Morning Report: Hope at Last for Dangerous San Ysidro Road

The city set deadlines to do something. The deadlines passed. Residents and a politician demanded that something be done. It wasn’t. And so it went for a decade as the city never got around to building a sidewalk in a half-mile stretch of road in San Ysidro that’s dangerous for the schoolkids who must walk it.

“The sidewalk hasn’t been built in part because the situation is so dire,” VOSD reporter Liam Dillon writes. “Contractors will have to blast into a hillside to make room. The project also will come with street lights, bike lanes and a redesign of the road to make it less narrow.”

Now, as we report, the city finally has the more than $11 million needed to build the sidewalk. But there will be yet another delay.

Fact Check: We’re Not That Pricey

Councilwoman Marti Emerald is wrong about San Diego being the second-most expensive place to live in the country.

Tony Gwynn’s Career in Images

Ernie Anderson, a photographer who’s taken countless photos of local athletics, has compiled some of his favorite photos of the late Tony Gwynn. Check out the black-and-white photos.

• Get your Tony Gwynn beer! (U-T)

Iconic Faulconer Fan Shares His Story

Chad Michael Terry doesn’t live here anymore, but his image lingers on thanks to a photo by VOSD contributor Sam Hodgson. Terry is the guy with mouth open wide in some sort of cheer at a Kevin Faulconer rally in February.

In a brief interview, we talk to Terry about the photo, his excitement about our new mayor and his departure. (No, it wasn’t something we said.)

Why Fishermen Can’t Sell Their Seafood

Clare Leschin-Hoar examines why local fishermen are having trouble selling their seafood on dry land. It has to do with farmer’s markets, logistics and the law.

• Speaking of food, in a new story we check in with farmers about the strategies they’re using to fight the drought. We also describe how pool and brewery businesses are adapting.

Quick News Hits: Seuss Gone Dada

• “Developers looking to build in downtown San Diego are now facing a steep hike in the city’s so-called ‘impact’ fees,” NBC 7 reports. “The money will help pay for badly needed fire stations, parks and other public facilities.”

In other downtown news, a project to build a $250 million pair of towers is in the works, the U-T reports. They’d be home to homes, offices and a hotel.

• Enforcing a new minimum wage will cost money, opponents are warning. One councilwoman warns of a “little mini-IRS.” (U-T)

• Borrego Springs wildflowers are in jeopardy. (KPBS)

• The Art of Dr. Seuss Gallery, the first gallery devoted to the art of the late La Jolla resident Ted “Dr. Seuss” Geisel, has opened in Chicago. The surprise is the once-obscure fine art that’s now available through prints: “There’s a Jackson Pollock-style Cat in the Hat. And there’s Yertle the Turtle’s art deco ancestor in After Dark in the Park, and a colorful surrealist version of One Fish, Two Fish in the delightfully titled The Joyous Leaping of Uncanned Salmon.”

• Um, you’ll never guess which GOP political star comes to San Diego for vacation every year and is pondering a move here. Do we have any Tex-Mex places to recommend to him?

• In its newest issue, CityBeat takes a bunch of politicos, media folks and food/entertainment types out for drinks and chit-chattery. Among them: Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who enjoys a cold brew.

Unfortunately, nobody ended up in the drunk tank. (Yes, we do have one. Had to pick up a relative there once, and boy I’ll never let him forget it.)

And Faulconer didn’t get lit enough to spout any deep municipal secrets. Which makes you wonder: What are the local equivalents of the nuclear codes? The secret number you have to dial to make an outside call from City Hall? The combination to the safe where the Key to the City is kept?

We’re just going to have to keep plying the guy with booze to find out. If only someone sold craft beer around here…

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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