Voice of San Diego Podcast

On the latest episode of the VOSD Podcast, our hosts explain why the mayor's support may be unwelcome assistance to one City Council candidate. Plus, a recap of Politifest.

First up! We revealed that Mayor Todd Gloria is working behind the scenes to make sure that Councilmember Henry Foster does not get re-elected.

As our editors wrote in the Politics report, the mayor "has described Foster’s downfall to them as his No. 1 pol...

On this week's episode of the VOSD Podcast reporter Bella Ross went down a rabbit hole involving an Avengers ad on the Gaslamp sign. For six days, you couldn't even see the Gaslamp sign — Marvel covered it with a massive wrap for "Avengers: Doomsday." Turns out, that's illegal. San Diego city officials have fined advertisers for building wraps for years, and the companies usually just eat the cost. But the fee against this ma...

Thousands of San Diego residents recently discovered that the city had mistakenly overcharged people for trash pickup on their property tax bills.

The San Diego Union-Tribune was the first to report the story. 

On this week's show, our hosts discuss how officials are responding. 

Many residents are blaming the mayor and a lot of people want answers. Meanwhile, councilmembers are questioning Mayor Todd Gloria's leadership....

It's officially the start of San Diego’s silly season. 

Your mailboxes will start to fill up with mailers and candidates for public office will try their hardest to earn your vote. We’re here to help you make sense of their messaging and the races. 

This week's episode kicked off with the strangest kind of controversy: an AI-generated graphic that took shots at co-hosts Jakob McWhinney and Scott Lewis for some...

This week, the Voice of San Diego crew was joined by Joey Safchik, host of NBC San Diego's "Politically Speaking," and there was a lot to get through!

First, a bittersweet news update. Reporter Jakob McWhinney broke a story last week about an organization embedded in San Diego's law enforcement community that hired a controversial figure. After the outrage, the hire got rescinded. But it didn't stop there – the whole org...

On this week's podcast episode, our hosts explain how two county supervisors are proposing the region address the Tijuana River sewage crisis.

As our MacKenzie Elmer reported, San Diego County Supervisors Paloma Aguirre and Terra-Lawson Remer think the county, and the county taxpayer, should treat the river.

We unpack their proposal on the show.

We also have updates: First up, two bills we were following related to the Midway Risin...

On this episode of the VOSD Podcast, host Scott Lewis sits down with Michael Zucchet, general manager of the San Diego Municipal Employees Association.

They get into pension underfunding and the failed 2024 sales tax measure. (Oh yeah, this is a very nerdy episode.) They also unpack a heated debate over whether San Diego’s workforce is bloated — as some critics claim — or stretched thin by hundreds of new parks an...

On this bonus episode of the VOSD Podcast, the crew sits down with Prebys Foundation CEO Grant Oliphant. They discuss efforts to revitalize downtown's Civic Center, including a planned partnership between the city of San Diego, San Diego Community College District, and possibly, the San Diego Unified School District.

Also on the show: The crumbling state of City Hall and a nod to Balboa Park needing similar attention.

0:00 Intro ...

The Voice of San Diego crew sits down with City Council President Joe LaCava to unpack a controversial Sacramento maneuver reviving the Midway Rising development, revisit the Mission Bay bathroom closures and who's really to blame for the budget fallout, and dig into La Jolla's secession talk. The conversation closes on lighter fare — SeaWorld's fireworks-to-drone-show transition and the escalating conflict between beachgoers...

Mayor Todd Gloria announced this week that San Diego is reopening the 13 Mission Bay Park restrooms it shut down last month in budget cuts, after a public poop photo helped force the reversal — reportedly for around $200,000.

Also this week: Marvel's Gaslamp Quarter sign fine, Comic-Con's extension through 2030, the back-to-school heat debate, untrained special-needs substitutes, and Sacramento's missing votes.

0:00 Mission B...

Del Mar's city council cut its summer recess short this week for an emergency meeting — and came out of it asking for criminal investigations into California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a Del Mar Fairgrounds board member.

At the center of it all is Seaside Ridge, a 249-unit housing project proposed for Del Mar's North Bluff. A resident's letter raised questions about ties between the fairgrounds board member and a string o...

Forget the birds and other environmental impacts, are taller buildings messing with lunar cycles?

On this week’s show, our hosts explain how a proposed bill would stop building height from being treated as a significant environmental impact under state law.

State Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson spoke about SB 958 at a committee hearing in June and explained how environmental laws have sometimes been used to slow housing projects. S...

On the latest episode, our hosts tackle everything from Comic-Con building wraps to California’s housing crisis.

First up! A proposal to give Chula Vista City Council members raises crashed and burned following public outcry and quid pro quo allegations from the mayor.

Then: While special education enrollment numbers explode everywhere, a school district in Del Mar is seeing a 43 percent drop. Jakob McWhinney explains the tre...

There's nothing worse than needing a restroom and not being able to find one. San Diego just made it a lot harder to find one. 

On this edition of the podcast, Scott Lewis was back and wanted to share his thoughts on how bad the cities decision is to close down public restrooms. The crew also discussed why public restrooms are so important with the recent outbreak of Cyclospora across the country. 

Finally, we talk about ...

When the world gives you solar panels, you must use them. But not if the power companies have anything to say about it.

Environment reporter MacKenzie Elmer drops in to discuss SB 868, a bill that would legalize easy, plug-in balcony solar panels for renters and condo owners. Local utility companies like SDG&E are pushing back, citing worker safety concerns regarding power "back-feeding" into lines, despite zero documented inju...

The federal government has made some big promises but can it deliver?

On the latest episode of the VOSD Podcast, co-host Jakob McWhinney reveals that San Diego schools are experiencing a boom in special education enrollment.

At the same time, there are fewer kids enrolled at local schools today than 10 years ago. That means many schools are seeing a drop in funding. Those two trends are putting a lot of pressure on schools, McWhinn...

Robots are now coming for our schools.

OK, maybe not yet. But education reporter Jakob McWhinney did find one school that's giving them a shot.

The hybrid charter network Altus Schools recently spent half a million dollars on two ChatGPT-powered humanoid robots called Ameca. School officials say they're not trying to replace teachers, but some experts have flagged a whole slew of concerns about the mechanical intrusion into educa...