The Morning Report
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Earlier this week, we listed areas of science and technology where San Diego’s idea gurus are making a mark. Now we’re adding a few more to the list along with resources that will help you learn more about them.
Among the add-ons: Biomimicry (copying nature to help improve our lives) and sports innovation (such as golf and diving technology). Got any more? Let us know.
City Attorney in Dark on Protester Prosecution
The city attorney’s office went out of its way yesterday to say that the city attorney had not been aware that his office was prosecuting a San Diego man for writing anti-bank slogans on the sidewalk in water-soluble chalk.
The man’s prosecution made the national news via Huffington Post and the Drudge Report. His trial began yesterday when a jury was seated.
At least half of 12 potential jurors said they thought it was a bad idea to use taxpayer money to go after the alleged chalk vandal, U-T San Diego reports. “I think this is a tremendous waste,” one said, according to the U-T.
Happy as a Clam in Your Gullet
A local ecologist wants to bring back three species of clam that used to be big in our area’s estuaries. Her plan: restore them to nature and turn them into food. VOSD food blogger Clare Leschin-Hoar has the details in a new story.
Your State Legislators at Work
One of your local legislators has convinced her colleagues to pass 88 percent of the bills she’s proposed. Does she have power and clout? A habit of introducing legislation that’s not controversial? Something else? CityBeat’s latest guide to the activities of San Diego-area assemblymembers and state senators may give you an idea.
Other tidbits: Two local legislators have only gotten 18 percent of their bills through the Senate or Assembly. Several legislators have accepted tens of thousands of bucks worth of gifts, including football tickets, a golf club, airport parking passes and even a movie pass and a $6,395 trip to Russia. And one legislator uses the Twitter handle @ConservtveWoman (sic), even though @ConservativeWoman is available.
Fascintng.
From Bad Air to Power Bills: Local News in Brief
• The Reader examines the impact of the unhealthy air in the neighborhood of Barrio Logan, which is split between pollution-spewing heavy industry and family homes.
• The NY Times has updated its nifty online widget that lets you calculate how much average home prices have risen or fallen over the last 13 years in San Diego and 19 other cities.
For example, an average-priced local home purchased in 2002 is now worth 35 percent over that price; it’s 30 percent under if you bought one in mid-2005. That’s quite a switcheroo. However, remember that these prices aren’t adjusted for inflation.
• The city is paying for two year-round homeless shelters, one for veterans (in the Midway area) and the other for adults (in Barrio Logan), the U-T reports, but there are hitches regarding funding.
For background, check our extensive coverage of the homeless.
• State regulators want your power bills go down now that the San Onofre power plant is done for good, the U-T reports.
• The San Diego Unified School District has approved its budget, which includes sales of land, bigger class sizes and fewer job positions, the U-T reports.
Meet the Sultan of Shelters
Look down. If you live in one of the older parts of town, you may be right on top of a long-forgotten fallout shelter.
Or, perhaps, right on top of a brand-new one.
As U-T columnist Logan Jenkins writes, a Del Mar businessman has built a dozen disaster shelters for denizens of swanky Rancho Santa Fe. Now, he’s hoping to make a killing off helping a few diehards survive the apocalypse. A few months ago, the man “bought 2.25 million square feet in a 100-year-old limestone mine near Atchison, Kan. He’ll sell space for RVs in the world’s largest underground survival shelter. Total population: 5,000.”
The Vivos Survival Shelter and Resort — fun! — is expected to feature bowling alleys, dog parks and a golf course. Plus a “cryovault” for DNA that will help repopulate the planet. (Or, perhaps, a planet if ours is not fit to be occupado.)
We all know a few people who make a habit of turning our lives into disaster areas. Maybe they’d like to tour the Kansas facility. Let this be our message to them: After you! No, we insist. (Quick, lock the door!)
Randy Dotinga is a freelance contributor to Voice of San Diego. Please contact him directly at randydotinga@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga.
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