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The mayor’s state of the nitty gritty

Some members of the media received complimentary bottles of local craft beer from Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s office last week. On the bottle, as displayed on social media, the mayor’s PR minions had...

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Mayor Moonshot adds to his to-do list

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Brand Diego? Bye-bye city seal, hello new logo

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A Chargers love triangle in harsh winds

Yep, it would seem pathetic if not true, but the Boltin’ Bolts of L.A. Dream$ have landed back in their old haunts, at least for the 2016 season.

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Lori Saldaña vs. the PR machine

As folks filed out of the first “friend-raiser” on Saturday in support of her uphill battle to unseat incumbent San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, former state Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña paused...

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Year of the monkey business observed in San Diego

A local congressman blows e-cigarette smoke into a colleague’s face during a hearing. Mayor Kevin Faulconer waves the white flag when his administration is called out for banning the term “Founding...

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Magic Budget Fairy yuks it up for Mayor Bobblehead

Spin Cycle recently sought refuge from the political chicanery of our time by soaking in the regular humanity that converges daily in Balboa Park’s Plaza de Panama.

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Step aside, Oscars—it’s Imp-Oscars time!

In the 1982 movie My Favorite Year, the late Peter O’Toole— portraying the frequently soused, swashbuckling matinee idol Allan Swann—confides to an admirer, “Dying is easy, comedy is hard.”

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Jason Roe your boat aground

Only two short months ago, Mayor Kevin Faulconer proudly hopped aboard the Marco Rubio train to the White House, becoming one of seven co-chairs for the Florida senator’s presidential campaign in...

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Ed Harris on Kevin Faulconer: “He’s an illusionist”

Interesting six-degrees-of-separation factoid about late-entry San Diego mayoral candidate Ed Harris and his Oscar-nominated namesake: Harris, the actor, portrayed Virgil “Bud” Brigman in the James...

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Bruce Lightner, city council party crasher

Bruce Lightner, the 67-yearold husband of 43 years to the termed-out San Diego City Council President Sherri Lightner, pulls out a tiny, folded-up sticky note and takes a quick glance at it. No talking...

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Lorena Gonzalez zips into the Sacramento power lane

The scheduling requests to meet with state Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez have grown considerably since her recent appointment as head of the Assembly’s mega-powerful Appropriations Committee.

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Frozen Kevin Faulconer, patron saint of indecision

It took squeaky new Padres skipper Andy Green one game to figure out his honeymoon was over. By contrast, Mayor Kevin Faulconer—764 days into occupying the city’s top political catbird seat—still seems...

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Will the city block a public vote on the Citizens Plan?

As Spin Cycle types away Tuesday morning, activist attorney and Citizens Plan author Cory Briggs is holding court with reporters to detail the latest municipal slam into an immovable object, which he...

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Why so few debates, Mayor Faulconer?

Last month, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s re-election campaign guru took to the digital airwaves to proclaim the importance of incumbents defending their record against challengers in public debates.

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Will the Port District sue to bogart the Citizens Plan?

It had been a while—four score and seven years ago, perhaps— since Spin Cycle had paid a visit to “The Rock,” the not-so-flattering nickname given the World War II-era box of a headquarters for the San...

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Even the Magic Budget Fairy can’t save the TMD from itself

Mention TMD to any plugged-in policy wonk in town, and the most likely response will be, "Yeah, what about the Tourism Marketing District?"

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Throwing some shade on Horton Plaza Park

The spray from the historic Broadway Fountain in the newly renovated Horton Plaza Park never felt better—particularly after spending an hour in the solar oven of an amphitheater just to the south.

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The political ad blitzkrieg for the San Diego primary

It’s down-the-stretch time for local political candidates, and you know what that means: overstuffed postal repositories with a side order of broadcast blather, please!

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As election nears, screwy season blossoms

If San Diego wants weird, let’s go for it. Send Faulconer to a presidential general, where he’s never gone before. Get the city council to settle the tourist-tax conundrum, with or without him. Maybe...

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Kevin Faulconer’s anti-Trump problem

You might have heard that a certain golden-haired, thumb-pumping narcissist of a presidential candidate dropped by our fair city last Friday to much pomp, circumstance, fervor and a soupcon of tear gas...

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Election reflections

With a few exceptions, last week’s primary election was as thrilling as watching a frozen turkey thaw.

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Seaport pillage?

Last week, the port hosted a two-day open house in a cramped, stuffy, top-floor suite at the San Diego Convention Center so the public could peruse the plans, grill proponents about the details and...

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Lord Carl and his Dome-aio

Last Thursday, DeMaio jumped headfirst into the local stadium debate with a proposal by a little-known Newport Beach realty firm to build a multi-use stadium in one of three locations with only private...

