On paper, expanding the trolley line from Old Town to La Jolla would bring big growth and development to the communities it passes through – but residents are none too pleased about it.
Andrew Keatts reports on regional planners’ early efforts to extend the light rail, a project that would wrap up in 2018 with a projected price tag of $1.7 billion. When it’s done, riders would be able to go straight from the border all the way to UTC, a major jobs cluster.
The city wants to encourage developers to build up around the line to support businesses and new homes. But allowing that density would mean changing the self-imposed height limits around Linda Vista, Bay Park and Clairemont.
Residents aren’t having it.
“I think I can safely say that most of the residents are angry, and are opposing the 60-foot height limit. That height limit is not acceptable to the residents. (They) don’t want to look at a wall. That’s how they see it,” the Clairemont planning group’s vice chair, Fiona Theseira, told us.
Making Sense of Number Sentences
In old-school arithmetic, students were taught the how-to of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. But while this gave kids the “what” of math, it didn’t give the “why.” Common Core standards are supposed to change that, but so far, the new requirements rolled out in 44 states have drawn a lot of confused stares and even some outrage from parents.
News startup Vox took its explainer approach to demystifying the standards, including an illustrated walk-through of subtraction using a number line.
The big-picture takeaway: The new standards will better prepare kids for real-world application of math skills. From Vox: “What we want to tell parents to do is they don’t need to teach the math,” says [Diane] Briars, the president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. “What they need to help their children do is figure out, What is the problem asking you?”
VOSD contributor Christie Ritter worked a few of the Common Core math problems on her own, and found they’re really not so bad.
New Captain of a Sinking Ship
You’ve got to admire Carol Lazier for her gumption. After just a year on the San Diego Opera board, she stepped up as the supervising body’s new president during an especially dramatic meeting last week to try to keep the 49-year-old company from shuttering for good. The U-T profiled Lazier, who’s already pledged $1 million toward saving the institution.
When general director Ian Campbell first told the board he wanted to close up shop “with dignity,” members voted 33-1 to liquidate. But Lazier soon changed her mind, and she and fellow board member (and new husband) James Merritt set out on their own rescue mission. Lazier spoke up often at meetings, pushing for a special committee to seek alternatives to closing as well as a later deadline of May 19, because the board needed “a contrarian.”
Lazier told the U-T: “I speak from the heart and try to be gentle and kind and lead in a positive way, but being a responsible board member is being tough and sticking up for what you believe is best.”
Quick News Hits
• University of California schools admitted more Hispanics than white students for the first time. Latinos will make up nearly 29 percent of the Californians admitted for this fall’s freshman class. (Wall Street Journal)
• District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis is under scrutiny for allegedly using her position of power in law enforcement to give one of her aides a leg up in politics. (inewsource)
• SDSU’s student newspaper The Daily Aztec (of which our intern Ana Ceballos is managing editor) turned 100. (U-T)
• The Padres picked the team’s new announcer (don’t worry, U-T – it’s not a woman). (KPBS)
• San Diego’s Meb Keflezighi won the Boston Marathon on Monday, with a time of 2:08:37. I can do that. (NBC 7)
