Author: Source

By by Lucas O’Connor / Two Cathedrals / September 27, 2011

More than one third of San Diego County faced economic insecurity last year topping 1 million residents, and nearly one-in-five children lived in poverty according to a new report from the Center on Policy Initiatives released last week. It’s a boost in the overall poverty rate and children living in poverty, set against widening income inequality and poverty that impacts people of color at twice the rate of whites.

These stats are deeply troubling, but this isn’t just a San Diego issue.

by Tanya Mannes / SignOnSanDiego

You might see them placing bets at the Del Mar Racetrack, taking in a Broadway show at the La Jolla Playhouse or landing a yacht at the Kona Kai Marina.

They are the richest of the rich, and they live here, too. At least 20 people on Forbes’ annual list of the 400 wealthiest Americans have ties to San Diego County, according to U-T reporting and a review of newspaper archives and property records.

Council members Marti Emerald and Todd Gloria have joined 1,000 San Diegans who are pledging to go vegetarian for one week during the Animal Protection and Rescue League’s (APRL) 3rd annual San Diego Veg Week (September 25 – October 2). This is Councilmember Gloria’s third year taking the pledge, and last year Gloria sponsored a resolution in honor of Veg Week, promoting local business and “compassion toward animals.”

Editor: We received the following from “Occupy San Diego”, which is planning on holding a solidarity action in support of the current “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrations that have been occurring daily since September 17th in and around Wall Street in New York City. Who knows what state the Manhattan actions will be in by time the San Diego protest rolls around, but the San Diego organizers are planning daily meetings.

SAN DIEGO-Occupy San Diego is standing in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street in NYC, and will begin a peaceful civil disobedience protest of the global financial corruption currently invading politics, media and corporations, by occupying an open space in the Gaslamp District indefinitely starting on October 7, 2011 at 4:30 pm.

By Melissa Harris-Perry / The Nation Magazine / September 21, 2011 ( October 10, 2011 edition of The Nation.)

Electoral racism in its most naked, egregious and aggressive form is the unwillingness of white Americans to vote for a black candidate regardless of the candidate’s qualifications, ideology or party. This form of racism was a standard feature of American politics for much of the twentieth century. So far, Barack Obama has been involved in two elections that suggest that such racism is no longer operative. His re-election bid, however, may indicate that a more insidious form of racism has come to replace it.

Gearing up for Round 2 of Hunger Strike, CDCR Threatens Strikers

By Prison Hunger Strike Solidarity / September 23, 2011

On Monday, September 26th, prisoners at both Pelican Bay & Calipatria will resume the hunger strike to stop the torturous conditions of Security Housing Units (SHUs).

Prisoners first went on hunger strike on July 1st for nearly four weeks, until the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) agreed to begin implementing some of the prisoners’ five core demands.

This Wednesday [Sept 28th], the Centre City Development Corp. will decide whether to approve the final schematic design plans for the redevelopment of Horton Plaza.

By unanimous decision, and before the plaza’s lead designer, the CCDC Advisory Committee voted last Wednesday to recommend the acceptance of that plan. One week earlier, on Sept. 14, the CCDC Real Estate and Budget-Finance & Administration Joint Committee voted 7-0 to make the same recommendation.

SAN DIEGO — San Diego Coastkeeper has launched a new program to combat urban runoff in San Diego: Pollution Patrollers.

In the new initiative, a team of trained volunteers will search for sources of pollution in San Diego County that contribute to urban runoff. Commonly cited as the number one threat to water quality in San Diego, urban runoff contains pollutants such as oil, grease, pesticides, metals, bacteria and toxic chemicals that wash into the region’s waters during rainstorms and over-irrigation.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) president Michael Peevey has issued a ruling ordering San Diego Gas & Electric Company and two other utility companies to allow consumers who don’t want a “smart meter” installed to place their names on a delay list, pending the outcome of upcoming workshops on the issue.

The United Food and Commercial Workers have voted to accept a contract offer from the “Big Three” grocery chains – Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons – ending the specter of a costly strike.

Employees in the San Diego region cast ballots Friday and other locals voted today, with an overall majority voting in favor of what their leaders described as a fair deal. The contract ends a two-tiered system in which new employees paid more for their health benefits.

Monday afternoon Coalition will urge Council to keep Miramar Landfill public

From onlineCPI.org

Community groups will be out in force Monday to tell the San Diego City Council to keep Miramar Landfill under public control.

“It’s becoming clearer all the time that contracting out the landfill is a bad idea,” said Clare Crawford, CPI Executive Director. “There are just too many risks for taxpayers, our environment and the services every household and business relies on.”

The Council is scheduled to vote at 2 p.m. Monday on moving forward with Mayor Sanders’ proposal to put the landfill operations up for bidding by private companies.

Editor: The protests in and around Wall Street in New York City are still going on, and have now entered their eighth day. “Occupy Wall Street” efforts have now been endorsed by three unions. Here is a report by Chaz Valenza who has been monitoring the demonstrations. There have been between 150 and 250 people occupying and sleeping at a park a block from Wall Street, which they have re-named Liberty Park.