Logan Heights, one of San Diego’s neighborhoods most in need of a makeover, is home to a mix of industry and homes. Lately, the city’s been thinking about whether it should be another showplace for San Diego’s urban utopia dreams of “smart growth.”
But the plan, at least at the moment, is to keep devoting several blocks of Commercial Street to industry instead of revising zoning to coax an evolution over time. Now, VOSD’s Andrew Keatts reports, “the possibility that the area will be left out of the city’s smart-growth push has some property owners in the area wondering what happened — and has spawned at least one conspiracy theory.”
Critics “prefer to see the area changed to the sort of mixed-use, walkable urban neighborhood that reflects its proximity to downtown and better serves residents.” But some property owners and businesses, plus the area’s community planning group, have other ideas.
Dispute Over Convention Center Study
Will the various associations and companies that put on events at the convention center mind if it’s expanded and split in two? Good question. It may seem like it’s one that could be answered via a bunch of emails, but that’s not the way things work. A study must be commissioned, this one to cost a pretty penny: $90,000.
A company called JMI Realty was supposedly going to help pay for the study. One problem, reports VOSD’s Ashly McGlone, is that its “involvement was instantly controversial because the company has lobbied for the very type of expansion the study would examine and the company’s properties neighboring Tailgate Park, where the expansion could take place, would benefit if it became reality.”
Another problem: JMI says it has no idea what’s going on since the company pulled out of the study before it started getting called out for the conflict. We’re calling this one a “debacle.”
• Correction: Yesterday’s Morning Report linked to an NBC 7 report about its unsuccessful effort to get officials to cough up “details about payments to a San Francisco land use expert who is helping the city and county negotiate with the San Diego Chargers for a new stadium.” We incorrectly said the holdup was the city. It’s actually the county, according to NBC 7. Our apologies for the error.
Mayor: Stadium Up, Bolts!
Just a day after he and two other elected officials touted progress in negotiations with the Chargers over a stadium, Mayor Kevin Faulconer urged the team to get serious about staying here and to start offering solutions. His words aren’t as acidic as the team’s have been — they never are — but they had a bit of sting: “They say that San Diego is their first choice, but actions speak louder than words.”
• The Chargers will still be around for the 2015-2016 season, and now they’re changing how they charge fans for seats in a bid to make more money. The U-T has details: “ticket prices for individual games will fluctuate in real time, depending on perceived supply and demand on sites where fans and brokers sell unwanted tickets like StubHub and NFL Ticket Exchange.”
Water’s Cleaner, But Still a Bit Salty
Just about everything bad that ever happens has a silver lining for somebody. Earthquake destroys your house? It’s good for construction types. Slip on the sidewalk? Chiropractor’s delight!
That brings us to the drought. A new report says water quality at California beaches is improving due to lack of rainfall and the resulting runoff. Water in San Diego looks to be in pretty good (“A” or “B”) shape. But it says water quality at Mission Bay Park’s Visitor Center is among the worst in the state. (Fox 5)
• Reuters has a story about the red tuna crab invasion. All the melted butter in the world won’t help. (Actually, you’re advised not to eat the things.)
Quick News Hits: Hang Glide Hullabaloo
• The teeny tiny city of Solana Beach is looking into whether it can get its energy without going through SDG&E. San Diego’s been investigating the same idea, but a study’s release is months behind. (KPBS)
• Balboa Park has old leaky water pipes, but there’s no money to fix them, and at least one museum is worried that flooding could destroy its irreplaceable collections. (KPBS)
• Why did a 57-year-old man get arrested for trying to hang glide from the Torrey Pines Gliderport? The Reader has the details. “This is really a war between the traditional hang-gliding community, which tends to be older, and paragliders,” claims an attorney for the arrested man.
• This just in: A Morning Report reader wrote yesterday to let me know that she finds my lack of “tact” to be “highly entertaining.” Gosh, where’s a dictionary when you need one? “Tact.” Huh. I’ll look up “subtle” while I’m at it.
Randy Dotinga is a freelance contributor to Voice of San Diego and national president of the 1,200-member American Society of Journalists and Authors (asja.org). Please contact him directly at randydotinga@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga.