Voice of San Diego Podcast

We are still processing the election, as I am sure all of you are. But at least some questions have been answered. We’ll go through those updates. And, where does the city of San Diego go from here? The mayor and Council President got re-elected but a sales tax failed and a deficit looms. A lot of people are worried about big cities and we get it. For more on the issues: Deadly Failure: A Sailor’s Struggle in a Fractured Mental Health System, NBC San Diego VOD VOSD Story Election 2024 San Diego County Unofficial Election Results The Learning Curve: Bazzo Has Likely Won – Just Barely Politics Report: Baked Months Ago Voice Member Benefits Join today and receive insider access. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, that was an election. We will go back through the races we drafted last week. As always, there are a couple nail-biters as we begin the tradition of waiting for updates every afternoon. But we can say that San Diego incumbents did well. Mayor Todd Gloria and the City Councilmembers hoping for another term did fine. So did Terra Lawson Remer, the county supervisor who faced down millions in spending against her. Turns out all she had to do was all we suspected she had to do: Connect her opponent Kevin Faulconer to Trump. But like everywhere else in the country, Trump did better here than before. For more on the issues: Union Tribune College/Talmadge/Montezuma Rd Fire Photo Scott’s Twitter/X palm tree post Jakob’s Twitter/X young voters post Voices of the Voters Election Results: We’re Waiting on These Races North County Report: Election Results Are Rolling In See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Coming up on the show this week… It’s time. This is our last show before the apocalypse. We’ve got a special roundtable to go through our ranking of the best elections to watch Tuesday. Local elections that is. The Voice of San Diego elections draft and the elections contest are back. We’ll do it. For more on the issues: San Diego 2024 Election: What’s at Stake Politifest 2024: News and Media Voice of San Diego relies on reader and listener support: Voice Member Benefits Join today and receive insider access. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the last lap of this election season and we have updates on several major races in San Diego. Is Mayor Todd Gloria overstating his creation of homeless shelter beds? Yes. Did Terra Lawson Remer use campaign funds for her kid’s preschool? Yes. She has a good defense but it’s interesting. And in South Bay, the chair of the County board of Supervisors has created several enemies. Finally, remember that fake charity that had fake volunteers selling concessions at Petco Park? Well two of its workers are now running a new charity. The thing is, we cannot figure out what the charity does. . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Coming up on the show this week… We’ve got more mailers here to dissect. We’ll cut through what campaigns want voters to know and what we don’t even understand like: Why are California realtors bullying a candidate for her poker playing skills? There’s a newspaper endorsement that’s not really a newspaper endorsement … It is silly season in San Diego. To wrap it up, We’ll talk about a key school board race and the latest in the biggest race of them all – the District 3 County Supervisor contest. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Coming up on the show this week… The race between Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer and former mayor Kevin Faulconer is easily the hottest race this year. Millions are being spent on behalf of the candidate. The mailers are getting wild. We’ll get into it. Speaking of mailers, we’ve got some good ones. Plus, the latest in the city attorneys race and can a new million dollar infusion help a cop beat the incumbent mayor in the mayor’s race? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We got through Politifest. We’re going to discuss some of the many things people said and didn’t say. It was a big day for us. Also, why does Brian Maienschein, who is running for city attorney, have a campaign finance account for an attorney general race in 2030. We posted an explainer we can give you the cliff’s notes on. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A million dollars has already gone into the big county supervisors race from outside groups – most of it in support of mayor Kevin Faulconer, and if you’re in the district, you can tell from your mailbox. Usually mail waits until ballots are out. That’ll be our introduction into Politifest Week. We’ve been trying to run the show like normal while preparing for our big annual gathering. We’re going to go through some of the sessions we’re most excited to see. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why the San Diego Republican party has had it with Carl DeMaio. Nobody has been more influential than him in the party but resources are now going to flow to DeMaio’s opponent in a closely watched Assembly race. We’ll get into the beef. Also, we’ve got more details on the allegations of sexual harassment against former San Diego Unified Superintendent Lamont Jackson. New documents reveal the allegations against him from two former high-ranking district officials. And if you haven’t heard, we welcomed a new reporter this month. Jim Hinch is covering South County San Diego. He’ll join us later on the show to discuss his latest stories. All of that and more in this week's episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The city of San Diego stands to lose hundreds of shelter beds. Mayor Todd Gloria is proposing one solution: move some people from the Golden Hall shelter to the city’s safe camping sites. Feels like the city and county are going backwards on shelter. We’ll dig into it. University researchers raised an alarm about a toxic gas in the Tijuana River Valley, but the county says there’s no reason to panic right now. And moments after we published a story about battery storage fire fears, a site in Escondido went up in flames. All of that and more in this week's episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

