|
 |
|
After a rocky 1998, San Diego business leaders entered 1999 — the end of the populist millennium — with a good dose of befuddlement. And why not? Endless prattling about Y2K scenarios, a headless and reeling chamber, talk of — gasp! — recession in San Diego, Clinton's problems, killer bees, even John Moores wrongly accused of reregistering as a . . . Republican! (He claims nonpartisan, actually.) OK, no shame in straddling the fence, what with the biggest Downtown redevelopment project ever to push through and the 2000 elections approaching and all. So, let's jump on this honesty bandwagon and take a cruise down Memory Lane like it’s 1999: January 4 - What a way to kick start the honesty craze in San Diego this year! Local Internet peep-show purveyor Alternative Entertainment Inc. announces that henceforth it will be known as BoysToys.com Inc. Also, its ticker symbol evolves from BOYS to GIRLZ. 5 - Men's Health magazine rates San Diego the fittest city in the country, besting the less-healthy likes of San Francisco, Denver, Seattle and Baltimore. 6 - Another day, another billion: Already lucky in love with its government contracts, Science Applications International Corp. reels in a deal with the fed's General Services Administration to provide computer systems, software and all the bells and whistles to numerous federal agencies. A 10-year contract, it is the military-brass-laden company’s most lucrative to date at a breathtaking $25 billion.
8 - Cox Communications says it has corralled its 500,000th customer - the seventh cable provider nationwide to do so, but California's first. 11 - Daou Systems' stock hopscotches 16 percent after announcing a $100 million deal to provide computer systems to a Nevada health care provider. Last year, Daou executives were ducking analysts. This week, its stock is up 42 percent.
Want ad of the day: "Tireless wirehead, seeking many headaches for modest pay at $160,000 overseeing the city of San Diego’s wacky computer systems. Must be painfully diplomatic but prepared to realign city's archaic, 20-year marriage with San Diego Data Processing Corp. Answer to city manager, whose plate is gaining weight rapidly." County Taxpayers Association's lanky bulldog, Scott Barnett, titters: "This looks like the usual halfhearted city way of dealing with an issue instead of following the bold initiatives like the county is using and going to the private sector." OK, this honesty thing is getting a little thick. 12 - After six years as San Diego’s top cop, Jerry Sanders shocks City Hall by saying he’ll step down as police chief to take over the reins at the local United Way. "If I can’t give it 100 percent every day, if I can only give it 98 percent, that’s not enough," Sanders reflects. 13 - Mayor Golding delivers... her State of the City address. On a Downtown public library: "This is the year to get the job done." And a neener-neener to opponents: "It was a year indeed when reason and progress were victorious over cynicism and stagnation." Roger Hedgecock's radio show on KOGO is moved to the afternoon drive time slot. One more thing to curse at during rush hour. On the downside for Roger fans, he also is booted from his commentary post at KUSI-TV. Anti-Clinton vitriol is blamed. 14 - Cytel Corp.'s stock jumps 260 percent on word that the company may have discovered a promising AIDS vaccine.
San Diego-based Virtual Gaming Technologies says its Antigua subsidiary is accepting bets from outside the United States on President Clinton's political future. 19 - Yahoo for MP3.com, San Diego’s Internet digital-music distributor and Public Enemy No. 1 of the record industry. Sequoia Capital - financial backers for such high-tech biggies as Apple, Yahoo! and 3Com - will invest $11 million in the popular Web site company. In response to spotty performance of its Internet service, Gateway sues provider Web America Networks and signs with MCI WorldCom's subsidiary, UUNET. 20 - Ahh, more honesty, this time from South Bay's would-be king, David Malcolm, extolling the virtues of a second runway at Lindbergh Field: "Stop and think about it. Where's the mayor and city council on this issue? Have you heard from them?" Byron Wear would ask if Malcom's been listening . Beautiful eyes or not, state examiners seize financial records of Dr. Leventhal's Vision Care Centers of America, based in San Diego, and name a Los Angeles attorney to review the company’s fiscal health. A modest rainstorm leads to 240 auto accidents on county freeways and roads - in a two-hour period. The autobody folks say thanks! 25 - Local mega-size laser printer maker Encad sues giant Hewlett-Packard for allegedly selling its large printers below cost to kill off the competition. February 2 - Citing losses in its infrastructure division said to be approaching $30 million a quarter, Qualcomm issues layoff notices to 700 of its employees, from senior management on down - the largest such reduction in the company’s history. 4 - The Port District agrees to pay $20.5 million for Western Salt, H.G. Fenton Co.'s 1,400-acre production spread in the South Bay, to create what will become Southern California's biggest bay wildlife refuge - and to gain mitigation credits for future Lindbergh Field expansion.
