A Homeless Problem. . .

i On San Diego

BAD NEWS: The San Diego Union-Tribune’s latest rounds of cost-cutting and job-cutting went wide and deep. December cuts came in circulation, advertising and business departments, but the ones destined to have the greatest impact on readers came in the newsroom. Among some 40 editorial employees taking the newspaper’s buyout offer: veterans Mark Sauer, Kelly Thornton, Alison da Rosa, Lisa Petrillo, Maria Hunt, Michael Kinsman and Diane Lindquist, whose collective San Diego memory bank will be sorely missed. But it turned out that was not enough. In January, management began to lay off many who opted not to take the December buyout. Affected were another 10 newsroom employees, including longtime movie critic David Elliott. In total, the newspaper has shed 10 percent of its workforce. By way of explanation, U-T president Gene Bell said, “Never in our history have we faced revenue losses as dramatic as those of the last 12 months.” Meanwhile, more than a few of the newly unemployed reporters and editors have already begun rebuilding careers. A first step: the organization of a mutual support group. They call themselves “The Orphans.”

SAN DIEGO SHUFFLE: Yes, you can still find some real news in among the celebrity detox alerts you find on much of what passes for news on TV these days. NBC 7/39 has committed to a local, weekly series this election year called Politically Speaking, with veteran reporter Gene Cubbison leading the 6 p.m. Saturday show and guests like lobbyist/political junkie John Dadian. The show’s primary targets: elected officials and their campaign contributors . . . Last month, San Diego cracked The New York Times’ list of “53 Places to Go in 2008.” This month, it’s Condé Nast Traveler’s Concierge.com, out with an “It List” of the top 10 must-visit destinations of 2008, putting San Diego in heady company with Mozambique, Paris and Hainan Island (China) . . . Anthology, the ambitious jazz supper club, is making some beautiful music in Little Italy. But something apparently hit a sour note in the kitchen. Executive chef Jim Phillips and several of his attendant chefs are out. And Bradley Ogden, the internationally acclaimed chef who created the Anthology menu, is, as they say, taking a more active role in the kitchen.

WHERE THERE’S SMOKE: It may be somewhat drastic, and certainly pricy, but new research out of the UCSD School of Medicine has a novel suggestion for quitting smoking: Move to San Diego. The study, based on smoking patterns of Asian immigrants to San Diego from China and Korea (where about two-thirds of adult men smoke), shows them far more likely to quit cigarettes when living where it’s socially unacceptable. The key: social pressure. In San Diego, only 14 percent of all adults smoke. That’s a full third fewer smokers than the U.S. average of 21 percent. And that’s a lot of social pressure.

ITEMIZED: The writers’ strike that crippled network TV and the movies has had its fallout in San Diego, too. Production here traditionally slows at year’s end, says San Diego Film Commission CEO Cathy Anderson. With the strike, she says, “everything is paralyzed.” One saving grace: reality TV projects. Luxlife, the pilot for a new reality show, was filming at the Ivy Hotel in January. Real Housewives of Orange County shot an episode at the Stingaree nightclub and U.S. Grant penthouse suite . . . Conny McCormack, the unflappable San Diego County registrar of voters from 1987 to 1994, retires this month as registrar of voters and county clerk of Los Angeles County. In San Diego, McCormack managed elections for 1.3 million voters. In L.A., she handled the largest electoral jurisdiction in the country, with 4 million voters, 5,000 precincts, 88 cities, 100 school districts and 149 special districts . . . En Dev’s ambitious and long-awaited Universal nightclub and Dish restaurant in Hillcrest has been pushed back to a mid-March opening.

THE NEWS NOSE: Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfus has been in San Diego working on a new documentary TV series. Among his stops: Lestat’s coffeehouse in Normal Heights, where he interviewed guests and employees on camera. He’s due to return this month . . . Canada-based, no-frills Zoom Airlines launches twice-weekly nonstop service between San Diego and London (Gatwick) starting in May——the first such service since British Airways bailed out of our market five years ago. The lowest fare on Zoom: £449. (If that sounds like a bargain, remember to do the math: That’s about 900 U.S. dollars.) . . . After six months on the market, rock-star guitarist Slash’s 5,500-square-foot Hollywood Hills mansion has been unloaded. List price: $6 million——reduced from $7 million. The buyer: San Diego Padres relief pitcher Randy Wolf.

QUOTEWORTHY? “Year in and year out, this is a very good team. But good doesn’t cut it. Just like the Patriots this year, the Chargers don’t deserve any respect until they win a championship. Championships are all that matters. You know, unless we’re talking about a period from 1983 to 1995 when I coached Dan Marino.”——former Dolphins coach Don Shula on the San Diego Chargers’ fortunes.

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