vosdpodcastnetwork201707

Carlos Turner Cortez was on the job for one day when VOSD education reporter Will Huntsberry called him up for an interview.

Cortez's new gig is chancellor for the San Diego Community College District — overseeing roughly 100,000 students and 8,000 employees. This week on the VOSD Podcast, Cortez lays out the state of the district at the tail end of a pandemic and some big ideas he has for serving the most vulnerable San Diegans through community college.

Plus: The latest on 101 Ash St. and police oversight.

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Are you involved in local government as an elected official or passionate citizen? Then we want to hear your origin story! Tell us how you got started as part of a new special project from VOSD. voiceofsandiego.org/originstory

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This week, we explain the 101 Ash Street saga from the beginning and why it matters.

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In January, VOSD’s Lisa Halverstadt wrote a long piece on the role Jason Hughes, a commercial real estate broker, had in the mess the city has faced related to 101 Ash St., the building it was never able to move employees into.

Hughes had been an unpaid volunteer advising mayors going back to Bob Filner and helping the city renegotiate leases. But he also helped the city lease two large towers, 101 Ash St. and Civic Center Plaza.

This week, we learned Hughes had, at some point, stopped being a volunteer and had instead gotten one of the most lucrative commercial real estate gigs in the city: representing the city itself. He revealed it himself. The company that bought the two buildings so that the city could lease them from it paid him $9.4 million.

He revealed it because the city attorney was about to make public the results of its subpoenas and new lawsuits meant to unravel the two deals based on the theory that Hughes had violated state conflict-of-interest laws and thus the lease-to-own arrangements were void.

It’s all very complex. We have two important pieces on it: Why what then-Mayor Kevin Faulconer knew matters and how we wouldn’t know any of this without asbestos.

And now, we now have this podcast.

Read more at voiceofsandiego.org/101ash

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Housing dominates California politics. It will shape big cities like San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco this year and in the future.

Josh Stephens is the author of a book dedicated to this issue, "The Urban Mystique," which focuses on the potential of such cities — what they are and what they could be — through the lens of housing and development.

Host Andy Keatts interviewed Stephens at an event put on by the San Diego-Tijuana Urban Land Institute. The folks at ULI were kind enough to lend us the audio of that discussion for this bonus ep.

Keep up with all our housing stories with The Morning Report: vosd.org/morning

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Homelessness in San Diego is officially “near crisis level.” 

We’ve been calling it a "crisis" for a while now, but new reporting lays out how big the problem really is — and how much money local leaders are ready to throw at it. 

Plus: The debate over how to implement police oversight and another local defection from the GOP.

Send Scott your receipts! He wants to see whatever "pandemic surcharges" restaurants are pushing these days. Send 'em to [email protected] or on Twitter @vosdscott.

Thank you to all who gave during our most recent campaign! We appreciate you all. If you missed your chance, become a member anytime at vosd.org/donate (plus you'll get access to Scott and Andy's Politics Report).

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Now that the state has officially reopened, it’s time to look forward.

On this week’s VOSD Podcast, hosts Scott Lewis and Sara Libby go through several questions looming for the second half of the year.

Schools will be open in the fall, but how many students will choose to stay home, and why? Every elected government agency is redrawing the lines for voters, which will have big impacts for upcoming local races. Speaking of upcoming races, how will the effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom ultimately shake out? Finally, the mayor says homelessness may get more visible soon. How long are we talking?

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We need more housing. A lot, lot more.

This week, the San Diego City Council approved changes to a housing plan it submitted to comply with a state housing law. San Diego was the first city to go through the process this cycle, which attracted interest across the state. 

On the show, we review what happened the last time the city went through this process, how those numbers actually shook out (spoiler: not great) and some glaring issues with the plan.

Plus: The latest at Lincoln High, what's up with redistricting and three reasons to party on June 15.

Watch our video that breaks down redistricting here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoZ5xFkdW8g&ab_channel=VoiceofSanDiego

And here's our panel about what it could mean for communities: https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/politifest-2020/redistricting-for-our-community/

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On Thursday afternoon, as we sat down to record this podcast, a proverbial grenade was lobbed into our virtual podcast studio in the form of this letter.

School Board Trustee Sharon Whitehurst-Payne released the letter in response to San Diego City Councilwoman Monica Montgomery Steppe’s own letter from a few weeks ago requesting answers about Lincoln High.

This week, we read the letter with fresh eyes and unpack its implications. Plus: A whole heap of housing politics.

Read Scott's take on the letter here: voiceofsandiego.org/nonfeature/school-board-member-escalates-war-of-words-over-lincoln-high

Keep up with Capitol news, politics our daily news takes and more! Subscribe to your interests at our newsletter hub: vosd.org/newsletters

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This week, we discuss the response to a San Diego city councilwoman's open letter about the troubles at Lincoln High. And we’ve got three major investigations to unspool about about potential fraud at Volunteers of America, conflicts of interest with the San Diego Housing Commission and harassment at a local university.

Keep up with all our investigations with The Morning Report: vosd.org/morning

Catch our explainer series, San Diego 101: vosd.org/sd101

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This week, we discuss a public records failure by San Diego Unified, a high-profile callout of Lincoln High and some spicy public agency Twitter drama.

School up on the region with San Diego 101: vosd.org/sd101

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A lot of parking spots were taken away last year when the city of San Diego let restaurants move their business outside temporarily to keep customers around safely.

Now that we're moving to an increasingly maskless and virus-less region, what's the deal with those patio structures? This week, we discuss the mixed messaging that's coming from the city on the structures' future.

Plus: The latest on 101 Ash St., Cindy Marten's new job is official and other local news.

Watch San Diego 101 – A user's guide to the region: vosd.org/sd101

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