East Village is exploding with growth. Dozens of projects are planned or under construction in the neighborhood just east of downtown, some of which are part of an area dubbed the IDEA District – envisioned as a home for innovation, design, education and the arts. Conceived by David Malmuth and Pete Garcia six years ago, the IDEA District has long been just an idea. But this week, the developers celebrated the grand opening of IDEA1, their new development on the corner of F and 13th streets. It's the first new mixed-use apartment project built in the IDEA District since the concept was dreamed up. On this week's podcast, hosts Andrew Keatts, Scott Lewis and Sara Libby talk to Garcia and Malmuth about their vision for the IDEA District, its growth so far and some of the challenges that stand in its way. One big hurdle is the fact that the IDEA District isn't an official city initiative. None of the principles in the plan are codified anywhere in city code, and there aren't any subsidies or other city perks offered to developers who do build projects that fit the IDEA District concept. Malmuth and Garcia said it will be harder to successfully continue building out the IDEA District without the government tools that come with city-sanctioned programs, but it's not impossible. "It is what it is," Garcia said. "You either whine and complain about the fact there there's no subsidies and you don't do anything, or you go out and do it with a lot of tenacity and hardheadedness." Also on the podcast, Libby, Lewis and Keatts discuss San Diego State University's new plans for the stadium land in Mission Valley, they explain confusion over unsigned newspaper editorials and more. Hero of the Week Our hero this week is state Assemblywoman Marie Waldron. At a hearing this week, Waldron raised good questions about the California Legislature's handling of sexual harassment cases. Goat of the Week San Diego Unified gets goatted yet again this week. The district has 100 special education aide vacancies, which has led some parents to keep their kids from school out of fear of what may happen to their child without the needed supervision aides provide.

Our country is experiencing a moment of reckoning. The sheer number of sexual harassment and abuse allegations now coming to light would be astonishing if it wasn't for that fact that, at least for many women, the bad behavior has long been an open secret. Locally, the rising wave of victims feeling emboldened to tell their stories helped Voice of San Diego reporter Ashly McGlone uncover a sexual harassment story she's been trying to nail down for years. Four women who attended La Jolla High School between 2002 and 2013 shared their stories with McGlone. They said they were groped or touched inappropriately by Martin Teachworth, a longtime physics teacher at the school who retired earlier this year. On this week's podcast, McGlone sits down with VOSD's Scott Lewis to talk about how the story came together, how the school's handling of the sexual harassment accusations failed the women who came forward and the impact the story has had so far. "There's a lot of reflection going on," McGlone said. "It is getting shared within the La Jolla community, especially [among] the graduates there, and there's not a ton of surprise. People have described it as sort of an open secret." Loxie Gant, one of four women who says Teachworth harassed her, also joined the podcast to talk about her experience, and why she wanted to get the story out now. Gant recently became a mom herself, and said it pushed her to reach out to McGlone. "We're faced with the idea of buying a house in that neighborhood and sending our child to that school," Gant said. "It hit me really hard that there's a lot of parents that aren't aware, and they're trusting the school district and the La Jolla High school system in order to protect their kids, and there's something wrong. There's just something missing here." Also on the podcast, Lewis, Sara Libby and Andrew Keatts discuss the wave of sexual harassment stories in the news, including a new accusation against former Mayor Bob Filner. The trio also breaks down a scathing ruling against activist Mark Arabo. A San Diego Superior Court judge ruled this week that Arabo accrued improper compensation when he ran a trade group of independent corner stores called the Neighborhood Market Association. The judge questioned the credibility of Arabo and many of the witnesses called to testify on his behalf, and ordered Arabo to repay the association $248,000. Hero of the Week The heroes this week are the former La Jolla High School students who talked to Voice of San Diego about the sexual harassment they experienced. Goat of the Week The Public Utilities Commission gets the goat this week. KPBS reported that court documents show that the commission "used public money to try to block search warrants in an ongoing investigation into possible collusion with Southern California Edison over the premature closure of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station."

