Highway 101 has a treasured reputation, but it turns positively dumpy when it ventures into some of the grittier sections of Oceanside. The city, the county’s third largest, has been trying to turn its main drag into a pedestrian- and bike-friendly hipster haven, but a new “road diet” has some locals feeling nauseous.
At issue, as VOSD contributor Ruarri Serpa explains, is a section of the road in Oceanside (where it’s not called Highway 101) where driving lanes have vanished to make way for buffered bike lanes. Critics aren’t happy, but they (and the city) may not have much choice.
• The latest edition of San Diego Explained, our video series with NBC 7, breaks down the state law at the heart of a fight about affordable housing in Encinitas.
Settlement in Landmark TMD Case?
Attorney Cory Briggs did not reveal much about the settlement he said he and his clients San Diegans for Open Government agreed to with the Tourism Marketing District over the 2 percent levy that appears on hotel room bills in the city but was never approved by voters. At a hastily called press conference Tuesday, he would only say that the agency’s board had agreed to support the so-called Citizens Plan ballot initiative.
Later, the chairman of the TMD, hotelier Bill Evans, issued a carefully worded statement: “The San Diego Tourism Marketing District (TMD) Directors have not taken any action in regards to a settlement with San Diegans for Open Government (SDOG). We have had and will continue to have productive conversations with SDOG but there has been no action taken by the board. ”
A settlement could have a major impact not only on the Citizens Plan but on the about the Chargers’s stadium ballot initiative, which was built to replace that 2 percent levy.
The Zoo’s Admission Prices Are Wild
The San Diego Zoo may be the most respected zoo in the nation, but visitors pay a price for the privilege of visiting. The zoo has the highest ticket prices in the country for a family of four, the U-T finds, with a cost of $190. (Admission to the former Wild Animal Park is included in the price, however.)
That’s much higher than any other zoo; all but three of the top 25 priciest zoos are under $100. The Bronx Zoo is in second place at $125.80.
As we reported earlier this year, the zoo gets a hefty subsidy via the city.
City Attorney Hopeful: Do Better on Domestic Violence
In a VOSD commentary, city attorney candidate and deputy district attorney Robert Hickey calls on city prosecutors to act quickly and appropriately in domestic violence cases. He offers four reforms.
Culture Report: Tiny Doo’s Big Profile
The district attorney’s botched prosecution of local men accused of promoting gangs brought plenty of attention to one of them, a rapper named Tiny Doo.
What’s he been up to over the past couple of years since then? As this week’s VOSD Culture Report explains, “he’s been making music about his experience and getting more involved in social justice issues. He’s spoken at public panels and performed during a protest on the steps of the state Capitol.” And now he’ll be speaking at our Meeting of the Minds event on Thursday.
Plus: A bid to beautify part of Paradise Hills, a dispute over bullfighting in Baja California, a possibly poopy sign in Vista and boozy kombucha.
• Amid competition from podcasts, is fusty ol’ NPR on its last legs? Slate investigates.
• San Diego has some remarkable buildings but plenty that are, to put it mildly, uninspiring. And, of course, we’re full of cookie-cutter housing developments that are far from sweet.
What does all this dullness and sameness mean for us? Scientists think they know, reports New York Magazine: “Generally, these researchers argue that humans are healthier when they live among variety — a cacophony of bars, bodegas, and independent shops — or work in well-designed, unique spaces, rather than unattractive, generic ones.”
Crooked Cop Gets Early Release
Anthony Arevalos — the renegade cop who sexually assaulted women, cost the city millions of dollars and ravaged the reputation of the SDPD — is free. He served just 4 of 8 years of a prison term, getting credit for good behavior. (NBC 7)
A local legal firm issued a statement from a victim identified as Jane Doe saying that she is “devastated” by both his early release and the fact that no one — not even the district attorney’s office — let her know that he would be freed. Instead, she heard it from the news via her family.
Quick News Hits: (Don’t) Walk This Way
• A correction: Tuesday’s Morning Report listed Scott Lewis as the writer. In fact, VOSD’s Maya Srikrishnan wrote it.
• Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-Alpine) says he has written personal checks totaling almost $12,000 to reimburse his campaign treasury for personal and mistaken expenditures in 2015 and the first quarter of this year,” the U-T reports. Hunter reportedly used campaign money for a variety of expenses, including a payment to an oral surgeon.
• Meanwhile, U-T columnist Logan Jenkins time travels to the 1980s, when Hunter’s father, a congressman also named Duncan Hunter (but with a different middle initial), suffered through a financial scandal of his own. He wrote “407 underfunded House checks worth $129,225,” Jenkins recalls. “To quiet the uproar, Hunter famously manned an outdoor desk for three days at the El Cajon Courthouse, showing his constituents all his checks and explaining how they were really not composed of rubber.”
• “The San Diego City Council agreed to pay $641,000 on Tuesday to settle one of two unresolved sexual battery and harassment lawsuits against former Mayor Bob Filner,” the U-T reports. Lee Burdick, who served as Filner’s chief of staff, described the harassment in the case in her self-published book (now ranked as the 1,150,195th best-selling book on Amazon).
• New York Magazine has more insight into how our primary is going to matter for once. Ted Cruz campaigned here on Monday night. (U-T)
• Star local legislator Lorena Gonzalez got plenty of air time in a segment about diapers during this week’s “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.” You can watch the video here. Gonzalez, as the segment shows, got plenty of flak when she advocated for people to be able to buy diapers with public assistance cards.
• Drought’s still here. (NY Times)
• The sports blog Deadspin ranks American cities and puts San Diego in 11th place, just below Portland (sounds about right) but also under Philadelphia (what?!) and Oakland (outrage!). We do score higher than hip places like Denver and Seattle. The worst of the 50 cities listed? Hartford, which lags under “Getting Hit By A Car.”
• TV’s “Fear the Walking Dead” follows Los Angelenos as they cope with the zombie apocalypse. In this week’s episode, a band of survivors boards an ultra-fancy yacht and heads for San Diego. Why? Because the military may have protected us from the hollow-eyed hordes.
The Navy and Marines are definitely a plus, but a recent report pointed out that our scientists and doctors are crucial too. We placed in 7th place on a list of the best places to survive a zombified end of days.
Another factor may help us: The difficulty of navigating in this city, where — as we learned this week — some visitors can’t even find Balboa Park. Zombies will just get lost amid all our avenues, avenidas, broadways, boulevards, calles, caminos, caminitos, courts, cortes, circles, crescents, drives, lanes, passes, places, paseos, roads, streets, terraces, trails and ways.
Thank you for your service, overly creative developers and city planners!
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.