Many of us envision tiny offices, budgets and volunteer forces when we think about local nonprofits. Indeed, most San Diego nonprofits rely on all of the above.
But not all nonprofits fit that profile. When I started to pull back the curtain on local nonprofits this week, I learned that some of our region’s biggest employers also happen to be nonprofits.
Most of them are health systems and universities with sizable budgets, hundreds of workers and significant real estate holdings.
RIP, High-Impact Affordable Housing Bills
Affordable housing advocates are mourning the death of legislation that would’ve significantly upped low-income housing production.
Maya Srikrishnan explains their disappointment and a breakdown of two bills that did move forward in this week’s Sacramento Report.
Also on tap: Sara Libby rounds up the latest referendum shenanigans, a pretty incriminating take on outgoing Speaker Toni Atkins’ leadership and her state Senate opponent Marty Block’s jab at lawmakers headed to Hawaii for a conference.
More Bad News for SeaWorld
SeaWorld’s killer whale program could officially be endangered.
Rep. Adam Schiff, a Burbank Democrat, said Friday he plans to introduce federal legislation that would ban orca breeding, transfers of the whales from park to park and the capture of wild orcas, a practice SeaWorld says it’s long since halted.
The Los Angeles Times has the details on Schiff’s announcement, which follows tabled state legislation and a California Coastal Commission condition that SeaWorld San Diego bar breeding programs.
Meanwhile, the SeaWorld CEO hinted this week the company could be introducing a new attraction to improve tanking attendance numbers.
VOSD Podcast, Beer Week Edition
Kinsee Morlan chatted with District 6 City Councilman Chris Cate, who represents the city’s beer belt, in this week’s VOSD podcast.
And restaurateur Arsulan Tafazoli talked to Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts about how the Federal Aviation Administration’s stymied his push to build a new Little Italy restaurant.
News Nibbles
• The man at the center of a five-hour standoff in Bankers Hill was booted from his arraignment hearing on Friday. (Union-Tribune)
• The city’s ethics commission chief says the city board won’t recuse itself from watchdogging the city attorney’s race despite candidate Gil Cabrera’s past service on the board. (San Diego Reader)
• Customs and Border Protection staffers want to hold off on jumping on the body camera bandwagon. (Associated Press)
• San Diego State University wants to become one of the nation’s top research schools. (Union-Tribune)
• A San Francisco judge isn’t feeling the state Public Utilities Commission’s arguments about its failure to release public records about the shutdown of the San Onofre nuclear plant. (Union-Tribune)
Our Top Five
Stories about the latest in the Chargers stadium saga and San Diego’s many nonprofits topped the list of this week’s top five most-read stories. Check out the full Top 10 here.
- Fabiani Is Right, a Stadium Would Be Hard to Build Here
Councilman Scott Sherman believes Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani is in the way of getting a stadium deal done. (Scott Lewis) - What We Know – and Want to Know – About San Diego’s Nonprofit Landscape
Nonprofits treat us when we’re sick, serve the poor, run our kids’ soccer leagues and employ thousands. (Lisa Halverstadt) - Fact Check: San Diego Schools’ Segregation Problem
“In many ways our students are more segregated having come out of a couple of decades of an infrastructure built around integration,” San Diego Unified trustee Richard Barrera said last month. (Mario Koran) - Opinion: The Ramifications of Prop. 47 Are Coming Into Focus – and They Don’t Bode Well for Communities
While Prop. 47 has reduced the prison population, it has also managed to undermine the effectiveness of proven crime-fighting tactics. (Bill Gore) - City Numbers Reveal the Extent of SeaWorld San Diego’s Sinking Performance
SeaWorld San Diego’s rent payments to the city of San Diego and its attendance are down as the company faces challenges nationwide. (Lisa Halverstadt)