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Political mansion’s historic tale of woe
Did the house ever attain a historic designation, Matt? On [May 23, 2013,][1] the house was denied historic status: ITEM 5–579 SAN ELIJO STREET > Applicant: John and Helen Jo Cahalin > represented by IS Architecture Staff > Recommendation: Do not designate the > property located at 579 San Elijo > Street under any adopted HRB Criteria > due to a lack of integrity. Well, that'll be the first time a "lack of integrity" stalled any Republican goal in San Diego. And in any case: Florida, Florida, Florida: Why do Florida Republicans always feel compelled to pay to play in with San Diego? [1]: http://www.sandiego.gov/planning/programs/histori…— July 7, 2014 5:59 p.m.
Biker town
Bike-sharing program is AWOL. So where is Decobike? Decobike founders (or representatives or marketers or president - they have designated their roles using various terms over the past few years) Colby Reese, Ricardo Pierdant, and others seem to have disappeared from the news, and there is no website update on Decobike San Diego. NP BID's Angela Landsberg has been hired as their marketer here, but ... no news lately. Other than DB's mandate that La Jolla had to choose locations for the stations by July 1, even though LJ doesn't want them in LJ, nothing new has been reported. All of the original plans started with Jerry Sanders/Faulconer succumbing to the overtures from the Miami company/Miami Chamber of Commerce boys, granting a contractual agreement to Pierdant/Reese. I think the Miami boys are having money problems. The only place that their bike rentals make sense is Spanish Landing. Why not start out there, see how it goes, and leave the big installations (with advertising on bikes and kiosks ,and only single speed bikes) out of the hilly neighborhoods?— July 3, 2014 7:14 p.m.
Goldsmith digs in
Excellent followup on the Reader's March 2014 report on Goldsmith and his secret emails. Goldsmith is such a sleaze. Ironic that Atty Vinnacia specializes in recovery of homeowners' assessments. I hope she chides Goldsmith for his ugly and lawless decision to deny refund of the first year of assessments, after the appellate court ruled against the illegal Golden Hill MAD. The "vague, overbroad, and unduly burdensome, or fail to sufficiently identify the records" defense is weak, weak, weak. Goldsmith has already lost.— July 2, 2014 12:27 p.m.
Jack sued by Michael Shames!
I'm begging: someone, please explain what this all means. How can you order a "sandwich only" from a Combo unit? On the Shames website, they say: > So, here’s the full story: Jack in > the Box’s top selling sandwich is the > Jumbo Jack. It is available both as > part of a combination meal, with fries > and a drink, or separately as a > sandwich only on the restaurant’s > Value Menu. **The burger can also be > ordered from the combination meal as a > sandwich only.** What?? So, you go up and say "I want the Jumbo Jack Combo but I don't want the fries or the drink"??? You can do this and get the order-taker to comprehend? And will someone please tell me the various prices for these different items?— June 28, 2014 3:59 p.m.
Bylaws and sweethearts in Hillcrest
I don't think Ben Nicholls s a good person to ask about last names: Ben's real last name is Markovchick. That's the name used in his court records, and when he was in Seattle in 1999. In Seattle, as a member of the Young Republican New American Support Program, he signed letters as follows: Ben Markovchick Seattle Metro Young Republicans— June 26, 2014 6:42 p.m.
Bylaws and sweethearts in Hillcrest
Point 3: Nicholls is a PR huckster. On the Barrio Art Association FB page, he states on May 2: > "Meeting of Minds: The Barrio Logan > Association is a neighborhood > organization that provides free > sidewalk maintenance, graffiti > removal, power washing, bulky > item/litter removal, and > landscaping/weed abatement. Like their > page and given them a call if you need > service." No Ben, those things are NOT free, they have a price, an assessment that you don't have to pay because you don't own property in the Barrio. So why are you inserting yourself and your hype into a neighborhood where you do not belong? As for the BLA MAD group being a "neighborhood" organization, why does the president, active Republican supporter Ben Avey, live far, far away in a very not-Barrio-like neighborhood???— June 26, 2014 11 a.m.
