San Diego Unified Superintendent Terry Grier is scaling back one of his first initiatives after hearing parent and principal complaints.
His original plan would keep all students in the same classes between kindergarten and second grade. It's called the cohort idea. Grier also wants to ban parents from choosing their child's kindergarten teacher, instead requiring that schools randomly assign students to classes.
Grier has told school board members and principals that the cohort idea will only happen at 30 schools. At all schools, principals will still be asked to randomly assign students to classes instead of bowing to parent requests.
Why was this controversial? School board member Mitz Lee said that Grier's mandate reminded some parents and teachers of the top-down directives of former superintendent Alan Bersin. The initiative was never approved by the school board.
"They don't want this one-size-fits-all thing like [Bersin's] Blueprint," Lee said. "We've been there before."
Parent blogger Paul Bowers has an interesting post about one aspect of this plan. (He also gives us props. But I'm not biased.) He gives his thoughts on a Grier e-mail that states that "our best teachers" should teach disadvantaged kids in their early years:
[W]hy is just fine and dandy that children who are not "particularly disadvantaged" (it’s too much typing, let’s call’em NPD and PD) are assigned these teachers who cannot do their jobs? Is there some standard by which staff should discriminate (ding! special word!) which children are PD from those who are NPD and thereby deserve the lower quality education? Should my family apply for the free lunch program or something so our child can qualify as PD?
I’ll grant you, in any workforce, there are employees who are stronger or weaker than some statistical norm. But none of the teachers we pay for should fall below the line of being unable to produce a minimum of one year’s academic growth.
Thursday, July 3 -- 3:43 pm
Want to know what a new San Diego Unified facilities bond would do for your neighborhood school? A tentative list of projects, broken down by school, is now available.
Even new schools such as Lincoln High School are slated to get repairs under the proposed bond list. Lincoln's list includes repairing "inefficient, outdated heating and ventilation systems" and replacing "frayed or aging wiring." Marshall Middle School is booked for new or repaired plumbing and sewer systems.
School board members will discuss the list Tuesday, but the bond is not likely to be finalized until a later meeting. If you notice anything interesting, please shoot me an e-mail at emily.alpert@voiceofsandiego.org.
Thursday, July 3 -- 3:00 pm
Remember that whole back-and-forth over how much, exactly, San Diego Unified has in deferred maintenance? Those overdue repairs that get put aside when budgets drop or when other needs take priority?
The question of how big the problem is has proved sticky at San Diego Unified, alarming the San Diego County Taxpayers Association, which is concerned by the backlog.
Proponents of the new facilities bond are trying to clear up the confusion and win support from the Taxpayers Association with the help of a simple one-page document that breaks down the different kinds of repairs needed, and how much San Diego Unified spent on repairs during the last facilities bond, Proposition MM.
The Taxpayers Association hasn't given its verdict yet.
Confused? Let me jog your memory: A year ago, the school district estimated the repair backlog at more than $600 million. That number chagrined the San Diego County Taxpayers Association, which asked why the repairs hadn't been mopped up during MM.
Critics said a promise had been broken. The school district argued it hadn't.
Fast forward to this year. As San Diego Unified looks at a newer, possibly bigger facilities bond to succeed Proposition MM, the undone repairs were still a worry for the Taxpayers Association. And the school district was quoting a far smaller number for its deferred maintenance problem -- a trimmer $104 million -- and saying that the $600 million-plus number included other projects that weren't really deferred maintenance.
Taxpayers Association President Lani Lutar said the school district was either clueless or "playing games with the numbers." When it comes to public works projects, them's fightin' words. And the confusion persisted. A month later, Lutar was still worried that the new number seemed unreasonable.
So the outside consultants handling the bond campaign hammered out a simple one-pager that breaks down the repair and renovation numbers.
They total nearly $700 million. The smaller $104 million number that caused the confusion is from a state deferred maintenance program list that isn't an exhaustive rundown of every necessary repair, said Scott Barnett, who is consulting the campaign and was once the Taxpayers Association president.
Which number do you use -- $600-plus million or $104 million? It depends on how you define the problem -- and there haven't been consistent definitions of what deferred maintenance means. But Barnett hopes the list, which was sent to the Taxpayers Association, will help smooth over the confusion and win the group's endorsement for the facilities bond.