15 - It’s bigger! It’s cozier! San Diego Padre execs pull the wraps off the latest ballpark model - up in capacity from 42,000 to 46,000, with additional low, field-hugging seats and double-decker bleachers peering over right and left fields. 16 - All that glitters is not Golding: Pouring cold water on Mayor Golding's Downtown library plans for anticipated tobacco-settlement money, County Supervisors vote unanimously to earmark the funds - which could reach $945 million - to reducing tobacco-related health problems. Back to TOT-land for the library. 17 - Slammer for the scammers: former Higgs, Fletcher & Mack partner Steven R. Jones is sentenced to 41 months in jail for running American Mortgage Funding, which a judge found to be nothing more than a Ponzi-style scam. The same day, Poway's Gary H. Wiles II is given four months for his involvement in a $1.2 million check-kiting scheme that targeted Scripps Bank. 18 - Mega-holding company U.S. Bancorp says it will acquire Bank of Commerce, one of the few locally-based banks remaining. Sale price: $306 million. BoC top dog Peter Q. Davis says he’ll stay on until Dec. 3, 2000 - the eve of the next mayoral inauguration. San Diego Gas & Electric, flush with profits from the sale of its power generators, says it will cut local power rates by at least 10 percent by summer. 24 - Gateway ups the ante in the personal computer sales business by offering a year of free Internet service with a PC purchase of more than $1,000. 25 - Boomtown for tourists: ConVis reports that 1998 was the best year to date for tourism, which brought $4.7 billion into the local economy. That's why Reint Reinders is smiling. March 1 - Mike Madigan begins his new role as ballpark czar. He is convinced the park can be completed by 2002, but adds, "it is a heavily front-loaded project." The New York Times reports that federal agents arrested a Chinese national at a fiber-optics conference in San Diego after he attempted to purchase sensitive components for missile-guidance systems. 2 - Hoping to give the two wireless-phone titans more time to reach a settlement, a federal judge in Texas delays a patent-infringement trial between Qualcomm and Sweden's Ericsson. Hewlett-Packard execs assure workers at the computer maker's San Diego manufacturing facility that their jobs are secure despite HP's decision to split into two companies. 3 - Back to square one: Barely half of voters - nowhere near the two-thirds needed - support a 1/4 percent sales tax increase to pay for upgrades at 79 branch libraries countywide. A federal judge fines Southwest Marine $799,000 for polluting San Diego Bay. The bayside property it leases, the judge said, was now "devoid of life." Southwest folks blamed the pollution on a previous tenant. 4 - A promise to remember: Mayor Golding and city officials join top brass from Sempra Energy, Pacific Bell, Cox Communications, the Port District, a couple of banks and the FDIC to declare San Diego Y2K-ready. 8 - On the Roger Hedgecock Show, Steve Brezzo says he is rescinding his resignation as director of the San Diego Museum of Art. "Not," as it later turns out. Coming off a weekend when he proclaimed his Internet music Web site "the next MTV, except it will grow bigger," MP3.com founder Michael Robertson hints again at an IPO sometime this year.
An old/new telecom dealer comes to town: NextLink Communications of Washington, which was founded here by Qualcomm execs and others years ago, opens up a facility in San Diego. 12 - Killer bees arrive in San Diego County - one is found in Fallbrook, another in Tierrasanta. No word if they knew each other.
