These were the most popular Voice of San Diego stories for the week of Oct. 15-21.
1. The Ultimate Guide to the Local Ballot Measures
Can’t tell Measure E from Measure L? We’ve got you covered. (Voice of San Diego)
2. National City Grocer Applied for an Alcohol Permit, Then Things Got Weird
The longtime owner of a small market in National City applied for a permit to sell two refrigerator doors’ worth of beer and wine. What happened next offers a peek into the strange world of small-town politics and alcohol permitting drama. (Maya Srikrishnan)
3. Opinion: A Stadium Isn’t the Measure of a City’s Greatness
With Measure C, the Chargers may have unwittingly presented San Diego a once-in-a-generation opportunity to actually have a civic conversation about how we define ourselves. Will we write our own future story, or will we succumb to the ransom demands of an outside force, the NFL? (Wayne Raffesberger)
4. East Village’s First Public Park Is a Petri Dish Where the Neighborhood’s Problems Have Grown
East Village is in a moment of massive transition. While the neighborhood’s quickly gentrifying and new people and businesses are moving in, the homeless population is also peaking. The tension between those two camps is on full public view at Fault Line Park. (Kinsee Morlan)
5. Lawyers Threaten to Sue Del Mar and Encinitas Over Housing Plans
Two environmental attorneys are gearing up to force coastal cities’ hands in making way for new housing. Attorneys Marco Gonzalez and Cory Briggs have said they’re planning to file lawsuits against Encinitas and Del Mar over land use issues that have ended up on the ballot in both cities this November. (Maya Srikrishnan)
6. Measure C Likely to Spare City Budget but Guarantee Rests on Chargers’ Promises
To understand whether the city’s general fund could be at risk if Measure C passes and a convadium is pursued, you have to figure out several things, including how much the project will cost and whether interest rates or other factors could increase the bill. Then you have to know how much money a hotel-tax hike meant to cover the city’s share of the project will bring in. (Lisa Halverstadt)
7. Jane Doe Is Still Spurring Debate About the City Attorney’s Role
In a debate this week, the city attorney candidates revisited an explosive 2014 case in which the city attorney’s office argued a victim was at fault in her own sexual assault. Mara Elliott initially said if the city’s claim was true, “it needed to be stated,” but later said the city’s argument was inappropriate and that victim-blaming is never OK. (Sara Libby)
8. Opinion: Don’t Let the Small-Town Undertakers Send the Chargers Packing
Measure C provides the scale and financial wherewithal to finally complete a long-held vision for downtown, including cleaning up and relocating the bus yard, and will do it in our lifetime. (Fred Maas)
9. How Anti-Trump Voters Could Swing a Stadium or Transportation Tax
Consultants and stakeholders are split on how an anti-Donald Trump wave – or more generally, higher Democratic turnout – might affect two big decisions facing San Diego voters, Measure A and Measure C. (Andrew Keatts)
10. The Moral of Measure B: With Enough Money, Anyone Can Build Anything Anywhere
San Diego voters should send a signal that housing belongs near existing housing and services, not in the middle of precious farmland. (James Gordon and Mark Jackson)