Voice of San Diego Monthly | August 2012

San Diego’s Wildlife Killers: Thousands of animals have been killed and the feds won’t say why.

www.voiceofsandiego.org

AUGUST 2012

Vol. 1 No. 4

The Trouble With San Onofre The future of the region’s nuclear plant hangs in the balance.

BY ROB DAVIS

Voice of San Diego is a member-based news organization. Join our community and get a subscription to this magazine. Learn more at vosd.org/join-members ▸▸

August 2012

Volume 1 Number 4

19 ENVIRONMENT

San Diego County’s Wildlife Killers The federal government has killed thousands of animals across the region and won’t say why. BY ROB DAVIS

10 ENERGY

The Trouble With San Onofre Replacing four of San Onofre’s biggest components took 10 years and cost almost $700 million. It’s been a disaster. And the repercussions will extend far beyond the threat of rolling blackouts. BY ROB DAVIS

Inside 2 EDITOR’S NOTE | Andrew Donohue Don’t Be Scared. Really.

3 RAISE YOUR VOICE | Mary Walter-Brown Building a Community

4 ON THE STREET

22 EDUCATION

The Pain, and Strategy, of a Shorter School Year City schools’ deal to avoid teacher layoffs was heralded as a masterful compromise.

Within it, though, is some political strategy that could result in a greatly shortened school year. BY WILL CARLESS

The Balboa Park Saga Continues | Kelly Bennett Councilman: Stuff Costs Money! | Liam Dillon Bad Day for Bridgepoint | Liam Dillon DeMaio Now Fond of ‘Downtown Interests’ | Liam Dillon Filner’s Pie in the Sky | Liam Dillon

COVER PHOTO BY SAM HODGSON

9 GRAPHIC | Keegan Kyle How San Diego Elected a ‘Birther’ Judge

32 FACT CHECK | Keegan Kyle No Changes to Balboa Park Plan?

34 COMMENTARY | Scott Lewis Health Care Forever, and for Free, at Scripps Chula Vista

28 PUBLIC SAFETY

Complained About a Pothole?

Better Be Patient A VOSD investigation finds city crews are taking longer and longer to respond to residents’ pothole complaints.

BY KEEGAN KYLE August 2012 VOSD MONTHLY

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Editor’s Note Don’t Be Scared. Really.

EDITOR

Andrew Donohue STAFF WRITERS

A SHORTENED SCHOOL YEAR. Potholes. Mountain lions being killed. Nuclear power plant problems!

Gah! Don’t be scared by this edition of VOSD Monthly.

Don’t be disillusioned. Be optimistic.

There’s nothing wrong with looking at your community and having the conviction that it can be better. As the late Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes once said, criticism is optimism. You look at your country, or in this case city, and believe it’s strong enough to endure having its weaknesses exposed. That it holds the capacity to be better.

We’re not against shining a light on the positive either. But there are plenty of places to get positive news. For one, you can go directly to the public officials themselves. They have their own social media streams and robust corps of former reporters on their press staffs. The county of San Diego has even started its own news organization to get its word out.

We keep focused on trying to expose what don’t want to announce and put what they do into perspective.

So, please, enjoy this dose of optimism, VOSD-style.

Kelly Bennett, Will Carless, Rob Davis, Liam Dillon, Keegan Kyle CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Ashley Lewis

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Scott Lewis

VICE PRESIDENT, ADVANCEMENT & ENGAGEMENT

Mary Walter-Brown WEB EDITOR

Dagny Salas MEMBER MANAGER

Summer Polacek FOUNDERS

Buzz Woolley & Neil Morgan BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Reid Carr, Bob Page, Bill Stensrud, Gail Stoorza-Gill ANDREW DONOHUE

Editor

August 2012 | Volume 1 Number 4 Subscriptions and Reprints

VOSD members at the Speaking Up and Loud & Clear levels receive a complimentary subscription to Voice of San Diego Monthly magazine as a thank you for their support.

Individual issues and reprints may be purchased on demand for $7.99 at vosd.org/vosd-mag.

Digital editions are also available for $2.99.

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Want to advertise in VOSD Monthly? Call today to become a Community Partner: (619) 325-0525.

Thank you to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for supporting innovative journalism.

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News and Updates from Our Member Community

Building a Community AS WE CONTINUE ON OUR JOURNEY to build a strong community of individual members, we’re learning interesting nuggets about the way people view news and their willingness to put a price tag on quality journalism.

Last month we surveyed about 6,000 people who receive our Morning Report but have yet to become a member. We wanted to find out what’s holding them back. We asked two simple questions:

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Why haven’t you joined?

Is there anything we could do to convince you to join?

ISTOCKPHOTO, ROBERTO BEAR GUERRA FOR VOSD

The answers were multiple choice and we were pretty blunt with the options. One was simply “I don’t value the service enough to contribute financially.” I was holding my breath as I scanned the responses to that one, but thankfully only a small percentage (8.1%) of people chose that option. In fact, most respondents said “they just weren’t ready to join yet,” (30.8%) or they chose “other” (44.8%) and wrote their own answer.

The majority of people who wrote a response said they hadn’t joined our community because they couldn’t afford it right now. That’s a fair answer. Times are tough and most of us have to make sacrifices to live in San Diego. All we can hope is that eventually people will decide the service provided by Voice of San Diego is one of the things they can’t afford to sacrifice.

We pledge to make membership affordable. Basic membership is $35, but we have a Student/Hardship level available for $20. Every dollar helps us build sustainability and every new member is a valued addition to our community.

In response to whether there was anything we could do to convince them to join, we got responses like “Be patient and keep doing the great job you do,” “It’s not you, it’s me,” and “Remind me!” So, that’s what we’re going to do. We’ll keep providing in-depth investigative reporting and analysis and we’ll keep asking people to support it. We’re looking for 50 new members every month. We’ll keep you posted on our progress.

MARY WALTER-BROWN

Vice President, Advancement & Engagement

QUESTIONS? CONCERNS? Write to mary.brown@voiceofsandiego.org

UPCOMING EVENTS AUG 16

One Voice at a Time

JAN GOLDSMITH | 7:00 P.M.

In this live conversation series, VOSD CEO Scott Lewis sits down, one on one, with San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. Members at the Inside Voice ($101) level and above enjoy free admission. Others are asked to make a $5 donation.

AUG 30

Member Coffee

8:00 A.M. @ VOSD OFFICE

VOSD members are invited to join us for coffee, a light breakfast and lively discussion with CEO Scott Lewis and our reporting staff. Space is limited. Please RSVP to summer@voiceofsandiego.org.

SEP 6

One Voice at a Time

DAVID ALVAREZ | 7:00 P.M.

Our live conversation series continues with San Diego City Councilmember David Alvarez. Members at the Inside Voice ($101) level and above enjoy free admission. Others are asked to make a $5 donation.

VOSD members came out in force to enjoy family fun with a dose of politics at last year’s inaugural Politifest.

SEP 29

Politifest 2012

10 A.M. - 2 P.M. @ LIBERTY STATION

A fun-filled day of local politics, civic engagement, food, music and beer. Includes mayor and congressional debates, idea tournament and city 101 speed sessions. For more details, visit voiceofsandiego.org/politifest.

August 2012 VOSD MONTHLY

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On the Street

PLAZA DE PROTEST Ron May, an opponent of a plan to renovate Balboa Park’s Plaza de Panama, protests outside San Diego City Hall before a July council meeting where the plan was being considered.

HAPPENINGS

On the Street The Balboa Park Saga Continues

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MAYOR JERRY SANDERS began the afternoon with a tale from the Plaza de Panama lore.

One afternoon a few years ago, he and one of the county’s richest men, Qualcomm cofounder Irwin Jacobs, took a four-hour walk in Balboa Park.

They hiked in the canyons and climbed up the California Tower to survey the park, especially noting a mess of cars in the park’s central Plaza de Panama.

That afternoon kicked off a twoyear process that led to the marathon hearing that Sanders kicked off. By the end of it, the City Council had voted to move forward with Jacobs’ vision for the park: removing cars from the plaza and building a bypass bridge to a new parking garage behind the organ pavilion.

