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
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
Eppig Brewing grows up, moves to North County
It would be really helpful to know the address in Vista. The only reference is to the Point Loma location, and not the place described.— October 18, 2019 3:31 p.m.
Garrison Elementary sunk by sinkhole
That school district stumbles from crisis to crisis, zigging when it should zag, and vice-versa. Enrollment is declining in a number of No County districts, but not in the desirable ones. I'd guess that much of the loss of students from OUSD has been facilitated by charter schools, notably the Guajome Park Academy in Vista. And then there are those who "somehow" manage to get their kids into schools in other districts even though they don't live there. That's been going on for years. Understand that EVERY school district (well, maybe only 99 out of a hundred) keeps too many overpaid administrators on staff. And yes, if they cut back on them, it would finance so many things the district claims it cannot afford. Recently the "other paper" in San Diego ran a watchdog piece identifying the 20 highest paid district superintendents in the county. (You can find it easily on line.) Their pay packages are a disgrace, and one thing that jumps out is the lack of correlation between pay and size of the district. Another disconnect is between academic performance and "supe" pay. These closures of redundant schools is always painful, and some families get screwed. But until the district stops losing students, they will continue.— October 15, 2019 5:19 p.m.
Coronado’s Spreckels Mansion: a national controversy for Rebecca Zahau and Max Shacknai
Has he had a qualified opponent yet? We had "Keystone Bill' Kolender in the office for far too long, and he wasn't worth a hoot. And before him, there was Duffy. Makes you wonder how the county has survived with such a string of incompetents or professional politicians holding that post, doesn't it? While I don't want to come off as paranoid, there was some major behind-the-scenes activity that got Gore in line for and appointed to the office of Sheriff when ol' Bill had to go. Somebody or "somebodies" was/were behind that replacement, and while it involved the board of supervisors, has never been clear. If anyone could offer more insight into Gore, and why/how he ended up with that plum job, I'm sure we all would love to hear it. Anyone out there with that kind of insight? If there is, let's hear what you have to say, if you're not too afraid to tell it.— October 14, 2019 8:11 p.m.
Coronado’s Spreckels Mansion: a national controversy for Rebecca Zahau and Max Shacknai
OK, Susan (making your first posting). There was plenty of "shady" in that sheriff's investigation, and when it was challenged, did you expect Gore to admit that his defectives, er detectives, had botched it? (BTW, they botch many homicides.) "Overwhelming physical evidence?" Don't make me laugh. There was little physical evidence that the cops discovered. And there were plenty of alternative scenarios that went nowhere. If some other police agency had done a second round and ratified what Gore and his boys/girls had concluded, there would be reason to accept the conclusion. But the sheriff investigated the sheriff's investigation and found it to be correct. Uh, that's nonsense. Someone did her in, and has so far walked free of criminal prosecution. If the Zahau family did get some sense of justice from a settlement, good for them. I'd much rather the sheriff say that it was murder and that they don't know "whodunnit". But our (not so) esteemed chief law enforcement officer with his spotty history doesn't operate that way. And so this whole thing is left dangling, just as her nude body was left dangling. Gives you a great feeling, doesn't it?— October 12, 2019 5:55 p.m.
Coronado’s Spreckels Mansion: a national controversy for Rebecca Zahau and Max Shacknai
The house was in no way responsible for those tragic deaths. Putting aside the obvious breakdown of police investigation of the "suicide" and the subsequent re-opening of the case and then the civil trial, the house is now notorious. And too many folks, especially those who detect ghosts in old homes, just don't want to have anything to do with such a structure. I'm certain it is a lovely home, and can be a relative bargain for someone who is not superstitious. If I had the kind of wealth necessary, I'd be game to check it out and maybe buy it.— October 10, 2019 4:04 p.m.
You won't recognize new UCSD hospital
There are so many things wrong with this plan that it is hard to know where to start. That area with its canyons and surrounding neighborhood with its narrow streets is disadvantaged from get-go. Even as long ago as 1963, it was a poor choice of location for a major hospital. Then the piecemeal additions have just aggravated the mess. A twelve year plan? Oh, get real! It will likely take closer to 120 years to make all those changes. The price tag? Absurdly tiny. And now we have the University of California getting ready to play residential property developer and apartment landlord. What does that have to do with running a university? They have hospitals at all of the medical schools and those are for teaching (and research) purposes. Running hospitals should never become a business or profit center for the UC. Its management is already distracted by a host of non-educational activities, and those med centers tend to suck up all the air when UC upper management is formulating policies. We can't live without the UC med centers here and in LA and SF and Davis, in addition to Irvine and Riverside. But they need to stick to their knitting and also come up with realistic plans for operating them. Oops, I used the word "realistic" in the same sentence as a reference to UC med centers. (I need to be more careful.)— October 6, 2019 5:36 p.m.