The winds could be shifting when it comes to the district attorney's hardline stance on pot. The DA’s office has long come down hard on the cannabis industry. One case filed against medical-marijuana entrepreneur James Slatic got national attention for being so tough. Slatic and his business partners were charged with a slate of felonies, including money laundering and obstruction of justice, and the DA also charged Slatic's lawyer, Jessica McElfresh, with crimes, which sent shock waves through the legal community. This week, though, the DA's office ended its two-year battle with Slatic, who ended up pleading guilty to just two misdemeanors. A statement from DA spokeswoman Tanya Sierra to the Union-Tribune suggests the district attorney's attitude toward pot has changed. “This settlement takes into account the changing focus of the new district attorney administration, which allows companies to apply for a state license to legally sell marijuana,” Sierra said. Also on the podcast, hosts Sara Libby, Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts round up the latest news in politics, including City Councilman David Alvarez's decision to run for the race for San Diego Community College District Board of Trustees and the rift between local labor unions and the county’s Democratic Party. Plus, Bardis Vakili, a senior staff attorney for the local American Civil Liberties Union chapter, stops by to discuss some of the biggest cases and civil rights issues impacting San Diego, including a police watchdog group's recent dismissal of 22 death cases, SDPD's handling of juvenile DNA and how immigrants are treated inside local detention centers. Hero of the Week This week's hero goes to San Diego County for its focus on curtailing elder abuse. The Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote an in-depth story that hails San Diego's approach as a model for how the rest of the country should go after those who target the elderly. Goat of the Week San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn gets goatted this week. After our Lisa Halverstadt fact checked whether the county has more than $100 million in mental health funds sitting in the bank (it does), Horn went on a long tirade against reporters — decrying their typewriters and insisting they'll go away soon enough. Horn himself will be gone soon enough, as his term limit is up.

San Diego has thrown its hat in the ring to become Amazon's second home. Last month, more than 200 cities in the country submitted proposals to host Amazon's second headquarters, where the company plans to create 50,000 jobs and invest $5 billion. San Diego offered multiple options – including Mission Valley, downtown and Chula Vista — and highlighted the region's diverse community and proximity to the U.S-Mexico border. The city of Chula Vista even threw in a $400 million incentive package to sweeten the deal. On this week's podcast, hosts Andrew Keatts, Scott Lewis and Sara Libby demystify the Amazon bidding war by talking to Mark Cafferty, CEO of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, the nonprofit that took the lead on putting together the proposal. Cafferty discussed what goes into a proposal like this, San Diego's strengths that got touted in the pitch (we've got an educated workforce and California is nice and sunny) and the region's admitted weaknesses, like our mediocre transit system and a high cost of living. Cafferty also said winning the bidding war and having Amazon open in San Diego would be good, but that it could come with some major strings attached. “Whoever gets this is going to have to be putting in decades worth of urban planning around it," he said. "How would you accommodate 50,000 people, and how would you build a much better, if not a world-class transit system?" Also on the podcast, Libby, Lewis and Keatts talk about how some local families are spending $500 a year or more on San Diego Unified school bus fees. And if they don't pay, the district refers them to a collection agency. Hero of the Week Our hero this week is Pat Finn. After years working at KPBS and organizing the public radio station's Roundtable news segment, Finn is leaving her full-time gig, but will still do some freelance work. Goat of the Week El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells gets the goat this week after claiming that nearly all homelessness is linked to drug or alcohol abuse. We fact checked his statement and found it false.

Despite representing different geographic areas and coming from different parties, the SANDAG board often votes in lockstep even on the most controversial issues. Many board members say that's because they rely on the SANDAG staff to lay out issues and recommendations. But that doesn't always go well. At a SANDAG board meeting in December 2016, for example, the transportation agency's staff admitted it had been relying on a faulty economic forecast, resulting in a massive revenue shortfall. One might expect the board of directors to have a lot to say to staff about that, or at least something to say. But instead – crickets. Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey, who sits on the SANDAG board, says that needs to change and that it's as much an indictment of board members as it is of SANDAG staff. He joined Andrew Keatts, Scott Lewis and Sara Libby on the podcast this week to talk about how the SANDAG scandal has spurred him to ask more questions and become a more vocal and active member of the board. "There have been many instances where the board essentially rubber-stamped what staff put in front of them," he said. "It's been difficult for the board to really understand the magnitude of the [forecasting] error because we have to rely so much on staff. So over the past several weeks, I have been raising a lot of these questions." Bailey also talks about his push for a suicide barrier on the Coronado-San Diego Bay Bridge. Also on the podcast, Keatts, Lewis and Libby discuss recreation councils, and the current push to overhaul the process that lets city money flow through the independent nonprofits. Plus: the never-ending feud over vacation rentals and how to regulate them. Hero of the Week Our hero this week is Diana Ocampo, whose story was featured this week on VOSD's I Made it in San Diego podcast. At the top of her career, Ocampo was diagnosed with cancer and ended up losing the business she built. But she didn't stay down for long, and instead built a new successful business. Goat of the Week This week, Bonnie Dumanis gets the goat The former district attorney claims she didn't know Mexican businessman José Susumo Azano Matsura was a foreign national despite meeting with him on several occasions. Azano has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for illegally donating to her mayoral campaign, and other local campaigns.