But not before a rousing and raucous meeting stretched from afternoon to night.

The meeting room erupted in boos and hisses several times. The first eruption came when the mayor suggested that the opposition hadn’t presented a cohesive plan in opposition. He jabbed at opponents and chastised them for criticizing Jacobs.

Sanders said Jacobs had faced “vile and idiotic comments” from opponents. “Giving away 25 million dollars shouldn’t be this hard.”

Bruce Coons, a leading opponent, spoke emphatically.

“You do not want to be known as the council that voted to destroy Balboa Park,” he said. “This is an extreme desecration of our greatest legacy.”

Park maven Betty Peabody, who’s volunteered there for 43 years, offered her support for the project. “No one will ever get 100 percent of what we want but we’ll all gain something” with this plan, she said.

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Number of the Month

7,000 The number of fireworks that blew up at once in the Fourth of July’s Big Bay Bust.

The two candidates for mayor took starkly different positions on the plan.

When Bob Filner spoke, opponents murmured their agreement. And then, like so many well-rehearsed parishioners, they began to chime in.

What will the city do if enough parking revenues don’t come in? Filner posited. The city might have to raise taxes, he argued.

And what will they call the tax?

Filner turned to the crowd.

“The Carl DeMaio tax!” they yelled.

DeMaio, listening to the speakers from his place on the City Council, grinned good-naturedly.

Or maybe that smile was left over from when his opponent in the mayor’s race had difficulty pronouncing the word “unmitigable.”

If the plan faces no delays, construction could begin before the next mayor even takes office.

Construction is scheduled to wrap up

by October 2014, in order for the park to operate at full capacity for the 2015 centennial celebrations.

But that all presumes there are no delays to the project.

Historic preservationists have said they’ll sue to stop the project.

Their challenge creates two questions to watch:

How broadly does an 1870 statute apply to the park?

SOHO last week began circulating a California statute from when the land was entrusted to the city in 1870. It stated that the land would be kept forever as a “free and public park.”

Inside the park, though, museums already charge. And so does the valet parking.

How can the city satisfy its responsibility to analyze economic benefit in this case?

The city’s law requires something specific for historic properties. The City Council had to make a finding that if they denied the project the owner wouldn’t be able to derive financial benefit from the project.

But unlike a historic home someone is trying to convert into an office downtown, this is a city park. So if a judge rules that the city has to follow this stipulation, it’d have a tricky argument to make.

A land use attorney for the Plaza de Panama committee, Scott Williams from Selzer Caplan, stood up and made a three point argument for how the city could make the finding that:

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By not approving the plan, the city would be on the hook to pay for benefits to the park that have already been part of city planners.

By rejecting private money from philanthropist Irwin Jacobs and others, the city would be essentially taking money out of its own pocket.

By allowing the park to continue as-is, without improvements, the plazas would someday become unusable.

Disclosure: Irwin Jacobs is a major supporter of Voice of San Diego.

— Kelly Bennett

SAM HODGSON FOR VOSD

BIG DISCUSSIONS

QUOTE OF THE MONTH:

“It’s a way to mark our moments on this earth as opposed to just filling potholes.”

— Hugh Davies, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, on government funding for arts and culture.

BIG IDEAS

Councilman: Stuff Costs Money!

CITY COUNCILMAN DAVID ALVAREZ made an extraordinary statement for a San Diego politician on the council dais.

He said a major civic project was likely going to cost the city money. And he said it was worth it.

Alvarez was explaining his support for the $45 million plan to remake Balboa Park’s Plaza de Panama.

Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs is pledging to fund the majority of the project, but the city is on the hook for a new parking garage. Not to worry, say project supporters. They say parking fees will pay for the garage, without requiring the day-to-day operating budget to contribute anything.

That’s unlikely, Alvarez said. The city’s independent budget analyst says the budget could take a $1 million annual hit.

But Alvarez said that was OK. “The project brings more than just a parking structure and a bridge,” Alvarez said. “It brings a new experience to the visitors of Balboa Park. So even if the city needs to contribute some amount over the term of the bond for the parking garage, and I think we will, our park deserves that.”

