Untitled Document

January 1, 2005 Saturday

SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. B-4:1,7: B-6:2,6

LENGTH: 1985 words

HEADLINE: The year;
Highlights from 366 days of local news events

BYLINE: See Contributed Byline, Matthew T. Hall | Anne Krueger | Sandra Dibble | Rick Rogers | Jonathan Heller | John Wilkens | Roger M. Showley | Helen Gao, Chris Moran, Blanca Gonzalez, Sherry Parmet, Leonel Sanchez, Eleanor Yang

BODY:

A year of turmoil at City Hall

It was a year of unprecedented unrest at San Diego City Hall with securities fraud allegations and the sudden death of Councilman Charles Lewis in August.

But what drew international attention was the story of a surfboard shop owner/councilwoman whose last-minute write-in campaign to become mayor nearly succeeded. Or actually did, depending on one's view.

The turmoil at City Hall began in January when city officials acknowledged errors and omissions in financial statements used by potential investors in city bonds.

That led to an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into possible pension-related securities fraud and a criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney and the FBI into city finances and possible corruption.

The city's pension deficit is $1.2 billion. Its credit rating has been downgraded by two Wall Street rating agencies and suspended by a third, and two annual audits are overdue. San Diego 's borrowing is so crippled that new water and wastewater projects are on hold despite state and federal mandates.

Lamont Ewell was promoted to city manager in April after Michael Uberuaga retired. Ewell now plans to resign June 30 because of the voter-approved switch to a strong-mayor form of government in 2006.

Lawyer Michael Aguirre became city attorney, and a runoff to replace Lewis is set for Jan. 4, but it was San Diego 's wild mayor's race that led to headlines worldwide.

Mayor Dick Murphy was sworn in to a second term, but Councilwoman Donna Frye would have beat him if 5,547 voters who wrote her name on their ballots had filled in a corresponding oval. Three lawsuits failed to overturn the election. A fourth was filed this week, promising more uncertainty in the new year.

Matthew T. Hall

Recovery from fires a slow process

The banging and buzzing of construction echoed this year through the communities in San Diego County that were devastated by the October 2003 wildfires.

A few residents of the more than 2,600 homes destroyed by the fires have moved into new homes. In the unincorporated county, more than 230 final building permits have been issued, meaning construction has been completed. In the city of San Diego , 26 houses and 12 condominiums have been rebuilt. Hundreds of houses are under construction.

But for many homeowners, recovery from the wildfires is far from over. Several lawsuits have been filed by homeowners who contend their insurance carriers left them unprotected and their settlements aren't enough to cover rebuilding costs.

Some fire victims found a new sense of community in the shared tragedy. They got to know their neighbors or other fire victims as they attended events to discuss insurance problems or crime concerns or to create objects of art.

Local officials have taken the first small steps toward streamlining the county's firefighting forces. In November, 81 percent of voters approved Proposition C, which would consolidate the county's 35 firefighting agencies into one regional department.The measure is only advisory, and a countywide fire department is still years away. But the process of consolidating services in an initial eight districts is under way.

-- Anne Krueger

Political change in Baja took spotlight

Politics took center stage in Baja California , as a gambling tycoon backed by Mexico 's once-powerful Institutional Revolutionary Party narrowly won Tijuana 's mayoral race Aug. 1. Jorge Hank Rhon ended 15 years of dominance by the National Action Party in the state's largest city, overcoming questions about his past and wooing voters with promises to stamp out crime, corruption and drug abuse.

Law enforcement agencies on both sides of the border celebrated victories against the Arellano F o lix drug cartel. Among the key arrests were those of top trafficker Efra * n P o rez Pazuenga, and his deputy, Jorge Aureliano F o lix, a former Baja California state police officer, in June in Tijuana.

Despite these successes, the drug-related violence continued. Rogelio Delgado Neri, a former top state prosecutor, was slain along with three others at a Tijuana bar four months after leaving his post. Six months later, a masked gunman killed journalist Francisco Ortiz Franco in front of his two children inside a parked car. The Zeta editor had been writing about drug traffickers.

On the economic front, the state's maquiladoras rebounded, helped by the U.S. economic recovery. A high-stakes race to build liquefied natural gas terminals off the Baja California coast moved forward. Despite local opposition both ChevronTexaco and Sempra moved closer to starting construction in 2005.

Ten years after Operation Gatekeeper tightened the San Diego border, apprehensions of undocumented immigrants dropped sharply, from 531,689 in fiscal year 1993 to 138,608 in fiscal year 2004, which ended Sept. 30. But the program is blamed for an increase in deaths, first in Imperial County , then in Arizona , as border crossers moved into desert and mountain terrain.

-- Sandra Dibble

Middle East conflicts impact local military

Thousands of reservists were called to active duty last year. They joined tens of thousands of full-time troops from the Marines, Navy, Army and National Guard who headed from local posts to combat duty or support operations in the Middle East .

About 30,000 Marines from Camp Pendleton and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station went to war in 2004. Nearly 200 of them have died.

Camp Pendleton Marines will spearhead combat action in Iraq until spring, when they will be replaced primarily by Marines from Camp Lejeune , N.C.

On Dec. 7, President Bush visited Camp Pendleton to thank troops and their families for their sacrifices at home and abroad.

Thousands of San Diego-based sailors helped deliver troops and supplies to the Middle East .

In July, the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan arrived to make San Diego its home port, joining the carrier Nimitz. The area's third flattop, the John C. Stennis, will sail Wednesday for its new home of Bremerton , Wash.

The new year could bring major changes. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld expects to release a list of nationwide base closures by May 16.

