If you join the board of a non-profit, you may be expected to raise money and donate a big chunk of change yourself. If you join a task force, somebody else usually pays the bill. But the Chargers task force, as we’re seeing, is far from ordinary.
We’ve learned that the members of the mayor’s unpaid stadium committee — charged with figuring out a way to keep the Bolts in town — will have to pay for the right to serve their community. Together, they’ll cough up as much as $50,000 for a PR person, the costs of a public forum and copying and graphics.
Donors were supposed to pay for these costs, but the Chargers didn’t like the idea that funders might have conflicts of interest. Task force members are all big-shots in one field or another, so they may not have trouble coming up with the money, which could run to $5,500 a person if the costs are high and divided equally.
• U-T columnist Dan McSwain examines the Chargers claim that the community is too teeny to be able to finance a new stadium by paying big bucks for season tickets and the right to buy them: “There may be more money here than the team lets on. But suppose there isn’t. This would suggest the Chargers brand may also struggle to raise sufficient cash in L.A.”
Opinion: Downtown 411
In a VOSD commentary, Murtaza Baxamusa, a board member of San Diego’s urban renewal agency that was created when the state consciously uncoupled from redevelopment, explains how the project approval process works in downtown. Though we’ve shown that Civic San Diego is indeed faster at approving permits, Baxamusa points out that that may come at the expense of community input — something to keep in mind when Civic is being touted as a model for other neighborhoods.
D.A. Bypasses County’s Own Horn-Tooting Site
Your taxpayer dollars at work: The county has a “news” site devoted to happy news about county government doings. Now, the district attorney’s office is creating its own “news” site devoted to happy news. Er, “telling the stories that the county — and San Diego media — may not have the time, resources or inclination to cover.” (Times of San Diego)
Everybody Shake … but When?
The estimated risk of a gigantic 8.0 or 8.0+ magnitude earthquake in California have gone up slightly, the L.A. Times reports. The risk is now estimated at 7 percent over the next three decades.
San Diego has been spared major death and damage from earthquakes during its recorded history, but the local Rose Canyon fault could spell major danger.
City Grabs Land for Sidewalk
The city is taking over state land to build a sidewalk to protect schoolkids in San Ysidro. We’ve written about the long bid by residents to get the city to take care of the missing-sidewalk problem.
Meanwhile, Point Loma residents are pushing for a change to an intersection where a toddler was recently killed in a car accident.
County Tries to Coax Immunizations
Amid a measles outbreak that’s hit some local residents, the county is part of an effort to boost immunization rates through public service announcement-style video spots.
• Health officials in Los Angeles say more than a dozen cases of an eye disease linked to syphilis have been reported on the West Coast, mainly in gay men.
Quick News Hits: Publisher No Longer Registers
• The weekly VOSD Culture Report checks in on the Quartyard, an urban park in downtown’s East Village neighborhood, and offers links to coverage of the Summer Pops, the San Diego Opera’s “audio description service” and the San Diego Film Awards.
• Southern California newspapers have gone through tremendous upheaval over the past few years, and now there’s more news: Aaron Kushner, the high-profile owner of the Orange County Register who hired tons of new journalists to build up print editions then sacked many of them when his effort failed — is out.
• A post in SDrostra.com, the conservative local blog, says East County Rep. Duncan D. Hunter rapped Sen. Rand Paul by comparing him to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This did not go over well in some parts.
• The movie “Top Gun” is a local icon: It was largely filmed in San Diego at locations like downtown’s Kansas City Barbecue and Mission Beach’s The Plunge. But a website devoted to the military is out with a new list of “79 Cringeworthy Technical Errors” in the film.
Some seem legit, while others are on the snarky side, like this one: “Anybody who showed up to a flight brief wearing a cowboy hat would have his or her wings pulled on the spot.”
No cowboy hats? Sorry to break this news to you, East County. At least you still have a rodeo or two.
Randy Dotinga is a freelance contributor to Voice of San Diego and president of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Please contact him directly at randydotinga@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga.