Category: San Diego

As San Diego County supervisors seek to privatize more services, public officials elsewhere are reading the danger signs and starting to move in the opposite direction.

Like many other local and state governments desperate for budgetary quick fixes, the county board fell back on the old knee-jerk assumption that private companies can perform public services “better, cheaper and faster.” The facts show that quite often the opposite is true.

DOG BEACH SEWER SPILL UPDATE
by Dave Gilbert

As of 9 this morning (7-1-09) the danger signs are still up at Dog Beach where the S.D. river meets the ocean but the difference is that today nobody (dogs or people ) were in the water. … more inside
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GRAFFITI UPDATE
by Jon Carr

We’re seeing more and more murals and electric boxes with actual “art” being hit by taggers. Apparently there’s supposed to be some sort of street code that says you don’t tag someone’s already established artwork. … more inside

by Anna Daniels

Dear Karin Winner, Editor:

Ms. Winner, I just canceled my 15+ year subscription to the Union-Tribune. I asked to speak to a supervisor who would convey my reason for doing so to the appropriate individuals within the company. The reason I gave to Hector was the U-T’s recent decision to publish all City employee names and salary information on signonsandiego.com.

by Frank Gormlie

We drove into Ocean Beach for the Street Fair intending to take an outsider’s view. With the bumper-to-bumper traffic coming in on Sunset Cliffs and then on West Point Loma, with everybody on the sidewalks streaming south, it truly looked like OB was part of a theme park – OB Enchanted Land.

by Frank Gormlie

Have you heard of the OB Planning Board? Meeting monthly, the Board is the official body – made up of local residents, property owners and businesses – that advises the City of San Diego on development and construction projects and issues slated for Ocean Beach. And it’s the closest thing to an elected body for OB. … MORE INSIDE …

It’s one thing to wake up, drink coffee and turn to the daily fish-wrap, but it’s quite another to do that and see your fellow OB Rag bloggster on the goddamn front page of the Local News! But there she was – our own Anna Daniels – featured in an article about how hundreds of city employees are retiring to make the higher pension rates.

Here’s the front of today’s article from SignOnSanDiego … 608 workers retire to lock in benefits

My beloved and I were headed into Artist Alley. It was slow going through the crowd back to the stage area. Richard grabbed my arm and said “check out the signs.”

He read out loud “Don’t Go to Hell” printed on one and then “Read Bible for Details” on another. “It gets better,” he added. “It seems that certain restrictions apply—check them out.”

9:30 am. We arrived at the Sea World Drive parking lot shortly after Gary Gilmore had opened the gate-with bolt cutters. Gary says this has become an annual tradition. The gate is never opened by the City as planned and Gary has learned to never leave home on this day without the OBMA bolt cutters.

Two shiny Old Town Trolleys were waiting there …

Why hassle with trying to find a parking space when you can be eating chili and groovin’ to the tunes this Saturday? If you are one of the 70,000 people anticipated to attend the fair, and if you are driving, you can park at two locations, take a trolley and leave the hassles to Larry, Curley and Bob. And it’s FREE!

by Gregg Robinson

Yesterday roughly 150 people showed up at the California State building on Front Street to demand rejection of Gov. Schwartzenegger’s draconian cuts to state services. Rally attendees heard speakers from religious, trade-union, and community groups speak out against the cuts.

With nearly one million children threatened …

People United Against Cuts is a local coalition formed to oppose the Governor’s recent “All Cuts” budget. The Governor’s proposed…

I am attempting to cover the situation in Iran this morning, Saturday, June 20th, using several live blogs – so you don’t have to. I’ll do this for the next couple of hours. The original plans of the opposition in Iran was to hold a rally at 4 pm their time. I’m referring to The New York Times’ The Lede, Huffington Post by Nico Pitney, and Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic. My writings are in Pacific Daylight Time.