VOSD Podcast: It’s Beef Week

On this Voice of San Diego Podcast, hosts Scott Lewis, Andrea Lopez-Villafaña and Jakob McWhinney cooked up the hottest beef that dropped this week.

For the uninitiated, we revived a reporting series dedicated to the feuds that light up public affairs and demonstrate how the region works. We call it Beef Week. (Credit to Voice alum Sara Libby.) Let’s fire ’em up:

Palomar Health vs. Board Members

Palomar Health is a public government entity, much like a water district, which we’ve covered a lot. And as North County Reporter Tigist Layne explained in her Beef Week post, two of its board members — who are elected, not appointed — have been calling out the public health care district.

Palomar Health officials argue one of those board members violated their media policy. That board member shot back with a lawsuit over First Amendment rights.

And thus, we have beef. But like any Beef Week offering, we learn more about how our region works — and what’s not working.

Tennis vs. Pickleball

McWhinney takes us back to the infant paddle sport’s inception. Pickleball has quickly taken the country by storm. But San Diego, with our temperate climate and love for outdoor activity, is low on court space. Picklers were pissed.

In this episode, McWhinney explains some of the tactics used by picklers to show how seldom tennis courts are used and why they should have their own courts.

San Diego Water Authority vs. Rainbow, Fallbrook

Two North County farming communities wanted to stop paying huge bills for water. They belonged to the San Diego County Water Authortiy — an entity made up of the region’s municipalities to manage water for all. But if two parties leave, that would shift the cost burden to those remaining.

Environment reporter MacKenzie Elmer called it the “water divorce” — pitting far-off farming folk against some of the most powerful political players in the shadowy SoCal water world.

For her beef, Elmer explains how far the chaos reached and how it all got settled.

Everyone vs. Todd Gloria

Mayor Todd Gloria has repeatedly tangled with NBA legend Bill Walton and homeless advocates, including some who once supported him.

In his campaign for mayor, Gloria projected a different vision of how the city could manage homelessness. Former Mayor Kevin Faulconer used an approach that continually swept encampments, often to an overstuffed shelter system.

Gloria has evolved his approach: This year he shepherded a camping ban through the City Council and pushed for safe camp lots. There are more shelter beds available, but still too few. And reports continually show more locals are falling into homelessness than finding homes. It’s a lose-lose for Gloria.

As our hosts pointed out in this episode, despite making big efforts and updating his tactics, Gloria pretty much only catches flack. And that perhaps has shown would-be candidates that the job sucks and they shouldn’t even try. Because Gloria has yet to attract a rival for his 2024 re-election.

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