Diego but they’re worth looking at. Do it. Dooo it.

Letters: Bikes and Boaters

Your letters continue to pour in.

— Timur Ender, a first year student at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, who wants you to think deeper about bike lanes.

— A manager of a bay marina, Ken Guyer, took issue with Rob Davis’ article this week on pollution in the bay. “We are being proactive and, in spite of the rather lopsided portrayal of boaters put forward in your article, we care more than most about our bays and oceans.”

Quick News Hits

• The North County Times broke the news that U-T San Diego’s headquarters is going to be the site of dozens of condos and hundreds of thousands of square feet of new office space. Developer Doug Manchester is doing what he does. The U-T followed the news with the details in all their glory. Manchester will need a zoning change from the city.

• The mayor really likes beer.

• Here are the ZIP codes where housing is going gangbusters according to U-T San Diego.

• Awkward … a Fox5 reporter asked Nathan Fletcher’s wife Mindy this: “What is it like to be married to Nathan Fletcher? I often ask myself that when he comes here. He seems like a pretty fun guy.”

Quote of the Week

“How can we get behind you given that we’ve got a lot of Republican backing and Republican tradition? I think that puts us in a tough position.”

— U-T editor Jeff Light to Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher.

I’m Scott Lewis, the CEO of Voice of San Diego. You can contact me directly at scott.lewis@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0527 and follow me on Twitter (it’s a blast!): twitter.com/vosdscott.