Everyone knows Barrio Logan is changing. Its location makes it attractive for development and artists are flocking to it.
This is causing some tension.
In this week’s Culture Report, Kinsee Morlan writes about the launch of her new podcast, the San Diego Culturecast. The first season will be an exploration of what’s happening in Barrio Logan as new wave of outside developers set up shop in the neighborhood.
It’s our first fully produced podcast and this episode features two entrepreneurs trying to balance the neighborhood’s history and character with their dreams. It is not easy. And it’s worse for the developer that moved in nearby.
Subscribe to the Culturecast on iTunes or get the RSS feed here.
• The Culture Report also includes more details about the mural debate plus info on the Bread & Salt cultural center, the San Diego Symphony’s upcoming season, the zoo’s centennial and the closing of a treasured record store. Plus: The sometimes-tragic history of Balboa Park’s “Fruit Loop,” which inspired a sad Bruce Springsteen song — an ode to Mexican hustlers whose title is the name of the park.
• Developers who want to take down the historic Agua Caliente racing track mural as part of a reconstruction of the decrepit California Theatre downtown.
Journalist Enrique Limón tells the U-T’s Logan Jenkins that the mural is a reminder of his father, who worked on Tijuana racing forms. He believes “the mural ‘is a big, bold love letter’ from an era when San Diego and Tijuana were still joined at the dancing hip, not divided by a militarized wall.”
Introducing VOSD’s Podcast Network
The Culturecast joins three other podcasts in the VOSD network:
• San Diego Decides is San Diego’s 2016 elections podcast. Hosts Sara Libby and Ry Rivard break down individual races and ballot measures, issues like the mechanics of voting, state-level drama and more.
• Good Schools for All is a podcast about education. In each episode, hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn of the Education Synergy Alliance cut through the jargon and debate to explain education in the 21st century. Lewis and Kohn highlight successes, failures and solutions in the system and interview thought leaders at national, state and local levels.
• The VOSD Podcast is a lively Friday roundup of the past week’s news, featuring interviews with special guests and more.
Big County Supervisor Race Preview of Bigger Ones to Come
If voter registration advantages ever translate into Election Day victories, Democrats and Republicans will someday have two seats on the County’s Board of Supervisors. The coastal District 3 would then be where the fight for control over the body will play out. And this year, Maya Srikrishnan writes that we have a preview of what those contests might be like.
There won’t be a change in control of the board until at least 2020. If Republicans are able to replace Roberts this year, though, it could protect their majority for many years.
• KPBS takes another look at the council race in District 9, which encompasses City Heights, Kensington and nearby neighborhoods. The focus this time: Who’s the establishment candidate? Some of the candidates aren’t shy about the answer: They say it’s the guy who works for incumbent Councilwoman Marti Emerald, who’s stepping down.
At Last, Bridge’s Death Toll Gets Attention
Eight years ago, I wrote a series of wrenching stories for Voice of San Diego about the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, which appears to be the deadliest bridge in the U.S. outside of the Golden Gate Bridge.
While few locals realize it, hundreds of people have jumped from the suicide magnet to their deaths since it was built in 1968. By mid-2008, the number was nearing 250 deaths. Since then, the total has topped 360.
I still get emails from people who find my 2008 articles and want to talk about their loved ones who jumped to their deaths from the bridge. But there’s been no movement to fix the problem. Now, finally, a study into bridge barriers is in the works, the U-T reports. Strangely, it appears to be up to donors, not government, to pay for the $25,000 cost of a study.
For more, check my stories on the bridge’s suicide toll and the lack of a barrier despite successful suicide-prevention efforts elsewhere. I also wrote about a bridge jump survivor, a cop’s story and a media blackout.
911 Call Delays Spark Outcry
“The parents of a 3-day-old baby killed by the family dog in a mauling last week twice called 911 but didn’t get an answer,” NBC 7 reports, “and critics are calling for change.”
The couple didn’t get an answer within 28 seconds for one call, nor within 31 seconds for another. They took the baby to a hospital instead but the child died.
The two Democratic mayoral candidates are turning the delays into a campaign issue. A spokesman for Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who’s running to stay in office, said the dispatcher office has full funding after suffering from staffing problems.
• The U-T reports on a Pennsylvania couple who lost their 26-year-old son to an unsolved murder in San Diego in 2000. This week, they talked about their son and their grief. “You can’t help thinking about what if,” said Rita Moore, mother of the late Andrew Moore. “What if this never happened to Andy?”
Quick News Hits: Have Vacuum, Will Travel
• The Guardian newspaper checks in on Mayor Faulconer’s support of the city’s Climate Action Plan. Make sure to check out our reality check.
• Builders are targeting Tijuana’s run-down areas. (U-T)
• The city has got some street-sweeping details for you. (Times of SD)
• Chihuahua-terrier mix Rico, the lone survivor in a cardboard box of puppies abandoned in the desert east of San Diego County, has recovered at a local animal center and is now up for adoption. (NBC 7)
• As the Culture Report notes, an Instagram account called aboyandhisvacuum is tracking the adventures of a young guy and, yes, his vacuum.
It’s yellow, it has a cord, and it’s seen some things. Like the ocean, El Cajon Boulevard, Balboa Park, the Hotel Del, the border and much more. It even met a vacuum friend who’s purple and enjoyed what appears to be an adult beverage. (No word on whether the yellow and purple vacuums got together later to swap dust filters.)
Scroll further and you’ll see the vacuum’s adventures in Chicago, in New York City and in front of a Trump building. Wow, that last visit would really… Um… Never mind. This is a family Morning Report, people!
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.