These were the most popular Voice of San Diego stories for the week of Aug 26-Sept 2.
1. Opinion: Stadium Plan Is Quite the Shutout: Taxpayers, $1.1 billion; Spanos, $0
Questions about parking and access to a proposed downtown stadium illustrate how much is wrong with the Spanos stadium initiative, and how badly it would damage San Diego. (Tim O’Reiley)
2. Opinion: The Convadium Is an Opportunity for San Diego to Do a Big Thing. We Should Take It.
The proposed stadium-convention center wouldn’t be a giveaway to a billionaire; it’s a public-private partnership in which both sides should contribute and both should expect benefits. San Diegans should vote based on the project’s benefits and economic returns for San Diego, not on animosity toward billionaires or any particular one. (Scott Peters)
3. Opinion: I’m a Young Techie. Here’s What San Diego Needs to Do to Keep Me.
Please don’t make me work in Sorrento Valley. (Alexander Bakst)
4. Fiesta Island Now a Homeless, RV Haven
A new law banning oversized vehicles from parking overnight on city streets might have fueled the creation of an unauthorized campground in Mission Bay. People who live in cars and recreational vehicles have increasingly settled on Fiesta Island. Now the city’s stepping up enforcement. (Lisa Halverstadt)
5. What I Learned Helping My Sister Use California’s New Law to End Her Life
Less than two months after the state’s new aid-in-dying measure went into effect, my sister used the law to obtain a lethal dose of drugs. “I’d rather be free than entombed in my body,” she told me. (Kelly Davis)
6. Opinion: A Plan to Build 15,000 Homes Over the Next Five Years
San Diego leaders often point to city and regional plans to build more housing. In practice, we know the gap between what is needed and what is actually being built is in fact widening. (Howard Blackson)
7. Chargers Make Unofficial Promises to Barrio Logan, Logan Heights
In a letter obtained by Voice of San Diego, Chargers owner Dean Spanos pledged to labor unions to establish a community land trust for neighborhoods that would most likely see increased property values and gentrification. (Johnny Magdaleno)
8. San Diego’s Biggest November Election Has No Candidates
The biggest race in November isn’t a race at all, it’s the ballot measure that would eliminate the possibility of citywide candidates winning outright in the June primary. Officials with both the Democratic Party and the local labor coalition said they anticipate Measure K to be a top spending priority. (Andrew Keatts)
9. The Desalination Plant Is Finished But the Debate Over It Isn’t
There’s a reason why arguments over the merits of the Carlsbad Desalination Project are ongoing. At least three new desalination projects are in the works in the region. The perceived success or failure of the Carlsbad plant could tip the scales for those projects, which will face regulatory hurdles and legal challenges of their own. (Ry Rivard)
10. Opinion: Getting My Kid Into a Quality School Was Way Too Difficult
I am horrified by how close my family came to being forced to send our daughter to a school we didn’t believe in. (Leslie McNabb)