Check back next week for the latest in the deferred maintenance saga.
Thursday, July 3 -- 2:18 pm
My colleague David Washburn just got a call from the Navy wishing to respond to his story today on what the judge's recent ruling means for the future of the controversial development at Navy Broadway Complex.
This was the crux of Washburn's story:
The decision by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller requires that the Navy show its plans to the public and allow for input on how the project will impact its surrounding environment. But, lawyers on both sides say, the impact of the ruling will largely depend on how the Navy interprets it.
If the Navy sees the ruling as a mandate to complete a new environmental assessment on the project, it could lead to a more in-depth study, known as an environmental impact statement. If that becomes the case, then public input could significantly change the scope of the project, said Cory Briggs, a lawyer for San Diego Navy Broadway Complex Coalition, a group of activists opposing the project.
But Washburn's in Missouri celebrating the Fourth of July, so Navy spokesman Matt Brown forwarded this response to me via e-mail:
The Navy will comply fully with the Federal District Court's June 26, 2008, decision regarding the National Environmental Policy Act. The Navy will provide the public further opportunities to weigh in with their views on environmental considerations relating to the redevelopment of the Navy Broadway Complex and thus assure informed federal decision making on this important project.
I followed up with Brown because his response didn't specifically address how far the Navy would go. Would it see the ruling as a mandate to complete a new environmental assessment?
Brown said that will depend on what they hear from the public.
"I can't tell you really what's going to happen because we haven't taken those comments," he said.
Thursday, July 3 -- 1:59 pm Sports Illustrated staff photographer and Carlsbad resident Robert Beck had this article today, describing the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines as "The Greatest Event" he has ever photographed.
The piece, which ran on sportsshooter.com, a photojournalism trade website, is a bit jargony when it comes to camera talk, but paints an interesting picture of what it was like to cover the event.
Beck describes the scene on the 18th hole on Sunday:
The crowd grew very still and very quiet. As I framed Tiger in my lens I could not see the hole. I would rely on his eyes and body expression to tell me what was happening. I think the entire crowd inhaled at once as Tiger addressed the ball. Then he putted. Sounds so simple doesn't it? I shot a few as the ball rolled out of the frame. Then I waited --- shooting raw and jpeg tend to eat a cards way to the buffer very quickly! I watched. Tiger's eyes widened a bit. Then he raised his club towards the hole...his eyes widened a bit more.
Then all at once the world went crazy. Tiger pumped like never before. Kojo [Beck’s assistant] later said he could hear the roar of the crowd IN THE BLIMP. Every person watching on TV jumped out of their seats and screamed. People did not leave the 18th. They just kept cheering until Tiger had walked to the scorer's tent. Then they just kept buzzing. We had just watched the best U.S. Open ever. And it was not done yet. Tiger had played through the weekend on one leg and had managed one more miracle --- or whatever you care to call it --- on the last hole on Sunday.
There would be 18 more holes to play on Monday.
Thursday, July 3 -- 12:07 pm If you were thinking of getting around the booze ban at local beaches and state parks this holiday weekend by pouring your adult beverage into a different container, the plan just got more difficult.
Lifeguards and park rangers in Del Mar spent the day testing a passive alcohol detector device -- a high-tech gadget that "sniffs" the air to detect if there is alcohol nearby.
According to a video here from our media partner NBC 7/39, Del Mar lifeguards got the device on loan two weeks ago and will be using it this weekend. Check out their coverage here:
 The device uses a pump to detect alcohol. Colored lights on the side of the flashlight-shaped gadget glow red if alcohol is sniffed out, green if not. Lifeguards said most violators will just be asked to throw out the booze, but that "depending on the attitude or what the situation is" they could be cited $100 for the first offense. Del Mar will have the device on loan for another couple of weeks. Officials are trying to determine whether each device is worth an $800 investment. Just a reminder: Alcohol is illegal on every beach in San Diego County except for the Silver Strand State Beach and a stretch of Camp Pendleton. -- DARRYN BENNETTWednesday, July 2 -- 5:53 pm Chinese schools usually leave visitors from the U.S. feeling pessimistic about the educational chops of U.S. kids. But when San Diego Unified school board member John de Beck returned from visiting China, he reflected that U.S. students could be in the catbird seat globally. (Check out this previous post about the China trip, who's paying for it and why.)