You might think there’s nothing special about what Alvarez said. After all, things cost money. But San Diego politicians and interest groups have

“The project brings more than just a parking structure and a bridge. It brings a new experience to the visitors of Balboa Park”

Bridgepoint’s name pops through the downtown skyline atop a highrise at 600 B Street.

elevated the notion that big ideas don’t cost anything to a fine art.

— Liam Dillon

DOWNWARD SLIDE

Bad Day for Bridgepoint FRIENDLY POLITICIANS and regulators helped fuel the quick rise of San Diego for-profit higher education company Bridgepoint Education.

Now, Bridgepoint saw what happens when regulators make a move against them.

The company’s stock lost as much as a third of its value on one day in July after Bridgepoint disclosed that its main college, Ashford University, was denied regional accreditation.

Accreditation opens the gates to a college’s ability to collect federal financial aid, which is crucial to Bridgepoint’s business model. Students studying at Ashford, primarily through online programs, received $172 million

in federal grants in 2010, according to Department of Education statistics.

Bridgepoint’s accreditor cited concerns about student attrition rates and the rigor of classes.

It’s become one of the region’s biggest private employers and has become increasingly involved in local politics.

Four years ago, Bridgepoint was barely a blip in San Diego. Today, it’s made itself impossible to miss.

Its operating profits have increased 5,000 percent during that time, and it’s now the county’s fifth-largest private employer. The latest phase of Bridgepoint’s extraordinary growth has been putting its indelible stamp on the city it calls home, where it now donates to causes and politicians.

At the same time, the company’s been the scrutinized by Congress and accreditors over its weak graduation rates and stories of boiler-room style recruiting practices. The whole online for-profit college industry has suffered under the weight of the controversy.

— Liam Dillon

August 2012 VOSD MONTHLY

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HAPPENINGS

On the Street DeMaio Now Fond of ‘Downtown Interests’

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MAYORAL CANDIDATE CARL DEMAIO consistently has blamed two special interests for San Diego’s woes: labor unions and “downtown insiders.”

But now, one of those groups isn’t looking so bad to him.

Since the June 5 primary, DeMaio, a Republican, has aggressively solicited supporters of his defeated opponents, Bonnie Dumanis and Nathan Fletcher.

Many of those supporters are the downtown business leaders and other boosters that DeMaio has long railed against.

Six days after the primary, DeMaio held what he called a “Unity Breakfast” for those who didn’t back him previously. At the breakfast, he announced that Kris Michell would be helping with his campaign. Michell is the ultimate insider.

In an interview, DeMaio said he didn’t see his prior criticisms of downtown folks at odds with his current effort to court them.

“My goal has always been to build a coalition with a lot of different voices and perspectives not only to win an election, but I need those relationships to govern,” DeMaio said.

DeMaio’s rise has mirrored that of the more hard-line wing of the local Republican Party. It has relied on the support of organizations like the Lincoln Club of San Diego County, restaurateurs, builders and realtors instead of the more moderate Republican-leaning, downtowncentered groups, such as the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Corporation.

With DeMaio squaring off against

8 VOSD MONTHLY August 2012

Democratic Congressman Bob Filner in the runoff, it’s the first time in at least four decades downtown interests don’t have a natural mayoral candidate to support. It’s expected for both DeMaio and Filner to seek their favor as they work to attract the moderates they didn’t need to make it past the primary.

DeMaio contended that the people he’s now courting are moving more toward his perspective than he is to them.

“If people want to come and help me implement my vision for San Diego, which is a neighborhoodoriented vision of reforming our city finances and getting our programs in our neighborhoods restored, then I’ll accept their help,” he said. “I’ve been very clear about the direction that we’re going to take.”

— Liam Dillon

GOING SOLAR

Filner’s Pie in the Sky IN BOB FILNER’S SAN DIEGO, city and school buildings will be powered by the sun’s indefatigable rays.

Solar energy makes up a major part of Filner’s economic development proposal and his branding of San Diego. The city, he has said, should become “the alternative energy capital of the nation.”

“I’ll mandate all public buildings be solar-powered within five years,” Filner once said. “It will save money, create jobs and allow us to be proud of ourselves as a city.”

