The Morning Report
Get the news and information you need to take on the day.
San Diego Police Chief Bill Lansdowne knows how to handle intense media scrutiny as well as anyone. He’s seen his share.
But now a new sexual misconduct scandal involving one of his officers, controversy over his response to our inquiry about racial profiling and his leadership of an effort to reform drug laws are making things interesting. And they all come at a time when he’s waiting to learn who his third boss in only a couple years will be.
• CityBeat reported Friday that Filner met with Warren Stanley, the commissioner for the California Highway Patrol. Filner wanted to gauge Stanley’s interest in becoming police chief.
At the meeting was Ernesto Encinas, the security consultant and former police officer who federal prosecutors say funneled illegal donations to local candidates. They also say Encinas wanted a mayoral candidate to pledge to get rid of Lansdowne in exchange for financial support for his campaign.
• The U-T says it has confirmed that Ed Clancy, who ran Bob Filner’s mayoral campaign is the Confidential Informant No. 1 referred to in the prosecutors’ complaint.
If you need, here’s our refresher on that scandal.
U-T Changes Leaders, Misses Money Goal
U-T San Diego CEO John Lynch told employees he’s on the brink of securing yet another major acquisition for the newspaper and for that reason has handed the reins of the company to President Mike Hodges.
Hodges, in a separate memo, told staff the paper did not meet financial goals and there would be other management changes.
Read the memos here.
Clearing Up Another Claim in the Mayor’s Race
We are ever so close to the mayor’s race being over. But we’re still trying to hold the advertising about it accountable.
In the latest edition, supporters of David Alvarez cited Kevin Faulconer’s vote against the Property Value Protection Ordinance as an example of Faulconer supporting corporate subsidies.
That claim doesn’t hold up, Lisa Halverstadt found.
Innovators Need Peer Support
Our contributor with an eye on the start-up world, Blair Giesen, say local entrepreneurs need to get to know one another.
City Hall Think Tank Getting Its Legs
Bob Filner’s idea for a civic innovation lab started out with a clunky name and a hard-to-understand purpose. That’s all changed. Now it’s got a staff, a clear directive and a sleek moniker.
Sports!
John Gennaro leads this week’s Sports Report with what he calls “The San Diego Blue Plate Special,” also known as the tried-and-true way San Diego sports leaders win fans over.
VOSD Has a New Commenting System
We changed our commenting system Friday. We now are working with LiveFyre. Catherine Green explains why we did that and some of the new service’s cool features.
What We Learned This Week
• The leader of a charter school that was rejected by the San Diego school board despite support from Superintendent Cindy Marten and staff is not going away quietly.
• There’s a much cheaper way to address emergency response times in some areas of the city of San Diego than to wait for a new fire station. Councilwoman Marti Emerald struggled to explain why we aren’t doing it.
• An audit of the San Diego’s Convention Center that recommended big cuts was shelved and perhaps because of that, a member of its board of directors resigned.
• Teach for America is going to be placing teachers in San Diego schools and how the program managed to overcome opposition is an interesting tale.
• For years, the border neighborhood of Otay Mesa has been trying to update its land-use codes. It stands on the brink of that but it won’t be easy to finish.
• The San Diego Police Department’s demographics don’t completely match the city’s.
• How the city’s special election can cost so much.
• Both Alvarez and Faulconer supported a labor deal that included raises for city employees. Yet Faulconer’s campaign is blasting Alvarez for it.
• Our co-founder, and the voice of San Diego for years before this service was ever a vision, Neil Morgan, passed away.
News Bits
• Twenty-five Harvard doctoral students are trying to figure out how to help San Diego schools, reports KPBS.
• A Sacramento Bee columnist is already talking about Kevin Faulconer as a potential governor.
• The U-T reports that big changes to utility rates are coming.
Quote of the Week
“It is amazing how much demand is influenced by weather especially when your economic livelihood is associated with keeping crops alive.” — Dana Friehauf, the Water Authority’s acting water resource manager, explaining why we used so much more water in December 2013 than we did in December 2012 for a fact check.