20 - Click, snap, click. Legoland, the county's newest theme park and first in a quarter century, opens its doors. 23 - Baseball commissioner Bud Selig comes to town on a fact-finding tour and urges, not surprisingly, quick completion of the Downtown ballpark project. A local paper documents the visit with an odd photograph of Padres prez Larry Lucchino attempting to button Selig's jacket. Gateway head and blues freak Ted Waitt joins the board at MP3.com, which the maverick billionaire suggests is "leading the revolution in the digital distribution of music, and I’m thrilled to play a supporting role." 24 - The American Electronics Association gives California a D+ for its efforts in producing qualified workers for high-tech jobs. E-commerce, however, receives an A. Pacific Cortez Securities, formerly La Jolla Capital Corp., is barred from selling penny stocks for violating securities laws. 25 - On with 3G technology: After wrangling for three years, Qualcomm and Ericsson bury the hatchet by announcing the settlement of several patent disputes and the sale of Qualcomm's terrestrial wireless infrastructure division to the Swedish rival, which will gain a foothold in San Diego under the deal. Trade wonks breathe a collective sigh of relief. Stock prices for Qualcomm and network spinoff Leap Wireless take off.
The average apartment rent in San Diego County rises to an all-time high of $821. A coup for Qualcomm and company: China reverses itself and says it will approve the use of CDMA technology there. 30 - San Diego biotech Cytel Corp. lays off nearly half of its 54 employees after clinical trials fail for its premiere drug. The company says it will focus on another drug in development and likely rename the company to reflect the new direction. Thanks, but no thanks: Just days after a pipe bomb explodes near his La Jolla home, Steve Brezzo is removed as director of the San Diego Museum of Art. Two finalists are still in the running. 31 - After some last-minute dickering, the City Council votes to embrace the mother of all local redevelopment projects, the $1.1 billion, 26-block Ballpark District. Match made in auto-shop heaven: Local lubricant maker WD-40 buys the Lava soap product line. April 8 - Interim chief exec Thomas L. Horgan is named president and CEO of Maxwell Technologies Inc. 9 - The city's Library Commission recommends building a new main library in the North Embarcadero area. After years of neglect, grading begins at the old General Dynamics site in Kearny Mesa. The 232-acre eyesore is now known as San Diego Spectrum. 12 - Titan's stock price jumps 30 percent before it announces a deal with meat producers to pasteurize electronically about half of the 8 billion pounds of ground beef produced annually with its SureBeam technology. 13 - Chilean connection: Sempra Energy and Leap Wireless announce acquisitions in their respective fields in the South American country - Leap for a reported $50 million, Sempra at $830 million. Solar Turbines receives top honors from the California Manufacturers Association as manufacturer of the year. Who says gas turbine engines aren’t sexy? 14 - Qualcomm's board declares a two-for-one stock split. Since December, the company’s stock has climbed from the mid-$50s to a shade shy of $158.
20 - The city's energy-efficient Ridgehaven Building is awarded the nation's first Energy Star Award from the EPA and Department of Energy. 30 - One of San Diego’s more notable Internet providers, Simply Internet, is sold to SkyLynx Communications of Fort Lauderdale for stock and cash. Zippin' outta here: Iomega, maker of the popular PC Zip data storage drives, announces plans to close its San Diego facility and consolidate all work at its Utah headquarters - but no plans for its 140 employees. May 3 - Local growth experts confirm San Diego’s place as the second largest city in California, and also second fastest-growing city. 4 - Former San Francisco newspaper advertising exec and state PUC member Jessie J. Knight Jr. is chosen to run the embattled Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce. "I’m not trying to build Rome in a day; I do plan to be here for a number of years," Knight shines, but then shows his armor: "I had enough time to know what I was getting into." His undergraduate work in psychology no doubt will come in handy. 5 - Set for completion by September 2001, the expanded Convention Center already has attracted 59 conventions worth $1.2 billion to the local economy, Mayor Golding boasts. A dozen nurses picket outside Hillcrest's UCSD Medical Center, protesting low wages and dwindling staff. 10 - The U.S. Justice Department approves the Qualcomm-Ericsson settlement. 11 - Qualcomm cuts a $120 million, 12-month deal to sell its CDMA phones to US West. 13 - The stock of La Jolla Pharmaceutical falls through the floor after the biotech halts a major clinical trial of a lupus drug. Gateway says it will invest $200 million for an undisclosed stake in CMGi, major shareholder of the Lycos search site. When arch rival Compaq gets a CMGi stake, the deal dies. 17 - Larry Prior, the county's chief administrative officer, leaves after two-plus rocky but financially healthier years to head up High Technology Solutions, a private Kearny Mesa computer firm catering to the military. His No. 2, Walt Ekard, takes over. 18 - The last of the local home electronics chains, Dow Stereo/Video is acquired by Boston-based Tweeter Home Entertainment Group for $5.5 million in cash and stock. Dow was first in the nation last year to unveil the new high-definition television sets.
