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Something's going on with San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer. He had that whole "different approach" in his big State of the City Speech last week. And Friday, he visited the Voice of San Diego podcast studio to record a special interview. Here it is. In his words, this is what's happening: "Look consensus is important, results are more important. I am choosing results over consensus," he said. We got as much in as we could from him on everything from homelessness, to the Convention Center expansion, to the future of Mission Valley and short-term vacation rentals. But we had to start with the big news of the week: the new leadership on the board of the Metropolitan Transit System. Georgette Gomez, a member of the San Diego City Council got the votes. She wasn't the only one who wanted the job, though. And she got it largely because of Faulconer, who, out of character, showed up at MTS. If it was a poker game, Faulconer pushed a big stack of chips onto the table everyone else folded. We asked him why he would do that for such a progressive Democrat. "I like working with her," he said. "I probably shouldn't say too many nice things, because you know then I'll ruin her cred with the progressive community. But, look, she's a fair, determined, direct individual. I think you want that on boards like that." On SoccerCity vs. SDSU West: We asked if he was still as supportive of SoccerCity as he was when he endorsed it. "I am," he said. Is there any shot at the two sides negotiating again? "There's a shot. You know this is politics, this is the art of the possible." More immediately: He also addressed the ongoing negotiation between the city and SDSU about where the university can play football. The lease is up this year and it seems like the university wants the city to extend the lease and keep operating the stadium. But the city loses about $7 million a year operating the stadium and there is pressure to shut it down. Faulconer insisted he was only going to make a deal for the short term. "But for the short term, 'How do we have something that makes sense puts the city in a financially better position?' and I'm confident we can get there." About the Convention Center and hotel-tax hike: The mayor says this is the most important issue before voters this year. We talked to him about how much the measure has changed and asked why it got so much more flexible. He acknowledged that the reason that the hotel tax hike was going forward as a ballot initiative was to perhaps take advantage of the recent California Supreme Court ruling that seemed to indicate citizens initiatives do not require the same two-thirds threshold for approval of new special taxes that normal ballot measures do. And that hotel behind the Convention Center?  The partnership that controls the land called Fifth Avenue Landing on the bay side of the Convention Center is planning a hotel. If it is approved, then the long-planned design of the expanded Convention Center can't be built. We asked the mayor how that would be settled. "That's a subject of a lawsuit. I would just phrase it this way: resolving lawsuits are always of benefit."

When Mayor Kevin Faulconer gave his State of the City speech last week, he acknowledged some hard truths. On homelessness, he confessed he and past leaders let the problem fester far too long. "We pursued universal consensus while homelessness continued to rise," he said. "We tried to please everyone at the risk of helping no one. Those days are over." In this week's podcast, Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts analyze the mayor's State of the City speech. Faulconer recognized his own role in the type of not-in-my-backyard politics that makes it hard to get things done, saying everyone wants to housing and services for homeless people, but no one wants those things in their own neighborhoods. And the mayor drew a line in the sand in support of the city's ongoing effort to clear the streets of homeless encampments, saying the city would "no longer tolerate the use of a sidewalk, a riverbed or a tarp as a home." Also interesting was what the mayor didn't say. Faulconer barely brought up the search for a new police chief or the future of the former Chargers stadium site. Lewis and Keatts also sat down with the mayor Friday for an in-depth interview that will appear in the Voice of San Diego Podcast feed soon. Stay tuned. Bryan Pease is best known for his animal rights activism. An environmental attorney, he's been in the national spotlight for his work to protect seals at the La Jolla Children’s Pool. More recently, he made headlines as one of a group of protestors arrested in Barrio Logan when then-presidential candidate Donald Trump came to town. In the second half of the show, Lewis and Keatts talk to Pease about his City Council run to represent District 2. The attorney has run for political office before, but those failed campaigns were short and less serious. This time, he says he's for real. He said he supports rent control, a revamped Section 8 housing voucher program, better tenant protection, banning whole-home vacation rentals and increasing both the amount of affordable housing developers are required to include when they build a new project. "There's also obviously a huge homelessness and housing crisis in San Diego and San Diego City Council has been really dragging its heels on implementing some very basic tenant protections and policies that other, similarly situated cities have," he said. Pease also thinks it's time to talk to marine biologists and other experts about the best way to handle SeaWorld's captive orcas. "I'm in favor of whatever is best for the orcas," he said. Hero of the Week The hero this week is David Hilton, a Scripps Institution of Oceanography scientist and researcher who died from cancer earlier this month. Hilton was a renowned geochemist. Goat of the Week The Union-Tribune's Greg Moran this week revealed that the San Diego County Sheriff's Department spent nearly $900,000 to provide security while President Donal Trump's border wall prototypes were built in Otay Mesa. The federal government is the goat this week for forcing the Sheriff's Department to spend so much money protecting eight slabs of concrete.

