The Morning Report
Get the news and information you need to take on the day.
When our story came out about the risky borrowing practices in Poway Unified School District, it generated national interest and politicians took note. Within days, the lights went on over at the legislative machine and we heard it churn out screechy sound bites and condemnation.
And then, the wheels started turning, the smoke cleared, and there was a faint hum of coordinated political action. County Treasurer Dan McAllister called for legislation to be drafted.
Yesterday, Assemblyman Ben Hueso announced his support for the law.
“School districts should not be allowed to shift such a heavy burden to future generations,” Hueso said yesterday afternoon.
In the wake of the Poway controversy, it became clear that loans issued by school districts and municipalities across the state had created a daunting burden for future generations. The recent coverage provides a fascinating insight into the events that set the wheels in motion.
Mayor Sanders Slips on Bike Share: Fact Check
Bike-sharing programs are popping up all over the United States, and San Diego is looking to get in the saddle. Unfortunately, the program is going to begin with a little backpedaling.
Mayor Sanders announced a comprehensive plan to bring bike-sharing to the city last week, saying that “we’ll be the first city that actually doesn’t subsidize it.”
Closer inspection reveals that several California cities are already in the final planning stages of unsubsidized systems. The mayor’s team was quick to correct the error, saying that San Diego will actually be “one of the first,” like a bronze medalist. Oh wait, that’s third. My mistake.
For more details on the mayor’s proposed bike-sharing system, check out this explainer.
DeMaio’s Mysterious Stadium Task Force
Carl DeMaio has repeatedly claimed he has been working with a task force to figure out how to build a new NFL stadium in San Diego without public money. He most recently made this statement in Sunday’s televised debates with fellow candidate Bob Filner.
There is just one problem — he won’t say who these people actually are.
Reporter Liam Dillon gave his thumbs a workout yesterday explains why it matters.
• DeMaio had no problem highlighting some other folks he was working with.
The U-T reported that a majority of the “Movement to the Middle” business coalition has decided to throw its weight behind Carl DeMaio in the upcoming mayoral race. The group previously backed independent candidate Nathan Fletcher.
Many of the businesses in the announcement have already vocalized their support, but the backing from former Democratic Congresswoman Lynn Schenk has a long and storied history. Her former chief of staff once characterized the two current mayoral candidates as “basically evil vs. evil.”
More background on the troubled relationship between Schenk and the candidates can be found in this story we ran last July.
• In a funny aside to all this, KPBS highlighted the fact that Fletcher himself still hasn’t endorsed either DeMaio or Filner. Local GOP chief, Tony Krvaric, scoffed at KPBS. “Who cares?” he asked on Twitter.
Fletcher sent a retort: “apparently you do or you wouldn’t comment over and over about how much you really don’t care,” he wrote.
When Krvaric replied that only Fletcher’s family and paid staff still supported him. Fletcher sent him a Taylor Swift song: “We are never getting back together again.”
Comments from VOSD Readers
Former City Councilwoman Donna Frye wrote to VOSD yesterday in a letter condemning the proposed extension of the private hotel tax. The tax, which is technically a private assessment, will be voted on by hotel owners exclusively. Frye believes this effort to circumvent public input sets a dangerous precedent, snatching nearly $2 billion from taxpayer scrutiny. The City Council is set to vote on the proposal next Tuesday, September 25.
Another reader has decided to cancel her 63-year-old subscription to the U-T in protest of Doug Manchester’s handling of the paper.
Ellis-Lightner Live
On Oct. 4, we’re hosting a special “One Voice at a Time” event. It’ll be the fourth one of these so-far well-received gatherings where VOSD’s Scott Lewis has a conversation with someone interesting in front of a crowd.
But on Oct. 4, it will be a “Two Voices at a Time” with Sherri Lightner and Ray Ellis. Lightner wants to keep her seat representing San Diego’s District 1 and Ellis wants to unseat her.
The discussion will begin at 6 p.m. at the Institute of the Americas at UCSD. More info coming to your inbox soon.
The race got interesting on Wednesday when incumbent Sherri Lightner showed “uncharacteristic moxie” in defending her record, reports the U-T.
We put up an update on the race, which can be found here.
President Clinton Praises San Diego on the Daily Show
President Clinton really loves talking about San Diego and its contributions to human genome research. His appearance last night on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart was no exception. Clinton began his appearance with a question to the audience before running off his hefty list of accolades.
“Anybody here from San Diego?”
He was met with silence. Sorry Bill, any native knows you don’t travel after Labor Day. That’s when the locals actually get to enjoy this town.
Recently, the former president has used San Diego and UCSD as shining examples of bipartisan effort to bring research and business to a local economy. The praise is certainly warranted, but his numbers have been a little fuzzy, as we revealed in a Fact Check earlier this year. Hey, we gotta keep them honest even in the good times.
Colin Weatherby is a freelance writer. You can reach him at colin.weatherby@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @CCWeatherby.