During a press event on Wednesday, the NFL singled out San Diego as a problem city, in danger of losing our professional football team. The problem, they said, is what we lack. We lack certainty. We lack a simple, uncomplicated plan. And most of all, we lack the will to build an expensive stadium, using public money, without voter approval. “Certainty means no further votes required,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. He demanded competing cities have their certain, uncomplicated, voter-unapproved plans delivered to him by Dec. 28.
“Mayor Kevin Faulconer has committed to holding [a vote] before he would hand over the $350 million in public funds he’s offered the team,” Liam Dillon reports. This showdown between Goodell and Faulconer over a public vote may not matter much, Dillon notes. “Even if Faulconer were to abandon his public vote pledge, it’s unclear if he’d be able to get things done to the NFL’s liking at this late stage.” That’s because “uncomplicated” is not a word anyone has used to describe the process of building a new stadium in San Diego.
• The Union-Tribune’s editorial page is ready to start considering life in San Diego without the Chargers.
• If it’s any consolation to Chargers fans, the San Jose Mecury News noted a bad call made during a recent Steelers/Chargers game was one of the “five worst NFL ref calls this season.”
Fines Issued Over San Onofre Debacle
Southern California Edison, one of the big companies responsible for the shut down of the San Onofre nuclear power plant shutdown, was fined $16.7 million on Thursday for its part in a secret overseas meeting. At that meeting, SCE helped sketch out plans to put ratepayers on the hook for billions of dollars to pay for the plant’s failure, the Union-Tribune reports. The secret conversation didn’t come to light until months later, despite a requirement that such conversations be disclosed within three days.
Planning a PB Trolley Stop
Planning for a trolley station to roll into the neighborhood of Pacific Beach is under way, SDNews.com reports. “The Dec. 7 meeting is the first in a series of public get-togethers launched by the City of San Diego Planning Department” to figure out how to ease mobility constraints in that neighborhood. Supporters hope the station could bring transit-oriented development to the surrounding area.
Airbnb Rules Still Up in the Air
It was back in April that Councilwoman Lorie Zapf called a City Council subcommittee meeting to deal with city regulation of short-term vacation rentals. Another meeting happened in May. By July, a draft ordinance was ready. But Mayor Kevin Faulconer threw the brakes on that plan, we reported back in August.
Here we are in December, and after a public meeting Thursday that lasted several hours, the Planning Commission “decided that city staff should return to the drawing board and draft a whole new set of proposed regulations that commissioners would feel more comfortable supporting,” the Union-Tribune reports.
In the interim, check out Lisa Halverstadt’s guide to playing by the city’s current Airbnb rules.
News Nibbles
• One very real link between San Diego and the recent San Bernardino shootings: guns used by the killers were bought here. (NBC 7)
• The Alzheimer’s Association of San Diego chapter has broken off its partnership with its parent national organization. Here’s some background. (Nonprofit Times)
• A week after dozens of overdoses on the synthetic drug spice, at least five more apparent overdoses happened in downtown San Diego Thursday, according to the Union-Tribune.
• Rep. Juan Vargas signed his name to a letter pleading with Congress for increased funds to programs that help settle refugees from Iraq and Syria.
• The San Diego Zoo is more than half way to its goal of raising $400 million by 2017 to support its “fight against extinction.” (Union-Tribune)
• A taste of San Diego will invade Europe come Monday as Stone Brewing celebrates the European debut of its beers produced from its new brewhouse in Berlin. (San Diego Reader)
• People in Atlanta admire our off-leash dogs parks. Especially the wide-open oceanfront park in Ocean Beach. But that’s just because they’ve never seen what happens to your car when you try to transport a wet dog who just got done writhing in the sand. (Saporta Report)
Seth Hall is a local writer and technologist. You can email him at voice@s3th.com or follow him on Twitter: @loteck.
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Hour of Code 2015
Get a taste of real programming at your local library during Computer Science Education Week, Dec. 7-13. Programmers from sandiego.js, The League of Amazing Programmers and LEARN Academy will be teaching an hour of JavaScript to both adults (18+) and kids (18 and under) at libraries in San Diego. Free classes will be offered downtown, in Tierrasanta, Linda Vista, North University, Oak Park, La Jolla and other locations.
To learn more about this event and if your library is offering classes, visit HourOfCodeSD.org. Sign up by registering for a scheduled event, or with your local librarian.
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