Month: September 2020

Editordude: Is Measure E a power grab threatening coastal neighborhoods with mega-development or is it the only way San Diego can get a world-class sports arena and “more”? Here are the two sides, reposts from the Union-Tribune on Tuesday. Tom Mullaney argues against Measure E and Cathy Kenton and Dike Anyiwo argue for it. Both are below.
Measure E is a power grab targeting coastal communities and threatening mega-development
By Tom Mullaney / San Diego Union-Tribune / Sep. 29, 2020

San Diego’s coastal height limit of 30 feet has been in place since 1972, for 48 years. It was voted in by the citizens; why change it now?

Those who want to lift the height limit say this will “achieve the vision of the community plan.” What if instead the real purpose is this?

• Developers getting free rein in the coastal communities.
• Allowing mid-rise and high-rise buildings in six communities.
• Making a few property owners rich.
• Mayor Kevin Faulconer and his top staff rewarding key supporters before leaving office.
• Speeding the takeover of federal land.

Measure E can be seen as part of a two-step plan:

We’ve just learned that “After a chaotic and nearly unwatchable first presidential debate that devolved into interruptions and insults, mostly by Trump, the Commission on Presidential Debates said it would look into changing the format of the remaining debates.”

Okay! I say, put both of them in a box. A soundproof box where the moderator can regulate the microphones and what the contestants can hear.

If a television quiz show could do it, so can the Commission on Presidential Debates.

From a Justice for Gender Equality to a “Justice” for Gender Oppression

By Marjorie Cohn / TruthOut / Sept. 29, 2020

Amy Coney Barrett and Ruth Bader Ginsburg could not be more different when it comes to their respective notions of justice. Ginsburg, a pioneer in the protection of gender equality, spent her entire career, including 27 years on the Supreme Court, fighting for the rights of women, immigrants, people of color, criminal defendants, LGBTQ people, workers, people with mental disabilities and the poor. Barrett seeks to strip health insurance from tens of millions of people and crush reproductive rights.

Donald Trump rushed to nominate Barrett and enlisted his consigliere, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), to ram her nomination through the Senate so she can support Trump’s legal challenges to any election results that favor Joe Biden. Trump, who refuses to commit to a peaceful transfer of power,

By Kate Callen and Tom Mullaney

The people who live and work in San Diego’s City Council District 3 have a long tradition of upholding the livability of their neighborhoods. From Golden Hill to Normal Heights and North Park to Mission Hills, these have been communities of modest homes, small businesses, and a family-friendly human scale.

Or that’s how they used to be. Today, District 3 is where City Hall’s worst policy decisions have come home to roost. Our neighborhoods are declining because the politicians who were elected to represent us did not provide the courageous leadership we needed.

We support responsible growth. We believe in development that plays to neighborhood strengths and includes affordable housing. Instead, we have been force-fed massive high-priced condo projects that dwarf surrounding homes. The City’s push to solve “San Diego’s housing crisis” through District 3 upzoning and density bonuses makes no sense.

By Judi Curry

I received an email today from an even older gentleman this morning that stated, “Morose – not suicidal.” He went on to say that he finds himself “sinking into a perpetual state of quiet desperation” due to the political situation affecting this country.

The sad thing about his note to me and others, is that this is not the only piece of mail that I have received with the same message. I have read messages that start “since the death of RBG, I have been both depressed and/or angry.” Or, ”I can’t sleep at night; I find myself angry and irritated over the smallest little things.” Someone wrote that “ . . a sound I used to like – crickets in the night – is driving me nuts.”

I belong to a group called “Nasty Women for Biden”. The thread of this group is the same as I have quoted above. The fear, the anger, the disbelief that all of this is caused by the political situation today. Thousands of women – and some men too I have noticed – are writing in and seeking confirmation that they are not the only one feeling this way.

As a female, I am appalled at the number of women I see at the trump rallies.

By Damian Carrington / The Guardian / Sept. 28, 2020

A super-enzyme that degrades plastic bottles six times faster than before has been created by scientists and could be used for recycling within a year or two.

The super-enzyme, derived from bacteria that naturally evolved the ability to eat plastic, enables the full recycling of the bottles. Scientists believe combining it with enzymes that break down cotton could also allow mixed-fabric clothing to be recycled. Today, millions of tonnes of such clothing is either dumped in landfill or incinerated.