Next year's ballot might be bananas. The California Supreme Court made a bombshell ruling a few months ago that could lead to a bevy of tax increase proposals floated during the 2018 election. The ruling suggests that if a group of citizens in California gathers enough signatures to get a tax measure on the ballot, it requires only a simple majority to pass, not two-thirds of voters. That was how many people read the ruling, anyway. Yet some were skeptical. This week, though, the San Francisco city attorney issued the first memo on the ruling from a city official that we've seen, and his take was that the ruling indeed lowers the bar for voter-initiated tax measures. On this week's podcast, Lewis and cohosts Sara Libby and Andrew Keatts discuss how the California Supreme Court ruling could open the floodgates for local citizens initiatives seeking to raise taxes for things like an expanded Convention Center, homeless services, funding for Balboa Park, a boost to the San Diego Unified School District's budget and more. As Keatts points out, though, this could be a fleeting opportunity – a temporary loophole in the law that could be closed if someone takes the issue back to court, or if the Legislature changes the law. Also on the podcast, an important discussion about mascots, including the San Diego Chicken and Point Loma Nazarene University's Roary the Sea Lion, who is not in fact a sea lion, but rather an actual lion with seaweed on his head. We also have a bonus episode in the Voice of San Diego Podcast feed this week about a new documentary on San Diego's homeless, and a recap of what's happened during San Diego's hepatitis A outbreak. Hero of the Week Our hero this week goes to Poway Unified School District. The district, which is under new leadership, voluntarily handed over damning documents to their lawyers, the district attorney and our Ashly McGlone that showed how some district officials had been receiving special retirement pay without evidence that the board ever approved the payments. Goat of the Week This week, Mayor Kevin Faulconer's office gets goatted. The mayor and his staff held a press conference this week giving themselves a pat on the back for progress reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In reality, however, a lot of the things the city is claiming credit for are thanks to federal and state laws requiring decreases in carbon emission reductions.

As a homeless man living in downtown San Diego, Tony Rodriguez says he gets hassled constantly by police officers who tell him and his girlfriend to move along. As part of San Diego officials' response to the deadly hepatitis A outbreak, which has hit the homeless community the hardest, police officers have ramped up homeless enforcement and are keeping people off downtown streets and sidewalks to facilitate cleanings. Rodriguez says he understands the city's actions, but that not being able to stop and rest anywhere has been stressful. "It's got to the point where you develop a kind of phobia," Rodriguez said. "You just know that at any moment [the police] could stop and say, 'You're camping here, we're going to take you in.'" An interaction between Rodriguez and police officers who tell him to pack up his things and clear out is one of the scenes captured in "Tony - The Movie," a new documentary that looks at life on San Diego streets. In a bonus episode of the Voice of San Diego Podcast, I talk to Rodriguez and Dennis Stein, the director and producer of the film. "Tony - The Movie" goes beyond simply putting a face on San Diego's homelessness crisis. Stein and Rodriguez also explore long-term solutions to ending homelessness by going to cities like Houston, where leaders have successfully housed a large percentage of people living on the streets. Stein said the process of making the film has caused him to advocate for the Regional Task Force on the Homeless' plan to end homelessness, a document that lays out a strategic framework for ending homelessness in San Diego County. Stein even brings copies of the plan to the many screenings he's been holding around town. Also in the podcast, I talk to Lisa Halverstadt, who's been covering the hepatitis A outbreak as it's unfolded. She lays out the hep A timeline and describes the behind-the-scenes bureaucratic fumbling that prevented a faster response to the outbreak. Halverstadt also talks about what's happened since county and city officials kicked into gear, and some of the questions she'll be asking moving forward. "I'll really be looking to see: What are the long-term solutions to this problem to make sure that we don't have a crisis like this again?" she said.

