Stories | City Lights
The Uncertain Fate of the Falls
By Dorian Hargrove, Published Dec. 30, 2008
Mel Vernon leans against a black steel fence behind Quarry Creek Shopping Center, on the border of Carlsbad and Oceanside. Above him towers a massive signpost facing the traffic on State Route 78. Below him is ...
No More Bragging Rights
By Don Bauder, Published Dec. 30, 2008
The San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System always likes to brag about its investment performance. It endlessly points out that among its peers (other municipal employees’ funds) and among benchmarks by which various funds are ...
The Guacamole Crisis
By Alastair Bland, Published Dec. 23, 2008
Throughout last winter and spring, one could put one’s ear to the wind almost anywhere in North County and hear the buzz of chainsaws as avocado farmers cut down their trees. While this tropical fruit ...
Football Yes, Libraries No Published Dec. 23, 2008
"The pride and presence of a professional football team is far more important than 30 libraries.” Intelligent people laughed when former pro-football-team owner Art Modell ... More Comments (34)
I Get a Kickback Out of You Published Dec. 17, 2008
When a San Diego hotel concierge recommends a restaurant, he or she may be getting a fat kickback. “It’s an extortion ring. Like the Mafia. ... More Comments (30)
Use Me, Then Lose Me Published Dec. 17, 2008
For the past ten years, Louie Holton has owned and operated Louie’s pub at Aztec Center at the southeastern edge of the SDSU campus. While ... More Comments (4)
The Villain Is Gluttony Published Dec. 10, 2008
Almost everyone has awakened one morning filled with remorse over the previous evening’s behavior. Perhaps it was the time, drunk as a billy goat, you ... More Comments (29)
Canyon Trails Traffic Jam Published Dec. 10, 2008
Trail biking in a north San Diego canyon seems to be running up against its own popularity. Deer Canyon is part of a new preserve ... More Comments (9)
What We Would Have Asked Andrea Published Dec. 3, 2008
On November 20, we got stood up by Andrea Tevlin, the independent budget analyst who reports to the council. She had agreed to do an ... More Comments (61)
SDPD -- Got An Attitude? Published Dec. 3, 2008
Let’s say a man bit your finger so viciously that the flesh was torn away and the bone exposed. Let’s say it happened in a ... More Comments (40)
Moon Dust Published Nov. 25, 2008
‘It’s a Barnum and Bailey world, just as phony as it can be.” Those words are from the 1933 song “It’s Only a Paper Moon.” ... More Comments (16)
Not By Sight, By Touch Published Nov. 25, 2008
Hiro Iwamoto loves to sail. Not so unusual — except for one apparent drawback. He is blind. Before moving from Japan to San Diego two ... More Post a comment
Double Ulp! Published Nov. 19, 2008
There is a showdown coming. It might turn into a gunfight. Or at least a fistfight. There is a huge City budget deficit. To close ... More Comments (35)
Ulp! Published Nov. 19, 2008
Two elephants entered a special meeting of the City’s Budget and Finance Committee on Wednesday, November 12, and councilmembers donned their blinders to be certain ... More Comments (6)
Putrid, Bloated Carcasses Published Nov. 12, 2008
You’re exhilarated when the stock market zooms 10 percent in a day, right? Think again. Of the ten one-day miracles in investment history, when stocks ... More Comments (26)
The Border Wait, and Wait, and Wait Published Nov. 12, 2008
When it comes to crossing the border, Carlos Hermosillo plays it by ear. As he gets close to the San Ysidro crossing, he calls 700-7000 ... More Comments (3)
Ping-Pong Park Published Nov. 5, 2008
In the midtown community of Banker's Hill, a convertible Mercedes drives down Olive Street straight through the intersection with Third Avenue and onto a narrow ... More Post a comment
Pause Before Jumping Published Nov. 5, 2008
Chances are your stockbroker or financial planner is telling you to buy stocks now. Oh, there is a chance they will go down in the ... More Comments (8)
Smear Machine Published Oct. 29, 2008
What do you get when you cross Little Mary Sunshine with the Abominable Snowman? You get an email newsletter named Wolverine Network, sent to a ... More Comments (37)
Bait and Switchblade Published Oct. 29, 2008
Armando was looking forward to meeting with Lucy that Friday evening, October 26, 2007. A laborer for a tree-trimming company, he borrowed his sister’s ’96 ... More Comment (1)
Weak Times Here Published Oct. 22, 2008
San Diego’s fourth-largest industry, tourism, looks as though it will take a hit in the current (fourth) quarter, and the pain will persist well into ... More Comments (63)
Where Are We? Published Oct. 22, 2008
A week ago Saturday, as President George W. Bush and other federal officials hastened to bail out the U.S. economy, Democratic San Diego city attorney ... More Post a comment
Extra-Virgin Maggoty Oil Published Oct. 15, 2008
At Bernardo Winery, one of the oldest olive oil producers in California, oil flow has come to a standstill. While the Rancho Bernardo company has ... More Comments (3)
Bailsmen Published Oct. 15, 2008
‘I don’t think the American taxpayer needs to be stepping in,” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson assured the citizenry on February 27 of this year. Half ... More Comments (60)
Sand Never Sleeps Published Oct. 8, 2008
On June 3, Election Day, Steve Aceti’s cell phone wouldn’t stop ringing. Calls came flooding in about Proposition G, a measure to help fund sand ... More Comment (1)
Upside-Down? Go Short Published Oct. 8, 2008
In San Diego’s hemorrhaging real estate industry, it’s better to be upside-down and rich than upside-down and poor. That may sound axiomatic — it’s always ... More Comments (39)
