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Stories by Dorian Hargrove

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The Astroturfing of Carmel Valley

Our roots are grass.

What better way to defeat a grassroots movement than to create an astroturf campaign? That’s what residents of Carmel Valley believe Kilroy Realty is doing to gain approval for its massive mixed-use project, One Paseo. ...

Let’s Assess the Assessments

Residential property owners throughout San Diego might be finding an additional charge on their annual property-tax bills if a local businessman gets his way. The extra assessment would pay for enhanced services such as trash ...

Can’t Park It in Grantville

Residents of Grantville and Allied Gardens and those living along Mission Gorge Road can agree on one thing: change is coming to the area. And it will come acres at a time, in the form ...

Clean and Safe Hires a Consultant

In 2009, a few downtown residents discovered that they, along with over 2600 other downtown property owners, had been overcharged by the property and business improvement district in which they lived. The assessment district, also ...

Let’s Build an Even Bigger Jack in the Box in North Park

Christi Nail has spent thousands of dollars on double-pane windows to keep out the noise and wooden shutters to block out the headlights. She is thinking of building a concrete retaining wall to ward off ...

Borderline Tours

Mike Harris drives his blue Ford Ranger pickup south on Hollister Street, through the Tijuana River Valley, toward the border. He stops the truck on the shoulder and calls the Border Patrol to tell a ...

Hidden Pipeline, Secret Menace?

Some residents refer to it as the Sleeping Giant. An eight-inch-diameter Navy pipeline, carrying diesel and jet fuel from Point Loma to Miramar, lies beneath San Diego streets and canyons. Each year, 323 million gallons ...

The Surf’s Up at La Jolla Shores! Your Wallet’s Gone!

"Do you hear that? Is that my car alarm?” Gus Neves asked as we walked up Naga Way to La Jolla Shores Drive after an early morning surf session at Scripps Pier. We rounded the ...

North Park Clean and Safe: Good for Business, Bad for Residents?

As San Diego’s budget deficit has grown, the list of basic services that the City provides has shrunk. To address the increased number of overgrown trees, trash-strewn sidewalks, and rundown business centers, dozens of communities ...

The Chirp of Birds, the Buzz of Bikes From the Pala Raceway

"It’s starting now. Do you hear it?” Henry asks. The raspy chirp of a motorcycle engine intrudes upon the morning’s stillness, muffling songbirds in the avocado grove on the slope below Henry’s house in Rainbow. ...

National City's Street Vendor Sweep

If it’s up to National City officials, last-minute shoppers in National City will have a hard time finding a roadside stand or pushcart to buy Mom a quick gift on Mother's Day. Starting in May ...

Johnny V Good

Familiar faces will accompany local blues guitarist Johnny Vernazza when he takes the stage during Zydeco-and-blues fest Gator by the Bay on May 7 and 8. During the two shows, Vernazza is bringing revered Bay ...

Search for Shelter Site Begins and Ends on Newton Avenue

Although the winter homeless shelter in Logan Heights was closed just a few months ago, the debate about where to place it this year is already heating up. On April 27, councilmembers on the Land ...

North Park Boxed in by Utility Companies

Residents of North Park want to think out of the box, the utility box. In recent years, artists have been encouraged to use the metal boxes as canvases; with more boxes on the way, however, ...

Feeding America Maps San Diego's Meal Gap

A study conducted by the hunger-relief charity Feeding America found that each year 441,730 San Diego County residents go without food because of a shortage of money. That translates to an estimated 73.6 million meals. ...

San Diego Teachers Find 66 Million Reasons to Rescind Layoffs

San Diego Unified School District superintendent Bill Kowba stood in the commons of Chesterton Elementary School on April 22 to "set the record straight." Kowba spoke to the allegations that the district was sitting on ...

Predator in Print: MainStreet Media Snarls at Two Local Papers

On Valentine’s Day, Anthony Allegretti, president of MainStreet Media Group, a company that publishes eight community newspapers in San Diego County, wrote letters to two fellow publishers. One went to Jim Kydd, owner of the ...

