2023 was a big year for our newsroom. We pounded the pavement, chased storms and followed up on the region’s most pressing problems.
Sometimes the most exciting stories came from what we thought were closed chapters and other’s opened up a new page in San Diego’s history. Here’s a look at our top 10 most read stories in 2023.
Editor’s note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Hurricane Hilary Coverage
The stories: What San Diego Should Know about Hurricane Hilary and The Top 5 San Diego Areas Prone to Flooding.
By Robert Krier, Reporters Jakob McWhinney and Will Huntsberry
What are they about?
Back in August, all eyes were on Hurricane Hilary. A hurricane was brand new territory for a lot of San Diegans, so we tapped weather journalist Robert Krier to explain what the region could expect. Our reporters Jakob McWhinney and Will Huntsberry also stepped up to look at the areas most prone to flooding.
Why did you pursue this story?
Krier: “People were just fascinated with the potential of what might happen, because certainly in almost everyone’s lifetime, that’s lived in San Diego County. They’ve never seen anything like Hillary before.
So. I just talked to a couple of local weather experts about what they thought was going to happen and just sort of offered a little bit of history about it.”
McWhinney: “We had the hurricane coming through and we figured that, you know, the more information people had, the better. And so when it came to writing that story, we just wanted to make sure that people were safe when they were going out and not getting trapped in places that have a history of dangerous levels of flooding.”
Where do you see this story going in 2024?
Krier: “There’s so many elements going on. I mean, with climate change. I think that that’s something that’s going to be studied with this particular storm. With the atmosphere warming, ocean warming and hurricanes can only sustain themselves when they have warm waters. And if climate change is causing more warm waters, and it’s possibly creating greater likelihood of future hurricanes or tropical storms in our area, then that’s possible.
Just the odds of that happening are not very good. So I mean, it could happen, but I think that’s probably not likely to happen, at least not next year, I would say.”
Border Report: The Wait to Get Into Tijuana
By Sandra Dibble
What’s this story about?
Wait times to cross back into Tijuana are getting worse.
Dibble found that a lack of available lanes at Mexico’s El Chaparral Port of Entry and the closure of a damaged two-lane bridge that connected drivers to the Via Rapida highway daily are mostly to blame.
It also doesn’t help that San Diegans are moving to Tijuana for cheaper rents. Tijuana residents who are daily commuters for school and work in the United States are experiencing more traffic.
Why did you pursue this story?
“Because I was experiencing it. I was crossing the border and seeing that the lines were growing longer and not just on Fridays. And I do not have to cross every day. But I crossed maybe a couple times a week. So I realized that I am one of many who’s also doing some kind of mental calculation about when to go back to Mexico to avoid the rush hour lines.”
Where do you see this story going in 2024?
“I crossed yesterday and it was noticeably better. It is better but not solved. I think that would be the accurate response. The big problem is still Friday rush hour because so many people cross at that time.”
San Diego’s Eye Popping Electricity Rates Get National Notoriety
What’s this story about?
San Diego’s electricity rates reached such a high they got attention across the nation. Our reporter MacKenzie Elmer explained just how much rates are increasing and why.
An important finding was that the cost of energy itself skyrocketed since 2018 at SDG&E. The average summer cost of energy jumped by 67 percent and 80 percent in winter between Jan.1, 2018, and Jan. 1, 2023.
Another factor: SDG&E is unique compared to other investor-owned utilities in California. SDG&E serves a small population of one county compared to Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric that serve large populations across the state.
This along with SDG&E’s investments into expensive infrastructure made electricity rates as high as they are.
Why did you pursue this story?
“San Diego became the most expensive in the whole country in terms of electricity rates. This was the first time that I have seen where we surpassed Hawaii for the prices.
Energy bills are so burdensome that they’re top of mind for a lot of San Diegans. And, also there’s a lot of San Diegans who can’t pay those bills.”
Where do you see this story going in 2024?
“I think it’s going to continue to become more and more expensive unless the state steps in or the feds stepped in to do something about it. There’s some big changes coming potentially to the way that people get charged … future based on how much you make so if you’re a richer San Diegan you might pay higher bills than someone who is poorer, potentially, but that’s still in progress.”
San Diego Unified Is Vacating All of its Superintendent Positions
What was this story about?
San Diego Unified Board members quietly moved forward with a huge change to the district’s leadership. They voted to vacate eight leadership positions including area superintendents, human resources and special education departments.