Gas Trackers Published Oct. 1, 2008
Kenneth Reisig belongs to a bevy of volunteers who post retail gasoline prices on sandiegogasprices.com. The resource belongs to GasBuddy Organization Inc.’s collection of websites ... More Post a comment
The Disreputable Inherit the Earth Published Oct. 1, 2008
Hubris and horse manure go together. Just look at the national economic scene: in the past half century, America has turned economic logic on its ... More Comments (56)
Gamy Banks Published Sept. 24, 2008
Are you entrusting your money to banking houses or sportin’ houses? The United States is in its worst credit crisis since the Great Depression, as ... More Comments (41)
Road’s End Published Sept. 24, 2008
Organizers of the semiannual Rosarito Ensenada Fun Bicycle Ride recently announced that the September 27 event would be their last. As with Baja tourism in ... More Comments (5)
An Olympic Moment Published Sept. 17, 2008
Jacob Blumenfeld delivered what was arguably the most courageous performance by a San Diegan at the recent Beijing Olympics. And he didn’t compete in swimming, ... More Post a comment
Quadrillion Published Sept. 17, 2008
One quadrillion. That’s 1,000,000,000,000,000 — one plus 15 zeroes, or one thousand trillion. It is incomprehensible. And that’s what’s terrifying. This summer, the Bank for ... More Comments (35)
Story Behind the Story Published Sept. 10, 2008
On August 31, the Union-Tribune printed an obituary on the death of Allard Roen, one of the original developers of Carlsbad’s La Costa Resort and ... More Comments (31)
Autism at the Eye of the Storm Published Sept. 10, 2008
In the 1970s, a fellow student used to confide in me about his family problems. His little girl had been diagnosed with autism. While he ... More Comments (2)
Hoax? Published Sept. 3, 2008
Is the proposal to build a 40-foot-high, 100-acre concrete deck over the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal so far-fetched from an engineering and economic viewpoint that ... More Comments (78)
You Blog, You’re Out Published Sept. 3, 2008
Solana Beach, summer 2002. A job interview. “So you like to post on the Internet a lot,” said the human resources person. “Yeah,” I said. ... More Comments (6)
Killers Reformed? Published Aug. 27, 2008
They came, they conquered, and they stayed, but you’d hardly know it if you weren’t an entomologist. After years of media hype, Africanized hybrid honeybees, ... More Comment (1)
Consumers Tightening Belts Published Aug. 27, 2008
American consumers are tightening their belts. So companies selling to households are pulling in their horns. Wall Street expects San Diego consumer companies such as ... More Comments (49)
Don't Ask, Just Pay Published Aug. 20, 2008
Ever wonder why public works cost taxpayers so much? Consider the case of one small project, the new Otay Valley Regional Park ranger station and ... More Comments (2)
Hot Water Published Aug. 20, 2008
The most attractive asset of the Warner Springs Ranch is the spring-fed, hot mineral water pool. So maybe it’s fitting that through the years, this ... More Comments (14)
Face Facts Published Aug. 13, 2008
Let’s quit the caviling and cut to the chase: the U.S. is in a recession, and so is San Diego. On the last day of ... More Comments (12)
Booze Moves to the Alley Published Aug. 13, 2008
In an alleyway in Ocean Beach, near the intersection of Newport and Bacon, Keith Morgan sits in a white plastic chair padded with two pieces ... More Comments (3)
Sunshine and Moola, Too Published Aug. 13, 2008
San Diego’s cost of living tops the nation’s by 50 percent, but household incomes are only about 20 percent higher. Ergo, squeezed San Diegans live ... More Comments (8)
San Diego Is Chargers' Problem Published Aug. 6, 2008
The Chargers say they have a problem: Qualcomm Stadium is antiquated. Sorry. The Chargers’ problem is much broader and deeper than that. The Chargers have ... More Comments (38)
Worldwide Spanish Slang Published Aug. 6, 2008
Spanish slang connoisseur Roxana Fitch grew up in Tijuana, birthplace of some of the most distinctive slang words — or jergas — in the entire ... More Comment (1)
Spinrise Published July 30, 2008
The campaign to ballyhoo the proposed Sunrise Powerlink has one beneficial effect: it is shining light on how San Diego’s overlords try to use misinformation ... More Comments (239)
Crow Nuisance, Crow Delight Published July 30, 2008
As children growing up in Riverside, my friends and I were captivated by crows, big birds that were bold. We used to see how close ... More Comments (3)
Flipped Published July 23, 2008
Rancho Santa Fe’s John Eggemeyer III gets reams of favorable publicity for buying, rehabilitating, and flipping small banks. But now the stock market is flipping ... More Comments (8)
Off Road on Private Land Published July 23, 2008
In January 2005, Alan Inn bought 816 acres in Ocotillo Wells, smitten with the desert’s rugged beauty. A general contractor with experience ranging from residential ... More Comments (7)
Dogs Bite City Published July 16, 2008
The City of San Diego’s foundering financial ship has struck another shoal in the form of a lawsuit filed in 2005 by officers of the ... More Comments (7)
No Dice Published July 16, 2008
When folks run out of gas, they lose interest in sin. This does not apply just to the elderly. Ask Sin City — Las Vegas. ... More Comments (12)
Troublemakers Unlisted Published July 9, 2008
Two days before the June 3 election, MaryRose Consiglio and Tom Sherman emailed a group of candidates running for membership on the San Diego County ... More Comments (15)
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