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We’re stoked to have Chris Ward and Anthony Bernal, who are both gunning for a seat on City Council, join us for our live podcast recording this Thursday at 6 p.m. Come hang out for the show as we tackle some tasty San Diego news over even tastier local beers at Thorn Street Brewery in North Park. The event is free and open to the public – we just need you to RSVP here.
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To hear the Chargers boosters in town, you’d think San Diego will descend into madness without its own NFL team.
And that’s not hyperbole. Union Tribune sports columnist Nick Canepa sounded an awful lot like a fire-and-brimstone preacher in his piece this week where he previewed the devastating impact losing the Chargers would have on the city. He even got National University psych professor Doug Barba to hypothesize about the ripple effects such a loss might have in domestic abuse and suicide rates:
“Historically, there were suicides after the Dodgers left Brooklyn and the Browns Cleveland… I’ve heard of cases of spousal abuse following Super Bowls. San Diego fans will have to go through a grieving process, some will find somewhere else to get their violence fix. And there are many things to do in San Diego. But there’s civic pride involved here, and that’s hard to measure. The Chargers can make the city feel good about itself, create water cooler talk during the week.”
Scott Lewis and I asked Barba to call in to clarify his comments and point to the research he consulted to back up these claims. That domestic violence rates rise along with the Super Bowl is actually a widely debunked myth. Barba acknowledged that and said he wouldn’t have framed his input quite the same way Canepa did.
Also on the show: what we learned about City Attorney Jan Goldsmith’s control issues when it comes to the stadium task force; why the local minimum wage fight might peter out; why 92-year-old marathoner Harriette Thompson is our clear Hero of the Week and North Park resident John Robinson is the obvious Goat; and a special interview with Monique Lopez of the Environmental Health Coalition (jump to about 23 minutes in for her interview)
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