No-name no-bid contract cost San Diego millions, city auditor charges
C-O-R-R-U-P-T-I-O-N is what this is called. If some more names were named, we might learn just who did what, to whom, and what it cost the hapless taxpayers. If anyone in the city of SD wants to know why the streets don't get repaired, why the water bills went ballistic, and a whole host of other scandals keep coming and coming and coming, the reason is the "C" word above. How about redress? Is this new city attorney going to jump on this report and prosecute? I doubt it. Oh, how about the DA? Has she done anything at all about local political corruption? Not that I recall. (But she's very concerned with "human trafficking.") Then there's the attorney general who spends what seems like all his time suing the Trump administration about just-about-everything. Is he a likely candidate for caring about some outrageous corruption in San Diego? My guess is that he could not care less.— September 13, 2019 7:31 p.m.
Why Encinitas wants to ditch Sunset High
I have to quibble that it isn't Encinitas, as in the city by that name, that wants to make the change. It is the San Dieguito Union High School District, which covers an area as far south as Del Mar and as far north as Leucadia, including Rancho Santa Fe. Sunset was located in Encinitas. That said, it seems as if there's a desire to change names of schools that have developed reputations that aren't the greatest. Escondido renamed Grant Middle School as Mission Middle School for the street it is on. Vista dropped Lincoln Middle School in favor of Vista Magnet Middle, and more recently scuttled Washington Middle School in favor of some other fancy-sounding name. When San Dieguito UHSD was building its new comprehensive high school in the 90's, folks questioned why, if it was a replacement for the old San Dieguito High on Santa Fe Drive, it wasn't going to just keep the name. As it turned out, by the time it opened, due to rapid enrollment growth, they also had to keep the old campus, too. Hence the new high school is named La Costa Canyon High, and the old campus is now San Dieguito Academy High, and it is not "comprehensive." But why did it go that way? Part of the reason was that the old, original campus, dating from WPA work in the 1930's didn't look the part of the 'hood, and didn't fit the mold of Encinitas. It was rustic and even ramshackle, with a load of tradition, but didn't look at all affluent. I digress. I met Reisner about thirty years ago when our wives were teaching at the same Vista elementary school. He was genial, and had quite a story to tell about Sunset. His story was that he had something different from the usual continuation high school in many ways. He talked about the adolescent and post-adolescent girls from Rancho Santa Fe who were "into" horses big time. (Think "National Velvet.") They were so busy with horse care and riding that they couldn't attend a typical high school, yet they were bright, motivated, and wanting to achieve. Oh, and they were usually very well-off; fancy horses aren't cheap. Reisner told about how the school handled that, giving students a strong education while allowing the outside activity to thrive. Quite a story. This name changing is just an exercise in ego for certain people in positions of authority. Too often when a name should be changed it isn't. And when a name is just fine as it is, someone wants to change it.— September 12, 2019 5:31 p.m.
Irwin Jacobs' $9.9 million drives granddaughter’s House hopes
She is no more a serious candidate this time than last time. That won't preclude a victory, 'cause it's money, money, money that wins elections, especially in San Diego county where too many voters are brain dead and utterly uninformed. If she should take the seat, the district's voters will get the kind of representation they deserve. The junketeer lady (Davis) is still on the circuit, "getting informed", of course, even though she'll leave Congress. Matt Potter has done a great service in pointing out her many years of going on paid tours of resorts, fancy hotels, and other attractions. Will Sara take up that mantle if the voters fall for her pitch? If anyone wonders why I resent Irwin Jacobs and his sons, this granddaughter is the poster child for it. He buys politicians while proclaiming his benign intent. He now owns one of the county supervisors, the mayor of San Diego, and God-knows-who-else. While he could be a real philanthropist and support culture, education and the general welfare, he spends millions buying favor with elected officials. Getting her elected would be the pinnacle of success for his ambition. And that's why nobody who has a clue should even consider voting for Sara Jacobs for any office.— September 11, 2019 8:15 p.m.
Tales of a dead fixer and Gina Champion-Cain
My, so eloquently put, monaghan. There have been many other episodes locally that were as bizarre as the J David scam, where obvious miscreants escaped any sort of comeuppance. I love the way you described Mitrovich. Wow! Have you considered becoming a regular writer for the Reader? Oh, and the foregoing comments are totally sincere.— September 8, 2019 3:24 p.m.