Why was this important to report?
“It was a super interesting one because the district is going through a lot of changes with its new superintendent Lamont Jackson.
For many years the community has felt the district has not communicated things upfront, and has had trouble being transparent to the degree that I think many community members would hope. And that story ended up coming as a total surprise to a lot of a lot of stakeholders.”
Where do you see this story going in 2024?
“I’ll be following up to see if stakeholders and community members feel like the new area superintendents are being responsive and transparent with the decisions they are making. That super important, but also the overarching theme for me of transparency and communication from the district to its stakeholders is one that I hope to present in many more stories going forward.”
Of the 15 San Diego Unified Schools with the Most Chronic Absenteeism, 14 are South of the I-8
What’s this story about?
Chronic absenteeism is one of the most serious issues schools face. It’s when students miss 10 percent or more school days in a year. Which has connections to learning loss and increased dropout rates.
With data gathered from the Parent’s Guide to San Diego Schools, it became clear that this issue seemed to localize in one specific school district. Of the 20 San Diego schools with the highest levels of chronic absenteeism, 15 are in San Diego Unified.
And another pattern? Fourteen of these schools are south of the Interstate-8 and 11 are south of State Route 94 which is where some of the most socioeconomically disadvantaged communities are in San Diego.
Why was this important to report?
“Post pandemic, chronic absenteeism just exploded. It nearly tripled at schools across the state and that pattern held true in San Diego. And so when I started to dig into chronic absenteeism data, I really was looking out specifically for patterns that you can find and the one that was clearest to me. Was that chronic absenteeism isn’t this this thing that just appeared out of nowhere post pandemic, it was already a problem before the pandemic.
The larger story that it’s showing is that disadvantaged schools and socioeconomically disadvantaged schools are bearing the brunt of this, this unprecedented rise in chronic absenteeism. “
What’s the 2024 prediction for this story?
“School districts across the state like San Diego Unified are going to be grappling with these really drastic budget cuts.
Many schools and school districts were banking or reusing Covid Recovery funds to fund some of their chronic absenteeism interventions. And with those funds expiring very soon. They’re going to be hit from multiple sides.
Looking forward into 2024 I’m really going to be paying attention to what school districts end up cutting from their budgets, whether it’s these chronic absenteeism measures, and really trying to drill down into what the most efficacious and effective chronic absenteeism interventions are. And trying to, you know, use my writing to spread the word about those.”
A Wealthy Family’s 100-Year-Old Company Is Blocking a Permanent Housing Project for Homeless People
What was this story about?
In the continued battle to solve San Diego’s homelessness crisis, a unique barrier appeared. H.G. Fenton Company, a wealthy family owned company, blocked the city from buying a motel to house homeless people.
The motel was an Extended Stay America with 140 rooms on Mission Valley Road. Part of the company’s historic land empire. Through a covenant for Mission Valley Heights it banned subsidized housing.
Why was this important to report?
“This kind of hit a lot of areas that people are interested in. There was a company with a lot of wealth and a lot of power, and they were blocking this project that would have helped house homeless people.
And so I was extremely interested in why they would be blocking such a project and exposing it, because no one knew they were blocking it.”
What’s the 2024 prediction for this story?
“I guess in terms of looking forward, will other covenants be used to block government housing projects? Yeah, because there was no zoning restriction there to block that project. It was just a private covenant made between private parties, blocking a public works project.
And so, I don’t think we typically think of those kinds of things as having the weight to block a public works project. Clearly they can. So I’ll be curious if other covenant deed restrictions and covenants block other public works projects.”
A Court Found a Teacher Touched a Girl Inappropriately. He Ended Up Back in a Classroom
What was this story about?
Back in 2018, Voice of San Diego followed the case of Joshua Allen Barney, a physical education teacher who Grossmont administrators fired after multiple allegations of inappropriate behavior with students. But to our surprise, we found that Sweetwater Union High School District had hired him to teach at Otay Ranch High School.
Sweetwater claimed they had done a proper background check. His teaching credentials were still valid even after a recommendation to revoke them.
Why was this important to report on?
“A former reporter here at Voice had covered this teacher’s case; he was fired for inappropriately touching his students and then sued to get his job back. And someone ended up reaching out to me and saying, ‘Hey, I stumbled across this story. And this teacher has the same name as my PE teacher.’”
