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Quarter-Term Report Card on 2021 Predictions

By Colleen O’Connor

In a column, written in February, a list of predictions on “both sides of the border,” was posted, with a one-year expiration date. This is the quarter term status on those U.S. predictions.

First, a footnote about last year’s prediction that Mitt Romney would become the “conscience of the Senate.” Recently affirmed with 2021 JFK “Profile in Courage” award for his vote to convict former President Donald Trump. The first ever Senator to vote to convict a President of his own party.

On to this year’s mid-term contenders.

#1 on the list, “Don’t Cry for Liz Cheney.”

Prediction: Liz Cheney is going to be the first Republican female minority leader after Kevin McCarthy is ditched. She sees the future and it isn’t Trumpism.

At the time of this February prediction, Cheney defied Trump on mask mandates and voted to impeach him, while beating back calls to “resign” her post as the #3 in House GOP leadership.

On March 30, the Commission on Police Practices issued a litany of policy recommendations for San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit and his department. Commission Chair, Brandon Hilpert wrote the following memorandum, which we repost below in substance:

Subject: Recommendations to the San Diego Police Department

The Commission on Police Practices (“CPP” or “Commission”) appreciates that the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) accepted the former CRB’s recommendation to create a stand-alone policy which would provide a clear structure on how SDPD responds to First Amendment protected protest activities.

The Commission reviewed SDPD’s new procedure (4.17) and held public meetings to discuss its proposed clarifications and revisions. The Commission’s Policy Committee held a public meeting on February 25, 2021 as well as a community roundtable on March 18, 2021. At its Open Meeting on March 23, 2021, the Commission voted unanimously to make the following policy recommendations to the SDPD for its consideration:

The group Save San Diego Neighborhoods has sent a letter from their attorney to the San Diego City Council objecting to elements of a proposed amendment on short term vacation rentals. The Council meets today, Tuesday, April 6 to work out regulations for short term occupancy. The letter is from Everett DeLano of Delano & Delano.

Here is the substance of that letter, dated April 5, 2021:

Dear City of San Diego City Council:

This letter is submitted on behalf of Save San Diego Neighborhoods (“SSDN”), … in connection with the proposed amendment to the City’s Municipal Code to impose a license requirement and operating regulations for short term residential occupancy (“Ordinance”). On Tuesday, February 23, 2021, the City council voted to approve the Ordinance.

This memorial for Dottie Veal appeared in OB Hardware. Photo by Albert C Elliott.

By Colleen O’Connor

Mayor Todd Gloria just announced new “improvements” in the City of San Diego’s online citizen complaint portal; “Get It Done.”

Several problems. Most seniors do not use the internet. Many others do not have computer access. And “Just download the app” instructions do not allow for downloading to popular iPhones or iPads.

But, the good news.

By Joni Halpern

Community mistrust and apprehension surfaced in the March 10, 2021, Zoom meeting of the Clairemont Community Planning Group’s Plan Review Subcommittee.

Those sentiments arose amid discussion of whether a Bay Park property known as the San Diego Tennis and Racquet Club should be approved for higher-density development under special regulations that could be included in the Clairemont Community Plan Update.

Douglas Jensen appeared as a spokesperson for the tennis center owners, the Ming Tom Family, and their partners, the Douglas Allred Family, who together seek approval for a Community Plan Implementation Overlay Zone or (CPIOZ).

By Colleen O’Connor

Just back from Yosemite. The recent heatwave delivered fabulous, gushy waterfalls; even a rainbow to usher in spring.

The heat wave greatly accelerated the volume of the snowmelt. This may be a harbinger of a drought or a glimpse of a beautiful spring.

However, the lingering damage from the fires of two years ago, not only contrasts the beauty of the falls, but mirrors the lingering political damage accumulated over the last 4 years.

The photographs say it all; as is often the case. One photo of the waterfalls in powerful form.

The Ocean Beach Green Center will be celebrating our 32nd Anniversary on Earth Day April 22nd. We can’t have our usual celebration this year but we will be open from 12:30 to 6:30 with Covid-19 protocols if you want to drop by and say hi! We will have a donation jar available if you are so inclined to make a small donation. Do not feel obligated as we know a lot of people are having a hard time. Your presence is our present. Happy Earth Day

A lot is happening this month. Because it is Earth Day Month environmental events dominate the calendar. Peace and Social Justice highlighted events are listed but check out our list of all P & SJ groups for more of their events. Go to http://www.oceanbeachgreencenter.org/get-involved.html for their links

April Events From the Ocean Beach Green Center

All events are online and free unless stated otherwise.

By Amy Gardner, Kate Rabinowitz and Harry Stevens / Washington Post

The GOP’s national push to enact hundreds of new election restrictions could strain every available method of voting for tens of millions of Americans, potentially amounting to the most sweeping contraction of ballot access in the United States since the end of Reconstruction, when Southern states curtailed the voting rights of formerly enslaved Black men, a Washington Post analysis has found.

In 43 states across the country, Republican lawmakers have proposed at least 250 laws

By Thomas Ultican

The second and third presidents of the United States advocated powerfully for public education. Thomas Jefferson saw education as the cause for developing out of common farmers the enlightened citizenry who would take the rational action a successful republican democracy requires. Jefferson contended,

“The qualifications for self government are not innate. They are the result of habit and long training.”

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican / March 29, 2021

The original cause for my supporting public education was that my rancher father married a school teacher. Growing up in southern Idaho, I learned many philosophical and theoretical reasons for supporting the establishment and maintenance of public schools from my mother. However, it was from watching mom and her dedicated colleagues in action that I learned to truly respect and appreciate public school.

I remember stories of my father being warned that he better not treat that woman wrong. For several years in a row she won the Elmore County sharp shooting contest. She didn’t like to chop a chicken’s head off so she would pull out her rifle and shoot it off.

Data Shows Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans Bear Brunt of Racial Biases in Local Policing

Long before protests erupted across San Diego County over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died last May after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes, community leaders have called on local law enforcement officials to address persistent racial disparities in policing.

For years, study after study has shown that people of color — especially Blacks — are stopped, searched and arrested at higher rates than their White counterparts.

A new analysis by The San Diego Union-Tribune of nearly 500,000 stops of drivers and pedestrians made by San Diego police and sheriff’s deputies