Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Close to Home — What it’s like on the street where you live
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Gulp! Rancho Santa Fe is how thirsty?
Drought is a weather issue. Water supply is not the same as a drought.— December 15, 2014 8:24 p.m.
Gulp! Rancho Santa Fe is how thirsty?
No, there was a drought, but the water supply problem is caused largely by waste. Were it not for the waste component (not touched much by the current "restrictions), there might not be much of a crisis. I would keep my "alien" gardener. His ancestors (and some of mine) were here before my European ancestors arrived.— December 15, 2014 8:21 p.m.
Gulp! Rancho Santa Fe is how thirsty?
Fines could be used to reward those using below luxury levels for their locations. Rewards should be substantial, but not extravagant, to minimize loophole-mining.— December 15, 2014 8:15 p.m.
Gulp! Rancho Santa Fe is how thirsty?
Good point. See my response to Visduh.— December 15, 2014 8:11 p.m.
Gulp! Rancho Santa Fe is how thirsty?
Visduh, RSF is in the part of the county that has an evapotranspiration demand of somewhere around 3-4 (acre-) feet per year with an average annual rainfall of about 8-10 inches. But actual irrigation application is in the realm of somewhere in the realm of 6-16 (acre-) feet of water per year. That is, the WASTE component at RSF is in the realm of 3-12 (acre-) feet per year. That is, about one million to four million gallons per acre per year. But let’s not just rag on RSF, the poor, unloved devils—let’s ask everybody who’s crowing about conservation, starting with our politicians, to reveal their consumption ratios. The last time I checked my per-acre-equivalent usage (total, not just landscaping, including hosing off the driveway into the bushes, watering when the plants need it any gd day I need to), it was 1.3 (acre-) feet. That's 1.7 feet less than the total evapotranspiration demand (3 acre-feet) where I live in San Diego (seven miles from the coast, or about as far as RSF). About 5.6 inches more than the average annual rainfall. Most of my share goes to fruit trees and vegetables, but my front yard looks like a jungle, not a desert. I keep my plants stressed, not in luxury. And they want me to cut my “usage” by 20% and lecture me about a little water on the sidewalk (running off into the soil), “restrict” me to certain days of the week, and other irrelevant window-dressing. Before we go off half-cocked on guesswork, why not figger a little? What if we allocated residences based on the size of their lots and the evapotranspiration rate in their locations? The billionaire in RSF with five acres would get an allotment of three acre-feet per acre, or fifteen acre-feet per year, and I would get an allotment of 0.5 acre-feet. Folks in El Cajon would get more, because their evapotranspiration demand is about 5 or 6 feet per year. That’s fair, and is based on providing every square-foot with enough water to keep grass green all year ‘round—the luxury-consumption break-point. For commercial and industrial consumers, they would get increases over their base-line according to an analysis of their actual needs and consumption records. Everybody who consumed less than the luxury break-point for their area would be paid for the amount they conserved, but penalties would be assessed for absentee owners who do not maintain their property, including foreclosure properties that are not maintained, in addition to the usual fines for trash and public safety violations. New developments would not be permitted until the developers could ensure (the burden of proof is on them) that sufficient water would be available in perpetuity that would not worsen (exacerbate) the water-supply equation for established properties (i.e., not require a compounding of conservation beyond the baseline established as the maximum sustainable capacity of the state water supply network).— December 15, 2014 8:08 p.m.
Gulp! Rancho Santa Fe is how thirsty?
There you go again, Don--don't you know that it ist verboten & Unamerikan to mention that there is a relationship between the number of mouths (and landscaping, and utter waste) to wet and the amount of water available? What will be the result of water conservation? More development. And after more development, how much more water conservation will be needed due to the increased number of consumption/waste units? How much is enough?— December 15, 2014 7:21 p.m.
You try being a lawyer
Not "TMI," but NEI. There is far too much generalization and not enough specific information. Still, I'm reminded of Lincoln's remark upon being told that Grant was a drunk. "Find out what his brand (of whisky) is, and send all my generals a case." Luckily, they didn't have cars in those days.— December 15, 2014 7:09 p.m.
SeaWorld president out; stock rises
Orcas are now able to get into previously (climate warming) iced-up parts of the Arctic Ocean and are decimating narwhal populations. It might (or might not) be advisable to hunt Orcas there until the ice comes back. Orcas are cute, but narwhals are magical . . .— December 15, 2014 7:02 p.m.
Attorney Mike Aguirre sues CityBeat for libel
As long as we put up with it, we deserve it. Like Will Rogers said, "I don't belong to any ORGANIZED political party . . .— December 15, 2014 6:51 p.m.
Attorney Mike Aguirre sues CityBeat for libel
Don, you don't understand. I did not say that I had asked for any quid pro quo or favor from Aguirre. I did a lot of volunteer work on some legislation for him, and rather than engage me, he/his staff ignored me after inviting me to help. I think there's a big difference between this and expecting favors. I do like his style, but he wouldn't have to violate his conscience to avoid making as many enemies as he does. I still value him highly.— December 15, 2014 6:48 p.m.