The Morning Report
Get the news and information you need to take on the day.
Facing another sexual misconduct investigation, San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne may have been feeling some de ja vu on Wednesday when he again promised to root out the source of the problem. “That’s because the chief has made many similar promises throughout a spate of misconduct scandals that have emerged over the last several years,” Catherine Green writes.
Another officer implicated in a different case resigned on Wednesday, and the criminal actions of former office Anthony Arevalos are clearly still fresh in the minds of San Diegans. Landsdowne wants to bring in an outside auditor to review how the department handles sexual misconduct accusations. Despite the recent incidents, Landsdowne doesn’t want an independent monitor at the police department, which is what one of Arevalos’s victims has asked a court to mandate.
• U-T San Diego notes that we’ve heard audit promises before from the police department, but one promise made years ago to audit the traffic-ticket system never materialized.
• 10 News reports that another woman has come forward with allegations that she was sexually harassed by an officer in 2002, in the presence of the officer’s trainee.
Bike-Share Plan Delayed
A new bike-share partnership with the company DecoBike aims to let San Diegans rent and return bicycles at designated areas all over the city. But it’s been delayed, and that could end up costing the city money, Ana Ceballos reports. “The city’s estimated profit of $1 million to $2.6 million was based on bike sharing beginning by March,” she writes. But the bike plan has been delayed until at least June.
A Push to Unify to School Districts
Some people want to merge the Chula Vista and Sweetwater school districts. It’s an old idea that’s never seen much success, but a new effort to merge the two districts will soon come to Chula Vista’s City Council. Councilwoman Mary Salas says she will propose the unification to the council “in a month,” which would bypass the often troubled process of gathering signatures from affected community members. Salas said the move would provide more continuity for students who all currently have to move between the two districts once they reach seventh grade.
Smart Parking Meters: San Diego Explained
Nobody likes carrying around loose change to feed parking meters, and a lot of businesses downtown will rudely decline to help you make change. You’d think everyone, including the city, would be a lot happier if streets had parking meters capable of accepting credit cards, and you’d be right. Scott Lewis joined NBC San Diego’s Catherine Garcia to explain how the city started, and then suddenly stopped, a project to install “smart” parking meters in our most recent San Diego Explained.
Learn From Petco Park
Political consultant Tom Shepard writes in with a reminder of Petco Park’s history, and how it can inform decision-making about a potential new stadium for the Chargers. “The team and city need to involve the public by creating a plan through a transparent, public process,” wrote Shepard. “And the plan’s primary objective has to be maximizing the stadium’s benefits for the city and its taxpayers.”
Azano Gets Cuffed
We’ve been tracking the ongoing saga of illegal money that was found making its way into San Diego’s political races. José Susumo Azano Matsura, the “foreign national” who is alleged to have provided the money in the first place, was arrested on Wednesday and appeared in court on Thursday.
News Nibbles
• In a U-T commentary, Councilwoman Sherri Lightner and the Equinox Center’s Lani Lutar urge San Diegans to continue to find ways to conserve water.
• One of Filner’s victims has reached a legal settlement in which she will receive an apology and a day declared in her name.
• Violent crimes are down, but property crimes are up, according to the FBI.
• The issue of how to deal with harbor seals at La Jolla’s Children’s Pool will occupy some more time at a City Council meeting on Monday.
• Teachers are on strike in Alpine.
• Sometimes, you gotta fight for your right to have drought-resistant landscaping.
Anonymous Neighbors Are Elite Athletes
Somewhere deep in Carlsbad in an anonymous building, one business is training the next generation of elite NFL athletes, U-T San Diego reports. “We kind of liked the cloak and dagger,” said Dan Alexander, the chief operations officer of Prolific Athletes, which only recently hung a sign outside its building. “It’s kind of nice being a secret until we have to really exploit ourselves with marketing and advertising.”
Prolific Athletes has been training some very high-profile former college athletes for the upcoming NFL Scouting Combine, an invite-only camp where athletes go to be scouted by the pros. This year, they’ve been training Heisman winner Johnny Manziel and his ex-teammate from Texas A&M, Mike Evans, according to the U-T. Both are expected to be picked in the first round of the NFL draft. The company also works with current NFL players.
Seth Hall is a local writer and technologist. You can reach him at voice@s3th.com or follow him on Twitter: @loteck.