De Beck said that his visit showed that China is investing heavily in its highest-achieving kids, who apply for selective regional schools with top-notch facilities. But its average students are afforded far less support, he said.
"There, the most able students get the very best of everything," he said. "In our country, we're trying to raise the average of all the kids. And in the long haul, this education race may be won with the average student. The average student in the U.S., I think, will be far superior to the average student in China."
Still, top students in China may have advantages over U.S. high-achievers, he added. And he believes that the key problem for U.S. students is motivation -- a problem that he thinks is less serious in China because education is considered a privilege.
"If you don't demonstrate a willingness to study day and night and to work to the point of personal sacrifice to the very best education you can get, you're not going to make it in China," de Beck said. "We asked, what do you do for kids who aren't doing well? Their answer was, there are 600 kids waiting for their seats" in the selective schools.
Closer to home, de Beck is trying to boost student motivation by launching the third year of Catch a Rising Star, a program that rewards kids for hard work or good behavior with field trips to museums, the zoo, the aquarium and other attractions. The program is privately funded and costs about $150 for a bus of 40 kids.
But donations are lagging just as gas prices skyrocket, making field trips pricier, de Beck said. If you're interested in learning more, you can contact de Beck at the San Diego Unified school board: 619.725.5550.
Wednesday, July 2 -- 4:04 pm
I spent part of my morning talking about the region's border sewage pollution problems on KPBS. It was part of an hour-long discussion examining the issue -- every time it rains, hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage are washed across the U.S.-Mexico border.
I was joined by Oscar Romo, coastal training program coordinator at the Tijuana Estuary in Imperial Beach; Bruce Reznik, executive director of San Diego Coastkeeper; and John Robertus, executive officer of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board.
The show examined the competing ideas that have arisen in the wake of the federal government's dismissal of the controversial Bajagua Project, which we detailed in a recent story.
Wednesday, July 2 -- 1:37 pm
The San Diego County Taxpayers Association summed up its criticisms of the Unified Port of San Diego's $59,000 advertising campaign in a letter sent yesterday to the port.
Lani Lutar, the association's executive director and CEO, said this in the letter:
While the letter specifically calls the message “educational” and urges readers to “examine the facts” and “learn about the Port,” the underlying assertions expressed in the letter encourage readers to oppose the “Marine Freight Preservation and Bayfront Redevelopment Initiative.” Simply omitting a statement that explicitly urges voters to support or oppose a ballot measure does not qualify the message as “educational” when its implications clearly represent an argument for one side only.
We examined the issue of whether the campaign is legal in a story today.
Wednesday, July 2 -- 1:15 pm A team of scientists from the University of California, San Diego have identified more than two dozen "novel and promising" compounds that could give rise to new bird-flu drugs.
The mathematical calculations involved in the research were so complex that scientists had to run their data through a supercomputer -- a machine that is top-of-the-line in its processing capacity and unmatched in its speed of calculation, according to a news release put out by the university today.
Researchers have been worried that if there is a global outbreak of bird flu -- properly called avian flu -- existing anti-flu remedies could fail to be effective because some strains of the virus have already developed a resistance to them.
"If those resistant strains begin to propagate, then that's when we're going to be in trouble, because we don't have any anti-virals active against them," Rommie Amaro, a postdoctoral fellow in chemistry at UCSD, said in the release.
The newly-identified compounds appear to be equal or, in some cases, better at inhibiting the virus than available remedies are, experts said.
The research is on its way to the laboratory, where the compounds will be tested against the virus.
-- DARRYN BENNETTWednesday, July 2 -- 1:16 pm
With all the details that went into this story today by my colleague Will Carless, there wasn't room to explain another interesting detail of the Valencia Business Park saga.
Carless' story focused on the fact that the development project, which had to be put out to bid again because of questions surrounding the original bid, was just re-awarded to the same developer, Pacific Development Partners. The twist: This time PDP's purchase price on the bid is nearly $1 million less for the land. (The story explains why that's important.)
Anyways, there's another storyline to the deal, too.
The Southeastern Economic Development Corp., the redevelopment arm of the city of San Diego responsible for overseeing the development, and its president, Carolyn Y. Smith, have been sued for breach of contract and fraud by a local business that claims it was duped into abiding by a legal settlement that SEDC and Smith never planned on fulfilling.
