As former Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher’s star once again rises, Liam Dillon looked back over Fletcher’s recent history, with an eye toward that one basic question that remains unanswered about Fletcher: Who is he?
Dillon assembled a timeline of Fletcher’s career since 2001. Fletcher signed Grover Norquist’s notorious “anti-tax pledge” in 2007, but later said he wouldn’t sign it again. He said he wouldn’t run for office in May, yet here he is running for mayor.
Bob Filner’s departure “changed the circumstances,” Fletcher tells VOSD in a Q-and-A.
Fletcher says what matters is his positions now. And in case it wasn’t clear, Fletcher confirms he is all-in on the mayor’s race. Again.
NBC 7 San Diego noted that Fletcher has aggressively jumped out in front of the mayoral race and is already racking up some union endorsements. His main contenders are still said to still be “thinking of running.” Carl DeMaio said Thursday that he will unveil his mayoral intentions on Tuesday. As of Wednesday, 13 people had filed to run for mayor of San Diego.
City Budget, Neighborhood Voices
Planning Director Bill Fulton talked up the city’s neighborhood involvement last week, calling the process that brings community voices into the city’s budget process “a truly extraordinary one.” But Joe LaCava, chairman of the Community Planning Committee, thinks the process is still lacking. Translation services could be bolstered, he said, and the city needs to hire more planners to sit in on the planning groups to give technical guidance. And they need to lower the barrier to entry for newcomers, said Georgette Gomez. “It’s not an easy group to engage in, meaning that some of the members have been very engaged for a very long time.”
Obamacare in Neighborhoods: San Diego Explained
Megan Burks has been reporting on how the Affordable Care Act, 124 days away from kicking into high gear for most Americans, will impact communities like City Heights. She teamed up with NBC San Diego’s Catherine Garcia to explain why the law will have such a large impact there for the latest San Diego Explained.
Residential vs. Industrial
The Barrio Logan community plan, scheduled for consideration in September, proposes two scenarios for city leaders to choose between. Justine Nielsen, an attorney with San Diego Land Lawyers representing the San Diego Ship Repair Association, wrote in to tell us why she favors Scenario 2, which is more industry-friendly. “Scenario 2 will create 1,000 more jobs than Scenario 1 and offers greater protection to critical industrial business because it preserves more industrially zoned land than Scenario 1,” Nielsen wrote.
City Adopts Transparency Audit
The city will audit its performance in responding to Public Records Act requests, which are filed by citizens who want access to government records.
“City Auditor Eduardo Luna on Thursday agreed to an audit, which he estimated would take 1,200 staff hours to complete,” reports U-T San Diego. The U-T lists several instances where documents have been denied to the press, including one instance where our own Lisa Halverstadt was denied sexual harassment training documents she requested in July.
Unhappy Meals
Thursday saw nationwide protests from fast food workers who walked out of their jobs to demand hourly wage increases, and some San Diegans took part. KPBS reported from outside a Wendy’s downtown where workers, joined by Councilman David Alvarez, chanted slogans and decried what they called poverty wages.
News Nibbles
• Filner’s latest accuser spoke to NBC San Diego about her allegations.
• Rep. Juan Vargas was on KPBS talking national issues, as well as Filner.
• DeMaio went on KOGO to talk about humbling life experiences.
• If you like long profiles of California Gov. Jerry Brown, Rolling Stone got in on that action.
• The NFL settled a lawsuit with ex-players who were suing over concussions, including settling with Junior Seau’s family.
• Common Core education standards have arrived in San Diego schools.
• Throngs gathered at Sleep Train Amphitheater in Chula Vista Thursday to welcome home the national champion Eastlake All-Stars little league team.
Romney Boomlet Gets Busted
On Thursday, Morning Report scribe Randy Dotinga revealed that La Jolla resident Mitt Romney isn’t registered to vote here, meaning he couldn’t run for mayor even if he wanted to (though there’s not much to suggest he would).
But some were wondering whether another Romney, Mitt’s son Matt, was in the hunt. Matt Romney, who w0rks in real estate and lives in the Rancho Bernardo area, told KUSI yesterday that he’s been approached by the GOP about running for mayor and is considering it.
Wow.
But Dotinga found a problem for the other Romney, too. Matt Romney, the Registar of Voters says, has a San Diego address but lives in an unincorporated area and therefore cannot run for mayor. It’s too late to change his status in time to jump in the campaign.
It Is Radical, Dude
When Fox News recently featured a Pacific Beach man who said he collects food stamps while driving an Escalade and lunching on lobster, it naturally stirred up some controversy. The U-T jumped into action to verify the claims made by the Fox News story.
Most of it was true, they found. Jason Greenslate does eat lobster and did drive an Escalade, though the Escalade is provided by the Greenslate’s record label. “I didn’t make the rules,” the man said. “I just stepped in line.” He said he was glad for recent reforms that made applying for food stamps easier. “It’s a pain in the (expletive) going up there. But now they’ve got it so you only have to go once a year, which is radical,” he said.
Seth Hall is a local writer and technologist. You can contact him at voice@s3th.com or follow him on Twitter: @loteck.