San Marcos in crosshairs of Growthzilla

The board voted YES on Newland Sierra (Jacob absent) Supervisor Bill Horn: "I think this is a good project." Horn said he hasn't added a lot of growth in his 24 years on the board. He also touched on his favorite argument of the site being zoned for mining. He made this same case in 2010. https://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2018/… Supervisor Kristin Gaspar: "We are working under some tricky conditions." The argument being that we have not built enough housing, "vicious cycle, always behind." She said every housing project is met with protest/litigation. "We need some relief." https://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2018/… Supervisor Greg Cox: "Whether this project is built or not, traffic is going to be a problem." He then asked about fire safety and was told by Tony Mecham Cal Fire Chief that because the project will have clustered houses it will take less resources to fight fires. "They have done as much as they can." https://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2018/… https://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2018/… Supervisor Ron Roberts: "We heard a lot of conflicting testimony." He said this project is different than when it was heard it before (Merriam Mountains). "We are lacking in housing period." He said we aren't building enough housing and taking thousands of units out of use because of Airbnb. "People who work here and are making decent incomes and they can't find housing." "Every time we talk about housing, we have this same battle." He touched on NIMBYISM without saying the word. He said many of the communities we have now weren't even a thought at one time. "We need housing . . . it overshadows everything." https://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2018/… ABSENT: Supervisor Dianne Jacob was out (her husband died over the weekend).
— September 26, 2018 4:45 p.m.

San Marcos in crosshairs of Growthzilla

Right now, a resident that lives across from the proposed project is giving testimony as to why he doesn't believe Newland Sierra is different enough from Merriam Mountains (with charts/graphs). Live feed here: http://sdcounty.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view…
— September 26, 2018 1:39 p.m.

Perpetual war between Evergreen and the city

Anyone have anything new on this one, please message me. Looking into possibly doing a follow-up.
— September 26, 2018 1:30 p.m.

San Marcos in crosshairs of Growthzilla

The funny thing about Nimbyism is that it's only that if it's not in one's own neighborhood. It seems to be the way that works.
— September 26, 2018 12:51 p.m.

Wal-Mart Labs to open in San Diego

Yes. It just made me think of how horrid they are at packing pills.
— September 25, 2018 7:37 p.m.

San Marcos in crosshairs of Growthzilla

As people testified at the June hearing, I noted who they were and looked into each one of them. I was just curious because I catch a lot of proponents at city council and planning commission meetings that pretend they are concerned citizens when in fact they are hired guns or have some connection to someone working for the opposition or applicant (and neglect to disclose that). When you look at BIA's project greenlight, you can see why so many proponents flooded meetings. And why. It waters down the opposition numbers. Even if it's not a project they are affiliated with, they know the favor will be returned when they need it.
— September 25, 2018 2:21 p.m.

Wal-Mart Labs to open in San Diego

My mom's provider switched to Walmart RX. Nightmare. They were so horrible in too many ways to count. Incompetent at best. Crooked as hell at worse. I talked to corporate about things and they refused to name who was in charge of that arm of their business. I told them to start with the list of who sits at the big table when they have in-house meetings and work from there. I waited on hold until they got me a name. I contacted them repeatedly and never heard back, not even one of those auto form e-mails. So I can only imagine how something like this would go. Side note: corporate has nice hold music, classical, classy. The hold music for old people to wait to speak to someone about their meds is over-the-top loud and obnoxious. They could never quite explain why the same company wouldn't have the same hold music and why they chose to go that route for elderly folks.
— September 25, 2018 2:08 p.m.

San Marcos in crosshairs of Growthzilla

After publication, Kathe Robbins let me know that the court ruled today to not stay the board of supervisors hearing (Newland Sierra's hearing will go ahead Wednesday, Sep 26). Robbins is leading a bus load of people from Twin Oaks Valley to the hearing tomorrow. A petition will be circulated starting Saturday for a referendum. More than 120,000 signatures are needed within 30 days.
— September 25, 2018 12:19 p.m.

Trump supporter calls out Scott Marks

Why people are still cosigning Trump's delusions is beyond me. I keep having this image for a dark comedy play about Trump. After all, his entire presidency has been a dark comedy of sorts. I can't ignore how much Trump is like an exboss of mine. When I hear what it's like working for Trump, it's exactly like it was with my exboss. Eerily so. (We used to joke there were writers in the walls. Sometimes we wanted to give them a raise. Other times we wanted to fire him. My ex-boss did epic-nonsensical things that bordered on the criminal on a daily basis. Well, he crossed the border a lot. I wrote our whole HR manual sexual harassment section based on the opposite of what he did all the time). Back to the Trump play: I'm thinking, It's the eve of the special counsel releasing their findings. Trump has just had an "off with their heads" day where he fires his entire cabinet and strips security clearances for everyone on his enemies list. This makes dead U.S. Presidents roll over in their graves so hard they gather at the White House to put Trump on trial. Some of the dead presidents have to act as Trump's legal counsel. They choose up sides and who will be on the jury and who will preside as the judge and then they bring in the defendant. The charges are read and the trial begins. Trump is allowed to call character witnesses as long as they are dead. As a desperate measure, he fires his dead president defense team and brings in his dead mentor, Roy Cohn. The rub is that dead guys can't lie or defend lies. The dark comedy gold is Trump defending himself by throwing stones at U.S. history, albeit uninformed stones.
— September 19, 2018 11:10 a.m.

Farewell to a professional love

Don, your reporting will be missed. You are a journalist with the utmost integrity. You have left your mark and will leave a enormous hole to fill. Take care of yourself and gather those rosebuds. Julie
— September 17, 2018 4:27 p.m.