When it’s not just plain horrific, the Filner scandal has had plenty of moments of absolute absurdity. Case in point: the rule that the mayor of the eighth-largest city in the U.S. cannot meet alone with women on city property.
Whose idea was it and why? VOSD reporter Liam Dillon sniffed around for some answers, but the truth is elusive. Stories differ, and the parties involved seem very motivated to present their perspectives.
• A rally brought dozens of Filner recall supporters to the Civic Center yesterday. NBC San Diego has details, and it also reports on the challenges facing recall proponents as they try to raise money.
• The U-T examines the mayor’s city credit-card bills and finds an unusual expense: a $129 blender.
• Biocom, a local biotech trade group, is calling on Filner to quit, KPBS reports.
L.A. Treasurer Targets School Bond Arrangements
L.A. County’s treasurer is the latest major voice to call for a crack-down on suspicious arrangements in which financial companies give money to campaigns for school bonds — borrowing money for renovation and construction — and then get hired to sell the bonds. San Diego’s own treasurer-tax collector, Dan McAllister, would rather see the state enforce a new policy than crack down on donors himself.
Check our investigation that found a significant correlation between large donors to school bond campaigns and companies who later win contracts resulting from the bonds.
Arbitration-Friendly Judge Becomes Arbitrator
“A former San Diego Superior Court judge who ruled against arbitration campaigner Jon Perz in his battle with a local car dealership has become an arbitrator,” VOSD contributor Will Carless reports.
Earlier this year, we published a three-part series about the debate over arbitrary arbitration clauses that critics say leave consumers in the lurch when they have disputes with companies. You can read the series here, here and here.
CicloSDias Declared a Success
• We’ve got an update on how things went at Sunday’s CicloSDias big cycling event via an interview with the mayor’s manager of bicycle initiatives. He also talks about plans for future cycling events and long-term plans to support cyclists.
• Speak City Heights, the news collaborative that covers the Mid-City neighborhood, shares this cool time-lapse video from the event, and bikesd.org has a collection of photos from the day.
Quick News Hits: Jail Mail, OB and the Color of Meow
• If you’re familiar with “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” you might remember how things went off kilter whenever Q showed up and drove the captain crazy. It’s kind of like that when I’m a guest on the VOSD Radio show. You can listen here to VOSD’s Scott Lewis and I talk about Politifest, the mayoral mess and more.
• Our readers ponder public transit and the fate of you-know-who in VOSD’s Comments of the Week.
• The Sheriff’s Department is only allowing inmates to get postcards via the mail, the U-T reports. No more envelopes. It’s part of a crackdown designed to stop drugs from getting into jails.
How’s it working? Pretty well, the story says, although outsiders are getting creative: “Senders still try to mail drugs even in postcards. In one with a San Diego beach scene, jailers found heroin smeared between peeled-back layers of the paper.”
• The L.A. Times travel section drops by “funky” Ocean Beach, “a laid-back San Diego neighborhood.”
“On weekend nights, a party atmosphere prevails as the bars and live-music venues fill up,” the story says. Oh, do they now?
• The county has posted a video spotlighting the various colors of the cats in its animal shelters.
These lazy, work-averse felines are being supported by taxpayer dollars. Help them get off the dole! Contact the county Animal Services department and adopt one today. You, and every other animal lover in town, will be glad you did.
Voice of San Diego is a nonprofit that depends on you, our readers. Please donate to keep the service strong. Click here to find out more about our supporters and how we operate independently.