I have tried to poke the U-T and its editorial board as much as I could over the last year or so. But I would be remiss not to point out that the paper's news and opinion writers deserve applause for their coverage of the Sunroad controversy.
The U-T's David Hasemeyer originally broke the story of the danger that a tower under construction near the busy Montgomery Field posed. He followed every development in the story thoroughly. And this week, his two-part series on how the city allowed the building to rise was an impressive piece -- particularly the second installment that ran on Monday.
Gerry Braun's column Wednesday held the mayor to account like only a good metro columnist can. And the editorial board's excellent takedown that same day put a bow on a great gift of perspective to the public.
I and others sometimes have focused too much on the personalities and politics dusted up by this latest in a series of controversies produced by a dysfunctional city.
The U-T admirably reminded us -- and perhaps even itself -- of the benefit a newspaper can provide when its many resources work to complement each other so well.
The newspaper's work has pushed the mayor to act and to at least say that he is holding himself accountable for a mistake. That doesn't happen much in San Diego and we'll have to see now if it simply hasn't come too late.
The Mayors mea culpa in today's U-T was a welcome sign of accountability. Let's hope things get squared away on the building- at a minimum-lives are at stake there. Sunroad should be ashamed of not volunatirly dropping the top two floors when the saftey issues were first brought to them. They could have later sued the City for damages-but the #1 priority should have been to lower the top two floors.
Indeed the SD UT came around, although it took some time, perhaps too late to stop a $40 million lawsuit against the city and perhaps with too much judgment focused in the wrong direction: late in the day, the opinion piece complained it was incompetent city staff which is not at all the case, the staff and politicians were smart and strategic to the point of being willfully negligent and even corrupt. Jerry Sanders played the incompetence ball seeing that as less damning than willful negligence and corruption. I do not believe for a hot second these folks are incompetent! If that were the case Sanders, Waring, Escobar-Eck and everyone else should resign immediately. They will try to squirm out of this corner riding the shame of incompetence to protect their masters who got them elected: the developer will recoup $40 million and move on.
It was a classy post, the Mayor's about face is a welcome display of humility for a man that doesn't do it enough and (yes I am agreeing with BBH) Sunroad should think about more than its bottom line... Now that the "air has been cleared" (at least in a figurative sense). I think it is time to reframe the debate. A productive discusion would be: Should Montgomery field even be there? What its appropriate use in the future? One could make an effective argument that this is an extremely valuable asset that benefits a very select group of citizens.
I would like to see this whole thing resolved. The city has admitted it's mistake and now Sunroads must do the right thing and admit they made a mistake instead of trying to take tax payer money away from a dysfuntional city. They knew the FAA and Caltrans objected even though the city said ok. One last thought. The building itself will only be a hazard when certain weather conditions occur in San Diego, (which don't happen too often). Even so, Sunroads still should do the right thing for the benefit of all San Diegans. Suck up the cost and just do it.
My understanding is that the 20 feet interferes with bad weather flight patterns and that those flight patterns can be altered. Is that not a viable solution? Do you really think that 20 feet makes such a big difference? I guess I haven't heard enough of the facts of why the 20 feet matters. I'm just wondering if Aguirre is the kind of guy who can work out a compromise and save everyone some money. I doubt it. He's too much of a crusader. If anyone has information on why the 20 feet is critical, I would be interested.
Everybody go get some more props and read the comments following the SD UT article on the Mayor's stop-order -- the comments are 10:1 against Sunroad, whereas here, they are and will pile up to be mostly pro Sunroad. Sunroad shills the sun is shining on you! You can't fool us. Ha,Ha,Ha!
Throw a fundraiserfor Sanders. Get a favor from the City bureaucracy. Sunroad is just one example. The Evans owned hotels are another-see their long expired leases. Can the Voice get a list of Sanders fundraiser hosts ? It would tell us how city government works.
Gloria asks why 20 feet is critical. First, because changing the flight patterns reduces the usability of the airport in bad weather (requires higher clouds to safely make the landing than now). Both the FAA and Caltrans work hard to increase the access of airports in bad weather, so they are unhappy to be forced backwards to satisfy Sunroad. Second, Sunroad flagrantly abused the process. They didn't give the FAA notice at the proper time (required 30 days prior to applying for a building permit, but submitted 448 days late after grading had started). They denigrated Caltrans for enforcing state law. They insist there is no hazard while not giving the FAA any reason to change the determination. And they have installed equipment on the roof contrary to the Oct and Dec stop work orders. So they are big on PR but short on cooperation.
And for even more props than you thought were possible, check out the comments on the most recent Sunroad article in the SD UT at: link It is so refreshing to see 100% of comments bashing the corrupt politicians, their lawyers (including the very worst, Steve Strauss, who works for Manchester as well as Sunroad) and the manipulative developers. And they are all pro Aguirre. Aguirre will get re-elected in a landslide, and the few chit-chatterers on the voiceofsandiego.org will be able to count their votes on one hand for Aguirre's opponent. I never would have imagined the nation's most conservative daily newspaper would have such a following of readers. In the spirit of commentator "Gloria" on this website, I'll post this comment on a few other threads.
Forgive me, but what does the word "props" mean? Is it a kudo, approving applause, a high-five? From the context, it seems to be congratulatory, but I looked it up in the Random House Webster's College Dictionary (1992) and in the New Oxford American Dictionary (2001) and it's nowhere to be found in the way you're using it. Now it's really bugging me. In this minor matter you, of course, can follow the Mayor's example and just take full responsibility and apologize for the mistake, and we'll forgive you.
Too cool, voice dudes, this condensing of words "proper respect" from the Dictionary of Urban Slang. But now that we are initiated, are you making cool cruel fun of our Union-Tribune and its Mayor Jerry Sanders? Slang Dictionary Note Number 6 says that the term became common among rappers ( whom women don't like) who admired the mafia (whom nobody likes) and its odd, often deadly insistence on "proper respect."
Well, what's fun about evolving language is the ways we interpret it: I thought it had something to do with propping up someone for something good, kind of backing them up as it were, also, I thought of apropos, as in appropriate and of a timely nature, meaning the SD UT came out with something relevant in content and timeliness. But not knowing for sure, I sensed the onomatopoeia of "props," which is like "tops," and thought it sounded quite positive in and of itself. So on all accounts I was wrong, it comes from Thug Life, but the earlier presumptions shall stick with me.
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Scott Lewis on Politics
The Scott Lewis on Politics blog, abbreviated cleverly as SLOP, is a collection of observations, insights and the occasional scoop on public affairs in San Diego. Please feel free to e-mail Scott at scott.lewis@voiceofsandiego.org.
A cell phone and a set-top box use vastly different amounts of energy. But how are these devices used, and which are really the important ones for in terms of overall energy use?
A cell phone and a set-top box use vastly different amounts of energy. But how are these devices used, and which are really the important ones for in terms of overall energy use?
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