Voice of San Diego Podcast

San Diego City Council District 2 candidates Nicole Crosby and Richard Bailey debate at Politifest 2026, moderated by Voice of San Diego's Scott Lewis. Each opens with a presentation on housing, homelessness, infrastructure and the city budget. They then take on short-term rentals, where to build, Midway Rising, the Ocean Beach Pier, trash collection and pensions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton joins Voice of San Diego's Scott Lewis, Jakob McWhinney and Bella Ross at Politifest 2026 for a wide-ranging conversation. Topics include his path to winning, immigration enforcement, housing, environmental review, energy and climate, and AI policy. The session ends with audience and student questions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 political priority." Our podcasts hosts explain why that support may not be something candidate Martha Abraham wants. She's running against Foster as an outsider who is fighting the establishment forces. Behind voice: Our managing editor takes some time on the show to explain how Voice of San Diego reporters and editors handle anonymous sourcing and corrections. Finally, our hosts pull clips from Politifest and breakdown some of the most interesting discussions from our annual event.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 marvel ad was a record-breaking $160,000. So, who approved it? Bella dug in. The city is questioning the Gaslamp Quarter Association's director over allegations that he may have given the ad agency a green light he wasn’t supposed to — and possibly took $10,000 to do it. He's denying he approved anything. The Association has until Oct. 9 to respond, and the city could pull the association’s contract with the city over it.  The trash fee saga got worse, too. We knew the city overcharged thousands of residents for trash collection on their property tax bills, but  it turns out a spreadsheet error also led to some being undercharged.  Those who were overcharged are getting new bills, but the city will have to figure out how to get additional fees from those who were undercharged since a state law prevents them from sending updated property tax bills. Candidates running for City Council weighed in on the fiasco and they all agreed on one thing: The city needs to hire someone to run the city's operations.  Sacramento also handed Midway Rising a win with Gov. Gavin Newsom signing a bill that protects the project  from environmental lawsuits. Midway Rising still has a long way to go, but this was an important step. . Our hosts also preview Politifest and who has dropped out.  0:00 PolitiFest Jitters & Turning 501:18 Show Intro & Teases: Avengers News, Getting Ghosted2:43 PolitiFest Preview: Sessions & Guests3:02 District 4 Shakeup4:58 Henry Foster Stays In9:43 El Cajon City Council Debate Still On12:28 The Avengers Sign Scoop: Illegal Gaslamp Billboard22:20 A Walk Through Downtown35:38 Trash Fee Fiasco, Part 2: The Undercharge Problem40:16 Council Candidates Agree: Hire a City COO41:21 Mayor Gloria's Cross-Country Mayors Tour44:10 Midway Rising Clears a Legal Hurdle in Sacramento46:24 Politifest Preview: The Measure B Showdown50:08 The Future of the Democratic Party PanelSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.  Are you ready for the election? The episode also digs into this cycle's competitive City Council races. There are two open seats and two incumbents fighting to keep their positions from political newcomers.  We are hosting a debate between the candidates for City Council District 2 and 4. And our journalists will lead two separate conversations with candidates running for District 6 and 8. Those sessions are going down at Politifest on Saturday, Oct. 3. Follow Voice of San Diego on Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube, and read more at voiceofsandiego.org. Tickets for Politifest are up now at vosd.org/pf26. We need 30 pod people to donate $50 to meet our $1,500 match. Show the power of the pod people and donate today to help us meet our match. Go to vosd.org/podpeople. Instagram: https://instagram.com/voiceofsandiego Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/voiceofsandiego/ X: https://x.com/voiceofsandiego LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/voice-of-san-diego TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@voiceofsandiego YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/voiceofsandiego Website: https://voiceofsandiego.org Politifest: https://vosd.org/pf26 0:00 Trash Fee Billing Fiasco & Court Settlement4:43 "Do the Basics Right" – Council Pushback8:19 The Mayor's Fix & Accountability Language37:28 Housing Op-Ed: "Half-Baked Solutions" & ADUs42:33 Trump Ties & Immigration Enforcement Comments44:41 How This Race Compares to Past City Fights46:07 Voter Frustration With City HallSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.