Each day tourists flock to Barrio Logan’s Chicano Park, under the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, to learn the cultural, historical and political significance of the murals covering the bridge structure covering the area.
Longstanding community members, volunteers and artists tell the stories of the murals and the artists who made them. But decades later, they’re getting older and some are dying. It’s part of why the community is now pushing to turn the building there into a museum fo the park, to make sure its story lives on.
Surrounding the park, meanwhile, Barrio Logan is changing. It isn’t at all clear what the future holds for the neighborhood as new people and new businesses move in.
That, all of that, has been the subject of Kinsee Morlan’s ongoing podcast series, Culturecast. She’s spending the first season of the show digging into what’s going on in Barrio Logan as it goes through this.
Morlan’s newest episode is now out – listen to it here, or subscribe on iTunes. Episode three focuses on the history of Chicano Park, and current efforts to make sure that history isn’t forgotten. If you haven’t caught the first two episodes of the show, start with the first episode here.
Transportation Tax Hike Initiative Set
The San Diego Association of Governments has approved a final version of its plan to ask voters in November for a sales tax increase to invest in highways, transit and open space preservation.
Here’s KPBS on the final wording.
Earlier this week we reported on the ongoing discord among those on the left. Some have come aboard to support the plan. As KPBS reports, a last-minute change pushed several projects into high-priority status. Those projects include the Purple Line, a Trolley line from the border to Kearny Mesa. That led one of the progressive groups pushing for transit — Circulate San Diego — to come aboard and support the measure.
Sacramento’s Gut-and-Amend Procedure
Few elements of parliamentary procedure are as roundly criticized as gut-and-amend, the process by which Sacramento legislators can wipe clean a piece of legislation and replace it with an entirely different piece of policy and bring it forward for a vote while skipping the normal vetting process.
It has its defenders, who say it gives legislators the flexibility to introduce new pieces of legislation after the deadline. But it’s regularly critiqued by those who think there should be more time for the public, and media, to dissect bills before they have a chance of becoming law.
There are two movements under way to get rid of the procedure, one created by the legislature itself and the other an initiative by Republican donor Charles Munger.
Two of San Diego’s representatives in Sacramento – both Republicans and both of whom have cited ending the practice as a priority – tell our Sara Libby in this week’s issue of the Sacramento Report that they’re preferential to Munger’s measure.
Also this week, our round-up of goings on in the Capitol tackled Encinitas’ battle with state housing mandates and tried to tackle what’s shaping up to be a hefty November ballot.
Please, Build More Homes in My Backyard
City leaders are accustomed to hearing from constituents who don’t want the new apartment complex, nursing home, office building or just about anything else in their neighborhood. It’s often dismissed as a “not in my backyard” mindset.
Last week, activists from around the country descended on Boulder, Colo., to kick-start a new movement, one predicated on begging cities to build more stuff. They call themselves “YIMBYs” for “yes in my backyard.”
Local land-use consultant Maya Rosas and cycling advocate Sam Ollinger from San Diego both went to the meeting. Scott Lewis and I had them on our podcast this week to discuss what they heard, to compare San Diego’s nascent YIMBY movement to other cities and to break down the split among environmentalists over the entire premise.
Also this week, we talked about arguments among liberals over SANDAG’s proposed tax hike, Carl DeMaio’s no-tax stadium proposal, and what’s going on with tronc, the reconstituted ownership group that owns our local newspaper.
Opinion: We Can Solve Our Homeless Problem
San Diego’s homeless community is growing, and the city is taking notice.
Yet a common refrain when leaders discus policy solutions is that it’s an unsolvable problem, for a litany of reasons.
Nonsense, says Iain De Jong, an international expert in the field, in a new commentary he wrote for us. Homelessness has been solved elsewhere, and it can be solved in San Diego, too, he says. Stop it with the tired excuses, and get to work.
In Other News …
• Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will be back in San Diego soon. He’s got a fundraiser planned with wealthy local donors Doug Manchester, Jenny Craig and others.
• San Diego officials are trying to make it easier to oust elected officials who betray the public trust. The aggressive new measures could appear on the November ballot, and are inspired by the difficulty the city had getting rid of former Mayor Bob Filner three years ago. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• The City Council earlier this week adopted a bold plan to make downtown San Diego easier to navigate on foot or by bike. Union-Tribune Reporter David Garick took a closer look at the so-called Downtown Mobility Plan, which adds nine miles of protected bike lanes throughout the city’s urban center.
• More than half of San Diego’s Hispanic population is under 29. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Is San Diego the next Silicon Valley? No, say the members of the city’s small-but-growing startup sector. (KPBS)
• KPBS’s round-up show this week included freelance reporter Kelly Davis, who last week reported for Voice of San Diego that the city had installed jagged rocks under a downtown freeway overpass to clear out homeless people in preparation for the MLB All-Star Game. The city had previously said it installed rocks at the request of local residents. Also on the show was VOSD’s Ashly McGlone, who reports on the latest on the superintendent shuffle in Poway.
Most-Read Stories of the Week
These were our 10 most-read pieces of the week. Below is our Top 5.
1. Desalination Plant Again Faces Environmental Questions
Carlsbad’s desalination plant faced regulatory hurdles over its environmental effects for years. Six months after opening, it’s facing yet another set of environmental questions. (Ry Rivard)
2. Imperial Beach Braces for Rising Sea Levels
Adapting to sea level rise requires trade-offs – and money. Imperial Beach, is one of the poorest coastal communities in Southern California, will need to decide whether to prioritize the economic benefits of tourism and beach recreation over maintaining the ecological value of beach and preserving existing flora and fauna, versus simply protecting buildings and property along the coast.(Maya Srikrishnan)
3. Encinitas’ Conundrum: Obey Its Own Law, or California Law?
Encinitas has placed itself in a tough legal position. Local voters could reject the city’s plan to accommodate new housing – a plan required by state law. Encinitas is the only city in the county, and one of a few in the state, without a legal housing plan. (Ruarri Serpa)
4. All-Star Game Prompted Rocks to Deter Homeless Encampments, Emails Show
City officials said anti-homeless rocks were installed at the request of Sherman Heights residents. Emails show they were added as part of preparations for the All-Star Game at Petco Park. (Kelly Davis)
5. Border Report: Sounding the Alarm Over ‘the Beast’
The Border Fire, zombies, Father’s Day through the border fence and more in our weekly digest of cross-border news. (Brooke Binkowski)