You can read about the details of that deal in this special report we published last year and in this copy of the lawsuit. The suit is currently in mediation.
Wednesday, July 2 -- 12:59 pm
There's plenty of talk right now about what life will be like at the beach on the Fourth of July without booze. If this Los Angeles Times travel section piece is any harbinger, it's going to be pretty laid back and family friendly.
Here's a snippet:
San Diego officials are declaring the ban a success.
"I've been down there a lot, talking to locals and tourists alike. Even though we are still in a trial period, so many people have commented on how the vibe is much nicer and more relaxed," says San Diego City Councilman Kevin Faulconer, who led the efforts to pass the alcohol ban. "The beach is cleaner, people feel safer and it is particularly great to see more families out there."
Darrell Esparza, sergeant with the San Diego Lifeguard Service, agrees. "Alcohol-related injuries have gone way down, and people aren't afraid to walk down the boardwalk anymore. It is a safer environment for my lifeguards and the public."
But "the number of rescues we've had to do has gone up," Esparza says. "We have had a lot more families coming out to the beach, so there are more kids in the water."
My colleague Will Carless was recently talking to lifeguards for a different story he was working on and he reported hearing similar comments about more rescues at the beach. More children, fewer intoxicated people. So just as many people using the ocean as a bathroom?
Wednesday, July 2 -- 10:44 am
The controversy over transferring principal-to-be Edward Caballero from Sherman Elementary to Jerabek Elementary in Scripps Ranch is still simmering.
Yesterday, parents and teachers met with outgoing Deputy Superintendent Geno Flores to share their concerns about Caballero's transfer. Some had hoped for answers from the school district about why Caballero was reassigned.
"He said he was there to answer questions, but he didn't really," said Renee Oswald, who will be teaching at Sherman this fall. "We still don't know what's going on."
Teodora Cruz, chairwoman of the District English Learner Advisory Committee, said Sherman community members will meet with Superintendent Terry Grier this afternoon to discuss the issue. Unless Caballero is assigned back to Sherman, Cruz said the community is still mobilizing to protest his transfer en masse at the next San Diego Unified school board meeting.
Wednesday, July 2 -- 10:27 am
We are teaming up with the San Diego Foundation to work on an exciting new project and we need your help.
Over the next year, we are going to be putting together 10 stories highlighting San Diego's community success stories, and we are actively looking for story ideas and suggestions.
We want to find individuals at a grassroots level who have spotted something wrong or something that needed fixing in their community and conquered it -- someone who has helped improve housing, transportation, parks, streets or other quality-of-life issues in the county. We're not looking for politicians or high-profile types. We're hoping to find everyday people whose experiences can serve as a guide for other San Diegans looking to help their families, their neighbors, and maybe even their employees create the best homes and communities possible.
So please, do me a huge favor and pass this post around to everyone you know. And e-mail me at andrew.donohue@voiceofsandiego.org with any and all of your thoughts, ideas and suggestions.
Thank you for your help.
Wednesday, July 2 -- 10:22 am
An interesting detail popped out at me in Nick Canepa's column today in the Union-Tribune on the Chargers' stadium search:
The Spanos family has spent more than $10 million trying to find a way to keep its team in this area, and $10 million, no matter how silver your spoon, isn't stuff used to nourish poultry.
I'm still trying to figure out that little word play. But let's not get distracted. It's the number that stuck out to me.
 | | Mark Fabiani is one of many outside advisors the Chargers say have cost them $10 million since the new stadium search began. |
I've been wondering about this for a while. The Chargers have been at it now for nearly six years. They've had lawyers from one of the more prominent law firms in the country, Skadden Arps, working with them. They've had Mark Fabiani, who helped run Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, as their special counsel -- a hybrid communications director, spokesman and I suppose attorney as well -- nonstop in that period. I didn't figure any of that was cheap. So I wrote Fabiani today and asked him what that $10 million comprises. Here's what he said: (1) Legal fees
(2) Financial advice, analysis and studies on multiple sites, including the sites in Mission Valley, National City, Oceanside and Chula Vista.
