The Morning Report
Get the news and information you need to take on the day.
Tuesday, in a special Member Report, we asked Voice of San Diego members to suggest potential persons of the year.
If we were to try to adapt the Time Magazine yearly exercise, who would be the person who influenced San Diego for good or ill the most in 2013? Since that seems pretty obviously to have been Bob Filner, we thought we might broaden it. How about Top Five people of the year?
We asked VOSD members to help imagine what that list would look like, and you can read several of their responses.
Interim Mayor Todd Gloria gets several votes, and other politicians (or would-be politicians) get support too. Even a publisher who insists on being called “Papa” makes the list.
Who’s missing? Besides me? (An oversight, I’m sure.) Help us out: Leave your suggestions in the comments.
The Member Report is one of the many benefits of donating to Voice of San Diego. It’s our edgy version of an insider’s newsletter.
We’re about $33,000 away from our year-end goal. We need to hit this to make sure we can enter 2014 strong and keep providing services like the Morning Report.
If you read this every day, but haven’t contributed, please reconsider that. Members, like in this case, serve as a giant focus group for us. As we get wrapped up in downtown San Diego drama, they remind us what matters. They have decided the service is worth existing and so we listen when they don’t think we’ve lived up to standards.
Now, many of our events either offer a discount, or are restricted, to members and at the $101 level, they receive the quarterly magazine, which often includes a sneak peek at important content.
So if you read, consider paying. Thanks to all who do.
How Much Is Your Home Worth? How Much of That Is Due to David Alvarez?
A recent handout by the big coalition of labor unions in town, the Labor Council, claims that a law mayoral candidate David Alvarez championed has been “protecting people’s property values when banks foreclose on neighboring homes.”
This is referring to his signature legislation, the Property Value Protection Ordinance. We recently dove in to analyze what was known about the ordinance’s effect. We decided to fact check this claim of impact. The verdict: There’s no evidence that the law is having this effect.
Here’s an Election, There’s an Election
• It’s official: We’ll be voting for San Diego’s next mayor — and possible candidate for Person of the Year 2014 — on Feb. 11.
• And in June, voters will decide whether to nix the blueprint for the Barrio Logan neighborhood.
• In other City Hall news, San Diego is due $77 million from a legal settlement over lead paint in homes. (AP)
When Public Transportation Fails
Say one thing about cars: They’ll usually get you where you’re going, even if traffic keeps you on the road for hours. Public transportation is difficult to rely on in San Diego. Ask the North County folks who liked to ride the Sprinter train until it went offline for more than two months last summer due to a maintenance mess.
Ridership has slumped a bit since the massive fail, the U-T reports.
Culture Report: Art as DIY Project
The Culture Report, our weekly compilation of news about the local arts and culture community, leads off with a look at a unique kind of art project being spearheaded here. It’s not exactly BYOB. More like BYOS: Bring Your Own Self. These artists require audience members to take part in the construction of the project itself, like a wall made of paper birds or a dome made of index cards emblazoned with thoughts about marriage.
Also in the Culture Report: Links to stories about federal arts money heading our way, the closure of an art gallery in North Park, San Diego’s role at the big Art Basel Miami Beach modern art fair, and something called the Bad Santa Art Show. Hmm. Not sure I want to know what’s under their tree.
Quick News Hits
• Rural/Metro, the troubled provider of ambulance service in San Diego, is preparing to end bankruptcy. (WSJ)
• The CEO of the San Diego Symphony is leaving, but not for a while. Edward “Ward” Gill says he’ll leave next September. (KPBS)
• Which local columnist and VOSD contributor’s gut is “probably pickled in wine and high-fructose corn syrup?” Find out here.
• Grinch alert! NBC San Diego says a La Jolla homeowners association is not pleased by holiday lights and decorations. Not pleased at all.
• “Anchorman 2,” which reintroduces the world to an egomaniacal San Diego news anchor (imagine!), opens today and is getting pretty good reviews. And in case you’re wondering, yes, San Diego does appear in the movie, although it’s mainly set in the Big Apple.
• Speaking of the movies, the U-T has a pretty amazing photo of the time that La Jolla’s Children’s Pool was turned into a World War I battlefield for a Peter O’Toole movie.
• Everyone’s social media is getting bogged down by multiple photos of this month’s stunning sunsets (and sunrises too). Enough alre… Oh wow. That is amazing. And this one too.
Fine. But why are the sunsets suddenly so awesome? The U-T talks to the weather service about the roles that clouds are playing in reflecting light and making the sky look pretty. NBC did its own sort of San Diego Explained on the phenomenon too.
To borrow a catchphrase from a certain movie, “Don’t act like you’re not impressed.”
Randy Dotinga is a freelance contributor to Voice of San Diego and vice president of the American Society of Journalists & Authors. Please contact him directly at randydotinga@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga.