Month: September 2019

Definitely resting on their laurels after a totally successful pancake breakfast on the OB Pier last Saturday, the Ocean Beach Town Council is pivoting to hold their public monthly meeting this upcoming Wednesday, September 25. The OBTC meets at the Masonic Lodge, 1711 Sunset Cliffs, at 7:00pm.

Over 1200 guests attended the Town Council annual chow-down on the pier, the 21st annual breakfast – and the Town Council is calling it a “record-breaking turnout,” which translates to more funds for their Holiday events and the Food and Toy Drive.

Besides the crowd of locals, a number of politicians dropped by

In a five minute address to the nation at 2 PST, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives will begin a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump because of his very recent violations of law and the Constitution in his interactions with the head of Ukraine.

“The President must be held accountable. No one is above the law,” she said.

This whole “Ukraine-Gate” scandal is big. Real big. So big that impeachment proceedings against Trump because of it could begin this week.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is set to make a public announcement today – Tuesday – at 2:00 pm California time. She is meeting with the entire Democratic Caucus an hour before.

What it’s all about and what we know so far:

Trump pressured newly-elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky up to at least eight times in a call to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. Trump admitted this on Sunday, Sept. 22.

Meanwhile military aid to Ukraine – already approved by Congress – was held up until after the phone call; Trump had asked his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to put a hold on 400 millions in military aid to Ukraine roughly one week before the call. A whistleblower within the intelligence community made a formal complaint weeks ago about Trump’s “promises” to Zelensky.

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican / September 18, 2019

Relay Graduate School of Education is a private stand alone graduate school created and led by people with meager academic credentials. Founded by leaders from the charter school industry, it is lavishly financed by billionaires.

Contending that traditional university based teacher education has failed; Relay prescribes deregulation and market competition. Relay does not offer “coursework in areas typical of teacher education programs—courses such as school and society, philosophy of education, and teaching in democracy ….” Rather, Relay trains students almost exclusively in strict classroom management techniques.

by Ernie McCray

I’ll always remember my first year of teaching, back to the very first day.

There I was standing before close to 40 sixth graders and I don’t recall at all what I had planned to say to start the day.

But before I could say anything I noticed that my students were looking me up and down like somebody assessing a used car at “U Can Trust Us Autos.”

I could tell they had questions on their minds, and then it dawned on me what they wanted answers to and I answered their questions before they asked me to:

“Six-five. Size fourteen. And, yeah, I play basketball.”

That set the tone for that year and for the rest of my career, a career well chosen because it fit me to a T, allowed me to totally be myself: to teach the way I wished my teachers had taught me.

Proposed San Diego Airport Changes Draw Criticism at Peninsula Planners

By Geoff Page

It was a presentation by the San Diego airport of its plan for future development that garnered the most interest at the Peninsula Community Planning Board meeting on Thursday, September 19. Some community members in attendance were not pleased by what they heard.

Dennis Probst, vice president of development, provided the airport’s briefing. He began by providing some background information designed to explain why the planned work needs to take place. Probst explained that 14 million passengers came though the airport in 1998. The figure increased to 24 million in 2018.

Terminal One replacement is the centerpiece of the plans. But, terminal replacement is not all the airport is planning.

By Brett Warnke

THE UGLY: As much as I adore Ocean Beach, I think the old bitch is finished. Maybe I’m a doom freak, a pessimist or just don’t know my neighborhood. But I think the divisions and contradictions are just too great.

In a way, it’s the same song as the rest of the country: People want cheap junk from Target but they want local business. They want a hip edge-y vibrant community with no drugs or transients. They want the golden shore without the glare.

Deep down, the local property owners want the place to be as placid as Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

By Jim Miller

Last Friday – Sept.20 – , students in San Diego joined millions of people across the world and participated in the youth-led Global Climate Strike. In the face of condescending calls from many adult “leaders” for gradualist political “realism” to address the threat of mass extinction, young people are standing up to demand solutions commensurate with the problem we face.

What stands out to me about the message these young people are delivering is how clearly they see what far too many of their elders fail to recognize: that the responsibility for the climate crisis does not just fall on “all of us” equally but is disproportionately being driven by the global elite. Along with that, young people see that what we need is “systemic change” not incrementalism. Their clear-eyed analysis and urgency should inspire us all to wake up and stop failing future generations with yet more political cowardice.

Inside are two local voices

By Geoff Page

There was a mayoral “debate” on Wednesday, September 18 at Mission Bay High School. The word debate is in quotations because, although these candidate events are called debates, no actual debating takes place. It’s time to call these events what they are, question and answer sessions where the actual questions are often ignored.

Barbara Bry, Todd Gloria, and Tasha Williamson are all running for mayor and they responded to questions posed by moderators for two hours while a packed auditorium listened and applauded. The choice for mayor comes down to Gloria, a man who has lived the life of a politician, Bry, a private citizen most of her life until her successful run for city council, and Williamson, a political novice but an experienced, passionate community activist coming from the outside.

Gloria was clearly the most polished of the three.

By Niall Twohig

Free marketeers want us to believe their rationale for halting assault rifle sales and divesting from fossil fuels. We don’t buy it.

Don’t be misled. We, the people, have won two small victories in the struggle for democracy: We forced Colt to stop selling assault rifles to the public. We forced the University of California system to divest from fossil fuels.

Reading statements from Colt and UC financial planners, however, you might think another hand was at play. For them, the invisible hand of the market dictated their decisions. The market compelled them from unprofitable sectors to more viable and equally profitable ones. For them, the choice to halt sales and divest just makes sense, economic sense.

But that’s all nonsense.

By Richard Riehl

I was disappointed to learn that our new home in San Marcos, although within city limits, is located in the San Diego County unincorporated area of Lake San Marcos. We cannot vote in city elections, even though we are functionally subservient to the city.

As the November election draws near, I’ve resolved not to vote for any county, state or national candidate before I follow the money to find out who gave them the cash to run their campaigns. Thanks to federal and state law requiring candidates to file public disclosure statements, you can find out who owns an elected official’s loyalty.

It seems like everyday there’s news in the chaotic world of scooters in San Diego. There was a major piece in the New York Times warning tourists of San Diego’s scooters. And just this week, the Los Angeles Times examined the new technology of “geo-fencing” which scooter companies employ in order to comply with the demands of cities wanting to limit their range and speeds .

Meanwhile in San Diego, Uber announced earlier this month that it’s pulling almost all of its Jump branded e-bikes and scooters out of the city boundaries – except naval bases San Diego and Point Loma – because of an on-going dispute the company is having with San Diego’s new regulations governing dockless scooters and bikes. La Jolla Light

One month ago, the city of San Diego reported the parent company of Lime electric scooters violated the city’s new “geofencing” speed limits in certain areas