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The Obama administration set a goal of ending veteran homelessness by the end of 2015. Several cities have effectively done it, but San Diego isn’t one of them.
VOSD’s Lisa Halverstadt looks into why our city fell short of the national goal. She found fingers pointing at three main factors: San Diego’s lack of collaboration and leadership, the city’s expensive housing market and struggles at the local Veterans Affairs Office.
City Councilman Todd Gloria, who leads the regional group that coordinates efforts and funding for homeless programs, told Halverstadt that changes are being made and soon we’ll start to see improvements.
But the city’s current state when it comes to housing homeless veterans, he said, is unacceptable.
“Right now we’re leaving too much money on the table and too many veterans on the street to continue in the way that we have been,” he said.
• Los Angeles and other cities have embraced the tiny-house movement as a method for putting a dent in homelessness. This San Diegan thinks housing some of the city’s homeless population in dog-house-sized homes is a great idea. This San Diegan, however, thinks homeless people deserve kitchens, bathrooms and much more than four small walls. (U-T)
NFL to San Diego: You Are Inadequate
In a report obtained by the Los Angeles Times, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell calls Qualcomm Stadium “unsatisfactory and inadequate” and says the new stadium solution proposed by city leaders includes too many contingencies to keep the Chargers in San Diego.
San Diego’s lead stadium negotiator, attorney Chris Melvin, countered Goodell’s claims in a written statement provided to the Times: “We could have already gained voter approval of a stadium under the plan laid out this summer by the city and county. But the Chargers stonewalled, rebuffed attempts to negotiate a term sheet, and refused to act.”
Goodell’s report is just an assessment of the three relocation-requesting NFL teams’ home markets, not an official green light for any of the moves.
The 32 NFL owners who will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday in Houston are the ones who’ll be making that call. The New York Times breaks down the impending vote and sheds some light on the possible outcomes for the Chargers, Rams and Raiders.
One, two or all three of the teams could end up playing in L.A. next season. Reuters imagines the most likely outcome where at least one of the three teams will have to return to its hometown with its tail between its legs.
Sounds like that will be particularly difficult to do in St. Louis, where the daily paper published a dartboard featuring Rams’ owner Stan Kroenke’s face after he badmouthed the city in the teams’ relocation application.
• NBC 7 San Diego’s Derek Togerson says he thinks the Chargers will be staying in San Diego for at least another year. Here’s his argument.
• Sick of the ongoing saga, this longtime loyal Bolts fan has decided to buck the Chargers and back the Broncos.
• This guy says he hopes the winner of the ballooning $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot is a Chargers fan who will single-handedly fund the new stadium so the Chargers can stay.
• The U-T’s
VOSD Podcast: Chargers Prediction, Record High Tides and More
VOSD’s latest podcast is packed with lots of local news and analysis. Daniel Cayan, a climate researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, joins cohosts Scott Lewis And Andrew Keatts to explain the science behind so-called king tides. Plus, Lewis presents his future-of-the-Chargers prediction, I talked with the owners of a new North Park bookstore and more.
That Pervasive Poop Stench in La Jolla
La Jolla Cove’s stink, caused by the layers of sea lion and bird poo covering the cliffs, made it onto NPR’s Weekend Edition on Sunday. KPBS’s Claire Trageser talks about the ongoing efforts to fight the funk.
A few years ago, VOSD dug deep into the smell and detailed why government regulations make combating it such a complex challenge.
This isn’t the first time La Jolla’s poo problem has landed in the national spotlight.
Judging by the anti-rich, pro-animal comments on the latest NPR story, it might behoove the city’s residents to rethink their approach. I’m sure a public relations firm would love to get creative with this one.
Quick News Hits: Making Cancer Testing Easier
• San Diego-based biotech giant Illumina is working on a new, simpler method for screening for cancer. (U-T)
• County Supervisor Dave Roberts sat down with 10News to talk about last year’s controversy surrounding some of his former staffers and his priorities for 2016, which include focusing on servicing people with mental health issues.
• San Diego Theatre Week will launch at the end of February. (KPBS)
• Expert tinkerers from across San Diego gathered at the Central Library to help residents fix things. The so-called “Fixit Clinic” will be happening at the library on the second Saturday of every month through the end of the year. (U-T)
San Diego El Niño Memes
The rain has mostly stopped but, man, what a storm, right? In case you missed it, here are the best local storm-related memes that’ve risen to the top so far: the Lamborghini fording the flood waters, Geoffrey Kruse’s timelapse video of the flooding in Sorrento Valley and this funny spoof on The Oregon Trail.
I feel like there’s a meme waiting to happen here, but I’m not funny enough to come up with it myself.