If you’re wondering how to vote on Propositions B and C in the city of San Diego, here’s a quick primer. In Barrio Logan, residential units sit right next to industrial facilities. A new community plan for the neighborhood would separate them over the course of many decades. For example, a business in a newly designated residential area would not have to move. It could stay forever. But if it ever went vacant and the ownership changed hands, the new owner may have to build homes if they want to develop it.
Shipbuilders and their allies think this plan went just a bit too far. A disputed swath of land meant as a buffer between industry and residential does not allow shipbuilders and their suppliers enough flexibility, they claim.
So they went to war and produced Propositions B and C. A no vote on them throws out the new plan leaving in place the status quo of intermingled industry and residences.
You may have seen a campaign mailer recently that says “(Propositions B&C) increases pollution and health hazards in Barrio Logan.” Is that true? San Diego Fact Check finds it’s “A Stretch.”
Opera Alive
It was a good day for divas — the ones on the stage, at least. Fresh from sacking the general director who tried to shut down the San Diego Opera, the organization’s board of directors announced it voted unanimously to resurrect the opera.
The opera company won’t close but will instead launch into its 50th season in 2015 with three operas, including “La Bohème,” “Don Giovanni” and a modern production called “Nixon in China.”
The new era will come with pay cuts, cheaper tickets and more than $4.5 million in last-ditch donations, including $2.1 million from an online fundraising drive.
For details, check stories by KPBS and the U-T.
Post-Wildfire Roundup: Lessons Learned, Fees Waived
• It’s lessons-learned time. Or a bit more accurately, it’s lessons-learned-last-time time .
We compiled the details from various news stories about how the deadly and devastating fires of 2003 and 2007 affected the way authorities fought the flames last week.
The Missing Links in Search for Racial Profiling
For the first time in more than a decade, the San Diego Police Department has released statistics about the people whom cops pull over on the street. But, the data lacks crucial context that could answer the big question: Do cops racially profile people or not?
Election Round-Up: DA Gets Cleared Again
• “State elections officials have dismissed a pair of complaints against District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, who was accused by a supporter of campaign rival Robert Brewer of failing to disclose gifts,” the U-T reports. Officials say she doesn’t need to disclose free passes to events and a trip.
This is the second time in recent weeks that an opponent of Dumanis has failed to get a complaint to stick.
• The U-T has profiles of DA candidates Dumanis, Bob Brewer and Terri Wyatt.
Quick News Hits: Mad over a MAD
• The City Council today will consider paying $300,000 in damages to residents of the Golden Hill neighborhood who have fought for years against a “maintenance assessment district,” the Reader reports.
The city has 55 of these funding schemes, which charge property owners for improvements to their neighborhoods.
• San Diego State’s former star Kwahi Leonard is putting on a show for the San Antonio Spurs as they march through the NBA playoffs. The New York Times breaks a lot of his success down to the size of his hands. A teammate puts it simply: “It’s insane, the stuff he does with his hands.”
• NBC 7 has an exclusive with the wife of a former San Diego police officer, Christopher Hays, accused of misconduct on the job. Here’s a review of the nine separate scandals the police department is dealing with.
• “In the very near future, you may have to pay a fee to use a bathroom in one of Southern California’s four national forests,” including the Cleveland national forest near San Diego, the LA Times warns in an editorial about the potential consequences of a judge’s ruling. “You may have to pay another fee to eat at one of the prefab picnic tables plunked next to the parking lot. You might even have to pay again to throw your trash in a garbage can. On the other hand, parking and hiking will be free.”
• Here’s a pollution source you may not have thought much about: Your wood-burning fireplace. New York City will consider banning the fireplaces in new homes, the NY Times reports.
• Remember Patch, the online “hyperlocal” news operation with hundreds of community pages across the country, including a whole bunch in San Diego County? Patch lives! Sort of. (NYT)
• For many of us, there are few things more joyful than judging other people for dumb things they do, like not wearing bike helmets. Well, judge not yet ye find out that not wearing a bike helmet isn’t so bad after all.
That’s the word from a writer for the website Vox: “Biking, it turns out, isn’t an especially dangerous form of transportation in terms of head trauma. And the benefits of helmets may be overstated. While they do protect your head during accidents, there’s some evidence that helmets make it more likely you’ll get in an accident in the first place.”
OK, fine. But I’m still going to judge unfortunate bike shorts even if it turns out they’re good for you. Somebody’s got to comment on this threat, and if necessary I’ll tap my strategic snark reserve.
Randy Dotinga is a freelance contributor to Voice of San Diego and president-elect of the American Society of Journalists & Authors. Please contact him directly at randydotinga@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga.
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