26 - The NFL announces that San Diego will host the Super Bowl in 2003, originally awarded to San Francisco but revoked after it became clear a new stadium would not be ready in time. The rosy estimate of economic impact: $295 million. 27 - Defense giant Northrop Grumman says it will buy San Diego-based Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical, maker of unmanned spycraft, for $140 million cash. Former Padre John D'Acquisto is sentenced to 55 months in the federal pen for running an investment scheme. June 1 - He's baaaack: Showing that they like working with thorns in their sides, Port Commissioners unanimously back Douglas Manchester's plans for a 1,200-room, $255 million hotel on the Campbell shipyard site. As is the style in San Diego, financing details to be figured out later.
Well, if you can’t beat 'em, buy 'em out: Tossing one high and inside, Padres owner John Moores' new realty arm, JMI Realty, goes boatyard shopping and, lo and behold, takes control of the Campbell Shipyard property. Squeeze play on the fiery Manchester. 8 - An appeals court tosses out conspiracy charges against former Superior Court judges James Malkus and Dennis Adams and attorney Patrick Frega in a gifts-for-favors scheme, citing erroneous information given to the jury. Mail fraud charges remain, as does a racketeering charge against Frega. 9 - Cox Enterprises, parent of the cable giant, invests $45 million into MP3.com to create music distribution Web sites. 12 - Yet another area code crops up in San Diego: this time the very forgettable 858. Printing businesses may be the only folks happy about the change. 15 - About 1,000 music enthusiasts and technogeeks converge on UCSD for the second annual MP3 Summit. The international crowd hears digital music's point man and summit host Michael Robertson proclaim: "What we are seeing now is democratic access to the music marketplace." Free-speech advocate and former Grateful Dead songwriter John Perry Barlow blasts the outmoded record industry: "They are trying to sell wine by the sip, not the bottle. You cannot own free speech." Bank of Commerce shareholders approve the U.S. Bancorp takeover. 16 - Son of a Buck: Charles B. "CJ" Buck takes over for father Charles T. "Chuck" Buck as president of El Cajon's pride and joy, 97-year-old Buck Knives. Chuck remains on as chairman and CEO. 17 - The East Village is the focus of a one-hour History Channel documentary titled "America's Most Endangered." 21 - Swing and a miss: A Superior Court judge halts the $1 billion ballpark redevelopment project until completion of an environmental impact report. Sempra Energy and Colorado natural-gas supplier KN Energy call off their $6 billion marriage, citing financial woes at KN. 22 - After several fits and starts, the City Council selects local builder Corky McMillin Cos. to redevelop the Naval Training Center in Point Loma. 29 - WebSideStory, a local firm that monitors Internet traffic, gets a $30 million boost from prominent venture capitalists Summit Partners and TA Associates. July 6 - Bowing to competitive pressures, Sony says it is getting out of the North American wireless phone business, a move that will affect about 200 jobs at its Rancho Bernardo campus. 14 - Leap Wireless names a president: Susan Swenson, formerly president and CEO of Cellular One, an Airtouch/Vodafone-AT&T Wireless joint venture. John Moores and UCSD Chancellor Robert Dynes join Leap's board. 15 - Local electronics manufacturer Cohu selects president and CEO Charles Schwan as chairman to succeed William S. Ivans, killed in a glider accident.
21 - What a wild ride: On its first day of trading, shares in local Internet music distributor MP3.com soar 270 percent at the opening bell and close near $64, more than doubling its opening price. Market value after a day approaches $4 billion. CEO Robertson becomes San Diego’s newest paper billionaire. Wireless carrier Sprint PCS signs a deal to buy $400 million worth of Qualcomm wireless phones, including its anticipated Internet-friendly Thin Phone and pdQ smartphone. 22 - Presiding Superior Court Judge Wayne L. Peterson tosses out misconduct allegations made by the county Grand Jury against Mayor Golding, then blasts the Grand Jury. August 2 - Sibia Neurosciences, spawned from the Salk Institute in the '70s, agrees to be purchased by pharmaceutical goliath Merck for $87 million. 6 - The Centre City Development Corp. contracts with the San Diego Regional Technology Alliance to come up with a way to develop the kind of high-technology hub Downtown found in San Francisco, Boston and New York. Most fingers point to the Ballpark District as a logical site.
16 - PricewaterhouseCoopers reports that venture capitalists poured a record $178 million into local businesses during the second quarter - still only the 11th-ranked region in the United States. Silicon Valley attracted $2.7 billion during the same period. 17 - If ya got it, flaunt it: Several top Qualcomm execs sell off $40 million worth of stock. Top seller: Vice Chair Andrew Viterbi at about $31.4 million. 18 - A company without its namesake - company co-founder Daniel Daou resigns from Daou Systems to "pursue other opportunities." He and his brother George founded the information system firm in 1987.
20 - Geico, Warren Buffett's auto insurance direct seller, announces plans to pump more than 1,000 employees into its San Diego operations in the next 18 months. Los Angeles architect Jon Jerde, mastermind of Horton Plaza, is out, and local firm Carrier Johnson is in as lead architect of the ballpark redevelopment project. 23 - For the first time in a decade, the Downtown highrise vacancy rate drops below 10 percent. 26 - Accused of playing fast with the figures, the Padres open up their financial books to show that, despite bringing home the National League pennant in 1998, the team claimed a $16 million loss. 30 - A local federal judge partially sides with Qualcomm in its ongoing legal squabble with rival Motorola. The judge rules that while similar, Qualcomm's clamshell Q phone does not infringe on patents for Motorola's StarTac handset. September 7 - Monsanto Co. agrees to sell off its San Diego-based Kelco Alginates subsidiary - the kelp-to-additive folks - to New Jersey chemical firm International Specialty Products. 10 - So, traffic's not only a pain in the keester, it’s costly: Transportation California reports that San Diego - with the eighth worst traffic congestion problem nationwide - loses $1.2 billion annually due to traffic, with the average driver spending 38 hours a year bumper-to-bumper. 14 - With its stock price down 20 percent in two weeks, Qualcomm floats the idea of selling its phone manufacturing unit, which accounted for nearly half of the company’s revenue last year. Thousands of employees could be affected. La Jolla Pharmaceuticals loses its partnership with Abbott Laboratories on a lupus drug and announces a workforce reduction of 40 percent.
17 - Avanir Pharmaceuticals, which had its cold sore cream rejected twice this year by the FDA, is delisted by Nasdaq. 20 - Maybe a hot dog sales guarantee this time? Former city manager Jack McGrory, who once categorized debate on the ill-conceived Chargers ticket guarantee as "nothing more than an irrational political discussion," jumps from his Price Enterprises job back into the frying pan as the Padres' new exec VP and COO. Call him the grease on the squeaky wheel of Downtown ballpark plans.
