NEWSY BITS

La Jollans gone wild

Here's a weird bit of history in the making: The La Jolla Planning Association may cease to exist next week. If so, it would be the first planning group ever decertified by San Diego City Hall.
For readers who live blissfully unaware, planning groups are the first bulwark standing in the way of development run amok, or, seen the other way, the promoters of exciting new construction projects permitted over the objections of obstructionist no-growthers. In either case, they're a crucial forum for working out building issues on the local level.
The City Council has asked all of the city's planning groups to rewrite their bylaws so they will be more uniform (though not identical). The La Jollans dramatically rewrote their rules, prompting a review by the Planning Department and the City Attorney. But the La Jollans regard such a review as an assault on democracy. They wrote the rules to take effect March 1 and, by god, take effect (retroactively) they shall.
"This is all an attempt to consolidate power by [mayoral land-use chief Jim] Waring and [City Council President ] Scott Peters and the developers," said Rob Whittemore, a newly elected trustee of the group.
For their part, city officials, including Waring and Peters, who represents La Jolla, are mystified by the group's defiance. Waring has conceded nearly all the rule changes the group wants, but he insists city staff get a chance to review the final version. The La Jollans, meanwhile, have voted three times not to allow that, and so they risk losing their official status.
"Better to be decertified than to be a puppet," said Whittemore.
He'll likely get his wish. Peters said he'll ask the City Council on April 24 to decertify the group and reconstitute it with the same people under the old rules, with adjustments at the La Jollans' request. Whittemore says they'll just vote the new rules in again. Stay tuned.

-Eric Wolff

KPBS host injured

Tens of thousands of San Diegans might have felt a little lost Monday morning when, at 9 a.m., they heard not that familiar Latin-jazz intro to the daily news program, These Days, but instead the replay of an episode of another NPR program. Fans of the show would find out a day later that These Days' host for the past eight years, Tom Fudge, was injured in a nasty accident around 7:15 a.m. Monday while riding his bike to KPBS' College Area studios.
According to police, Fudge was eastbound on Montezuma Road when a woman in a car behind him made a right onto Collwood Avenue and clipped the back of his bike. She told police she didn't see Fudge because the sun was in her eyes.
KPBS spokesperson Nancy Worlie declined to say what hospital Fudge was taken to or discuss the extent of his injuries, but a police spokesperson said the first officer on the scene noticed Fudge's head was bleeding and initially assessed that the 40-year-old public-radio veteran might be seriously injured. Police shut down traffic from Fairmount Avenue North to Montezuma until noon.
Worlie said Fudge had regained consciousness sometime before Tuesday afternoon and was resting in the Intensive Care Unit but was in stable condition. "Doctors are confident and expect a full recovery," she said. Fudge was wearing a helmet.
Worlie said Fudge will remain in the hospital for a few days and will probably be off the air for a short time, during which guest hosts will fill in. Roughly 72,000 people tune into the show each week.

-Kelly Davis