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Voice of San Diego
Morning Report: Coastal Commission Clears H Barracks Safe Parking
For months, some Point Loma residents have rallied to squash a proposed plan to turn a lot adjacent to the airport into a campus of homeless shelters and services. They held meetings, created a nonprofit aimed at combating the effort and enlisted former Mayor Kevin Faulconer to their cause. Mayor...
Morning Report: Break for Builders on Vehicle Miles Traveled
Developers in San Diego County have long complained about the fees associated with a climate-conscious rule that aims to limit long commutes and they may be getting a break. What we’re talking about: The state’s vehicle miles traveled policy, or VMT, requires local governments in California to consider how much people are driving when designing cities to hopefully mitigate climate change. In other words, it requires developers and cities to consider commute times to jobs, schools and grocery stores when building a project.
Environment Report: Did San Diego County Just Re-Open the Floodgates to More Urban Sprawl?
Combing through email after a week off, one subject line from San Diego County caught my eye: Update on … Exemption Process After Adoption of Vehicle Miles Traveled. To a trained climate policy nerd, anything relating the terms “exemption” with “vehicle miles traveled” should trigger alarm bells.
Morning Report: San Diego’s Flag Stinks
Did you know San Diego has a city flag? You’d be forgiven if you didn’t: The city of San Diego’s flag is terrible. It’s ugly, uninspiring and unrepresentative of San Diego’s vibrancy – and come October, it will be 90 years old. With such an excellently round number rapidly approaching, we let Voice reporter Jakob McWhinney go off on why we should lower our city’s flagpoles and replace the embarrassment.
San Diego’s Flag Is Old and Ugly. We Deserve Better.
Meaningful symbols come in all shapes and sizes: Ocean Beach’s classic seagull logo, palm trees as a modern icon of many California cities despite their non-native status and California’s incredible state flag, to name a few. That last one is especially powerful. The flag, adorned with a mighty...
Politics Report: Mailbag Time
I don’t think I would have predicted that Rep. Scott Peters would be the first high-profile San Diego Democrat to suggest that President Joe Biden may need to end his re-election campaign. But here we are. This may not be a San Diego story specifically, but San Diego will...
Morning Report: Biden Panic Spreads Among San Diego Dems
In an interview with CBS 8 Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Scott Peters, from San Diego, became the latest Democratic member of Congress to suggest President Biden may have to withdraw as the Democratic nominee for president after his poor performance at a recent debate. “As much as I love Joe Biden,...
Happy 4th: The San Diego Parks Where You Can Drink
A surefire way to get regular San Diegans to pay attention to local politics is to float a policy about what they can and can’t do on the beach (see: beach yoga ban). Before short-term vacation rentals and street vendors, there were drunk people vexing the minds of coastal homeowners.
Lakeside Union Board Prez Wants Community Input on Cell Phone Bans
Last week, we broke news that San Diego Unified is taking steps to consider a ban on cell phones on district campuses. Now, Lakeside Union District’s Board President Andrew Hayes has signaled he’s also interested in exploring the possibility – but not without hearing from stakeholders first.
Botanist Fears Rare Plant Deaths in Torrey Pines Brush Fire
Jon Rebman is almost too scared to learn to what extent a brush fire wiped out rare and native plants when Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve Extension caught fire last week. The botany curator at San Diego Natural History Museum spent his 32-year career scrounging for and studying the reserve extension, one of San Diego’s most biodiverse habitats. He’s never seen it catch fire. And he’s not sure whether hundreds of plant species can survive being scorched and compete with an onslaught of weeds that clamber in to take their place.
Morning Report: Rare Plants in Danger After Torrey Pines Fire
Last week, a brush fire in Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve burned 23 acres, injuring two firefighters and forcing 2,500 people to evacuate their homes. There may be more lasting damage: Our MacKenzie Elmer spoke with a botanist who has spent decades studying the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve Extension. In 32 years, he has never seen it catch fire.
Morning Report: The Ruling That Changes Every … Nothing
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday issued a blockbuster ruling in the Grants Pass case clarifying that homeless camping bans don’t constitute cruel and unusual punishment, opening the door to more crackdowns on encampments in West Coast cities. This is what San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and Gov. Gavin...
What the Grants Pass Ruling Means for San Diego
The city of San Diego isn’t hurrying to change its approach to homelessness following a blockbuster U.S. Supreme Court ruling declared anti-camping enforcement isn’t cruel or unusual. But Friday’s ruling could influence other policies around the county, including a yet-to-be introduced San Diego County camping ban county supervisors...
The Water Authority Punted on Extraordinary Rate Increases
This post originally ran in the Morning Report. After hours of debate, San Diego’s water importer (because the region has to buy most of its water from outside the county) decided to raise rates just a smidgen – and put off the doom-iest part of its proposed water price spike until next month.
Politics Report: Supremes Unleash Cities on Homeless
Friday, as expected, the U.S Supreme Court ruled the Constitution allows the city of Grants Pass, Ore. to enforce a no-camping ban on public property regardless of the availability of shelter. Grants Pass gave violators fines even for first-time offenses. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria had wanted this decision. Last...
Morning Report: AI in SD Schools
Artificial intelligence has quickly made its way into virtually every sector in our society, and San Diego Unified School District is no exception. Earlier this month, our Jakob McWhinney wrote that San Diego Unified teachers are already using AI platforms to grade student work. Even some district board members were surprised to learn that an AI product had already been approved in a contract last year.
The Progress Report: AI Is in Use at San Diego Unified – But the District Doesn’t Have its Own Plan
AI is on the tips of nearly everyone’s lips. Edtech companies are hawking AI-infused products with reckless abandon, the United Nations is writing briefs on ethical AI use and teachers and students alike are using AI in and out of classrooms. San Diego Unified is no exception. The fact...
Morning Report: Huge Water Rate Increase Coming
Thursday could be something of a doomsday for water prices in San Diego. The San Diego County Water Authority is set to debate an 18 percent hike in prices, our MacKenzie Elmer reports. An increase of 18 percent is much more severe than water rate increases in the past decade....
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