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These were the most popular Voice of San Diego stories for the week.
1. Private School Says It’s Happy to Have Teacher Who Lost Credential Over Abuse, Harassment Incidents
The superintendent of Coastal Christian Academy said he’s comfortable with Scott Brady’s employment at the school because he was never charged with any crimes. Oceanside school officials substantiated complaints of misconduct and harassment against Brady, and his teaching credential was revoked in 2013. (Kayla Jimenez)
2. Border Report: ‘Many People Are Using Haitians to Discriminate Against Hondurans’
Tijuana’s mayor and others have held up Haitians as an example of how the thousands of arriving Central Americans should behave. But one Haitian migrant says everyone should be wary of narratives pitting one immigrant group against another. (Maya Srikrishnan)
3. ‘What Else Are We Gonna Do?’: Sweetwater Grapples With an Unsustainable Financial Future
Despite the frenzy of a mid-year budget crisis, the greatest threat to the Sweetwater Union High School District still lies ahead: its growing structural debt compounded by the lack of a long-term plan to reduce spending. A new audit raises “substantial doubt” about the district’s ability to remain fiscally solvent moving forward. (Will Hunstberry)
4. Prosecutors Mistakenly Charged a U.S. Citizen With Illegally Entering the Country
An illegal entry charge against Ricardo Hernandez-Contreras was dismissed last week after his attorney presented his birth certificate to the court. Yet even after the case against him was tossed, court officials said they couldn’t guarantee Hernandez-Contreras wouldn’t be handed over to ICE for deportation proceedings. (Maya Srikrishnan)
5. Data Shows San Diego Officials Misled the Public on Potential Source of Lead in Water
The city isn’t sure what 192,000 of its water lines are made of. No other major California cities have such a massive gap in recordkeeping – one that could cost the city between $192 million and $960 million if it doesn’t take drastic steps to account for the make of those lines in the next 18 months. (Ry Rivard)
6. San Diego Is a City of Transplants – But That’s Changing
More than half of San Diegans were born elsewhere, but one expert predicts that economic forces will cause the share of San Diegans who originally hail from the city to rise in years to come and that the percentage who come from elsewhere will drop. (Lisa Halverstadt)
7. The Mayor Is Betting That Less Required Parking Will Mean More Housing
Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s proposal assumes that freeing developers from requirements to include parking in new housing projects may clear the way for smaller, more affordable units. (Lisa Halverstadt)
8. After Election Mauling, San Diego’s Free Market Fans Wonder if the GOP Is Still Their Horse
Mayor Kevin Faulconer convened a meeting at the end of November that drew many prominent Republicans, as well as other business leaders. The topic of the discussion: Can San Diego’s capitalists continue to rely on the Republican Party to drive their agenda? (Scott Lewis)
9. Politics Report: Dems, GOP Face Leadership Debates
Republicans consider paying their chair, Dems to decide on a new one and the chairman of the California State University Board of Trustees talks about the value of the stadium land in Mission Valley. (Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts)
10. MTS’s Old Board Is Rushing to Adopt a New Fare Payment System
If the 10-year, $37 million contract is approved, it would represent a major decision being made in the board’s last meeting of the year, just weeks before as much of a third of its board members will be replaced because they lost elections or were termed out of office. (Andrew Keatts)