Barry Pollard is a man on a mission to change the public perception of his community.
Pollard lost the race for District 4’s City Council seat back in 2010 against Tony Young, but he still has big plans for southeastern San Diego, and he’s hoping that the upcoming election will be his chance to make a mark on a part of the city that has an unfortunate reputation for crime and violence.
We sat down with Pollard to discuss the recent 5k race he organized in District 4 and the important issues facing the community, including food access, public health, new development projects and public safety.
Our interview with Barry Pollard is part of an ongoing series of Reader’s Guides to the candidates in the upcoming special election for the City Council seat in District 4. Check out our guides for candidates Dwayne Crenshaw, Bruce Williams and Myrtle Cole.
Filner to Hotels: Let’s Make a Deal
Mayor Bob Filner went back to the drawing board yesterday and he has decided to offer the hotel industry a compromise to get the stalled TMD negotiations moving. The mayor has been advocating for better wages for workers, more money for the city and a more flexible agreement, which the industry deemed a “non-starter.”
The back-and-forth between the mayor and industry heads has turned into an epic game of political ping pong over the 2 percent tax that funds tourism marketing for the city. We explained the basic fundamentals of this confusing disagreement in a recent San Diego Explained segment.
VOSD Radio: This Week With Andy Keatts
If you’ve been feeling lost because you missed the smooth tenor of VOSD Radio’s Scott Lewis this week, we’ve got just what the doctor ordered. Lewis interviewed our land-use reporter Andrew Keatts about the inner-workings of new developments in the community planning process. Don’t forget to tune in every Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. to KOGO AM 600 and subscribe to our weekly podcast if the Internet is your thing.
Most Popular Stories of the Week
Gangs, Texas and trees caught our readers’ interest last week. A recent Fact Check (unfortunately) debunked the bold claim that San Diego reigns supreme in urban tree population, and the story was our most popular offering. Check the top 10 posts of the week for all of the best water-cooler fodder.
Fact Check TV
Texas Gov. Rick Perry recently started a campaign to recruit California businesses to the Lone Star State and it caused a bit of a stir with local politicians. State Senate candidate Hector Gastelum made the claim that about three corporations have left for Texas every week over the last 20 years and we put his numbers to the test. (Gastelum has since lost the race to Ben Hueso.)
No spoilers here. Check out our recent San Diego Fact Check segment with Scott Lewis and Lisa Halverstadt for a breakdown of his claims.
Active Voice: Use Our Charter Schools for Experimentation
Contributor and San Diego charter school teacher Oscar Ramos explains why he thinks that San Diego’s charter schools should be used as a laboratory for solving some of the district’s most difficult education problems. He cites some savvy example programs at his own charter school, the Preuss School, which he believes have the ability to be reworked and applied to schools all across the district — charter and otherwise.
Ramos’ contribution is in response to education reporter Will Carless’ request for Dear Superintendent… submissions earlier this month. If you have something you’d like to say to the San Diego Unified’s new superintendent, we encourage you to submit to our Tumblr. Please send a photo of yourself holding a note with your message to will@vosd.org.
Outside VOSD
• KPBS reminds us that San Diego won’t be celebrating the 100th anniversary of Balboa Park in 2015. It will actually be 100 years since the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, which was meant to draw attention to San Diego. Our Kelly Bennett spent months writing about the history of the park and plans for the 2015 celebration. It looks like former Mayor Jerry Sanders wasn’t the only person confused by all the festivities.
• U-T San Diego gave an update on the ongoing struggle to relocate the Chargers to Los Angeles. It seems that billionaire AEG mogul — and Los Angeles Chargers money man — Philip Anschutz has decided not to sell his company and instead has dismissed his No. 1 L.A. Chargers employee-advocate. The decision is seen by industry insiders as a major setback for the plan to build a new stadium and move the Bolts. Chargers fans south of Camp Pendleton can breathe a short sigh of relief.
• The New York Times does what it does best: a totally slick interactive that documents views of the United States-Mexico border from perspectives on both sides of the fence. The work of our very own VOSD alumni Rob Davis is featured in the second slide.
Colin Weatherby is a freelance writer. You can reach him at colin.weatherby@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @CCWeatherby.
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