These were the most popular Voice of San Diego stories for the week of Dec. 3-Dec. 9.
1. Unions Split: Inside the Fight for Control of the City Council
The behind-the-scenes vote wrangling between Councilman David Alvarez and Councilwoman Myrtle Cole to become the next Council president is turning into a proxy war between two powerful progressive interests in City Hall. (Andrew Keatts)
2. City Ignores Its Own Development Rules, Five Architects Overwhelmingly Benefit
Several architects who shouldn’t have qualified for a program that fast-tracks development projects benefited anyway, including some with ties to Mayor Kevin Faulconer. (Andrew Keatts)
3. San Diego’s Homeless Senior Population Has More Than Doubled
The number of adults over 55 living on streets countywide more than doubled from 2015 to 2016 – and the problem is only expected to get worse. Experts emphasize both the moral and systemic costs likely to come with that uptick. (Lisa Halverstadt)
4. Downtown Hoteliers Fear Homelessness Could Hurt Business
Downtown hoteliers worry growing street homelessness could hamper local tourism, and they’ve taken their message to the mayor. (Lisa Halverstadt)
5. Opinion: Millennials Are Demanding Better Transit, and We Should Give it to Them
Millennials want to live in urban, mixed-use environments that are built around biking, walking, transit, shared rides and plenty of social encounters. And our regional plans just don’t do enough for this rising generation. (Alan Hoffman)
6. Opinion: Dems Can’t Win on Demography Alone
It’s not enough to have demographic and even registration trends in your favor. You still need to recruit talent, refine a sellable message and spend the money needed to turn your voters out. (Carl Luna)
7. Culture Report: UCSD’s Got a New Choir and All the Members Are Trees
Revisiting the city’s reasoning for putting public art in inaccessible places, San Diego artists react to the Oakland fire and more in our weekly digest of arts and culture news. (Kinsee Morlan)
8. VOSD Podcast: Todd Gloria’s Exit Interview and the Homeless Shame
Todd Gloria joins hosts Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts this week to talk about his time with the city. Also: It’s becoming impossible to avoid or ignore San Diego’s exploding homeless population. (Kinsee Morlan)
9. Virtually No San Diego Schools Perform Key Field Safety Test
One turf industry veteran said colliding with hardened turf can be like hitting “frozen Earth or concrete.” The NFL tests its fields for hardness before every single game. A Voice of San Diego survey found nearly none of San Diego County’s public schools are testing their fields for hardness regularly and only a few districts have tested them at all. Several local school districts are skipping the tests even though field contracts require them. (Ashly McGlone)
10. The City Might Not Have to Put Public Art in Not-So-Public Places After All
The city says it puts pricey public art pieces in facilities that aren’t accessible to the public because it has to — the funding anchors the art to the site. But a closer look reveals the city might be overly cautious in its approach and that locating the art in nearby locations where the public might actually get to enjoy it could be within the rules after all. (Kinsee Morlan)