The case of a confidential city attorney memo on SoccerCity that was leaked to a developer by Councilman Chris Cate has taken another weird turn. This week, interim District Attorney Summer Stephan announced that she's passing the case to the California attorney general — but she declined to outline why she was conflicted or might appear conflicted on the issue. On this week's podcast, hosts Sara Libby, Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts discuss the significance behind Stephan's decision to recuse herself from the Cate memo drama. Also on the podcast, Libby, Lewis and Keatts talk about the new developments in the neverending short-term rental dilemma. City leaders were set to move forward vetting plans to regulate short-term rentals. But at the last minute, City Attorney Mara Elliott voiced concerns about the legality of one proposal written by found Council members, which caused City Council President Myrtle Cole to cancel the hearing. "This is one of those moments where the city is literally incapable of solving this problem," Lewis said. "The whole things is this dysfunctional cartoon." Hero of the Week Our hero this week goes to the women who wrote a letter documenting their sexual harassment experiences while working in the California Capitol. Goat of the Week San Diego Unified gets goated yet again this week. Voice of San Diego got a hold of documents that show the district counsels struggling students to leave for other schools, something it has vigorously denied doing.

San Diego leaders did a lot of feuding this week. City and county officials have been squabbling over who should foot the bill for ongoing efforts to stem the hepatitis A outbreak, City Attorney Mara Elliott and Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman disagree over SDPD’s approach to testing rape kits, the long-standing fight between the Metropolitan Water District and the San Diego County Water Authority rages on and local leaders of rural cities and larger urban ones don't agree on the dramatic shift in power happening at SANDAG thanks to a bill signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown. On this week's podcast, Scott Lewis, Andrew Keatts and Sara Libby give a quick rundown of all the big beefs (or is it beeves?) brewing among San Diego leaders. Also on the podcast, Kim Kilkenny from the Friends of SDSU Steering Committee joins the show to discuss an initiative in the works to redevelop the Chargers' former stadium. "We would create a university campus that would have tremendous economic benefits to the whole of the region," Kilkenny said. Hero of the Week Our hero this week is French artist JR. After building an art installation depicting a young boy looking over the U.S.-Mexico border fence, the artist held a picnic where community members from both sides of the border shared food and drinks. Goat of the Week This week, the prototypes of President Donald Trump's border wall get the goat. Some of them look like silly, gigantic combs.

San Diego's homeless crisis isn't new. Swift action directed at addressing the homeless crisis, though — that is new. For a long time, there was a lot of talk about solving homelessness by our elected leaders, but not a lot of action. Committees were formed, speeches were made, plans were proposed. But then came hepatitis A — in particular, the revelation that officials were fumbling with bureaucracy as people were dying — and things changed. Local leaders have deployed hand-washing stations and placed public bathrooms across the city, there are solid plans to open a city-run homeless camp in Golden Hill and three temporary tents are coming online soon. On this week's podcast, Voice of San Diego's Sara Libby, Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts talk about how the urgency to address San Diego's homelessness crisis should have come well before the hep A outbreak forced elected leaders' hands. "Hepatitis A did what nothing else could do over the last several years," Lewis said. Also on the podcast, the VOSD crew breaks down the legal issues surrounding a leaked SoccerCity memo after Councilman Chris Cate admitted to being the culprit earlier this week. Hero of the Week The hero this week is Councilwoman Lorie Zapf, who opened up about her mother's struggles with homelessness and mental illness, and how the experience has shaped her policy-making. Goat of the Week Our goat this week goes out to San Diego County government. Rather than keeping its nice, new Waterfront Park bathrooms open for 24 hours in the midst of the hepatitis A outbreak, the county instead decided to install a port-a-potty right next to the bathrooms.