Tents lined up along 17th street in downtown San Diego on Aug. 18, 2021. / Photo by Adriana Heldiz

It was a fiery week in the San Diego City Council chambers.

On Monday, City Attorney Mara Elliott accused Council President Sean Elo-Rivera of trying to silence her. In doing so, she indirectly accused him of sexism, arguing her predecessors — all men — were held to different expectations than her by the Council.

What spurred this rare, passionate moment was Elliott’s announcement that a proposed, big-deal settlement was reached before informing the City Council. The Council approved the settlement anyway, but Elo-Rivera took issue with the order of operations and the subsequent awkwardness felt on the Council’s behalf.

Then on Tuesday, City Councilmember Raul Campillo took a fierce tone with the development team chosen to take over the Sports Arena redevelopment project.

Campillo was the only vote against the project, which is now moving forward under the Midway Rising plan. Nevertheless, Campillo pressed the team on their experience with projects this size, allegations of wage theft, tax subsidies and more.

This week on the VOSD Podcast, hosts Scott Lewis, Andrew Keatts and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña recap the drama and replay some of the highlights from this week in city politics.

Bill Walton Has Had It

The biggest crisis facing the region is homelessness. While it’s been bad for a long time, there are plenty of anecdotal and data-based arguments to suggest it’s now worse than ever.

Some of these anecdotes rest in the outbox of NBA legend Bill Walton, one of the tallest and most famous San Diegans.

Lewis got a hold of some of these scorching emails from Walton, addressed to San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, asserting that parks have become unusable, streets overrun and that the city leadership has failed.

On the show, Lewis discusses some of Walton’s claims and the city’s official response with his cohosts.

And on homelessness: We’ll soon publish our full interview with Elo-Rivera discussing the subject — what’s being done, what he prioritizes and what solutions may be on the horizon for the city. Stay subscribed to get this and all future bonus episodes.

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Nate John

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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1 Comment

  1. Problem is the system in which Council Members get elected is rife with fraud, lies, unethical PAC’s, other hypocritical special interests and overall, just plain immorality. This must stop! The voters play the Three Stooges. A voter receives some flashy mailer espousing a nice family on the beach with a dog et voila, voters like a bee to honey swoon over the candidate. It’s phony boloney, man! Wake up! Now, look at D2 SDCC race a fiasco. This is so sad, I’m crying!

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