It's a particularly important time for unions. Locally the the teachers union at the San Diego Unified School District, does not have a contract. It is working on contract negotiations with the district right now. They may support a measure to raise...

Moving sucks. Mike Glanz went all in on that basic premise and ended up running an online moving business in Oceanside that now pulls in about $8 million in annual gross revenue. A decade ago, most people were either renting their own trucks or hiring...

Congressman Darrell Issa’s sudden announcement Wednesday that he would not be seeking reelection was a doozy. It sent Republicans scrambling to propose possible stronger GOP candidates for the 49th District, largely viewed as the most vulnerable Republican seat in the country. In this week's Voice of San Diego Podcast, hosts Scott Lewis and Ry Rivard talk about Issa's big news, and what might come next for the congressman. As it turns out, Issa might not be ready to be put out to pasture quite yet. The Hill reported that the congressman has been mulling the possibility of running in the neighboring 50th District, which includes Alpine, Ramona, Valley Center and other cities in northeast San Diego County. Much of the area was part of his district in the past. The 50th is currently represented by embattled Rep. Duncan Hunter, who's under federal investigation for questionable campaign expenses. "So there's a seeming plan, or possibility of a plan, that Hunter is going to implode and Issa, who was about to implode, is going to come into the implosion and, I don't know, save the day?" Rivard ponders. Rivard and Lewis also discuss the details of the new push to expand the Convention Center and the startling things District 2 City Council candidate Jennifer Campbell said about homeless people. Fletcher's Meandering Political Path Nathan Fletcher is running for County Supervisor. In the second half of the podcast, Lewis and Rivard talk to the former two-term California State assemblyman about his two failed mayoral bids, and how he left politics after that only to return again. Fletcher said he wanted to become a businessman, but when he tried, he would wake up thinking about needle-exchange programs and mental health services for veterans. He said getting back into politics felt like something he had to do. Fletcher also talks about his stance on policy issues like pensions, unions and more. And Rivard and Lewis can't help but revisit Fletcher's infamous switch from Republican to Democrat, and the flack he continues to get for it. Fletcher said there are very few vestiges of conservatism left in him. "I was scarred by my time in the legislature in the sense of having to deal with $42 billion dollar budget deficits," he said. "I'm always going to be fiscally responsible and want to have prudent reserves and those types of things. But I don't think there's anything in the Democratic Party that's out of line with that with that type of change." Hero of the Week Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher is the hero this week. After Voice of San Diego contributor Kelly Davis revealed the San Diego Police Department's practice of taking DNA samples from minors without convictions, Gonzalez Fletcher sponsored legislation to ban the practice. Goat of the Week Councilwoman Myrtle Cole is the goat. She was one of five local elected officials who appeared at an event with local labor leader Mickey Kasparian, 10 months after he was accused of sexual harassment, sexual assault and gender discrimination. Cole said she was not aware of the allegations against Kasparian when she attended the meeting, even though the allegations have been covered heavily in the news and discussed intensely by local Democrats.

Brian Beevers is the in Clairemont, Serra Mesa and at Horton Plaza. He's also got a farmers market-inspired shop called in North Park that sells goods made by San Diegans. Becoming one of the region's biggest purveyors of local products, though,...

