Los Angeles is stepping up its game when it comes to public transit.
This week, the Los Angeles City Council pulled the trigger on a $4.9 billion transit project to connect people to the Los Angeles International Airport.
That news spurred some jealously here in San Diego, where our trolley doesn’t extend to the airport. It also resurfaced the news that Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher is proposing legislation to kill the agency that oversees the San Diego International Airport, putting it back under the Port of San Diego’s control. Gonzalez Fletcher told VOSD that the Airport Authority’s independence cripples transit planning, and the switch would make things better.
In a rare moment of alliance, Republican Supervisor Ron Roberts indicated he might support the proposal. He told CityBeat recently that the agency has done nothing to help with traffic congestion near the airport.
Meanwhile, the agency’s chairwoman says the Airport Authority is doing just fine.
On this week’s podcast, hosts Sara Libby, Andrew Keatts and Scott Lewis talk about San Diego’s envy when it comes to L.A.’s new public transit connection to its airport, and what a shift in airport control in San Diego might mean.
Also in the podcast, some reaction to the bill introduced by San Diego Assemblywoman Shirley Weber that would narrow the circumstances in which police officers could kill, an update on the fractured local labor unions and a breakdown of two big water projects.
In the second half of the show, Jen Campbell joins the hosts to talk about her bid to represent City Council District 2, which includes the city’s beach areas and part of Clairemont.
Campbell’s a medical doctor. She said she’s running so she can help the city work through issues like homelessness, housing affordability and short-term vacation rentals. She also apologized for, and explained, the controversial statements she made about homeless people during a campaign speech in January.
About vacation rentals – a hot-button issue in the city’s coastal communities – Campbell said she’s open to a ban of whole-home rentals and OK with people who rent out rooms in the homes in which they live.
“We have to try and preserve our neighborhoods, preserve our zoning and be fair,” Campbell said. “This is a new way of taking a vacation, and it’s not going to go away. San Diego’s a great vacation destination.”
Hero of the Week
“Water Man Dave” is our hero. Longtime homeless advocate John David Ross died this week. He earned his nickname by driving around San Diego and giving bottles of water and hugs to homeless people.
Goat of the Week
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department gets the goat. The agency restrains women inmates who are in labor as a matter of routine, despite a state law that says that should only happen in very limited circumstances.