Bylaws and sweethearts in Hillcrest
Point 1: The city requires registration by, and business license fees from, anyone conducting any kind of business or performing any kind of work, or earning and reporting on State tax returns any income, at an address, even if the business is freelance, conducted out of a bedroom at home. That address, then, is the legal business address. BIDs have city-approved legal district boundaries: anyone with a business license within the boundary is automatically assessed a BID membership fee on annual renewal of the business license. Point 2: Ben Nicholls has been screwing around with his underhanded games since he arrived in San Diego. Among other questionable activities, he was a participant in the illegal Golden Hill MAD formation and administration. He has left few communities untouched when it comes to looking for money and power: Pacific Beach, Rose Canyon, Golden Hill, South Park, Hillcrest, and, now, Barrio Logan. He supposedly left McFarlane in March 2014; his [LinkedIn][1] profile says he is now the Executive Director of the "[Barrio Art Association][2] (BAA)," whatever that really is. Because it doesn't look like anything real: The website doesn't give much info except to state that 501c status is being sought. Given that Nicholls is paying close attention to the illegally formed Barrio Logan MAD meetings (he's a Facebook friend and he "likes" them!), he's obviously hoping to divert money from the Barrio Logan assessments to his shell BAA. Tens of thousands of dollars are up for grabs from the assessed property owners, for "community identity" signage, for expensive silkscreened logos for every trash can, bench, and banner, for T-shirt designs, etc. Nicholls is very familiar with all of these outlays of money - he observed the game and was part of making sure that friends of the Golden Hill MAD administrators got contracts for similar junk. [1]: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/benjamin-nicholls/9/9… [2]: http://www.barrioartassociation.com/home— June 25, 2014 8:31 p.m.
Construction falters when empty nest refills
Visduh, what offends me is the stealth involved. Of course, for anyone who continually checked the city website postings, the changes to the land use code were visible. But at the Greater Golden Hill Community Plan Update meetings, local residents who are also City employees were purposefully assigned to tables in order to squelch discussion of granny flats. I saw it with my own eyes. I'm not de facto opposed to allowing someone to build a 700-sf living unit in their back yard on a 5000-sf lot. I'd like a studio space added to my house, for my own use, or as a guest house, if I were willing to give up greenery and trees. My observations throughout South Park, however, are that this is mainly being done with tear-downs and rebuilds, and that the purpose is not to provide extra living space for a homeowner, but to provide rental income. That said, getting back to Mr. Bauder's report, some of the renters are adult children or relatives of owners. The companion units I see in my neighborhood have the 50-something "granny and gramps" owning and living in the main house and the 30-something (sometimes divorced) kid renting the granny flat. May I add that the grown kids have degrees in web design, or internet marketing. Sad!!! As long as the granny flat occupants have off-street parking, and don't practice/play in a loud band (some do!), the impact of their presence isn't too obvious. What we do lose is trees and a feeling of openness and privacy, and what the insurers note is increased density. Higher fire and liability insurance rates result, as areas get rezoned by the insurance companies.— June 13, 2014 6:18 p.m.
Construction falters when empty nest refills
A few years ago, Development Services and the Planning Commission gave realtors and developers what they had long wanted: a code change to land use regs that allows uninhibited addition of 700-sf second units on single-family-zoned lots. Second units are now being built in backyards of lots all over South Park, increasing density without zoning changes. Small homes built in the early 1900s are often torn down, except for one wall, and rebuilt at twice the original square feet, with detached or attached "companion units." FAR variances seem to be freely given. The second units theoretically house family members (the favored PR name for them is "granny" flats), but they are almost always used as rentals. Realtors promote them by suggesting that buyers can afford expensive mortgages by renting the second unit. The local realtors, builders, insurers, and mortgage lenders waged war on former Mayor Dick Murphy when he wouldn't approve the changes that DSD and the Planning Commission have now enacted (revision to Section 141.032). Under Jerry Sanders, the changes were made almost secretly. The changes and ultimate code revision were purposefully discussed not at all, or only in the vaguest way, at the Community Plan Update meetings in the past few years. When the revision was mentioned, the major response of neighborhood property owners was very negative. Any dents in the industries involved in building, selling, financing, and insuring are self-inflicted. They wanted to cram more bodies on existing lots. Jerry Sanders gave them what they wanted.— June 13, 2014 9:17 a.m.
Did Toni Atkins side with "dirty energy companies"?
"Per Disenhouse, Price was unfamiliar with the specific issue but promised an official response from the assemblywoman as to the reasoning behind her vote." Same (non)answer I got from a Susan Davis staffer when I asked for Davis' reasoning behind supporting the big dairy lobbyists, on a milk bill some years ago. It was probably staffer Todd Gloria giving me the runaround. I never got a response about the reasoning behind Davis' vote, but did get an expensive package with the entire bill printout, which I could read it for free online. Stupid.— May 31, 2014 2:26 p.m.