New Economy

This is an independent opinion. Have one of your own? Email it to hoa@ivn.us.

This is an independent opinion in response to a commentary published on Sept. 16, titled “Agreement on Short-Term Rentals Will Boost San Diego’s Tourism Economy.” Have an opinion of your own? Email it to hoa@ivn.us‍

There was a line out the door in January when Savy and Tam Huynh opened Pho on the Go, a restaurant steps away from the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. With 17 million people crossing the border each year, 3.4 million on foot, the couple saw potential in the often-forgotten part of San Diego County.  

In a dramatic move to tackle climate change, Gov. Gavin Newsom today ordered state officials to ban new gasoline-powered cars within 15 years.

This is an independent opinion. Have one of your own? Write it! Email it to hoa@ivn.us

California’s early 20th century reformers sought to thwart an obviously corrupt political system that benefited entrenched interests and ignored the larger public.

Their reforms included ways for voters to bypass the system through direct ballot box action — the initiative, the recall and the referendum.

This is an independent commentary. Have your own opinion? Write it! Email it to hoa@ivn.us

On the sidewalks throughout San Diego, you may have noticed that booths have set up shop and started selling goods. Sometimes it takes the form of t-shirts. Often it’s a sizzling grill. Maybe you will see crystals or someone’s art. But there is no mistaking that commerce now exists where once only public use was allowed. 

Aaron Trites says he’s always known he wanted to open his own comic book store someday. That day arrived in December 2018 when he opened the doors of Now or Never Comics in downtown San Diego, just a 20-minute walk from the Convention Center. It was better than he’s ever imagined.

“San Diego is an amazing comic book city,” said Trites. “July of last year was far and away my best month; not just for the few days of Comic-Con, it was the entire month — business was gangbusters.”

Before 2020, Court Jones and his wife, Debbie Burmeister, said they thrived in the arts industry, finding an abundance of work in drawing live, digital caricatures at parties and trade shows. But when Jan. 1 rolled around, the couple said their careers became complicated with the pandemic and Assembly Bill 5, a new law that limits how much work an independent contractor can perform before being classified as an employee.

Tracy Tran’s years of savings are gone. Most went into the nearly $13,500 monthly rent she says she’s been paying for her shuttered business since March, when coronavirus public health orders forced her to close. La Orquidea Salon and Spa has been sitting empty ever since on busy North Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos. So have most of the state’s roughly 11,000 other nail salons.

This is an independent opinion. Want to respond? Write your own commentary! Email hoa@ivn.us.

Many business owners ask me about the pros and cons of taking a public position on a recent political issue or current event. The Black Lives Matter movement, for example, had San Diego executives wondering if they should say something on their social media properties, in a press release, or on their website about supporting the end of systematic racial injustice. 

I say sure, but with a caveat.