Investors and entrepreneurs see green when they look at California’s growing marijuana industry. But local cities and counties are plugging things up a bit as they determine the regulations for marijuana in each jurisdiction. Voters did pass a measure to legalize marijuana for adult use, but it’s up to local municipalities to decide where dispensaries and other related businesses are allowed, if at all.
Last year, residents in La Mesa and Lemon Grove voted to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in their cities. The measures, though, prohibit dispensaries from being too close to places like schools, churches, public parks and day care centers.
As it turns out, in-home day cares are all over the place, which can make it hard to find property where medical marijuana is allowed.
In my latest, I look at how the issue has gotten pot entrepreneurs in La Mesa and Lemon Grove to hit the pavement and start knocking on day care center’s doors with offers of cash and other deals if they agree to move or shut down, clearing the way for a dispensary to open up nearby.
Trust in SANDAG?
SANDAG used a faulty economic forecasting model and overstated by billions how much it would bring in with a sales tax hike it floated on the ballot last year.
Voice of San Diego revealed that, and other big problems with the regional transportation agency through a series of stories you can catch up on here. An independent report released last week confirmed VOSD’s findings, and included the troubling news that SANDAG executives tried to hide and delete documents related to the forecasting problem.
So how will the beleaguered public agency be able to sway voters to give them money for transportation projects ever again? That’s the big question the Union-Tribune’s Joshua Emerson Smith set out to answer.
The story also includes the first comments from SANDAG former Chief Economist Marney Cox, who was featured heavily in the newly released investigative report. He blames lower level staffers for the initial error that produced numbers he has defended until now.
Transparency Concerns Arise as County Starts Affordable Housing Project
A few months ago, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors announced its $25 million initiative to spur affordable housing development.
Now, as the Union-Tribune reports, there are questions surrounding one of the development companies that’s become a pillar of the program.
The U-T reports on the troubled history of San Diego Kind Corp., which has been tasked with coming up with a cheaper means of building affordable housing for the county.
Settlement in DNA Collection From Juveniles Case
Last year, San Diego police officers stopped a group of boys in Logan Heights. They collected DNA swabs from all of the boys, a practice allowed by SDPD policy despite a state law that is especially protective of juveniles and seemingly prevents it.
ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties filed a lawsuit challenging that department policy, and now the Reader’s reporting that the city of San Diego has settled the case.
A Long, Daunting Walk to End Homelessness
San Diego’s first-ever walk to raise money to help end homelessness happened over the weekend. (Union-Tribune)
Hundreds showed up to raise funds for homeless service provider Father Joe’s Villages.
U-T columnist Fred Dickey took a close look at the city’s growing homelessness issue and spent time with a family of five who lives in their 1999 Ford Explorer.
Weekend News Roundup
• Former San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame over the weekend. So was Terrell Davis, who used his speech to share his story of how he made it from southeastern San Diego to the NFL. (USA Today, Union-Tribune)
• Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s pro-business stance may get in the way of the San Diego City Council’s anti-border wall push. (Union-Tribune)
• San Diego’s last bastion of affordable housing is in Tijuana. But if you want to live on this side of the border and pay a bit less than you will anywhere else, Otay Ranch might be your only option. (Union-Tribune)
Kinsee Morlan is the Engagement Editor at Voice of San Diego and author of the Culture Report. Contact her directly at kinsee.morlan@voiceofsandiego.org.