He has been talking about solar power on the campaign trail for eight months. And while it’s a core part of his platform, he hasn’t addressed fundamental details about his ideas.

And when it comes to a plan of that

scope, the details matter.

If Filner wants to power all city buildings just through solar, he’d need to increase municipal production by 11,000 percent. If he wants to put panels on roofs regardless of their size

“I’ll mandate all public buildings be solarpowered within five years. It will save money, create jobs and allow us to be proud of ourselves as a city.” or power possibilities, it’s unlikely he’d create enough energy to make a dent in those buildings’ power bills.

So the key is whether Filner is pitching a slogan or a solution. Actually solar-powering all city and school buildings would test the boundaries of the technology, the city’s relationship with its major energy utility and someone’s pocketbook.

Simply boosting solar production (even by a lot) appears to be a more achievable, if less sexy, goal.

“It’s an absolutely valid idea,” said Jim Waring, who heads the local sustainable energy advocacy group CleanTECH San Diego. “There’s no reason for either the public sector or the private sector not to maximize the use of rooftop solar. And part of maximizing solar is to know its limits.”

For now, these questions remain unanswered. Filner didn’t respond to an interview request for this story and, like many policy issues, he hasn’t released a specific plan on solar.

— Liam Dillon

KEEGAN KYLE FOR VOSD

MAKING FRIENDS

GRAPHIC

The Name Game How San Diego Elected a ‘Birther’ Judge Who Won the Most Votes in San Diego County Precincts?

ESCONDIDO

CARLSBAD

RANCHO BERNARDO

ENCINITAS

POWAY

DEL MAR CARMEL VALLEY

SANTEE

LA JOLLA

KEARNY MESA

EL CAJON LA MESA

POINT LOMA

NORTH PARK

NATIONAL CITY CHULA VISTA

Source: San Diego County Registrar

O

NE OF THE MOST INTRIGUING results from the June 5 election involved two candidates for San Diego Superior Court judge: Gary Kreep and Garland Peed.

Judicial elections typically receive little public attention, but Kreep’s victory attracted national scrutiny because he is prominent “birther.” The two candidates’ last names have also drawn a fair amount of snickering and mockery.

Together, these factors have fed

speculation that the roughly 400,000 people who voted in the election were ill-informed and randomly picked candidates based on their names. Had voters been adequately informed about Kreep’s background, the argument went, his opponent would’ve won.

It’s impossible to measure whether the names greatly influenced the election’s outcome without exit polling, but I decided to examine precinct results for any indication of a discernible pattern.

The map doesn’t show a random pattern but rather a clear geographic divide between rural and urban parts of the county.

My takeaway? The results undermine the idea that many voters randomly selected the candidates based on their last names. If that factor had been widespread, a very distinct and bizarre difference exists between what urban and more rural voters find funnier.

— Keegan Kyle

August 2012 VOSD MONTHLY

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PLANT IN CRISIS

The Trouble With San Onofre Replacing four of San Onofre’s biggest components took 10 years and cost almost $700 million.

It’s been a huge mess. And the repercussions will extend far beyond the threat of rolling blackouts.

BY ROB DAVIS

SAM HODGSON FOR VOSD

T

HE HIGH RADIATION ALARM that sounded Jan. 31 at the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station in northern San Diego County signaled trouble. At the time, it wasn’t clear just how serious it was.

Highly pressurized, scalding hot, radioactive water was leaking, deep within Southern California’s only nuclear power plant. And one of San Onofre’s thick, concrete containment domes, the infamous twin structures that resemble breasts, wasn’t doing its job. A tiny amount of radioactive particles was escaping into the environment.

One reactor was already off that day, part of a planned refueling outage. Operators rapidly shut down the other. Only a tiny amount of radiation leaked out — small enough, authorities would say, that human health was never endangered at the plant or in nearby San Clemente.

But with that alarm, the San Onofre nuclear power plant, whose selling point was its 24/7/365 reliability, suddenly wasn’t so reliable any more.

Something remarkable happened that day. Southern California’s largest electricity source, capable of powering 1.4 million homes, was turned off.

That was January.

August 2012 VOSD MONTHLY

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