Stories | City Lights
Will Generations X and Y Buy?
By Don Bauder, Published July 1, 2009
As the recession grinds on, how much will Generation X and Generation Y spend? Will it be Z, as in zilch? It looks that way for some San Diego companies that appeal to the youth market. ...
The American Board of Nonexistence
By Ernie Grimm, Published July 1, 2009
You know those framed certificates and diplomas that hang in your doctor’s office? It’s reassuring to see them, isn’t it? It’s nice to know that the pediatrician who treats your children has not only graduated ...
Sticking with Stocks
By Don Bauder, Published June 24, 2009
How do you rebalance when the economy is so unbalanced? That is the question facing all money managers and particularly the fiduciaries that run pension funds for employees. Periodically — say, once a year — ...
Fallbrook’s Mine — A Hit or the Pits?
By Cindy Winslow, Published June 24, 2009
A pristine wilderness area northeast of Fallbrook is at the center of a heated controversy, pitting local residents against a multibillion-dollar Fortune 1000 construction company. ... More Comments (2)
Stomp Off-Leash Park Romp
By Dorian Hargrove, Published June 17, 2009
Bella, Jeff’s five-year-old Labrador mix, crouches five feet from her owner at a park in San Carlos. She stares at the rubber ball inserted in ... More Comments (7)
Penny Foolish
By Don Bauder, Published June 17, 2009
The old aphorism “penny wise, pound foolish” has been revised to “penny-stock wise guys get pounded.” San Diego has reams of penny stocks: don’t get ... More Comments (2)
Keep on Truckin' That Gas
By Joe Deegan, Published June 10, 2009
If ever a scheme needs a good euphemism, it’s the Beneficial Use of Digester Gas. Nevertheless, the plan passed its first smell test. The City ... More Comments (4)
Convention Liars
By Don Bauder, Published June 10, 2009
The sugar daddies that could be expected to bankroll the convention center expansion are on the sidelines. But watch out: the backers of the proposed ... More Comments (115)
Cold Case Gets Hot
By Larry Harmon, Published June 3, 2009
It was shortly after 2:00 a.m. when Gerald Jackson finished his closing shift at the Barbary Coast, a downtown gay bar at the corner of ... More Comments (4)
El Cajon Scam
By Don Bauder, Published June 3, 2009
Matthew “Beau” La Madrid, no longer a registered investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), nonetheless convinced 300 people that he had a ... More Comments (22)
Portraits of the Perps
By Joe Deegan, Published May 27, 2009
A mural at the San Elijo Retail Center in Cardiff-by-the-Sea has gone away. Local artist Kevin Anderson completed the four-by-seven-foot painting a year ago at ... More Comment (1)
Obama: Waiting for the Sunrise?
By Craig D. Rose, Published May 27, 2009
What began as a local backcountry struggle over San Diego Gas & Electric’s proposed Sunrise Powerlink is now a national issue, one that opponents of ... More Comments (21)
Californians Get Less Gas
By Craig D. Rose, Published May 20, 2009
There was a moment, or at least it seems like a moment now, when you could roll into the filling station as the gauge fell ... More Post a comment
Hi There! You Shoplifting?
By Ernie Grimm, Published May 20, 2009
Marco Mitrowke, loss prevention manager for the local retail clothing chain Everything 5.99, was not what I expected. The job title “loss prevention manager” conjured ... More Comment (1)
Cold Condos
By Craig D. Rose, Published May 13, 2009
The stunning 50 percent plunge in Phoenix’s home prices has attracted national attention. By contrast, San Diego’s condominium market, which has seen values fall by ... More Post a comment
The Voices Online
By Joe Deegan, Published May 13, 2009
In January, I began teaching two philosophy classes, one in the classroom and the other online. “The thing I don’t like about online classes,” says ... More Comments (12)
Here Comes the Sandman
By Craig D. Rose, Published May 6, 2009
It’s not even Memorial Day and people are arguing over sand on the beach. But this isn’t just any sand. The argument is over new ... More Comments (2)
Rock, Paper, Busted
By Joe Deegan, Published May 6, 2009
Many of the more than 100 vendors at Rock Paper Scissors, a consignment store on Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach, have been clamoring for their ... More Comments (4)
New Team(sters) for Lifeguards?