Our Lady of Peace Bullies City Council

In January 2009, the San Diego city council denied Our Lady of Peace, an all-girl parochial school in Normal Heights, a permit to expand their facility. The council sided with the neighbors, who claimed that ...

Mayor's Budget Guts and Cuts But Misses the Fat

On Monday, April 18, Mayor Jerry Sanders appeared in council chambers to present the fiscal year 2012 budget to the legislative branch for consideration. "The good news is our revenues are starting to rebound, albeit ...

Misconduct in Encinitas Fire Department Draws Fire

Steve Meiche, an Encinitas resident and L.A.-based firefighter-paramedic, is sounding alarms on what he sees as rampant corruption and misconduct within the Encinitas Fire Department. Meiche contends that firefighters in the department have failed to ...

Copley YMCA Has Designs on Vacant Mid-City Lot

Three years after the last cars rolled out of the showroom at Pearson Ford in Mid-City, a plan to fill the empty lot, located at El Cajon Boulevard and Fairmont, has finally surfaced. On Wednesday, ...

City Council Will Not Compromise on Cannabis Dispensaries

In a last ditch effort to ease the restrictions placed on medical marijuana dispensaries, supporters of prescription cannabis appeared before the city council on April 12, urging councilmembers to amend the ordinances that were approved ...

San Diego Set to Put Car Chargers on the Map

Charging stations for electric vehicles are coming to Balboa Park, said Charlie Daniels from the City's parks and recreation division during the April 7 meeting of the Balboa Park Committee. Daniels said three charging stations ...

Balboa Park Bypass Bridge Battle Continues

Since Qualcomm cofounder Irwin Jacobs announced plans to remove vehicles from Balboa Park's Plaza de Panama last August, critics and park preservationists have asked to hear alternatives to the proposal. At the center of the ...

If You Want to Work for Oceanside, You Have to Be E-Verified

Companies that have contracts with the City of Oceanside are now required to register with the Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify system to assure that none of their employees are in the country illegally. "In ...

Pacific Beach: Foot Traffic, Retail, Up in Smoke

"They were successful in banning alcohol at the beach, and they are now going into the business district to come after the businesses,” says Eric Lingenfelder, part owner of the Tavern at the Beach sports ...

Strong Mayor, Weak Council

On March 29, San Diego city council showed its budgetary muscle by laying out a number of cost-saving proposals for the mayor to consider when he presents the fiscal year 2012 budget in mid-April. While ...

City Council and Centre City Redevelopment Reach Compromise Over Convention Center Debt

During a council meeting last February, city councilmembers acting as the Redevelopment Agency requested that Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC) return in March to discuss a plan that the corporation take over the $228 million ...

City of San Diego Seeks to Regulate Medical Marijuana Collectives

On Monday, March 28, nearly two years after the San Diego city council created the Medical Marijuana Task Force, they will decide whether to include medical marijuana collectives in the city's Land Development Code and ...

San Diego Library Foundation Finds Funds

Mel Katz, chair of the San Diego Public Library Foundation, says his foundation has identified 13 "actively engaged" prospects willing to donate $10 million or more for downtown's new central library. According to Katz, who ...

Pan-Asian Restaurant to Test Its Fortune in Vacant North Park Store

On Tuesday, March 22, the San Diego city council approved loaning restaurateurs Joel Herzer and Tom Eads $500,000 in redevelopment funds to open Pan-Asian restaurant Wangs North Park in the former JC Penney's building at ...

Harbor Drive Pedestrian Bridge Opens to Little Fanfare

After nearly three years of construction, the $26.8 million Harbor Drive Pedestrian Bridge, connecting Petco Park to the convention center, opened to foot traffic on Friday, March 18. The 550-foot-long suspension bridge lies at the ...

Business Improvement Districts Dismayed by City's Money Management

Patrick Edwards is president of San Diego’s business improvement district council, a coalition of the 17 business improvement districts throughout the city. Edwards appeared before the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee on Wednesday, March ...

Should City's Debt Relief Come from Redevelopment Coffers?

