Morning Report: A Strip Mall’s String of Problems

A strip mall in Lincoln Park has been rife with problems. In less than a year, the area drew more than 40 police calls and dangerous city code violations.

There’s been robberies, people illegally living in businesses and other facilities, a messy recycling center that operates illegally and more. The problems at the property continually disrupt the neighborhood, which has dense apartments nearby.

VOSD’s Kinsee Morlan digs into the property’s plight and the city’s intervention to try and improve it. The city attorney’s office has taken legal action against property owner Salam Razuki including criminal charges and code violations, but the community doubts that things will get better.

Morlan also digs into Razuki’s past legal troubles. In 2014, the city attorney filed a lawsuit against him for owning a property with an illegal cannabis dispensary on it. He’s also engaged in other legal battles with former and current tenants.  

Hunters Arraigned, Plead Not Guilty

Rep. Duncan Hunter and his wife, Margaret Hunter, were arraigned in San Diego federal court Thursday. They both pleaded not guilty to allegations of misspending $250,000 worth of campaign funds.

The Hunters were allowed to remain out of criminal custody, reports the Union-Tribune. Duncan Hunter was released on a $15,000 bond secured by the signature of a related, financially responsible adult, and his was wife released on a $10,000 bond. The prosecutor from the U.S. attorney’s office told the judge the couple wasn’t a flight risk – they didn’t have substantial assets, he said, and were living “paycheck to paycheck.”

• In light of Hunter’s indictment, the New York Times talked to Ammar Campa-Najjar, the Democrat challenging Hunter in November, and considered whether whether Hunter’s legal problems will give Campa-Najjar a boost.
• VOSD’s Adriana Heldiz grabbed this great photo of Hunter in his car, driving away from the federal courthouse and holding a “Lock Him Up” sign.

• Columnist Michael Smolens went ahead and treated Hunter’s claim that he is the victim of a conspiracy orchestrated by “deep state” bureaucrats seriously and concluded that it … doesn’t make any sense.

Horton Plaza: Another New Tech Campus Plan

The new owners of Horton Plaza rolled out a rendering of their redevelopment plan Thursday, promising a revamped center that will have retail space on the ground floor and office space specifically geared for tech companies on the floors above, as the Union-Tribune reported.

It’s a popular concept, pegging a redevelopment to “technology.” SDSU has a plan to build one in Mission Valley. Developers behind the I.D.E.A. District in East Village has likewise talked a lot about tech. An incubator for tech companies downtown shuttered last year. Civic San Diego once tried to turn the old downtown library into a tech hub.

Other News

• A recent city auditor’s report found higher turnover among San Diego city employees since voters passed Proposition B reforming pensions in 2012. (KPBS)
• NBC7’s Monica Dean and VOSD’s Andrew Keatts unpack Civic San Diego’s role as a redevelopment agency that oversees public projects in the downtown area and its recent scandals.
• Attorney Matt Valenti defends the city’s newly passed vacation rental regulations in a letter to the editor.
• The Associated Press reports that a new complaint alleges federal immigration authorities coerced parents who were separated from their children at the border to sign documents that they didn’t understand.

The Morning Report was written by Maya Srikrishnan and Andrew Keatts, and edited by Sara Libby.