Pubdate: Sun, 26 Apr 2015
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.

MARIJUANA: THE NEW ALMONDS? AMID DROUGHT, IS MARIJUANA THE NEW ALMONDS?

The drought blame-debate has brought out just about every political 
whipping boy you can imagine. Farmers, developers, politicians, 
environmentalists, almonds and, yes, that crazy little madcap, the Delta smelt.

Even unauthorized immigrants have been hauled into the 
finger-pointing gallery in some quarters.

Now a new water-abusing villain emerges: legal marijuana.

A panel met in Los Angeles on Tuesday to consider what legalizing 
marijuana would mean to California. Voters are expected to weigh in 
on legalization next year.

Discussion focused on the issues of taxes, crime and the environment 
- - particularly how much water pot plants require. Quite a bit, it turns out.

Paul Gallegos, a former district attorney in Humboldt County, where 
they know a thing or two about the crop, said a pot plant needs six 
gallons of water each day over its 150-day growing cycle, according 
to The Associated Press.

It takes more than a gallon of water to grow a single almond, the 
drought's reigning bad boy.

Double down on Brown

It sure seems like a setup to me.

The Assembly recently passed a bill that prohibits fining residents 
for not watering their lawns, which has been a practice in some 
cities. AB 1 ("Brown is the new green") was authored by San 
Bernardino Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown.

Inzunza's back

Well, Ralph Inzunza has been back, or out, for a while but has been 
keeping a low profile. Still, the former San Diego City Council 
member is being seen more in public these days, about a 
year-and-a-half since he's been out of federal custody after a 
conviction on corruption charges.

On Friday, Inzunza joined with fellow former council members to 
celebrate the 10th anniversary of their passage of San Diego's living 
wage ordinance.

In January, he appeared at a gathering to commemorate the 100th 
anniversary of the Logan Heights Library.

Inzunza was convicted of extortion, honest services wire fraud and 
conspiracy by a federal jury in 2005 for trading political favors for 
campaign contributions from Michael Galardi, then-owner of Cheetahs 
strip club in San Diego and several clubs in Las Vegas. The case 
became known as "Strippergate."

The stadium drive

The folks at carson2gether, the Chargers-Raiders front group, made a 
splash last week with renderings of a new design for their proposed 
stadium outside Los Angeles. Much of the local attention was focused, 
with smirks all around San Diego, on the plan to have a huge glass 
tower shooting lightning bolts high into the sky.

The stadium also would have a burning caldron to honor Al Davis, the 
late Raiders owner. That largely got a pass here, but maybe they 
chewed on it a bit in Oakland.

The most peculiar thing - I know, tough competition - was the 
inspiration for the stadium's design. Part of it, according to U-T 
San Diego's Roger Showley, came from the Los Angeles Coliseum.

"Another inspiration came from a luxury sports car, shown as a 
Porsche parked in front in one of the drawings," he wrote.

Tweet of the week

Goes to John Nienstedt  reflecting on the chatter 
about how you'll get phantasmagorical lightning bolts when the 
Chargers play in Carson.

"And when the Raiders play you get mugged."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom