Month: November 2011

Several hundred San Diegans marched and rallied in downtown San Diego yesterday (Nov 5, 2011) against Bank of America. It was Bank Transfer Day, and as hundreds of thousands of Americans withdraw their monies from the large banks, locals too were closing their accounts.

Sponsored by Occupy San Diego, MoveOn and Veterans for Peace, a crowd gathered at the Civic Center Plaza about 10:30 in the morning. The Plaza has been the site on the on-going Occupy San Diego movement as it enters the anniversary of its first month.

By Credit Union National Association / November 4, 2011

WASHINGTON (11/4/11)–At least 650,000 consumers across the nation have joined credit unions in the past four weeks, reflecting consumers’ reactions to rising fees at banks, according to a survey by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA).

They have joined credit unions since Sept. 29, when Bank of America (BofA) unveiled its plans to charge $5 a month for debit cards. The public outcry the past month has forced BofA and other big banks to reconsider their debit fees.

Editor: Today’s San Diego U-T ran a nice series of portraits by Matthew T. Hall of seven of the occupiers of Occupy San Diego, accompanied by excellent photos by U-T staff photographer K.C. Alfred. The piece is much more sympathetic to our own Occupy Wall Street protesters than the standard fare from the U-T. And Hall, at least, has spent some time out on the quad and at bank actions in an sincere effort to get to know just who is doing the daily occupying.

By Matthew T. Hall / San Diego U-T SignOnSanDiego / November 4 – 6, 2011

On Monday, the Occupy San Diego movement will mark a milestone many locals may not have seen coming: Its first month of occupation.

True to the word’s double meaning, camping out on downtown city property has become a job for dozens of demonstrators who protest corporate greed and economic inequality by day, and sleep (or not) outside the Civic Theatre at night.

This week’s news of the movement takes place against the backdrop of two reports also released this week that detail how the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer .” We knew that already. Now we can update our signs…

The leading story is Occupy Oakland’s successful general strike and temporary port shutdown this past Wednesday. Estimates are all over the map about how many people participated over the course of the day to protest the violent eviction of Occupiers and wounding of an Iraq War vet by police during the previous week. Check out this raw chopper video of the march to the port and do a head count yourself!

SAN DIEGO—Several groups, including MoveOn.org, Veterans for Peace, the Gray Panthers, and Occupy San Diego will be holding a “Death of the American Dream” mock funeral outside of Gaslamp Bank of America, 455 Island Ave. at noon.

The rally is part of the national bank transfer day (www.banktransferday.org), in which customers are urged to move their money out of banks and into community credit unions.

Protestors want Centre City Coffee and Brooklyn Dogs to reopen and set new business records Occupy San Diego will not…

Occupy San Diego to Promote Bank Transfer Day, November 5 – Group plans to march through downtown San Diego

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Saturday, November 5th at 10:30 AM, Occupy San Diego is holding a Big Banks Funeral March from the Civic Center to Petco Park to Bank of America, to stand in solidarity with National Bank Transfer Day and to encourage people to switch from large Banks to Credit Unions. TARP bailouts, illegal foreclosures and government bribery are out of control and the Occupation Movement is sending a message that American citizens will not take it any longer.

“SDG&E exemplifies the hypocritical worst of the One Percent: higher profits, higher rates and disregard for lives.” – Kim Hamilton, Deerhorn Valley Antler editor

By Miriam Raftery / East County Magazine / November 3, 2011

Rural East County residents are furious over a power-shut down yesterday while a 600-acre wildfire in Mexico threatened to jump the border. The night before, some residents received a warning from SDG&E that the utility intended to shut off power due to a red flag alert signaling severe fire danger.

Editor: The following piece by Ernie McCray ran in today’s Op-Ed section of the San Diego U-T, as Ernie is a member of their Community Dialog partnership. Yet, we couldn’t find it online today.

More and more people are assessing the “Occupy Movement” with statements like: “We don’t think their way is working” or “There’s no single leader” or “It’s anti-capitalism.”

Now who can say at this stage of the movement what’s working or not working? Besides, there wasn’t a single leader in the Great Civil Rights Movement until Martin came along. And how does pretty much labeling something as Un-American promote positive social change?

But, we might consider that all the finite organizing that some think the movement should be doing, with clear goals and objectives and the like, under the guidance of some master leader who can, without bashing capitalism, articulate that we simply need a little more justice and decent paying jobs – well, maybe this is not for Occupy to do alone.

The City’s position is pretty damn clear- Occupy San Diego is a threat to business and business must be protected at all costs and above all other things such as protected freedom of speech and the right to assemble. While City Council President Tony Young has not responded to Occupy San Diego’s request for a resolution despite three weeks of an Occupy presence at council and myriad phone calls, the City has moved remarkably quickly to “help vendors displaced by Occupy San Diego.”

by Alex Kreit / Two Cathedrals / November 4, 2011

As you may have seen, Bonnie Dumanis issued a statement Wednesday “clarifying [her] position on medical marijuana.” (This was linked to a page on Ms. Dumanis’ website that has since been removed) The statement articulates a reasonable — even admirable — position that seems designed to appeal to the moderate voters she’s trying to court. In it, Dumanis claims that she “absolutely support[s] the legitimate, legal use of marijuana for medicinal purposes” and even cites personal examples of “known friends suffering from debilitating, and sometimes fatal, diseases whose only relief from nausea or lack of appetite was marijuana.”

Unfortunately, Dumanis’s actions on this issue do not match her words. To put it mildly.

Donna Frye, the angel of San Diego’s environmentalists and eco-savy surfers, has come out and endorsed Bob Filner for San Diego mayor. Donna told Voice of San Diego that she is not running for the office. Frye’s endorsement should help Filner, as now the deck is cleared for him to run for the office as the only known Democrat.

Frye coming out for Bob raises another question that some are bold to ask:

Where are the other big-name Democrats and why haven’t they come out to endorse Filner?

People like former Member of Congress Lynn Schenk (she endorsed Bonnie early on), Assemblymembers Toni Atkins, Marty Block and Ben Hueso, as well as former Assemblymember Howard Wayne, and San Diego City Councilmember Todd Gloria?

by Liam Dillon / Voice of San Diego / November 4, 2011

Former San Diego City Councilwoman Donna Frye has definitively ruled out a run for mayor in 2012 and endorsed Democratic candidate Bob Filner.