Journalism won’t die if you donate. Support Voice of San Diego today!
The short-term rental war is still raging, at least in some parts of San Diego where they’re most concentrated.
Ocean Beach residents complained about them to City Attorney Mara Elliott at a town hall meeting back in March. Elliott later declared short-term vacation rentals illegal in the city of San Diego, but Mayor Kevin Faulconer said there are no plans to step up enforcement against them – yet.
Airbnb has been trying to put out similar fires in cities across the country by assuring residents that the company complies and works alongside city governments to ensure the needs of local residents are being met.
On this week’s podcast, Scott Lewis sits down with Chris Lehane, head of global and policy affairs at short-term rental giant Airbnb, to discuss some of the concerns from local residents.
He says the company has already found successful agreements with other cities in the U.S.
“If you look at what has gone on in all of these other cities, once you actually put in place a regulatory structure that makes sense for that particular city, the issue disappears,” Lehane said.
Also on the podcast, Andrew Keatts explains his latest SANDAG revelation. It turns out that the agency knew TransNet — the 2004 tax increase passed by voters to pay for transit projects — knew for a full year before the election that the measure wouldn’t raise $14 billion, but it put that number on the ballot anyway.
And finally, does San Diego have an official beer now? Candice Eley, PR director for the Tourism Authority, joins the show this week to explain.
Hero of the Week
Our hero goes to the founder and CEO of Modern Times, Jacob McKean. He decided to give his employees 30 percent stock ownership of his company last week.
Goat of the Week
SANDAG gets this week’s goat. Three times now, the regional transportation agency either knowingly overstated how much money it could collect to pay for transportation projects, or understated how much projects would cost.