San Diego Theatres, the nonprofit that runs the Civic Theatre, has talked for decades about renovating the theater. Now, as a crucial deadline to put together $30 million for those renovations approaches, the nonprofit’s new president and CEO is leaving.
Elizabeth Doran, who had big ideas for the organization, will leave after only a year and a half on the job.
She planned to introduce the powerful but unknown group to more San Diegans, bring more shows to the two theaters and help theater staff and others get U.S. citizenship.
Turns out, those ideas were too big for the organization, our Kinsee Morlan reports.
Doran declined to comment, but San Diego Theatres board chair M. Faye Wilson said the board and Doran’s timelines for change didn’t match up.
Sacramento Report: Long Road to Medical Marijuana Licensing
Three new state agencies are tasked with regulating medical marijuana and last week two of them took a road trip to San Diego. More than 200 cannabis entrepreneurs, manufacturers, scientists, attorneys and dispensary owners waded into the regulatory malaise during a six-hour meeting with here two of the agencies — the Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation and the Office of Medical Cannabis Safety.
The state’s medical cannabis industry would exist entirely apart from recreational cannabis, if voters next month approve Prop 64 to legalize marijuana.
Sara Libby gets into this weeds on this and other issues in this week’s report on the California statehouse.
Podcast: The Best of Politifest
If you couldn’t make it to Politfest a few weeks ago, this week’s podcast is full of highlights from that day-long series of panels and debates.
This week’s show also marks the end of our Faulconer Watch, which monitored Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s silence on the Chargers stadium debate. We now know what he thinks; he’s a fan.
Commentary: Measure A Would Be the Most Progressive Transportation Plan
Michael Beck, the director of the Endangered Habitats League, argues that county voters should approve local ballot Measure A for a variety of reasons, but mainly because the new sales tax would fund what he calls in a commentary “the most progressive transportation plan in the state”
“Fully 42 percent of the measure’s funds will be spent to advance transit in the region,” he writes.
Beck also has a particular interest in money from the tax, which he mentions: It provides $2 billion for conservation projects, like the ones that Endangered Habitats League fights for and that its related nonprofit, Endangered Habitats Conservancy, receives money to help operate.
In Other News
• Our Lisa Halverstadt tweets about her meeting with the city’s new homelessness czar.
• A new poll by ABC 10News and the Union-Tribune suggests the tax measure to fund a new stadium for the Chargers does not currently have the support needed to pass. (ABC 10News)
• Here’s a long look at the Mid-Coast Trolley extension, a $2.1 billion project to connect downtown to University City. (Union-Tribune)
• The Union-Tribune’s editorial board comes out against the ballot box land use Measure B, which would clear the way for the Lilac Hills Ranch project. Here’s all our past coverage of Lilac Hills. (Union-Tribune)
• Predictions by real estate website Zillow suggest rents in San Diego will continue to rise in 2017. (ABC 10News)
Top Stories
These were the five most popular Voice of San Diego stories for the week of Oct. 1-7. Click here to see the full Top 10.
1. Opinion: The Urbanist Case Against a Downtown Stadium
A stadium located downtown would be an irreversible and unprecedented planning disaster. Urban planners and architects, whose job it is to envision the consequences of things like this, are unusually united in their opposition to Measure C. (Rob Quigley)
2. The Waterfront Convention Center Expansion Has Never Been This Hopeless
Its most prominent backers are falling off, one by one. The city of San Diego no longer even controls the land it would need. The plan faces a passionate foe in court. Yet its remaining backers are still deeply committed – and think there’s a chance they could overcome all of that. (Scott Lewis)
3. San Diego Decides: All 17 State Ballot Measures, Explained
In this episode of San Diego Decides, we run down all 17 state ballot propositions, so get comfy, take notes and godspeed. (Sara Libby)
4. How the Spanos Family Built a Fortune Selling Bologna Sandwiches to Mexican Farmworkers
The Spanos family, which owns the Chargers, is worth $2.4 billion. As the team asks the public to help fund a new stadium, many have wondered where the Spanos family fortune came from. For Alex Spanos, it started with bologna sandwiches and Mexican farmworkers. The family has long faced questions, in fact, of whether Spanos helped exploit farmworkers in the notorious Bracero program that started nearly 70 years ago. (Ry Rivard)
5. A Chargers Loyalty Test Courses Through San Diego Business Community, Lands at Mayor
The Chargers are treating Measure C, their plan to build a convadium, as a kind of loyalty test – a plea that San Diego leaders show their support for the football team. But not since the effort to move the airport has San Diego’s business community and elite leaders been so split on a giant civic decision. It’s all left Mayor Kevin Faulconer paralyzed. (Scott Lewis)