Visitors stroll through the Gaslamp area in downtown as COVID-19 restrictions continue to be scaled back. / Photo by Adriana Heldiz

Next week marks the start of what will totally catch on as “The Great Reopening.”

San Diego Unified School District is expecting many of its students to return to in-person classes on April 12; all adults can start getting a vaccine on April 15 and Gov. Gavin Newsom said pandemic restrictions could go away completely on June 15.

So mid-June could be a really big deal and reveal the onramp to life that looks like the Before Times.

We can only take that onramp, though, if there are no major vaccination problems and hospitalizations remain low. This week on the VOSD Podcast, hosts Scott Lewis, Andrew Keatts and Sara Libby discuss why June 15 is important and how a balance of vaccines and hospital beds could be our ticket to normalcy.

Weber Wins

Akilah Weber is poised to clinch the 79th Assembly District seat vacated by her mother, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, and become the newest state legislator.

Lewis, Keatts and Libby conducted a postmortem on this special election (the rules of which we learned in real time) and how some nasty politics shook out leading up the vote.

Measure C You Later

The San Diego City Council voted this week to declare that Measure C passed. That was the March 2020 initiative to raise hotel taxes to fund the Convention Center expansion, homeless services and road repairs.

The measure was set up as a citizens initiative, which typically require two-thirds vote to pass. Voters weighing in on Measure C were, in fact, expressly told it needed a two-thirds vote to pass. It got just shy of that.

But court rulings elsewhere in the state on similar measures have declared that citizens initiatives only need a basic majority to pass. Lewis, Keatts and Libby break it all down for you in the show.

Before You Go

We want to thank all who gave so far during our spring fundraising campaign. You’re the reason we can keep doing the show.

Our goal is to raise $150,000 this time around. So if you value this show, and the explanatory and investigative journalism VOSD does, now’s your time to shine.

If you give today and leave a note about the podcast with your gift, we’ll thank you on next week’s show.

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Nate John is the digital manager at Voice of San Diego. He oversees Voice's website, newsletters, podcasts and product team. You can reach him at nate@vosd.org.

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