Category: San Diego

A couple of weeks ago local Republicans held their unity night at the Kona Kai Resort where notables such as Jerry Sanders and Kevin Faulconer cheered as Carl DeMaio asked if they were ready to make San Diego “the Wisconsin of the West.” They, along with the Chamber of Commerce, the Taxpayers Association, the Lincoln Club and other luminaries of the local right were getting fired up and ready to go for a ballot initiative that would undermine collective bargaining rights for unionized public sector workers in San Diego.

The Office of Independent Budget Analysis (IBA) came out with their 179 page analysis of the mayor’s proposed budget. As you know, the mayor has proposed to rip over 7 million dollars out of the library department budget by pairing libraries which will only be open 18.5 hours per week. This is the severest percentage cut of all general fund departments.

Here are the library options which the IBA has presented to the city council, which will vote to accept or reject the mayor’s budget. This is the option that we must demand that Councilman Faulconer and all other council members support:

Option 1. FULLY RESTORE BRANCH LIBRARY HOURS TO CURRENT SERVICE LEVELS.

Stand in solidarity with the workers of the world and demand respect for the rights of all workers on May 1, International Workers’ Day!

With unemployment still at record highs, and with union membership at record lows, it’s time for working people to take a moment, and contemplate what this day really means. We have published articles on May Day in the past and they are more relevant today than ever. With the anti-labor sentiment that is rocking our country it is important to stand together and be heard.

There are a few May Day events taking place in San Diego on Sunday, May 1. The participants at each event will march together to meet at Civic Center Plaza at 3 p.m. to hold a May Day Rally. Please feel free to attend an earlier event (see the full post for info) or join us at Civic Center Plaza for the closing rally and action.

I knew it was coming. I’d seen it on SignOnSanDiego yesterday, so I knew it had to show up in the print version of the San Diego U-T. And there it was, on page 2 of the Local Section:

“Faulconer backs effort to prevent library cuts”

The short piece by reporter Hailey Persinger, as you can read above, is about Councilmember Faulconer ‘partnering’ with two Ocean Beach groups, us – the OB Rag – described as “a neighborhood publication”, which we are, – and the Friends of the OB Library, in efforts to “spar[e] city libraries from drastic budget cuts.”

By Center on Policy Initiatives

Despite unanswered questions about costs, service quality, risks to public health and more, a San Diego City Council committee today sent the scope of work for outsourcing two city services to the full Council for a final decision.

The Center on Policy Initiatives is urging the Council to resolve serious issues before finalizing what will be required in contracts to run the City’s street sweeping and water customer service …

By Lowell Waxman

In a recent New York Times story, Rx: Read to Your Baby we are reminded that “[i]ncreasingly, research has supported the idea that children should be exposed to a language-rich environment as soon as they are born because it can significantly improve cognitive and language development and readiness for school.

Remarkably, we also learn that some pediatricians in New York City are now writing prescriptions for books for parents to read to their babies “because … pediatricians know that one of the most important things they can do to impact the long-term health of their patients is to make sure their patients are literate.”

by Terrie Leigh Relf

While the title above may sound a bit clichéd, as does the proverbial “pay it forward”, etc. it is still a practice upon which cultures are created, sustained, disrupted, and otherwise meet their demise. When pondering this behavior, I often ask myself about various cultural practices—both simple and complex—and how they shape my daily life.

Once again library supporters provided the majority of citizen input regarding the proposed budget, and once again, Mayor Sanders was dismissive of them. The mayor is holding two community budget hearings to explain the budget. The first one was held at Kearny High School. The fifty or so citizens who showed up were not given an opportunity to provide public testimony. We were handed a note card and told that we could ask the mayor a question about the budget.

For the third time in as many years, the city is considering the removal of the nearly 200 fire pits scattered around San Diego’s beaches to help close a multimillion dollar budget gap.

(Go inside for the links to the history of the OB Rag working to save the fire pits last year.)

And, for the third time, a push to raise private funds to keep the pits in place is underway. The only question now is if the $120,500 annual expense can be raised before the pits are set to be ripped out on July 1.

By Jason Everitt / Two Cathedrals / April 21, 2011

Redistricting is, without question, one of the most important and rare opportunities for civic engagement. Offered only once every ten years, immediately following the federal census, redistricting is more than just the process of corralling thousands of San Diegans into arbitrarily drawn boundaries.

While the TEA Party calls for tax cuts and slashing services, a new taxpayers’ movement is outraged by some of America’s biggest corporations paying zero taxes while reaping huge profits. Now a national movement calling for corporations to pay a “fair share” has reached the streets in San Diego.

By Maria Yushinsky / East County Magazine

Following the deadline for taxpayers to send in payments to the I.R.S., taxpaying members of U.S. Uncut San Diego, MoveOn.org and other community groups gathered at the San Diego Civic Center on Monday, the 19th. Their goal?

The Friends of the OB Library met on Tuesday, April 19th. The current chair – George Murphy – has reported to us that the meeting had the largest attendance that he’d ever experienced. The group was riled up because of the draconic library closures and staff cuts proposed – once again – by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders in his latest budget presented to the City Council.

Apparently, the Friends are mobilizing to prevent these proposals and have put together the following plan of action