By Craig D. Rose, Published April 29, 2009
Call it a riptide in the ranks of city lifeguards. A dissident group is roiling the city’s beachfront guardians with an effort to split from ... More Comments (2)
13 Miles of Metal
By Ernie Grimm, Published April 29, 2009
Border Patrol agent Richard Gonzales pushes a button in the shiny white Chevy Tahoe he’s driving. In response, a gate rolls open to allow entry ... More Comments (6)
A Green Threat to Our Groves
By Alastair Bland, Published April 22, 2009
Should it appear in California, there might be no stopping it: citrus greening, or huanglongbing. The fearsome citrus-killing bacterium, first seen in China in the ... More Comments (2)
Flush It, Sell It
By Dorian Hargrove, Published April 15, 2009
Mike Hogan walks toward a small pile of treated sewage sludge, a moist, black, lumpy, faintly malodorous substance inside a newly expanded processing plant at ... More Comments (2)
Arthur Levitt — Again
By Don Bauder, Published April 15, 2009
In 2006, Arthur Levitt Jr., former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, came under intense criticism in San Diego. At the time, Levitt was ... More Comments (48)
Goodbye, Hello, Goodbye Again
By Ernie Grimm, Published April 8, 2009
On New Year’s Eve, Howard Jackson was in court with Ellen Falcone, his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child. For more than nine years, the ... More Comments (7)
How About Trying a Free Market?
By Don Bauder, Published April 8, 2009
On March 23, stocks were headed for a fabulous 7 percent gain. The Obama administration had just come out with a program in which private ... More Comments (27)
Will Sun Shine on San Diego?
By Craig D. Rose, Published April 1, 2009
Late last year, local solar advocates were pleasantly surprised when San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders moved quickly to implement a new state law that allows ... More Post a comment
Sad Stats
By Don Bauder, Published April 1, 2009
"For us, business is good,” says Barry Lander, clerk of the bankruptcy court. “It’s a sad thing.” Indeed it is. The courts, judges, clerks, and ... More Comments (2)
Does New Center Make Any Sense?
By Don Bauder, Published March 25, 2009
All across the United States, and around the world, convention centers are vastly overbuilt. Supply exceeds demand. So municipalities that own the centers resort to ... More Comments (18)
The Padres’ Mystery Lineup
By Matt Potter, Published March 25, 2009
Who are the new would-be owners of the Padres, and are they fit to own the team? Recent documents unearthed from city hall under the ... More Comments (23)
Pie in the Sky
By Don Bauder, Published March 18, 2009
San Diego County citizens disgusted with massive potholes, deficient sewer and water systems, library closings, ad nauseam should scoff at politicians’ promises that things will ... More Comments (18)
“Hallelujah!” “Hey, keep it down!”
By Joe Deegan, Published March 18, 2009
Many are the tales locals tell of dodge-and-deny tactics the City of San Diego uses to avoid enforcing its own laws. The most common excuses, ... More Comments (27)
Michael Ellis As Angel
By Don Bauder, Published March 11, 2009
Psst. Wanna read a well-written, entertaining book? It’s filled with amazingly detailed descriptions of surroundings and dialogue from exciting events going back many years. It ... More Comments (135)
Got Megayachts?
By Matt Potter, Published March 11, 2009
The stock market is crashing. The city budget is crumbling. The state unemployment rate has hit 10 percent. Maybe it’s not the best time to ... More Comments (11)
The Cost of Luxurious Sushi
By Alastair Bland, Published March 4, 2009
For the sushi-savoring diner who bites into a raw slice of bluefin tuna belly meat, the world may seem perfect for a moment, and at ... More Comment (1)
Suffocation Prose
By Don Bauder, Published March 4, 2009
I told San Diego author Caitlin Rother that she has gotten a virgin. Me. Until I read an advance copy of her book Body Parts ... More Comments (4)
Admiral Baker Says No!
