Today’s newsletter is presented by Scripps Health.
Good morning, San Diego ☀️
Here’s what we have for you today:
- The Tijuana River pollution crisis is also a political crisis.
- San Diego gets to keep Comic-Con for another few years at least.
- That heat wave we’re all sweltering under will be here through the weekend.
Brooke Binkowski
News editor
Top story
How La Mesa became the ‘Amsterdam of San Diego’
Our top story today is a fun one — how La Mesa (of all places), one of the towns I consider my home, became known as “the Amsterdam of San Diego.”
When I was young and roaming around the hills of East County, my friends and I would talk about Amsterdam after Holland decriminalized marijuana consumption in the same hushed and reverent tones that previous generations might have used to describe religious conversions, or eclipses.
“Maybe La Mesa will be the next Amsterdam,” somebody would inevitably quip, and we would all laugh at the idea that our stodgy, square, slightly run-down town would ever make it that far.
Well, the times they sure do change, and a few decades have indeed turned La Mesa into the Amsterdam of the county, a destination for marijuana lovers, whether recreational or medical, from all over. Teenaged me wouldn’t have believed it.
Our Drew Sitton takes an in-depth look into the relationship that La Mesa has with its cannabis dispensaries. What’s keeping them popular, ten years after Measure U legalized weed in 2016?
For one thing, dispensaries play well with the community and enjoy zoning leeway that they might not have in other cities within the county, creating a give-and-take relationship that has worked to the benefit of the entire city.
Read on to find out more about the secrets behind La Mesa’s budding — but mellow — success.
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Stories you should know about
🏨 Douglas Hotel district proposed: Residents and community leaders are asking the city to create a district to honor the location of the former downtown hotel, which served as a haven for the Black community during segregation and beyond before it was demolished in the 1980s.
🚧 San Diego sues engineering firm over faulty Mission Valley road connector: The city says the design was faulty, but AECOM reportedly said that cracking was expected.
🍣 Sushi Push Pops, Crab Rangoon Burritos and Seoul in a Bowl — Liberty Public Market’s Food Stars: After a menu item goes viral, businesses reap the instant benefits embodied by hour-long lines.
🏎️ Before there was the Del Mar race track, there was the Pacific Beach “Driving Park”: Explore the history of horse racing in San Diego’s early days, when the place to be for all the region’s movers and shakers to go watch the races was just a little to the south of where it is today.
‼️ Opinion: San Diego must treat elder fraud as the crisis it has become
What else we’re reading
🐶 Sick of Comic-Con? Check out PAWmicon. (KPBS)
💼 Lemon Grove is still looking for a permanent city manager — if you’re a city manager looking for work. (Union-Tribune)
Times of San Diego thanks our corporate sponsors. Find out more about sponsorships and advertising opportunities here.
Locals Only
🎟️ What’s the best theatre in San Diego? Let us know and we’ll shoutout you and your recommendations tomorrow.
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