(3) Stadium design and planning
(4) Urban design and planning
(5) Traffic and infrastructure advice, planning and studies
(6) Other infrastructure studies and advice
I'm sure I am leaving some categories out, but these would be most of the major ones. Fabiani also had this to say: We have not gone out of our way to talk about our costs, because we don't want anyone to think that we are complaining about having to spend those resources. Costs like these are par for the course for a major project such as this. Tuesday, July 1 -- 5:12 pm
Deputy Superintendent Geno Flores is leaving San Diego Unified, according to a high-ranking source within the school district who spoke on condition of not being identified. According to the same source, Flores is being replaced by Charles Morris, president of Edpro Consultants, Inc., a Greensboro-based group. Morris was hired in June, but his position was left to-be-determined.
Flores' departure is yet another in a growing list of school administrators picked by former superintendent Carl Cohn, now departing under the leadership of Superintendent Terry Grier.
Tuesday, July 1 -- 4:23 pm A push for a bigger San Diego Unified school board with full-time duties fizzled at a City Council committee meeting last week.
The plan, submitted by attorney John Stump, would restructure the school board to look like the City Council. Instead of five school board members, there would be eight. Instead of electing the school board citywide in the general election, each member would be elected from their individual district, as are City Council members.
And their pay would be the same as City Council: full-time salaries instead of part-time pay. School board member Shelia Jackson showed me her monthly pay stub today: about $1,312 after taxes.
"It doesn't make the seat available for working-class people," Jackson said, adding that she takes substitute teaching jobs in other school districts to pay her bills.
Stump said that citywide elections are prohibitively expensive for school board candidates, discourage local representation from neighborhoods, and magnify the influence of groups such as political parties and employee unions that are needed to fund campaigns.
"For the inner city, it's a disaster," Stump said. "For La Jolla, it's wonderful."
Council members took no action at a committee meeting last Wednesday, saying that the school board itself should petition for any changes.
Tuesday, July 1 -- 2:33 pm
San Diego Unified scored high on its financial report card from two major credit rating agencies, Standard & Poor's and Moody's. Both gave the school district their highest short-term ratings.
Standard & Poor's cited the school district's practice of setting aside existing money to make payments
"We look at cash," said Le Quach, the primary credit analyst behind the S&P report. "Can they rely on existing cash flows to make their set-aside?"
The ratings are a big deal this year because San Diego Unified will have to borrow money to make payroll this fall, thanks to a state government decision to delay payments to schools. Preserving the credit rating was also touted by school board President Katherine Nakamura as a reason not to raid its emergency reserves during the budget crisis -- a move that was criticized by employee unions, who pushed for San Diego Unified to use the funds to avoid layoffs.
Those reserves factored into the short-term rating, but they weren't the main focus, Quach said.
Tuesday, July 1 -- 1:59 pm In advance of Friday's beachy festivities, environmental groups are reminding the public to pick up their July 4 litter.
Seriously, people, don't leave your non-alcoholic O'Doul's bottles on the beach Friday.
(You are saying to yourself: But Rob! I don't litter! Well, someone does.)
The Surfrider Foundation is organizing 8 a.m. cleanups on July 5 at the following spots for the civic-minded among you: Ocean Beach Pier, Belmont Park in Mission Beach, the foot of Pacific Beach Drive in Pacific Beach, Del Mar at 15th Street (Powerhouse Park), South Carlsbad State Beach (Ponto) and Oceanside South Jetty.
Tuesday, July 1 -- 1:33 pm Mayor Jerry Sanders kicked off a city program today that aims to spur the recycling of construction debris such as asphalt, lumber and concrete.
The city of San Diego will now require builders to pay a deposit when doing construction, which would be refunded if they recycle half of the project's debris.
Construction debris constitutes about 35 percent of the waste dumped annually at the Miramar Landfill, which under best-case scenarios will close in 2015. The recycling program aims to extend the dump's life.
In 2005, the City Council approved an ordinance that would require homebuilders and others to recycle the debris. But the requirement was contingent on a debris-recycling facility opening inside city limits. The council approved a facility at the Miramar Landfill and the city's Environmental Services Department selected a contractor to build it -- but never approved the contract. The facility was never constructed.
Waste-hauling company Sanco, however, operates a facility in Lemon Grove.
Tuesday, July 1 -- 1:14 pm
The days of pulling up to a border guard who asks you a couple of questions and expects to see some form of identification as you re-enter the United States after a day in Baja are quickly changing, and panelists at the Center for Ethics in Science & Technology want to talk about it.