By Joe Deegan, Published Feb. 25, 2009
Last spring, Lee Campbell was looking for an apt way that Friends of Tierrasanta Canyons might participate in River Days. The celebration is staged annually ... More Post a comment
Help Obama. Borrow. Buy.
By Don Bauder, Published Feb. 25, 2009
American consumers and American financial institutions are suffering dyspepsia from an extended trip to Las Vegas. The consumers drank and ate too much, and the ... More Comments (10)
Worms Eat My Reader
By Joe Deegan, Published Feb. 18, 2009
Some readers want us to eat our words. David Shean worries about what happens when he eats them. “I eventually feed [the Reader] to my ... More Comment (1)
Pacific Beach Scoundrel Time
By Don Bauder, Published Feb. 18, 2009
In June of 1999, Nicholas Charles Herbert (aka Nick Ashton and Nick Hanson) was jailed in San Diego and charged by the district attorney’s office ... More Comments (38)
Not-So-Fine Arts
By Don Bauder, Published Feb. 11, 2009
In early September, Ian Campbell, general director and artistic director of San Diego Opera, was in London to discuss a possible coproduction with the prestigious ... More Comments (8)
Clipped Wings
By Matt Potter, Published Feb. 11, 2009
It’s an inconvenient time for titans of industry and commerce to be caught luxuriating in the cabins of their executive jets. Late last month, Starbucks ... More Comments (2)
Battle on the Beach
By Don Bauder, Published Feb. 4, 2009
There is a doozy of a donnybrook over usage of the southwest corner of Fiesta Island. It’s a real bitch. Or a real beach. Well, ... More Comments (62)
Mira Mesa Meets Caltrans
By Joe Deegan, Published Feb. 4, 2009
Granted, Mira Mesa needs traffic relief, especially for entering and exiting the I-15. But how does Caltrans justify a project that is likely to increase ... More Comments (4)
Clouds on SDG&E’s Sunny Plans
By Craig D. Rose, Published Jan. 28, 2009
When it comes to fighting global warming, San Diego Gas & Electric and its parent company, Sempra Energy, are accomplishing the neat trick of being ... More Comments (7)
Goldsmith’s Guillotine
By Don Bauder, Published Jan. 28, 2009
On February 25 of last year, professional skydiver Alan (Buzz) Fink and his wife Kristina, who are not residents of San Diego, gave a total ... More Comments (64)
Nine Sinking Cities
By Dorian Hargrove, Published Jan. 21, 2009
This month and in early February, city managers and finance directors in cities across San Diego County are appearing before their respective city councils to ... More Comment (1)
Self-Probe? Ha!
By Don Bauder, Published Jan. 21, 2009
The Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal agency that is supposed to protect investors from Wall Street predators, says it is going to investigate how ... More Comments (30)
E-Trash Treasures
By Ernie Grimm, Published Jan. 14, 2009
It’s not yet 9:00 a.m. on September 6, but the late-summer sun is already baking the blacktop of the Qualcomm Stadium parking lot. It’s hot ... More Comments (2)
Is Moores Jumping Out Just in Time Again?
By Don Bauder, Published Jan. 14, 2009
In the past, pro sports has been considered somewhat recession-proof. Not this year, and perhaps not in 2010. Attendance is already sagging, despite the slashing ... More Comments (36)
Gone Fishing?
By Alastair Bland, Published Jan. 7, 2009
Tim Green, captain of the 80-foot sportfishing vessel Premiere, has been motoring paying customers from San Diego Bay to the Point Loma kelp beds for ... More Comments (2)
Will the Horse Drink?
By Don Bauder, Published Jan. 7, 2009
Almost everybody prefers inflation to deflation. Certainly, economists and politicians do. And the general public prefers inflation too. Why do you think Viagra sells so ... More Comments (12)
No More Bragging Rights
By Don Bauder, Published Dec. 30, 2008
The San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System always likes to brag about its investment performance. It endlessly points out that among its peers (other municipal ... More Comments (1312)
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