Plastic pollution has contaminated the whole planet, from the Arctic to the deepest oceans, and people are now known to consume and breathe microplastic particles. It is currently very difficult to break down plastic bottles into their chemical constituents in order to make new ones from old, meaning more new plastic is being created from oil each year.

Originally posted at OB Rag on July 6, 2015

By Bob Sorben – Creator of the Original OB Seagull

Back in the 50’s and early 60’s we all hung out on the beach at the foot of Newport. OB was ruled by the locals and the defense of our beach town from outsiders was almost tribal. We fought with other local communities whenever an occasion arose. Of course, there were always fights amongst ourselves, and some just liked to fight.

The Point was actually broken up into clubs and each had followers, but we intermingled as one. The Sunset Surfers of the 40’s & 50’s and, the Qwiigs Surfing Club, which dated back to the 30’s were the beginning.

The Baron’s, Nobles, Rouges, the Yacht Club Guys and in “Tunaville” The Oaks. The OB Longhorns, an unorganized group of locals grew out of the 60’s era. With a few of our nick names like: The Missing Link, The Crab, The Deviate, Tommy Cuckoo, Monkey, Buttman, The Lizard, (the stories could fill a book).

The Resister Sisters of Ocean Beach hung another sign over the northbound 163 in beautiful Balboa Park Monday, just in time for the afternoon rush hour traffic.

And you should’ve heard the honking!

By Geoff Page

The outcome was preordained, all that was left to see was the show leading up to it. As expected, the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Planning Group vote unanimously to support the city of San Diego’s choice of the entity to redevelop the Sports Arena and surrounding properties.

It is apparent that the people in the MPHCPG are so eager to have what is admittedly a sorry looking landscape redone, they would have voted for Homer Simpson if he just promised to rebuild what is there now. Their eagerness is understandable, anyone who visits the Midway area will agree, it needs something much more than just a facelift.

What is important to point out is that the sorriest looking parts of Midway are city-owned properties. The worst offender is the shopping center that borders the east side of the Sports Arena parking lot. There was a shuttered, former Black Angus restaurant on one corner of this property that sat empty for a decade.

by Ernie McCray

We Black folks
always wonder
if we’ll ever breathe free,
like others of our species,
ever since
we, caught napping,
were snatched
from our homeland
as kidnappees
and stacked
in boats
as contraband
and dumped
in shacks
as un-hired hands,
spending our lives
standing rigidly
for centuries
bent over long cotton sacks

By Colleen O’Connor

What a blockbuster ending to the final episode of the final season of the Trump Show.

It all came down to money. But, then that is how it all started, too. He ran for office, so the rumors go, (and now seem prophetic) as a “branding exercise.” He was in debt with no stocks, assets, or other liquid assets to cover the come due bills.

Trump did not plan on winning. He needed to rebrand his name; get more money from licensing the Trump name on towers, golf courses, and of course, the ultimate scheme, “Trump Tower Moscow.”

For that possible gift of land, Trump would build a skyscraper of condos, exclusively for the Russian 0ligarchs. The penthouse would be a gift to Putin.

Only problem, those pesky tax returns have now interfered. You know the ones. Those “under audit” so he couldn’t release them. He wanted to, but moaned, “I am prohibited from doing so without permission from the IRS. I am under audit.”

Those same taxes thought to be part of the of Special Counsel’ investigation. Only, Mueller neglected to investigate them. The same taxes about which Trump often boasted, “Only stupid people pay taxes.”

By Jim Miller

With the economic and budgetary crisis in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are anxious about upcoming budget cuts at the state and local levels that will harm education and local services. It can be a helpless feeling waiting for the shoe to drop, but, in this case, with Proposition 15 on the ballot this November 3rd, there is something we can do about it—pass Prop 15 and bring billions of dollars of new, ongoing revenue into the system.

Proposition 15 will require that commercial property valued at more than $3 million be reassessed at fair market value every three years.

• This closes a loophole that large corporations have used for decades to avoid paying their fair share of property taxes.
• The richest 10% of corporate properties will provide 92% of the revenue.
• Prop 15 specifically exempts all residential properties and agricultural land, maintaining full Prop 13 protections for homeowners, renters, and agriculture.