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Faulconer, Jacobs again tout Balboa Park extreme makeover

Ladies and germs, we’ve jumped forward to the past, to a land once thought abandoned after the previous mayor, otherwise odoriferous, did one thing right and rid the Plaza de Panama of parking.

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Ballot-measure bloodshed

While Major League Baseball’s power elite belted soft pitches out of Petco Park Monday night during the pre-All-Star-Game’s Home Run Derby, the San Diego City Council was ensconced in its own marathon...

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A spirited, silent protest in Barrio Logan

The San Diego Chargers brain trust took its pitch for an East Village stadium into the heart of Barrio Logan last week, and Brent Beltrán did something unusual for him—he stayed silent.

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Vote-swapping allegation makes for strange bedfellows

In California, vote swapping is a serious crime, punishable under the state Penal Code by a prison term of two to four years and fines of $2,000 to $10,000.

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Former mayor and Chargers honcho feel the convadium love

At the press conference, Sanders alluded to concerns that remain about the initiative. “No ballot is ever perfect,” he said, adding that “considerations” the team should address include the “long-term...

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Civil-rights advocates pan police video release policy

Gauging by coverage from local mainstream media, it appeared that local law enforcement last week ripped back the curtain of uncertainty by vowing to make public the footage from body cameras captured...

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Take a page, Albuquerque

The national press in recent weeks has heaped praise on a program in Albuquerque, New Mexico, started by its Republican mayor a year ago, that gives homeless panhandlers day jobs to help beautify the...

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The Tourism Marketing District’s moot suit

When news broke last week that the four-year nuclear war between activist attorney Cory Briggs and the Tourism Marketing District over the agency’s funding method was headed for a fizzling conclusion,...

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Local Dems, taxpayer group dabble in fence-sitting on Measures C & D

When it comes to big-ticket-item decision-making, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer rewrote the book on indecisiveness, decorating the practice with glittery baubles of alleged earnestness, attention to...

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Decision time for Mayor Frozen

Everybody thinks it’s way past time for this mayor to get off the crapper and finally weigh in on The Monumental Measures of the Millienium.

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Split the toxic baby at the elbow!

Last Thursday, commissioners convened again to choose between two visions proposed for the 57 acres that comprise the eastern portion of Harbor Island and the emptying car-rental property across from...

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Heartburn over earned sick days

It seems like only yesterday that termed-out San Diego City Councilman Todd Gloria, close to punching his ticket for new adventures in Sacramento, was basking in the glow after voters in June...

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Measure D at death’s door?

The county Democratic Party has endorsed Measure D, which would raise the so-called transient occupancy tax to 15.5 percent from 10.5 percent and create pathways for future decisions about expanded...

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Taking one for the team

At Monday’s jam-packed No on Measure C press conference, barely a harsh word was uttered about the elephant not in the room.

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Getting personal on Measure C

Nothing plays worse in San Diegans’ minds, Spin has found, than reminders of their city’s reputation for small-mindedness.

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Measure A pitch demeans Chicano Park tragedy

Late afternoon Monday, as the skies darkened and threatened rain, every revved engine from above, every tire squeal, every clank from rush-hour traffic drew the same reaction from parkgoers: craned...

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Defeating Measure C, oh, and Measure D, too

Certainly in Spin Cycle’s lifetime, you would be hard pressed to find an election season as angstridden, sound-bit and crap-filled as the current model. If our elected leaders of tomorrow are truly a...

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Post-election postmortem

OK, OK, so the orange-tinted name salesman with straw mane bagged the most-challenging, bigliest job on the planet last week. Big deal. What about Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s “dimming star,” according to...

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Council prez turkey trot—again?

At City Hall, December is inauguration month, when all the bright newly elected faces converge with the grizzled re-electeds to make bold, inspiring oratory with a stocking full of promises that very...

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In sickness and in health

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has his town rolling in new revenue. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, not so much. Photo by John R. Lamb Envy is as persistent as memory, as intractable as a head

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Faulconer's Trump Bump

So, the Cheese-Puff-in-Chief likes San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer. And why not? They’re both Republicans, sport chemically altered blonde hairstyles, and have uncertain political futures.

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Piggyback Pickle

Last week’s meeting of the San Diego City Council’s audit committee was truly a sight to behold.

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Who’s minding the SROs?

During last week’s deliberations about San Diego’s latest plan to address homelessness, Councilwoman Barbara Bry unleashed on a little-discussed wrinkle in the city’s ongoing affordable-housing saga.

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Backward in the Park

When word emerged that the plug would be pulled on an effort seeking private developers interested in leasing and revitalizing Inspiration Point’s 25.5 acres of dedicated parkland, opponents of park...

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Local GOP Passed on Free Office Space

When is free not good enough?

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Letters to Santa

Back home, there were some notable Santa queries. San Diego, as no one has ever said, never disappoints! Check out a sampling from this year’s crop of yuletide yearnings.

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