-- Rick Rogers

Old and new mix

in downtown S.D.

In 2004, San Diego saw the future of downtown, and it looked a little like the past.

The sounds of America 's pastime -- the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd -- returned to the city's urban core after a hiatus of nearly five decades. Petco Park opened its gates March 11 to a sellout crowd for a college baseball series. The Padres' $474 million ballpark, neither futuristic nor retro, re-created the timeless feel left behind by the old Lane Field, which closed in 1957.

The park's inaugural season, which drew 3 million fans, was perhaps most noteworthy for what it didn't produce: heartburn-inducing traffic jams.

Redevelopment's relentless march broke records for new condominiums, apartments and parking structures. But, somehow, the past was always present amid the signs of progress:

[ ] The 58-year-old aircraft carrier Midway slipped into San Diego Harbor under a near-full moon in January, ready to begin a new life as a floating museum.

[ ] The city's oldest hardware store, San Diego Hardware, announced in May it was leaving downtown. The 112-year-old business opened before Fifth Avenue was even paved.

[ ] The central library on E Street celebrated its 50th anniversary with tours of its basement, which is crammed with decaying books, rare historical records and maps. Once the new main library opens by the ballpark in 2007, the old library will likely house the Family Justice Center .

-- Jonathan Heller

Tuite conviction in

6-year legal saga

Closing another chapter on a long-running legal saga, Richard Raymond Tuite was convicted in May of fatally stabbing 12-year-old Stephanie Crowe in her Escondido bedroom six years earlier.

Tuite, 35, was acquitted of murder but found guilty of voluntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to 13 years in state prison to which four years were added for his escape from a downtown courtroom after slipping his handcuffs. He is appealing his conviction.

-- John Wilkens

Housing prices rose for 9th year in row

Fueled by a strong economy, low interest rates and continued demand, San Diego County housing in 2004 experienced its ninth straight year of rising prices.

Locally based DataQuick Information Systems said the overall median price of all homes stood at $487,000 in November, a figure that was $94,000, or 23.9 percent, higher than a year earlier.

Sales of newly built and existing homes were running at near-record levels, but a slowdown in price appreciation appeared at hand toward year's end.

A backing away from the frenzied market was signaled by a drop in median prices for resale houses. In November, the median for resales stood at $515,000, down from an all-time high of $525,000 in August.

With prices out of range for many, a pent-up demand for affordable housing brought a great increase in the number of apartments being converted to condominiums.

Despite the conversions, apartment vacancies rose as renters became owners and landlords were forced to return to incentives to attract move-ins. Still, overall rents increased slightly and some tenants complained of unfair evictions.

The California Association of Realtors said San Diego-area housing prices had risen so much without corresponding growth in household incomes that its affordability index for the county dropped to a record-low 10 percent before inching up to 12 percent late in the year. The index measures the number of households able to buy a median-priced home.

-- Roger M. Showley

New School leader; College fees rise

School districts across the county welcomed new leaders and opened new schools in 2004, and college students faced higher fees.

Three new trustees elected to the San Diego school board in November promised change. The new board wants to either reverse or revise some of Superintendent Alan Bersin's initiatives. It has also begun discussions to find a replacement for Bersin, whose contract ends in mid-2006.

In the Carlsbad , Solana Beach , Rancho Santa Fe and Lakeside districts, new superintendents were hired because of retirements and departures.

California public university students faced higher fees and fewer slots for freshman applicants -- both because of a historic state budget gap.

The state's multibillion-dollar budget woes prompted the systems of University of California and Cal State , which includes San Diego State and Cal State San Marcos, to turn away thousands of freshman applicants who otherwise would have been admitted.

Public outcry over the cuts led legislators to restore millions of dollars to UC and CSU, but the last-minute offer to enroll as freshmen came too late for some students. As of August, just weeks before the start of classes, only 20 percent of the 7,800 UC applicants who were offered admission at that time enrolled.

Community college enrollments dipped slightly this academic year, officials say, because of the increase in student fees from $18 a unit to $26.

In the San Diego region, women were selected to lead five higher education institutions.

North Carolina State University Chancellor Marye Anne Fox took over at UC San Diego after Robert Dynes left the job to lead the 10-campus UC system. At Cal State San Marcos, Karen Haynes, who previously ran the University of Houston 's Victoria campus, was named the university's third president.

Constance Carroll took over as chancellor of the San Diego Community College District, replacing Augustine Gallego. Norma Hernandez, who had led Southwestern College as interim president for more than a year, was named president. And Victoria Munoz Richart has take over at MiraCosta College in Oceanside .

Also, Robert P. Deegan, formerly of Santiago Canyon College in Orange , was picked to lead Palomar College in San Marcos .

-- Helen Gao, Chris Moran, Blanca Gonzalez, Sherry Parmet, Leonel Sanchez., Eleanor Yang

GRAPHIC: 4 PICS; CAPTIONS: 1. Mayor Dick Murphy and Councilwoman Donna Frye, a write-in candidate for mayor, talked at the end of a November council meeting. Murphy was certified as the winner, though the results remain in dispute. 2. Petco Park stood out in this aerial view of downtown on opening night of the Padres' first season in the new ballpark. The venue cost $474 million and drew 3 million fans over the course of the season. 3. Sgt. Carlos Molina, a Camp Pendleton Marine, held his 4-month-old son for the first time and his 4-year-old daughter held him after he returned in March after a six-month deployment. 4. The decommissioned aircraft carrier Midway; PHOTOBY: 1. Dan Trevan / Union-Tribune 2. Howard Lipin / Union-Tribune 3. Nadia Borowski Scott / Union-Tribune

LOAD-DATE: January 3, 2005