The center, a consortium of three major San Diego universities that grapples with controversial issues, is hosting a panel discussion Wednesday night on technology on the border.
Securing the international borders to the north and south ranks as one of the most contentious issues in politics, and living in San Diego, it hits close to home. One idea is to increase border security through the use of sophisticated new technology.
Bio-metrics, which is fingerprint and face recognition, radio frequency I.D. and surveillance cameras, are all in use in border regions and it's making some American Civil Liberties Union lawyers uneasy. They will argue Wednesday that citizens ought to think long and hard about how much surveillance we’re comfortable with in exchange for increased security.
The civil libertarian argument is essentially that using the surveillance and identity technology doesn’t make sense. It’s costly, threatens privacy, is alien to American values and hasn’t yet been proven to increase safety or stop terrorism.
The ACLU has argued that radio frequency I.D.'s are especially egregious because information that has traditionally been printed on I.D. cards is encoded on a tiny computer chip in the card, which could be used to track and monitor citizens. The chips are embedded within objects that can emit a radio signal, automatically transmitting personal information to a "reader" without the I.D.-holder's knowledge. What’s more, the reader could be a government employee, law enforcement officer or any private individual equipped with the reading technology, putting people at risk of identity theft.
On the other hand, plenty of voters exerting pressure this election year argue that the government should pull out all the stops and do whatever it takes to keep Americans safe.
If you want to learn more about how the new-fangled technology works and hear competing ideas about whether you should be scared of it, the discussion begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park.
-- DARRYN BENNETTTuesday, July 1 -- 11:37 am After my story today about Vet-Stem, the Poway company using fat-derived adult stem cells to treat horses, dogs and cats with injuries like ligament tears and joint disease, I received more than a few e-mails from readers asking why the therapy isn’t available for humans.
The largely successful treatment is fairly simple, painless, cost-effective and non-controversial (because no human embryos are destroyed in the process), so I asked veterinarian and Vet-Stem CEO Bob Harman when pet owners (and other humans) could expect to benefit from the same treatment already available to their pets.
His answer was in line with what many researchers and scientists who attended the giant international biotechnology conference in San Diego last month explained to me: Moving new drugs and therapies from the laboratory to market for human-use is a long and expensive process.
Even though Harman’s convinced that Vet-Stem’s therapy is "completely doable" in humans, he said today that it would be several years at least before the treatment will be available.
Here's what he had to say:
There are trials already underway in the U.S. and it could be as short as a couple of years for the simple uses, like helping fuse a fracture like a spine. It may take longer for other uses like in the heart or nervous system. No crystal ball here as it takes a long time to clear the hurdles in the U.S.
Basically, it just takes an awful lot of time and money, he said. Vet-Stem, because it only services animals, doesn’t have to get approval from the federal Food and Drug Administration.
-- DARRYN BENNETTTuesday, July 1 -- 9:35 am
Recruiters for the state of California have asked San Diego's independent budget analyst, Andrea Tevlin, to travel to Sacramento next week for a second round of interviews for the open state legislative analyst job.
Tevlin just confirmed the news, but said she doesn't know if she will make the trip.
"They are very interested in my resume -- let's put it that way," Tevlin said of the hiring committee in charge of replacing Liz Hill, who is retiring at the end of this legislative session after 22 years in the influential post.
"I am very undecided as to what I'm going to do. I don't feel my work here is done by any means."
Monday, June 30 -- 6:15 pm
One of the biggest of California's education bigwigs has endorsed challenger John Lee Evans in his bid to grab incumbent school board member Mitz Lee's seat representing District A.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell endorsed Evans about a month ago, his campaign director Mollie Culver said. O'Connell "doesn't get inundated with requests, but he does endorse" in school board races, particularly if he has a personal relationship with the candidate. Evans said that O'Connell endorsed him after the two met and spoke.
O'Connell has not endorsed any other candidates or incumbents in the San Diego Unified school board race, where three seats are contested.
