John Mark Karr • Toni Atkins • Kroll Report • San Diego Financial Chaos

Rob McPhee (with La Jolla Pacific Developers) has written us to “point out a couple of errors that you have on your page. In your pargraph on 301 you mention that the developer is only providing one parking place per unit. That is incorrect. There will be one parking place per bedroom. You also state that there are currently 60 public parking spaces that will be lost. That is incorrect. There are 44 public spaces, and they are only public because there is no tenant on the 3rd and University site. If there was a tenant such as the doctor's offices that were there, the parking would not be public. It has been opened to the public as a service to the neighborhood. We would appreciate it if you would correct these errors and provide the correct information.”

Thursday, August 31, 2006	“Talk about cheap political tricks! To mention Councilmember Atkins in the same editorial as George Stevens, Duke Cunningham and Duncan Hunter under the guise of equality in journalism is inexcusable.” — Bankers Hill resident Bruce Abrams re: last week’s GLT Publisher’s Point
Wednesday, August 30, 2006	“If certain City Council members are so untrustworthy that they need a multi-million dollar monitor, as recommended in the $20.3 million Kroll Report, then it’s time to get some new City Council members who can be trusted.” — City Attorney Mike Aguirre’s August 29 blog CityBeat: Did somebody say recall?
Tuesday, August 29, 2006	“No doubt you saw in the paper that Merrill has bought the bonds for the ballpark. Think we need to do anything? I think the adage about sleeping dogs has merit.” — SD city retirement administrator Larry Grissom re: Petco bonds
Monday, August 28, 2006	Surprise... Karr won’t be charged for JonBenet
Sunday, August 27, 2006	Making Hillcrest into Hong Kong? Development projects like the one proposed for “301 University” are providing a test of the new Sanders administration. If the Planning & Development Services departments continue to claim that black is white, no one is going to believe that our city officials are concerned about infrastructure, community character, levels of service or citizens’ quality of life. In this project, we have city staff reports claiming the incredible: (1) 12 stories is completely compatible with a neighborhood of 1-3 stories; (2) a rise of 120 feet straight up from a narrow street, with no upper-floor setbacks, has no problem with scale or bulk; (3) and that added traffic is not a problem, even though Hillcrest streets are already jammed. If this nonsense continues, residents will conclude that the Mayor and his staff are merely promoters for developers, waiting to get into the private sector and reap their rewards for years of playing ball. If the staff malfeasance is not corrected, then none of the high-sounding promises about “livable communities” will be taken seriously. Tom Mullaney is president of Friends of San Diego. He may be reached at (619) 795-1753. John Taylor is a leader of Save Hillcrest — No on 301. His number is (619) 997-5299.
Saturday, August 26, 2006	“The mayor’s reform plan to blindly adopt all of the Kroll report’s recommendations would not reduce the size of government, but would significantly expand it, costing taxpayers millions of dollars.” — City Attorney Mike Aguirre in today’s letters to the UT editor
Friday, August 25, 2006	I was very disappointed in the tone and content of your paper’s recent editorial and article on this topic (GLT 8/17/06.) Given my track record, I had expected to receive the benefit of the doubt from a community publication like yours, especially since, given the legal nature of the situation, I am not in a position to directly respond. I am content, however, to let my reputation speak for itself with the community for now. — City Councilmember Toni Atkins in this week’s GLT letters to the editors and publisher’s point
Thursday, August 24, 2006	From 301 University... Rob McPhee (with La Jolla Pacific Developers) has written us to “point out a couple of errors that you have on your page. In your pargraph on 301 you mention that the developer is only providing one parking place per unit. That is incorrect. There will be one parking place per bedroom. You also state that there are currently 60 public parking spaces that will be lost. That is incorrect. There are 44 public spaces, and they are only public because there is no tenant on the 3rd and University site. If there was a tenant such as the doctor's offices that were there, the parking would not be public. It has been opened to the public as a service to the neighborhood. We would appreciate it if you would correct these errors and provide the correct information.” There you go, Rob. We came up with our number by counting the spaces in the lot with the big sign that says PUBLIC PARKING and added the loss of metered street parking.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006	“In school, I was taught that the executive branch of government represented ‘all the people’ of America. Apparently under the Bush/Cheney administration, that no longer holds true.” — David Sheehan in today’s UT letters to the editor
Tuesday, August 22, 2006	“Councilmember Frye then explained that she empathized with Ms. Shipione because she herself asked questions frequently at Council meetings and was often told to take her questions outside of the meetings,” Frye‘s interview summary states. The other remaining council members still in office — Peters, Madaffer, Toni Atkins and Brian Maienschein — said they found her accusations to be troubling at first blush, but wound up ignoring her anyway. They claimed that the word being spread around City Hall was that Shipione was out for political revenge, was incompetent or mentally ill, and had a confrontational style. — Voice of San Diego re: Politicians dimissing whistleblower Diann Shipione
Monday, August 21, 2006	First Avenue Bridge Retrofit/ Closure: The status of the First Avenue Bridge retrofit project will be discussed at this Wednesday’s Bankers Hill/Park West Community Association meeting. Work on the well-known “People’s Bridge” over Maple Canyon will likely begin in mid-2007 and will involve closing the bridge for from six months to a year. The City's Engineering describes the project as: "The proposed improvement will include the seismic retrofit of the First Avenue Bridge between Palm Street and Nutmeg Street. Seismic retrofit of the bridge includes deck reconstruction, superstructure and substructure retrofit, and the addition of an infill wall at Pier 2. Minor street improvements and utility relocation will be required for retrofit of the bridge abutments. In order to restore the bridge to the original 1931 appearance, railings and light standards will be reconstructed and the structure will be painted with the original bronze color.” Meeting location: St. Paul’s Community Care Center, 328 Maple Street, enter via the west parking lot before 6:30.
Sunday, August 20, 2006	“Parking is definitely an issue that has to be addressed. Noise is definitely an issue.” — 92103 resident (and former Flame owner) Carla Coshow re: new Hillcrest nightclub

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