22 - Neopoint of La Jolla, maker of sleek Internet-ready phones, signs with AirTouch. 24 - Oops. Milberg Weiss et al say they won’t be suing over Pokemon, seeing that one of the defendants - 4Kids Entertainment - is a client. Honest mistake. 27 - Local preservationists convince Padres execs to save 10 of 11 historic buildings in the proposed redevelopment district. Only the old SDG&E building will be leveled. 30 - Qualcomm says it might follow its spinoff Leap Wireless and pull out of the Russian wireless market, citing millions in potential write-offs. Wells Fargo says it will acquire Escondido-based North County Bancorp for $112 million in stock. October 4 - Foodmaker Inc. officially changes its name to Jack in the Box Inc. and says it plans to expand beyond the West Coast. 5 - Poway-based Internet money-managing firm IPivot, a Titan spinoff, is bought by semiconductor colossus Intel for $500 million cash. 7 - It went nowhere as an upscale retail site Downtown, but the Paladion now ends up in the hands of American Specialty Health Plans, which will occupy the building after an $8 million conversion to office space. 11 - Speaking of renovations, the landmark Hotel del Coronado starts a $50 million makeover. Major changes: air conditioning and a strolling garden to replace some ocean-side tennis courts. 13 - Good news, bad news: A jury awards fired Lidak Pharmaceuticals CEO David Katz $6.7 million in his defamation suit, but it also awards the company - now Avanir Pharmaceuticals - $9 million for Katz's breach of fiduciary duty. The state Coastal Commission refuses to grant the U.S. Navy permission to homeport two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in San Diego until the Navy proves it has addressed community concerns. 14 - Ohio-based Cedar Fair, parent company of several amusement parks including Knott's Berry Farm, says it will buy Chula Vista's financially troubled White Water Canyon water park and 32 acres next to it for future expansion. 18 - San Diego local Robert Payne, owner of the Mission Valley Hilton and Hanalei hotels, donates $1.1 million to his alma mater, San Diego State University, to establish a degree program in hospitality and tourism. 20 - America Online, the nation's most popular Internet service provider, announces it will invest $800 million over two years in Gateway. AOL becomes the chosen provider for Gateway, and Gateway is anointed as AOL's preferred PC. Gateway's stock soars to a record high. 25 - Too many chefs: Under new president Jessie Knight's guidance, the Chamber votes to cut its unwieldy board in half within two years. Rancho Santa Fe National Bank and Indian Wells first Community Bank of the Desert agree to merge to create a $300 million company. 26 - Now that’s outsourcing! County supervisors unanimously approve a record seven-year, $644 million contract to transfer responsibility for the county's information technology services. As a result, about 350 county employees will be transferred to the winning bidder, El Segundo-based Computer Sciences Corp. The team of subcontractors includes Pacific Bell, Lucent Technologies and - no surprise - the king of local communications bidders, SAIC. The City Council - with Councilwoman Judy McCarty opposed - certifies the ballpark redevelopment district's environmental impact report, which concludes that little can be done to resolve traffic and noise concerns. General Instrument, local pioneers of high-definition television, wins its sixth Technical Achievement Emmy for its efforts in making digital transmissions more efficient. November 1 - Jenny Craig hits the treadmill: The local weight loss company says it will close 86 underperforming diet centers and cut 15 percent of its workforce as business slows. Three heads better than one? With business slowing, Maxwell Technologies CEO Thomas Horgan resigns and is replaced by a three-member committee.
The San Diego City Council nearly implodes deciding 5-4 that Pepsi, not Coke, will be the city's official soda - for a payment of roughly $2 million a year to city coffers.
5 - San Diego-based Excel Legacy Corp. completes its acquisition of the Price Enterprises REIT for $118 million. Excel is angling to build a National Hockey League arena in Scottsdale, Ariz. Jack McGrory, the former Excel CEO, and before that San Diego city manager, now leads Padre efforts for a Downtown ballpark. 8 - Qualcomm, its stock heading for the stratosphere, unveils HDR, its new technology that is promoted as the future of fast, wireless Internet connections, near cable modem speeds. Execs say it will be available in two years. Founder Irwin Jacobs proclaims: "The wireless phone for many people will become the computer." Stock price keeps rolling toward $320, putting the company’s market value at more than $51 billion. Dynatech completes its acquisition of San Diego-based Applied Digital Access. 9 - Positive results of its diabetes drug propel the stock price of Amylin Pharmaceuticals up by 23 percent. The City Council approves two major hotel projects proposed by John Moores' JMI Realty for the ballpark district. 10 - William Mudge, who in 1997 took the helm of Golden Eagle Insurance after its takeover by Liberty Mutual, joins the Internet crowd. He's now president and CEO of start-up ConfirmNet, a firm that seeks to spur the insurance industry through e-commerce. Avanir Pharmaceuticals finally receives approval from the FDA to sell its cold sore cream over the counter. Gateway couldn’t explain it, but its stock hits a record high - a shade shy of $76. 11 - Molecular Biosystems, one of the old guard in San Diego biotechs, is gobbled up by Palatin Technologies of New Jersey for $30 million. San Diego operations will be closed down and most workers laid off after 19 years and two approved products that went nowhere marketwise. Another multimillionaire comes to town: famed hip-hop artist Percy Miller, aka Master P, signs to play for San Diego’s new basketball team, the Stingrays, this winter for the newly formed eight-team International Basketball League. Fortune magazine puts his wealth in the neighborhood of $360 million. 12 - Labor figures are in, and for the first time since the '50s, San Diego’s unemployment rate drops below 3 percent, to 2.9 percent in October. The bulk of new jobs, however, are low-tech, low-wage. Qualcomm shares, meanwhile, keep rising - to an incredible $378 - when J.P. Morgan sings its praises and says $460 isn’t impossible. Honest? |
7 - Who? Oregon State's Mike Riley is tapped as the new head coach for the San Diego Chargers. Interim coach June Jones heads to the University of Hawaii, poor guy.