San Diego Unified School District, the second largest district in the state, fired its superintendent. It appears trustees have already settled on his successor. We’ll talk about what she apparently doesn’t want to talk about. It’s been 10 years since California banned plastic bags at grocery and liquor stores. Now a San Diego lawmaker is trying to get the state to ban plastic bags at grocery stores. Why one of the statistics is shocking. And we’re back with one of our favorite recurring segments: Climate change promises that are fun to make but really hard to pull off. This week? Battery facilities. Recent fires have caused a panic and may lead to bans. But where else are they going to store power for when the sun doesn’t shine. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A few months ago Jakob here broke news that San Diego Unified School District had commissioned an investigation into its superintendent for alleged misconduct. Now, they’ve apparently finished that investigation. We’ll tell you what we know. For months, Nathan Fletcher’s advocates have said he was wrongly accused of assault and that soon enough, they’ll have the receipts to prove it. A new court filing last week revealed text messages his accuser sent that do not help her case at all. We’ll review. Finally, the county quietly lifted a major barrier to building housing in unincorporated areas of San Diego because of a case involving a recycling plant. We’ll explain how that happened. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mayor Todd Gloria didn't speak at this year's Democratic National Convention, but it's no secret that he's tight with Vice President Kamala Harris. The crew talks about their friendship and whether Gloria could be headed to Washington if Harris wins in November. Jakob also takes a look back at Harris' record as attorney general of California, and senior investigative reporter Will Huntsberry discusses his latest reporting on foster care charity New Alternatives. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Padres made franchise history with their latest winning streak and Scott can't wait to tell the crew about it. Also on the show this week: San Diego Unified gets slapped with significant Title IX violations, Cajon Valley School District tests a new state law and local foster care charity New Alternatives is the subject of a Voice investigation into its finances. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the mayor's employees, a city police officer, is running to try to oust him. Larry Turner, a retired Marine, wants to make big changes to the police department. He wants to reduce pensions for future city employees, including police, and perhaps use bankruptcy to get there. He opposes a new sales tax for the city, which is on the November ballot. He thinks we could reapportion the hundreds of city special project funds to close the deficit. Voice Editor-in-Chief Scott Lewis talked with Turner about how he would change city government if he were to win. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Scott and the team catch up on what he missed, including a big development in the local stormwater tax which won't make it onto the November ballot. They also discuss the latest development in the city's organic waste recycling program and share some honest admissions about their own green bin behavior. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The city of San Diego is building a massive wastewater-to-drinking water recycling plant. It's going to cost billions and will require tearing up roads in the process. But after years of dumping sewage into the ocean, it may be time for a change. Plus, Lisa Halverstadt is back on the show this week with updates on county detox beds, the Hope @ Vine mega shelter and her take on Gov. Gavin Newsom's recent executive order. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Voice of San Diego's environment reporter MacKenzie Elmer joins the show to talk about a spate of recent bird deaths in the city. Advocates say fireworks are to blame. She also has the latest on the flood prevention measure that just got pulled from the November ballot. Senior investigative reporter Will Huntsberry is back again this week, this time with north county reporter Tigist Layne. They've got a two-part series out now about a youth gymnastics scandal in Santee. You can read their stories here and here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Voice of San Diego's Will Huntsberry joins the show this week to discuss his new profile on Rep. Sara Jacobs. She's defied expectations with her voting record and is poised to become very powerful in Washington. Reporter Lisa Halverstadt also comes on to give an update about the Hope @ Vine mega shelter, which is facing a crucial City Council vote on Monday. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The calls for President Biden to leave the presidential race have reached a fever pitch, and this week Rep. Scott Peters weighed in. If Biden does drop out, Bella has a prescient prediction for when he might do it. Plus, Scott points out all that we still don't know about the proposed mega shelter and Jakob makes a pitch for revamping the city of San Diego flag. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.