Month: February 2016

By Sunny Rey

Has the new EP, Shooting star, lit your sound waves yet?!

When the manager of one of San Diego’s top music venues, The Irenic, starts a music venture of his own, the city takes notice!

The Funkyheads of North Park had found their dancing shoes sleepy and uninspired for some time until the Major Minus came with all the tricks and edge that the cool kids had been craving!

Like a history bloated with great things that come about unplanned, the music of the Major Minus formed and swelled into the great solid sound it hits hard on in their breakout EP, Shooting Star, with as much surprise to the music fans as it was to the musical men themselves.

The band started as just a breezy idea off the cuff from Brit, the lead singer, to go in and lay some vocals down since he had some booked studio time to claim.

Call for Federal Investigation Echos Earlier Cries for Reform After Shootings of OBceans Danny the Walker and Tony Tumminia

Every now and then, San Diegans get so outraged by police shootings of civilians who are usually unarmed, that they do something about it, whether through protest, or art – or by calls for the Department of Justice to come to town and investigate excess shootings by San Diego Police.

Just yesterday, February 17th, the ACLU and 26 San Diego groups and law firms called on the US Justice Department for an investigation into the SDPD’s use of force when encountering people living with mental illness. We certainly applaud this effort to bring a spotlight to an ugly underside of San Diego.

Sadly, this is not the first time that San Diegans have been upset by police shootings of other San Diegans – most which tragically end up in death.

The ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, along with 26 civil rights, social service organizations, and law firms on February 17th asked the Federal government for an investigation into the SDPD’s use of force when encountering people living with mental illness.

An inquiry by the ACLU, following the police shooting of a mentally ill man holding a pen, and the district attorney’s decision not to press charges against the officer, revealed what they believe was a disturbing pattern and practice of improperly handling incidents with people with mental illness or who are experiencing a mental health crisis by SDPD personnel.

Thursday, February 18, 7 pm, Ocean Beach Historical Society Presents:

“Centennial of the Devastating 1916 Flood and the Rainmaker” at St. Peter’s by the Sea Lutheran Church 1371 Sunset Cliffs Blvd, Ocean Beach;

In words and pictures this presentation will re-visit the famed Rainmaker Flood and look at the strange story of an itinerant sewing machine salesman-turned rainmaker, who claimed the historic rainfall as “an act of Hatfield.” Rick Crawford is the supervisor of Special Collections at the San Diego Public Library and former archives director at the San Diego Historical Society.

‘It’s not what the community wants’

By Tony de Garate

“It’s not a bad plan — it’s just not OB quality.”

That was the summary from John Ambert, chairman of the Ocean Beach Planning Board (OBPB), after reviewing a proposal to tear down a century-old-but-dilapidated cottage and replace it with two detached, two-story, 30-foot-tall condos with underground parking at 1764 Bacon Street.

While OBPB members said they were sympathetic to the young couple that wants to sell one unit and use the income to live in the other, they made it clear the project faced almost certain rejection in the form that was presented February 3rd at the board’s monthly meeting.

The reason?

Editor’s Note: The Board of Directors of Civic San Diego is set to approve an economic development work plan at their February 24th meeting.

In short, this is their grand vision for San Diego. Sadly, this vision doesn’t include the living wage provisions required of large local development projects over the past decade.Board member Murtaza Baxamusa was the sole opposing vote at a recent committee meeting.

By Murtaza Baxamusa

For low-income communities, the promise of “economic development” is often held as the basis for taxpayer-subsidized projects. However, developer-driven focus on projects, rather than people, has the theory of local economic development upside-down. This is what happens when a downtown development corporation starts working on a plan for economic development for other neighborhoods.

By Dan Bacher / Indybay.org

Legislators, members of commercial fishing families, fishing group representatives and Brown administration officials testified about the dire situation that the salmon and crab fishery is in at a recent forum at the State Capitol on February 11th.

It was during the 43rd Annual Zeke Grader Fisheries Forum of the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture held in Sacramento.

“This forum works, but the fishermen are not,” said Senator Mike McGuire, Chair of the Committee, in his opening comments. “The salmon and crab fisheries are threatened by a historic crisis. We’re facing a fishery disaster that will impact many families.”

“We’ve gone from abundance to scarcity. The crab fishing fleet is sitting at the docks right now,” said McGuire.

By John Lawrence

I met Suzie at Panera Bread in Liberty Station. She is homeless but not vehicle-less. She used to have a nice home in Point Loma, had lived in the Point Loma – Ocean Beach area for years.

She has been homeless since last April when her boyfriend kicked her out of his apartment. When that happened, she got on Craigslist and bought an RV.

There are many levels and degrees of homelessness, and Suzie is on one of the better off levels. Some homeless persons live on boats in the harbor. So for some, homelessness verges on an alternative lifestyle, the key being whether or not they are forced into the situation or whether their situation is freely chosen.

The Ocean Beach Planning Board’s sub-committee, the Project Review Committee, has 2 projects on its agenda to consider at its meeting Wednesday night, Feb. 17th. The review committee – chaired by Blake Herrschaft – usually makes recommendations to the full Board, which also meets monthly – on the first Wednesday.

The 2 projects under review include one at 4620 Del Mar Avenue and the other at 1764 Bacon Street. The committee meets at the OB Rec Center – 4726 Santa Monica Ave. – and begins at 6pm.

Your Green Canopies We Will Miss –
In memory of the two lost Saratoga Torrey Pines 1930-2016

By Kathy Blavatt

The sign said “trimming”
Like when you trim your hair and it grows back healthier.
Not chop up your body and spit out the pieces.

No tree-huggers could save this community elder.

By Murtaza Baxamusa / Rooflines

The contrast between prosperity and poverty is most dramatic in the harshness of inclement weather. In San Diego, while the recent storms resulting from El Niño lashed at the city, I drove through East Village, a neighborhood that contains one of the largest concentrations of homeless in the region.

It is also the epicenter of Downtown’s new construction boom.

Amidst the broken tree branches and debris, scattered and soaked in the storm water were large black trash bags that homeless people had used to protect themselves.

“Free universal health care, free university, free day care, taxing and policing hedge fund millionaires—have already happened in nearly every other industrialized country in the world! And I have the evidence—and the film—to prove it!” — Michael Moore

CommonDreams

Filmmaker Michael Moore on Friday is launching the national release of his new documentary Where to Invade Next, which is said to be both his happiest and “most subversive” movie yet.