Solar energy, city audits, parking at the park and more topics got you commenting this week, and we wanted to make sure you could get a sample of the discussion. Join us if you haven’t already.
Here are five comments from the week:
• Fred Williams on “For Filner, It’s Always Sunny In San Diego“:
Energy Secretary (and Nobel winner) Chu suggested a while back that America would be smart to paint it’s roofs and black roads white.
This would reflect excess solar heat, significantly cooling cities like San Diego.
Filner and DeMaio might both support this idea, which has significant benefits for relatively low costs…and complements other solar collection efforts.
Yet no one should be fooled into thinking solar offers a complete solution. Reducing current levels of energy usage ought to remain San Diego’s priority.
• John Eisenhart on “City’s Development System a Major Fraud Risk, Says Auditor“:
Developmental services billing has been completely broken. Permit fees, plan check fees , developmental permits are all getting very expensive for my clients. The billing for developmental permits is typically 6 months late. (I just received a bill from two years ago last week!)…
• Derek Hofmann on “Balboa Park Garage Counts on People Paying“:
I have an idea that will save the city $16.5 million: don’t build it.
If the adjacent parking lots ever get completely full, it’s because they are priced “below the going rate determined by supply and demand”.[1] That’s easy to fix, and doing so permanently prevents a parking shortage. In fact, there’s no good reason not to. And it also provides an additional revenue source for park maintenance, or to lower the cost of admission to the museums.
And without a parking shortage, there’s no demonstrable need to build the parking garage.
Unfortunately, my idea doesn’t involve a ribbon cutting, so it probably won’t get much traction. City planners just love to spend money.
• Marisa Gallego on “A Voting Power Gap in District 9: Maps“:
I live in this area, right in the middle, where the 805 and 15 cross. I am non-Latino white with a Spanish name. I got SO much information on Emerald and NONE on Camarillo. I didn’t even know his name until I went to vote. Perhaps the reason he had such a hill to climb was because he threw all of his resources at predominately Latino areas instead of more diverse areas, such as the area I live in….and I’m assuming he canvassed those areas, because he certainly didn’t canvass City Heights, at least not Azalea Park. I voted for him anyway because I was unhappy with how Emerald voted on several key issues. These people are supposed to be looking out for the best interests of the people in their districts, not the businesses downtown, or the developers, or Walmart.
• David Rickert on “Cutting the Staff at City Schools? Fact Check“:
A more interesting number might be the amount spent on administration vs. teachers compared to the past. Region offices used to be rather small and were there to support the frontline teacher. Today the administration aspect takes a disproportionate share of the dollars we set aside to educate our kids.
Statements have been lightly edited to fix spelling errors and typos.
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Dagny Salas is the web editor at Voice of San Diego. You can contact her directly at dagny.salas@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5669.
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