Has the historically conservative San Diego Union-Tribune editorial page shifted to the left?
Mathew T. Hall, the new editorial and opinion director at the San Diego Union-Tribune, joined the podcast this week to talk about some of the paper’s recent surprising political endorsements. But Hall wasn’t ready to let co-hosts Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts paint the U-T’s changing editorial page in such black and white terms.
“That’s just not how we view things,” he said. “Right, left, liberal, conservative – those are titles and labels that others use and clearly use a lot, but that’s not how we view things and that’s not how we’re going to be making our decisions.”
San Diego lawyer Cory Briggs also makes an appearance on the show. Briggs, who’s part of the coalition backing the Citizens’ Plan, breaks down the initiative that in part rethinks the city’s hotel-room tax system, prevents a waterfront expansion of the Convention Center and paves the way for a new stadium.
“One mistake people make is thinking the Citizens’ Plan guarantees a stadium,” he said. “The only thing the Citizens’ Plan did to assist the Chargers is to authorize the use downtown next to Petco Park.”
Briggs also shares his thoughts on local media, provides insight into the North Park Jack in the Box case and more.
Also on the podcast, Lewis and Keatts talk about mayoral candidate Ed Harris’ about-face when it comes to building housing near transit.
Hero of the Week
The San Diego Unified Board of Trustees, which voted to change the name of the Robert E. Lee Elementary, gets credit for finally getting rid of the offensive name.
Goat of the Week
San Diego Unified School District also gets dinged this week for missing its local hiring goals when it comes to bond-funded construction. District officials adopted a project labor agreement for its bond program and made big promises to hire local workers. There’s been some shortcomings.