Monday, June 30 -- 6:11 pm Newsweek magazine has this tidbit today on Cindy McCain's La Jolla property:
San Diego County officials, it turns out, have been sending out tax notices on the La Jolla property, an oceanfront condo, for four years without receiving a response. County records show the bills, which were mailed to a Phoenix address associated with Mrs. McCain's trust, were returned by the post office. According to a McCain campaign aide, who requested anonymity when discussing a private matter, an elderly aunt of Mrs. McCain's lives in the condo, and the bank that manages the trust has not been receiving tax bills on the property. Shortly after NEWSWEEK inquired about the matter, the McCain aide e-mailed a receipt dated Friday, June 27, confirming payment by the trust to San Diego County in the amount of $6,744.42. County officials say the trust still owes an additional $1,742 for this year, an amount that is overdue and will go into default July 1. Told of the outstanding $1,742, the aide said: "The trust has paid all bills shown owing as of today and will pay all other bills due."
Dan McAllister, treasurer- tax collector for San Diego County, said that about 3 percent of San Diego's approximately 1 million property owners default on their property taxes each year. The county assesses a 1.5 percent penalty for each month that goes by unpaid and puts houses up for sale after five years. "We do hear an awful lot of excuses for why people don't pay," McAllister said. "Under the law, the property owner is responsible for keeping the address current. We're only as good as the information we are given."
Monday, June 30 -- 5:30 pm So my colleague Scott Lewis and his wife, Ashley, spent the weekend at a motorcycle training program in Chula Vista run by the Pacific Safety Council. The Lewises just bought a scooter and they had to get their motorcycle licenses.
Scott said the course was fully booked, and that the organization that runs the course has seen a big influx in applicants as San Diego's scooter craze rides the wave of high gas prices.
I put in a call to the Pacific Safety Council and spoke to Paula Williamson, site manager for the organization's motorcycle safety program.
Williamson said her team has been so busy recently she's had to lease six new motorcycles, bringing her total fleet to 49.
"We're at full capacity," she said.
Starting in July, the course will begin graduating 408 new riders a month. That's up from 288 a month before that, Williamson said. She said there are no plans as yet to hire any new staffers.
Monday, June 30 -- 12:44 pm The San Diego Fire Fighters Local 145 has announced its support for city attorney challenger Jan Goldsmith. It's the third recent endorsement for the judge, who recently announced backing from Councilman Ben Hueso and the San Diego Police Officers Association.
I just spoke to Frank DeClercq, who takes over from Ron Saathoff as president of the San firefighters union tomorrow. DeClercq said San Diego desperately needs a city attorney who will do what he or she is supposed to do according to the city charter: represent the City Council and the mayor.
"We can't continue to spend all this money on outside lawyers to represent the city," DeClercq said.
In his first term in office, City Attorney Mike Aguirre has gone to court to attempt to repeal a series of city employee pension benefits granted over the previous decade. He has also made Saathoff the frequent subject of his investigative reports and critical press conferences.
DeClercq said he sees Goldsmith as a "solid lawyer." He said he worked with the judge previously when Goldsmith was mayor of Poway, and that he is the best choice for the city of San Diego.
A press release from the Goldsmith camp quoted Goldsmith:
San Diego’s fire fighters are an experienced, vital core of the City’s public safety effort. I respect them tremendously and thank them for their endorsement.
Monday, June 30 -- 12:03 pm
This Just In Archives: Advanced Search
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One of his first initiatives is going forth -- but on a smaller scale.
Thursday, July 3 -- 3:43 pm
What would a new bond do? Check it out.
Thursday, July 3 -- 3:00 pm
Bond advocates are trying to clear up the confusion -- and the controversy.
Thursday, July 3 -- 2:18 pm
SURVIVAL IN SAN DIEGO
My dad caught some salmon, my sister's getting hitched and the Great White North beckons.
Friday, June 27 -- 5:42 pm
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Despite troubled recent past, there is still hope for public broadcasting.
Sunday, July 6 -- 3:25 pm
CAFÉ SAN DIEGO
And how did you get Susan Golding to talk? More reader questions on the George Gorton profile.
Wednesday, June 25 -- 1:28 pm
COMMENTARY: SLOP
The agency joins a long list of San Diego governments willing to spend the public's money telling them how to vote.
Sunday, July 6 -- 6:57 pm
COMMENTARY: RICH TOSCANO
The spring selling season has come and gone with no hint of the the typical seasonal rally in home prices.
Friday, July 4 -- 1:35 pm
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