Patricia McQuater takes the gavel from David Malcolm as the new Port Commission chair. She quickly proclaims: "I’m not going to offer bold initiatives because we already have a lot of balls in the air." Honest, if not bold.
15 - Padres owner John Moores discloses his intention to buy half of mega-commercial broker John Burnham & Co. Burnham calls it a blend of the "old and new guards." Moores, a transplant from overdeveloped Houston, terms San Diego a "substantially underdeveloped city."
Solar Turbines receives from President Clinton the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award in honor of improved efficiency toward global competitiveness. Hands down, the biggest honor of the year for any San Diego company.
11 - Sempra Energy agrees to sell more than 11 acres to Downtown ballpark developers for $24 million.
18 - Qualcomm's phone-making joint venture with Sony, Qualcomm Personal Electronics, ships its 10-millionth digital handset.
29 - Just short of an April 1 deadline and to show he means business, Padres owner John Moores says he’ll bankroll all 850 hotel rooms to be built in the Ballpark District, and also promises, if necessary, to back the $200 million, 1,006-room Westin Hotel on the Campbell shipyard property.
15 - Well, forget Employer of the Year: Solar Turbines cuts 100 full-time jobs and says it plans to eliminate 500 more. A decrease in oil prices is blamed.
21 - Wall Street says yum to fish tacos: Shares in Rubio's Restaurants' IPO jump 44 percent on its opening day with 3.2 million sold.
4 - The county Grand Jury accuses the mayor and City Council members of strong-arming the support of the Hotel-Motel and County Taxpayers Association for Prop. C, the ballot measure for the Downtown ballpark. Golding calls the report on the alleged political shenanigans "a very political document." City Attorney Casey Gwinn tosses around words like "libelous."
16 - His bank deal complete, former Bank of Commerce chairman and CEO Peter Q. Davis announces his intention to run for mayor.
Sign of the times: Seau's The Restaurant completes conversion of its cigar lounge into a sushi bar.
Marking the one-year anniversary of its corporate move from South Dakota to San Diego, Gateway gives KPBS a $200,000 grant for a new broadcasting tower and digital antenna.
15 - The sure bet is - don’t drink and drive. Callaway Golf severs its endorsement contract with PGA golfer John Daly after he declines treatment for his alcohol and gambling addictions.
21 - Class-action warrior Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach takes aim at Nintendo, claiming its popular Pokemon card game is nothing more than illicit gambling. Pokemon proponents say "hogwash."
2 - Potential agricultural nightmare: Two Mexican fruit flies are found in Fallbrook. An 81-square-mile area is quarantined and spraying begins. Meanwhile, the Chargers' biggest pest, Ryan Leaf, is suspended for yelling at GM Bobby Beathard.
3 - Boosted into overdrive by unanticipated profits and news of a pending four-for-one stock split, shares of Qualcomm stock rise to a record $260.50.
Home | Features | Info | Cover Story | About Us | Back Issues