A cannabis-driven cultural shift is upon us, folks, and in this week's podcast, hosts Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts sort out its significance. The two talk about taxes on pot, the City Council's regulation and permitting of the budding industry so far and ponder what California's new law means for medical marijuana, the black market and delivery services. And yes, Lewis and Scott also discuss the big pot memo. Weed people panicked this week when Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the “Cole Memo,” an Obama-era rule that instructed U.S. attorneys to mostly be cool to the states that have legalized marijuana despite it still being illegal under federal law. It isn't yet clear how Sessions' nixing of the memo will play out. Whether U.S. Attorneys will crack down on dispensaries in San Diego and other California cities that have implemented legal marijuana is still a big question. It's also in the realm of possibility that Congress could take up the issue. And then there's the potential financial effects. "I think the most immediate impact might be on the investment world that's still dabbling, and still a little worried about federal law," Lewis said.  Campaign Interview Kickoff The 2018 ballot in San Diego is taking shape. Along with the list of confirmed and  potential local ballot measures, a handful of seats are up for grabs. We'll do our best to interview many of the regional candidates in the Voice of San Diego Podcast this year. Up first is Jordan Beane. The 33-year-old is running for the City Council, trying to unseat Councilwoman Lorie Zapf and represent District 2, which includes Ocean Beach, Bay Ho, Pacific Beach and other coastal communities. Beane spent nearly five years working for the Chargers when the team split. His pivot to politics was something that had been in the back of his mind for awhile. Beane said one of his key areas of focus is the housing crisis, and what a sitting Council member can do to help solve it. He said allowing faster and easier permitting to increase the housing supply and incentivizing housing diversity is an important step. And in District 2, a coastal region known for its hardcore NIMBYism and dislike of density, he said "gentle density," or building infill development on empty lots or possibly building two townhouses where there used to be one single-family home, could make increasing density more digestible. And in terms of the city's homelessness issue, Beane said he'd want to change the city's strategy of ticketing people who are homeless and using police force to keep them from congregating on downtown streets and sidewalks. "You are not going to solve this issue with sort of leaf-blower lower justice by moving these folks around to different areas of the city and hoping that the problem goes away," he said. "We just need the will to do it – to build permanent housing." Hero of the Week This week's hero is Martin S. Lindsey, an illustrator and designer who's working to document San Diego and Tijuana's most interesting culinary history. Goat of the Week Councilman Scott Sherman gets the goat. Sherman didn't like losing his chairmanship of the City Council’s land use committee. It was a political decision made by City Council President Myrtle Cole, and it's fine to be upset about that. But Sherman's proposal this week to start talks about changing the City Council president selection process to an annual rotating leadership selection process based on seniority is clearly motivated by his anger, not by what process is actually best.

In this week’s Culturecast: Border art. Though Trump’s aggressive border policies provoked an international conversation that lasted throughout 2017, for many of those involved, the border remains just a faraway political concept. For the...

In this week’s Culturecast: Border art. Though Trump’s aggressive border policies provoked an international conversation that lasted throughout 2017, for many of those involved, the border remains just a faraway political concept. For the Californians and Mexicans who live near it, though, the border is a very real place. That was driven home throughout the year as local and foreign artists used the border as a canvas on which they expressed opinions about Trump’s policies. 2017 has been a busy year for artist making work at or about the international border fence. I asked three local artists and curators to join me to talk about border art in a roundtable discussion. Alessandra Moctezuma, an artist who runs the gallery at San Diego Mesa College and who recently curated the “unDocumenta” border show currently on view at the Oceanside Museum of Art. Jill Holslin, and artist, border activist and teacher at San Diego State University who recently took part in a big border art intervention. And Perry Vasquez, a professor at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, the director of the art gallery there, and an artist who’s made iconic border art and curated shows by border artists.

We try – and fail – every year to convey to all our readers one basic truth about our annual Voice of the Year feature: It is not an award. We are not endorsing the views expressed by any of the people we include, nor are we declaring anyone a hero or a champion (though some of them inevitably reach the list by doing something heroic or award-worthy). We produce the list to chronicle who piped up and led important civic conversations throughout the year. Some people are in positions where leading major public discussions is their job; others are forced into it and would probably rather not have to (as was the case this year, when the family of a daughter who was brutally murdered years ago became a major voice in deciding the county’s next district attorney). For the podcast this week, we highlighted several of the people who appeared on our latest Voice of the Year list, including many who’ve appeared on the show over the last year or so. City Attorney Mara Elliott at one point came on the show and laid out her vision for a city attorney who no one notices much. Once elected, she was anything but, disrupting and shaping virtually every major policy debate in town. That’s why we named her the 2017 Voice of the Year. We’ve also pulled highlights from earlier shows featuring housing and refugee advocate Ramla Sahid, homelessness activist Mike McConnell and Loxie Gant, who went on the record this year to describe unwanted touching from a teacher at La Jolla High School, revealing the extent to which the school was aware of the problem but never told parents about it. It was also a big year nationally and locally for journalists to grapple with why we do what we do, and for the public to reassess its relationship with us. Scott Lewis was feeling pensive this week and wrote down some thoughts he had on the question, and shared them at the top of the show.