The Morning Report
Get the news and information you need to take on the day.
When two mayors are separated by a nasty traffic jam, decades of political wrangling and an international border, how do they show the people that they mean business?
An exchange of cell phone numbers, of course.
Along with updated contact information, Mayor Filner and Mayor Carlos Bustamante of Tijuana have both made border issues a major talking point in recent months — and we detailed their approaches to cutting down border waits here yesterday.
Filner campaigned with the precedent-setting promise to open a Tijuana office and he hired a well-respected border consultant, a move that may represent a big step toward reform.
In the second part of our look at the San Diego-Tijuana partnership, we examine three ways that Filner could have real impact on improving the situation over the next four years.
Downtown Homeless Center Debut Is Close
A new 220-bed homeless shelter is slated to open soon, and we went inside for a sneak peak.
The 14-story building will house the new Connections Housing facility, the first of its kind in San Diego. The project will provide one-stop access to 20 service agencies, food and medical services.
Brown’s Big Budget Speech: Deficit Gone, but New School Year Is Still a Problem
Gov. Jerry Brown assured California schools Thursday that the future is bright.
“The budget cuts made in the last two years and the passage of Proposition 30 make it possible to both live within our means and to increase funding for education,” Brown said. “This is new, this is a breakthrough.”
It might be a breakthrough for California, but San Diego Unified is still wondering how it will fill the $84 million hole in next year’s funding scheme. The district still doesn’t know how much it will receive next year, and our story explains how officials are scrambling to perform some fiscal triage before the numbers are in.
Letter: Stay Away from Our Height Restrictions
A La Jolla resident writes us with a scathing criticism of our recent article examining the effects of San Diego’s 40-year-old law limiting certain buildings heights. This reader questions the notion that height restrictions have contributed to high rents, and argues that the law’s rigidity was an important achievement because the citizens simply “could not and do not trust their local authorities.”
Junior Seau Suffered from Chronic Brain Damage
A recently published National Institutes of Health study concluded that examinations of Junior Seau’s body reveal the same chronic brain damage found in dozens of former NFL players, according to ESPN. Former Charger Fred McCrary tells Sports Illustrated that he’s not surprised by the report and Seau’s ex-wife says that his son is giving up football in light of the recent findings.
We published a Reader’s Guide on brain trauma in the wake of Seau’s tragic suicide last year.
Filner Makes Good on a Promise: Pot Shop Prosecution Halted
Mayor Bob Filner promised the city that he would end crackdowns on marijuana dispensaries. After City Attorney Jan Goldsmith gave his blessing, the U-T reports that Filner shuttered the entire opposition with a single letter to code compliance director Kelly Broughton. Goldsmith confirms with KPBS that his office is out of the dispensary-busting business.
We tackled this issue in 2011 during a San Diego Explained segment.
Quick News Hits
• Carl DeMaio still claims he discovered San Diego’s financial problems. Former VOSD editor Andrew Donohue reminds us that DeMaio is wrong. Here’s another reminder. The U-T also gave us an update on what DeMaio is up to these days.
• The San Francisco Chronicle reports that more than 2 million Californians are left without a state senator due to redistricting. We reported on a few redistricting quirks of our own here in San Diego last week.
• U-T owner Doug Manchester tried to meet with Filner over his equestrian-related code enforcement problems, according to CityBeat. Filner says he set strict terms for the meeting and Manchester pulled a no-show.
• The Washington Post reports on a Navy SEAL suffering from PTSD in San Diego who was told to keep quiet. The follow up video is posted here.
• And this new rail map covering all of California is just incredibly cool.
Colin Weatherby is a freelance writer. You can reach him at colin.weatherby@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @CCWeatherby.
Disclosure: Voice of San Diego members and supporters may be mentioned or have a stake in the stories we cover. For a complete list of our contributors, click here.