During a March 16 meeting, Centre City Development Corporation's board of directors rejected a proposal from the mayor and city council to pay off $228 million in debt owed on a previous expansion of the ...

Border City Soundtrack

In April 2009, film directors José Luis Figueroa and Sebastían Diaz asked singer-bassist Phil Beaumont of Little White Teeth to compose a score for Tijuaneados Anonymous: A Teardrop, A Smile. The documentary profiles a group ...

Will Hillcrest Get Its Garage?

For years residents of Uptown lobbied the City to reform the Uptown Partnership, the agency responsible for administering the community parking district in Hillcrest, Mission Hills, and Banker's Hill. They criticized the agency for ineffectiveness, ...

Fight Over North Park Bar Spills Into the Streets

Several patrons wearing stickers that read "I Support Bluefoot" crammed into a meeting room in city hall on March 10. They were there to ask San Diego's planning commission to uphold the neighborhood use permit ...

Save Our Heritage Organisation Stands Up for Cabrillo Bridge

On March 4, Mark Johnson, the lead designer on Balboa Park's Plaza de Panama project, gave an update to the Balboa Park advisory committee. Johnson says that his firm, Civitas, continues to conduct public outreach ...

Trash Talk at City Hall

On March 2, the Natural Resource and Culture Committee discussed Mayor Sanders's decision to end trash collection for 4620 private businesses as well as 14,200 residences located on private roads, including 20 gated communities and ...

San Ysidro Is Too Far South for Sidewalks

Juan Mariscal rests a hand on the new walker he started using two days ago. In November, doctors amputated the 64-year-old man’s right leg because of complications from diabetes. During the next three months, as ...

San Diego City Council Approves Leash-Free Parking Lot?

On February 28, San Diego city council approved spending over $600,000 in redevelopment funds on a new leash-free dog park in downtown San Diego. The 16,500-square-foot dog park — proposed for the block bordered by ...

Downtown Garages Might Have to Wait, Says San Diego Unified

Standing in front of dozens of students at Perkins Elementary in Logan Heights on February 25, San Diego Unified School Board President Richard Barrera called on city council and the Centre City Development Corporation to ...

Oceanside War Is on Over Developer Paybacks

On Wednesday, February 23, Oceanside’s city council directed city staff to return in 90 days with an ordinance to repeal the $10,275 developer fee on construction of low-income housing units. The ordinance would give developers ...

Aguirre Urges Redistricting Committee to Redemocratize First

The San Diego County Redistricting Advisory Committee met for the first time in county chambers on February 23. The five county supervisors appointed five committee members: Deanna Weeks, Andrea Skorepa, Bruce Reznik, Adam Day, and ...

Get Fit with Silent Comedy

On January 14, members of folk-blues troupe the Silent Comedy posted a video on youtube.com/thesilentcomedy as they prepared for their tour with country singer and Academy Award–winning songwriter Ryan Bingham and his band the Dead ...

Escondido Council Considers Deep Cuts

"The library budget has been cut significantly. We've lost a lot of staff, and [the department] has taken an unfair portion of the cuts," said Gary Knight, president of Escondido's library board of trustees during ...

San Diego Fire Department Alarms

During the February 16 meeting of the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee, consultant for Citygate Associates, Stewart Gary, presented a study that examined the city's fire department response capabilities. Among the major findings, the ...

All in Favor of Balboa Park Preservation...

Rob Steppke chairs the North Park Planning Group. He also sits on the Balboa Park Committee, an advisory committee to the mayor and city council. On February 15, Steppke asked his fellow North Park planners ...

Bishops Building Up? La Jolla Conversation Is Not Done

"I think what has happened over the past couple of weeks is a travesty," said Joe LaCava, chair of La Jolla's community planning group, during the February 9 meeting of San Diego's planning commission. LaCava ...

City Checks Its Math on Five-Year Financial Outlook

When the mayor's office released the City's 2012–2016 five-year financial outlook on February 1, there was cause for celebration. The outlook revealed that next year's $72.5 million budget shortfall had shrunk by $28 million due ...

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