“This was not an easy story to report, especially as there are so many unknowns. You know why did this guy get to keep his credentials? What did Sweetwater Union’s background check process look like? It raised a lot of questions about exactly what sort of oversight is happening and touched on a lot of themes that previous voice of voice of San Diego education reporters have covered extremely well.”
What’s the 2024 prediction for this story?
“Less than a week after our story was published, Barney, amidst this investigation at Sweetwater Union had launched, ended up resigning.”
Hipster Disneyland’s Are Eating Up San Diego’s Dive Bar Scene
What was this story about?
You might remember our Beef Week from earlier this month. A special reporting theme to find San Diego’s biggest beef of the region. In this story reporter Will Huntsberry shared how San Diego’s dive bar scene is dying. Trade in your cheap drinks and grimy comfort for an instagrammable scene with an expensive drink menu, he wrote.
Why was this important to report?
“Because I love to drink at dive bars. I mean, it just felt like something that needed to be said. It feels like there’s way less working class drinking establishments that are just like open to every man or every person you know.
I felt like somebody needed to speak up about the death of those working class places. And so I went for it.”
What’s the 2024 prediction for this story?
“I think sadly, working class dive bars will continue to be lost in central San Diego. You know, maybe the further out you go, the easier it is to find those places. Just like you have to go far to find affordable housing but even when you go far, the housing is still not affordable.
It’d be great if my article reminded people they need to get a drink in their local bar to help save those plates. And I don’t know if that’s the case, but that’d be awesome.”
After the Vaccine, Republicans Became Far More Likely to Die with Covid-19 Than Democrats
By Will Huntsberry and Jesse Marx
What was this story about?
The subject of vaccines during the pandemic was cause for extreme divide between political parties. A comparison between death records and political party affiliation found that Republicans were more likely to die from Covid in the second year of the pandemic.
Republicans were 39 percent more likely to die with Covid, even after adjusting data as they tend to be older than democrats.
Why was this important to report on?
“We had a moment of inspiration that we could try to, you know, try to match the names of those who died to their political party. Because we knew that the vaccine was highly politicized.”
Nonprofits Get a Cut of Petco Park Food Proceeds, But One of the Biggest Nonprofits at the Stadium Doesn’t Exist
What was this story about?
At one of San Diego’s beloved landmarks, Petco Park, an organization behind the scenes was taking advantage of the park’s charitable operations.
Charities staff food stands at the park and in return they keep anywhere from nine to 12 percent of the proceeds for their own charity. Chula Vista Fast Pitch, one of the charities operating stands at the stadium, collected $3.7 million in net sales between Jan. 1 and June 5. Ten percent of which is $370,000.
The problem here? The charity hasn’t been in operation since it closed in 2014.
Why was this important to report?
“Between the nachos and the beer, many millions of dollars change hands each year at Petco Park as fans seek to have fun and fulfilling ballpark experience. This story was important because it exposed an easily exploited labor system used to run concession stands. Many stands are staffed by supposed volunteer groups.
The volunteer organization receives ten percent of a stand’s cut for providing this staffing. But this story exposed that one group — claiming to support girls softball — wasn’t a real charity at all. And yet it had been providing more workers than any other volunteer group at Petco for nine seasons. The FBI and San Diego District Attorney’s office are now investigating what we exposed.”
What’s the 2024 prediction for this story?
“I think there will be more stories next year that expose the various parties who benefit from this labor system. It’s also possible there will be criminal charges as a result of the ongoing investigations.”
Nobody cares. Remove homeless from public spaces and send them to jail.
Some candidates run year after year as perennial contenders and are viewed as losers, but this is not the truth. The voters are playing double jeopardy and being unwise and disingenuous. These men and women are not supported by special interests, have no million-dollar friends who donate and fundraise. They are not even supported by the two major political parties for sake of being free thinkers and not corrupt. But the voters are narrow and shallow minded for not seeing these truths. Then the recalls begin and it’s all an ironic shell game. When the voters recognize the truth, when they are not hypnotized by a biased media, we as a nation will be better off and more democratic. Dan Smiechowski will run for office until his last breath if only to prove his points and make America a better place.
Google has in-person and farther employments, and they contract from around the world. Google Paid 3500$ in a day. e Once you hunt for these employments on their location, include your area and check the remote-eligible work filters.
Flollow Here….. https://GooglePaidWork.blogspot.com