If the sea rises, Coronado is not ready. That’s the conclusion of our Ry Rivard and Maya Srikrishnan, who investigated the beach city’s preparedness for surging tides and rising sea levels and found it’s not making preparation a priority in any way.
Other cities like Imperial Beach are getting ready, but Coronado officials are whistling past a watery graveyard, not even attending regional meetings. The mayor himself acknowledges that Coronado has “not actively discussed plans or policies for sea level rise,” even though multiple studies have laid out the risk facing the city. A city staffer says “our general position on sea-level rise is it’s not an imminent issue,” and he believes Coronado doesn’t face the same threat as other beach towns.
Others aren’t so sanguine. “The Navy — perhaps Coronado’s most significant resident — has stark concerns for the island over the next century,” our reporters write.
Homeless Murders Linked to Earlier Attacks?
While there’s no evidence of a connection so far, police are investigating a possible link between earlier attacks on transients here and the murders of two homeless men over the weekend, plus a severe attack on another homeless man, The Guardian reports.
The weekend’s attacks are thought to be connected. Police say at least seven other homeless people have been attacked recently.
Gonzalez Under Fire for Award
In part thanks to photos on social media, there’s absolutely no secrecy about the relationship between local Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez and former local Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, the Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat.
Here’s something else that’s not secret: Local Republicans can’t stand Fletcher because they see him as a traitor. Some progressive Dems don’t like him either, viewing him as a charlatan.
Now, the lovebirds — LoFletch? — are getting flayed by the GOP because Fletcher received the 80th Assembly District’s 2016 veteran of the year award from Gonzalez, The Sacramento Bee reports.
“Lawmakers have an established habit of honoring their nearest and dearest,” The Bee reports. A furious Gonzalez is defending herself and Fletcher and bashing Republicans via Facebook.
The Never-Ending June Election
Remember the June election? It seems so long ago, quickly fading into history … but the ballots are still being counted statewide.
The results still aren’t final, and the Bernie Sanders diehards are still dying hard, with some holding out hope — despite the mathematical impossibility — that their candidate will come away with victory over Hillary Clinton.
“I Am Still Sanders,” declared signs at an L.A. rally, with some stalwarts doubting that they’ll be able to support Clinton. “Here in California, people are very much more revved up and still revved up,” one man said. (Politico)
Elsewhere, some Sanders supporters are looking at another candidate — Donald Trump.
And on the November Ballot: Everything
You may have heard that we will have a ton of ballot measures to consider this fall. But it could have been worse. Much worse.
As the L.A. Times notes, several measures didn’t make the state ballot, including “The President of California Act, which would have changed the title of the top state officer from ‘governor’ to ‘president.’” (Would have been a nice perk for our current governor, who has tried to become president. Oh well.) This one came from state secessionists who also wanted to give the state flag priority over the national flag.
We also won’t be voting on a $450,000 cap on health care CEO pay, the legalization of ferrets, personhood for fetuses, a ban on charter schools, a lowering of the drinking age and a ban on Holocaust denial.
• The L.A. Times also takes a closer look at the many measures that will be on the ballot. Among those that you may not have heard about yet: A $2-a-pack tobacco tax boost, dueling measures about plastic bags, and mandatory condoms in the porn world.
• A U-T poll suggests local registered voters like the idea of legalizing the use of recreational marijuana per a November ballot measure.
Noted: 3 percent of Democrats surveyed don’t know whether they use recreational pot. Well, I can hazard a guess …
Border Report: Tijuana Violence on the Rise
The murder rate in Tijuana this year is sky-high: At last count, there have been a stunning 409 murders in the city so far this year, including 50 in June. In all of 2014, there were 462 homicides, VOSD’s weekly Border Report says.
Also in the Border Report: an alleged mass attack on a pair of Uber drivers by cab drivers, cutbacks in Mexican funding for education and a new Tijuana archbishop.
Culture Report: Natural History Museum’s New Look
In this week’s Culture Report, we take a spin through the new public space at San Diego Natural History Museum, a gallery that will host will host a permanent exhibition culled from the museum’s extensive collection of rare books, art, photographs, historical documents and plant and animal specimens.
“Once it’s ready, folks will get the chance to peruse things like a large, extremely rare copy of John James Audubon’s ‘Birds of America’ book, and wallpaper murals of scientific illustrations from a few of the museum’s other rare books,” our Kinsee Morlan reports. “And there’s an exhibition of watercolors of California wildflowers by A.R. Valentien, a children’s book nook area, interactive elements and more.”
Also in the Culture Report: Vista’s Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum (yes, there is such a thing), David Bowie-inspired art, yet another brewer and much more.
Quick News Hits: Pork-A-Palooza
• We’ve gotten our hands on results from a local April poll that asked voters, among other things, about the Chargers/stadium issue. Only 1 in 5 voters surveyed said they’re big fans of the Chargers. “This is the lowest percentage we have ever recorded, as some voters who were previously big fans have morphed into casual followers of the team,” says the polling firm Competitive Edge.
Other results suggest the Chargers have a lot of work to do to persude voters to support their stadium plan. One caveat: The Competitive Edge poll surveyed those likely to vote in the June primary, which could be a different slice of voters than those who show up in November.
• The Our San Diego website wonders if we’re becoming the Vancouver of the Southwest thanks to builders.
• More than 1.6 million people went to the county fair in Del Mar before it closed earlier this week, 10News reports.
Here’s a detail: “Bacon-A-Fair used more than 21,000 pounds of bacon this season in their various offerings. Their new French Toast Bacon Bombs used 15 gallons of maple syrup. Their new Bacon-Wrapped Baked Potatoes used 42 buckets of sour cream.”
What will Bacon-A-Fair come up with next year? I’m A-Fraid to find out.
Randy Dotinga is a freelance contributor to Voice of San Diego. He is also a board member and ex-national president of the 1,200-member American Society of Journalists and Authors (asja.org). Please contact him directly at randydotinga@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga.