Eight more readers have shared their favorite places in Balboa Park: Read them here, and check those in our original story. Readers also offered thoughts about the projects that the park should launch next and how to pay for them.
You may learn about places you didn’t know existed, like the velodrome (bike racing track) in Morley Field, the formal garden behind the original naval hospital building (which played a role as the sheriff’s office in the TV show “Veronica Mars”) and the underused movie theater in Museum of Photographic Arts.
Where’s your favorite spot? Let us know.
Council Tries to Limit Damage to Coffers
The City Council has agreed to move ahead with a plan to finance the convention center expansion that will take a bite out of city coffers. The council wants the city to be protected from a potential bigger bite — a maximum $13 million a year instead of $3.5 million — but that’s not guaranteed.
The council already tried once to put a limit in place. It didn’t happen.
Staff Slashed at North County Times
As expected, the U-T’s purchase of the North County Times became official Monday. The U-T promptly gave 60-day notices, as required by law, to 80 employees who will be laid off. Some worked for the Times, while others work at the U-T.
At the Times newsroom, employees received notices via email about whether they should report to a room of people who’d be retained or a room of those who’d be laid off. About a third of the newsroom — some 20 people — will lose their jobs.
There are, of course, many more employees at newspapers outside the newsroom, and many of them lost their jobs too.
It remains unclear whether the U-T will continue to publish a separate North County edition under the Times name.
Fact Check TV: The U-T’s Port-ly Mission
If you missed all the hubbub last week about U-T CEO John Lynch and his reported threat to a local official over the future of the downtown waterfront, check the latest edition of Fact Check TV. We recap the allegation (from port commissioner Scott Peters, who’s running for Congress) and a denial (from Lynch, who claims an email was doctored).
A follow-up: Lynch, who’s been unsuccessfully pushing for a stadium/ entertainment complex at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal, made a suggestion in an email about relocating some shipping to National City.
In a comment on our site, National City Mayor Ron Morrison said: “There has been no discussion with or securing any support from National City for this scheme. If the owners of the UT want to move things that they find undesirable from the Downtown San Diego area, then I would invite them to move them to the neighborhood that they live in.”
One of our stories about Lynchgate was at the top of the list of our most popular articles of the week.
San Diego Trash Collector in Anti-Romney Video
A trash collector who serves Mitt Romney’s mansion in La Jolla appears in a new labor-supported video bashing the presidential candidate. You can watch the video here, via Huffington Post.
Photographing Politifest
If you missed Politifest, check our photo gallery. And don’t miss a fun photo from the U-T of a mayoral candidate dancing at a Zumba class.
Here’s hoping neither rival challenges the other to a “Gangnam Style” dance-off. There are some things that are not meant to be seen.
Please contact Randy Dotinga directly at randydotinga@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga.