These were the most popular Voice of San Diego stories for the week of Apr. 8-Apr. 14.
1. Undocumented and Upper Class: A House in Bay Park, But No Hope of a Green Card
Jose and Linda own 11 properties, including a home in an affluent neighborhood overlooking Mission Bay. But despite achieving financial success and marrying a U.S. citizen, Jose is now a priority for deportation. (Mario Koran)
2. San Diego Unified’s Jaw-Dropping Grad Rate Is Now Official. Here’s How it Got Here.
The state confirmed Tuesday that 91 percent of San Diego Unified’s class of 2016 graduated. But that number doesn’t show all the factors that came together to make the rate possible – whether it was allowing certain students to test out of requirements or losing low-performing students to charter schools. (Mario Koran)
3. San Diego County’s 10 Worst-Funded Pension Plans
The Valley Center Municipal Water District tops the list of San Diego’s 10 worst-funded pension plans. The tiny water district’s pension fund has just 61.3 percent of the money needed to pay out its retirement promises to current and former employees. (Ashly McGlone)
4. Pot Is Putting Encinitas’ Love of Farming to the Test
Growing plants is so ingrained in Encinitas’ identity that a poinsettia adorns its seal, and the city proclaimed itself the Flower Capital of the World. But many flower farmers are struggling, and hope growing pot will buoy their businesses — if the city will allow it. (Jared Whitlock)
5. Sacramento Report: San Diego’s Partisan Split on State Gas Tax Hike
California increased its gas tax to help repair its crumbling infrastructure, and support for the bill among San Diego’s representatives broke along partisan lines. (Maya Srikrishnan)
6. Opinion: A Small But Important Part of the Solution to the Housing Crisis
San Diego City Councilman Scott Sherman teamed up with Councilman David Alvarez a few months ago to host a housing summit in which the public offered input and presented solutions to San Diego’s housing crisis. (Mark Powell)
7. Small Cities Pan SANDAG Reform Bill, But Author Fights on
Smaller cities across San Diego are lining up against AB 805, the measure to remake SANDAG. But the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, found a way to mention it to Gov. Jerry Brown when he asked her to support his recently passed transportation bill. (Andrew Keatts)
8. The Latest FieldTurf Issue Is Nothing 1,000 Gallons of Glue Won’t Fix
San Diego County schools shelled out millions in taxpayer money for new FieldTurf fields, only to have them quickly fall apart. The company then demanded more money to upgrade schools to a better product, called Revolution. Now some of those fields are having issues too. One solution: dumping gallons of glue onto the fields to make them stronger. (Ashly McGlone)
9. The ‘Live, Work, Play’ Vision for East Village Is Missing the ‘Work’
Even though the vacancy rate for downtown office space is the lowest it’s been in years, most developers and investors building in East Village are still sticking with the safer bet: apartments. (Kinsee Morlan)
10. Mayor Pushes Tax for Homelessness, Decides No Plan is Best Plan
Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s hotel-tax hike promises to throw more annual cash at aiding the homeless but he doesn’t have a spending plan. His team’s selling the flexibility that offers. (Lisa Halverstadt)