From the guy who brought you all the details on bills passed by San Diego lawmakers (that’d be Brian Joseph, our Sacramento contributor) comes A Reader’s Guide to the November Ballot Measures.
Turns out that when it comes to two of the measures – the ones involving money for drought relief and new rules for state budget reserves – the state Democratic and Republican parties actually agree. On other measures, like Prop. 45 – the one bombarding your TV with ads – the parties predictably split.
The Next Frontier for Fish
If Don Kent’s vision for a massive sustainable fish farm off of Mission Beach comes to life, it will mark a major milestone in the way America cultivates its seafood.
Kent is CEO of the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, and our food policy blogger Clare Leschin-Hoar examines his vision for an offshore yellowtail farm that “could very well be his career capstone.”
If the project gets the green light, it could end up producing 10 million fish per year, and bring dozens of jobs with it.
• Meanwhile, researchers at Hubbs and the University of San Diego have discovered that killer whales and bottlenose dolphins can communicate vocally when they’re socialized together. Basically, the dolphin world takeover is imminent.
Density Ain’t Nothing But a Number
Density means different things to different people, but none of the conversations we’re having about it here in San Diego are very productive, urban designer Howard Blackson writes for us in a new op-ed.
That’s because density ultimately boils down to numbers and measurements, and we should be making more nuanced arguments about our neighborhoods.
“We should control how buildings transition from new to old,” Blackson writes. “We should understand how to transition between different types of buildings to maintain and cultivate a community’s character. New development restrictions can do those things.”
A Brief History of the California Burrito
I’ve got some disturbing news to report: Gustavo Arellano, who writes the wonderful syndicated “¡Ask a Mexican!” column and who wrote the book on Mexican food in America, doesn’t like guacamole or avocados.
That lapse in judgment aside, Arellano and Morning Report scribe Randy Dotinga had a conversation about the roots of some of San Diego’s most beloved dishes, the fish taco and the California burrito. A taconversation, if you will.
“The fact that Americans love Mexican food is really a start because at least you’ve embraced the food,” Arellano said. “It seems like a flippant analysis, but look at history. It’s very easy to dismiss a bunch of college kids foraging at Chipotle, but that’s progress, it absolutely is.”
Quick News Hits
• Very sad news: Melissa Bonney Ratcliff, a vice president with the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, was killed in La Jolla Tuesday when she was struck by a car. (U-T San Diego)
• “San Diego County is on pace to add more than 30,000 jobs for the third straight year,” according to a report by the University of San Diego. (U-T)
• The U-T editorial board endorsed Amy Redding for the San Diego Unified school board over its current president, Kevin Beiser, who the paper writes off as a “union loyalist.”
• Elyse Lowe, formerly the director of MoveSD and deputy executive director of Circulate San Diego, has been hired as a deputy director of the city’s development services department.
• Yahoo has initiated a Portland vs. San Diego smackdown over which city is the bigger craft beer capital. Portland makes a hilariously Portland argument for itself: “Portland has been brewing craft beers since before it was cool.”
As an Oregonian-turned-San Diegan, I feel uniquely qualified to weigh in here. Portland, you win when it comes to coffee and pinot. And transit. And vegan strip clubs. But San Diego takes craft beer.