Late last month, Horton Plaza owner Westfield changed its parking policy, yanking the downtown mall’s popular free three-hour parking option and replacing it with an hour of complimentary parking.
For decades, Lyceum Theatre attendees enjoyed several hours of free parking downtown because of the Horton Plaza policy. But now it’s over.
Those who saw a recent blockbuster production of Hershey Felder’s one-man show, “Maestro,” suddenly faced a $24 parking fee.
San Diego Repertory Theatre felt so badly for its patrons that the nonprofit covered their parking costs, a $24,000 expense.
Larry Alldredge, San Diego Rep’s managing director, understands Westfield’s move to curb free parking – every other garage downtown charges, and its new fees are competitive. But Alldredge told our Kinsee Morlan he wishes the company would have given San Diego Rep advance warning so it could have prepared.
In a statement, a Horton Plaza spokesperson said the Lyceum Theater provides a meaningful service, and it’s working with the theater to find a cost-effective solution.
Sacramento Report: Prop. 57 Splits San Diego Pols
A November ballot measure is putting San Diego’s mayor and district attorney — both Republicans and frequent allies — at odds, according to Kelly Davis, who contributed to this week’s report on state politics.
Last week, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said he will lead the statewide campaign to oppose the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016, or Prop. 57. The ballot measure would further reduce California’s prison population by granting more parole hearings and giving sentence credits to model inmates.
Also last week, San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, currently the only district attorney in California who supports the measure, was in Sacramento. She was trying to figure out how to address issues raised by Prop. 57’s opponents, like Faulconer.
Sara Libby also looks at the “grab bag” of plastic bag bans across the state.
Podcast: Comic-Con Goings On
Dave Maass, a former investigative report for CityBeat who is covering Comic-Con International as a freelancer for the Rolling Stone, says this year’s event has run out of physical space at the San Diego Convention Center, but is expanding virtually. “It seems like every single property has some sort of virtual reality component, and so almost in a way it’s seeing Comic-Con expand into this virtual space,” Maas told Andrew Keatts in this week’s podcast.
Keatts co-hosts the podcast with Libby. They talk about the 1972 Republican convention that didn’t come to San Diego and all the related weirdness that eventually ended with San Diego adopting its “Finest City” motto, the continuation of Lincoln High’s leadership conundrum, the latest in the Lilac Hills Ranch development saga and the Balboa Park revamp plan.
News From Elsewhere
• A class action lawsuit continues against Trump University after a federal judge in San Diego declined to throw out the lawsuit Friday. Former students of Trump University say the “university” was a scam. (And, yes, the judge in the case is the same American-born judge Trump this summer accused of being a biased Mexican, remarks that caused concern over how Trump would deal with the judiciary should he become president.) Trump University is just one of several Trump ventures that relied on the presidential candidate’s ability to be “creative with the truth.”
• A San Diego man and recent college graduate is being detained in Iran, the Los Angeles Times reports.
• Hundreds of acres were burned at Camp Pendleton, according to the Marine Corps. High temperatures are expected to bring elevated risk of wildfires across San Diego County this weekend.
• The federal government’s inability to settle on a site to dump nuclear waste means a bunch of it will be left on the San Diego coast.
This Week’s Top Stories
Here are the top 10 stories we published this week. Below are the top five:
1. A Reader’s Guide to the Balboa Park Revamp
If the money comes in, Balboa Park’s central mesa is poised for a major overhaul. (Lisa Halverstadt)
2. Lincoln High’s Revolving Door Claims Another Leader
During his short tenure, John Ross helped open a program that allows high school students to take courses for college credit. According to district officials, this year Lincoln had a record high number of graduates who met college entrance requirements. But none of it has been enough to attract a significant number of students back to Lincoln. (Mario Koran)
3. The GOP Convention Debacle That Spawned San Diego’s ‘Finest City’ Motto
As the Republican National Convention in Cleveland reaches its climax on Thursday, the same day that Comic-Con begins in San Diego, here are five facts about San Diego’s close call with Richard Nixon and the national spotlight. (Randy Dotinga)
4. Here’s What Poway Unified Needs to Do to Move Forward
A member of Poway Unified’s school board writes that while it’s good theboard came together to unanimously force out Superintendent JohnCollins, other accountability measures are long overdue. (Kimberley Beatty)
5. SD Confidential: Inside a Lost Gay Past of ‘Fairy Dives,’ Raids and a Fallen Admiral
Before Stonewall (and a gay Hillcrest): Five surprising facts about San Diego’s forgotten gay past. (Randy Dotinga)