Bill Walton has stirred things up.

As we reported last week, the NBA legend flooded San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s inbox with harsh messages on the state of homelessness.

Within the emails, Walton says he was attacked, that unhoused folks have become more destructive and that Gloria should resign for his failure to curb the crisis.

This week on the VOSD Podcast, hosts Scott Lewis, Andrew Keatts and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña discuss the backlash from this public plea — and how local boosters, residents and news outlets have responded.

Some Trash Talk

Ahead of the November election, San Diego City Council candidates are taking stands on an upcoming ballot measure that would would allow the city to study and eventually implement a special fee for trash collection.

On the pod, Lewis, Keatts and Lopez-Villafaña discussed about where candidates stand, how it could be a new, divisive feature of local politics and probed some of the touchy terms that get thrown around on this issue: “trash fee” vs. “trash tax” vs. the aforementioned Measure B — which some argue would totally not create a trash fee (and isn’t a fee!) but would allow the distinct possibility and likelihood of creating fee to fund the pick up of trash.

And trash money is a big deal. Because the state-mandated food waste recycling program is almost here.

It’ll be one full year behind schedule, but the city of San Diego is slated to unleash its food recycling services by January 2023. As Voice environment reporter MacKenzie Elmer laid out in our super cool Whatever Happened To series, the goal of this program was to lessen the greenhouse gases emitted by that romaine lettuce you always buy from Trader Joe’s but never eat.

But recycling ain’t cheap. San Diego is the only California city that doesn’t charge a special fee to pickup trash (to single family homes) and updating that system to one that generates revenue for the city could help balance the books when it comes to all this trash politics.

Listen Now

Listen: Apple | Spotify | Google