OB Rag

By Lorena Gonzalez

I have grown extremely frustrated by the lies and distortions being peddled by out-of-area groups about Scott Peters in his run for Congress. The San Diego Labor Council has endorsed Scott because of his outstanding record for workers, and his commitment to getting things done. But on a personal level, as an extremely progressive, pro-worker advocate, I am proud to unconditionally support Scott Peters in his bid for Congress. This is why:

When I first came to the Labor Council as political director in 2006, I was tasked with trying to get our Wal-Mart Supercenter Ban docketed at the City Council. Scott Peters was the Council President, and there just hadn’t been a whole lot of interaction between organized labor and Scott previously. We supported another candidate against him, and the belief was that he wouldn’t be there on the tough stuff because we didn’t have a relationship with him. I knew Scott from environmental issues previously and had met his wife when I sat on the board of Planned Parenthood, so I decided to just go straight to him with our request for an ordinance to ban Supercenters.

By Wildcoast

Environmental groups oppose the move that would limit local representation and public participation at important hearings

On Monday, May 7th, three local environmental groups announced their opposition to Governor Brown’s proposed plan to consolidate the Colorado River Basin and San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Boards. The three groups are WiLDCOAST, San Diego Coastkeeper, and Environmental Health Coalition.

As they operate now, these regional boards protect and enforce water quality standards and regulate polluters throughout the state. The governor’s plan would create a single, 23,900-square-mile regulatory region out of two distinctly different water basins. It would also require the public to travel to board meetings at locations alternating in San Diego, Orange, Riverside and Imperial counties.

By Center on Policy Initiatives / May 7, 2012

Press conference planned for Wednesday to urge City Council action.

San Diego residents whose neighborhoods are blighted with foreclosed houses will join Councilmember David Alvarez in a press conference Wednesday urging action against banks that cause the problem.

The Center on Policy Initiatives will release new poll results from the public opinion research firm Grove Insight showing widespread support among city voters for an ordinance fining banks that failed to maintain the properties they own.

I am always amazed that someone as young as me can have so many grandchildren to be proud of. At last count I have 9 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. I am proud of each of them for a variety of reasons.

Today, in talking to my oldest grandchild – Josh – I told him how much I missed his grandfather, particularly during this voting season. Bob was an activist and very involved in all political functions. Josh blew me away when he told me that, “Grandpa is living through me. I am doing what I know he would do, and am actively working on Obama’s reelection.”

He sent me an article that I would like to share with you, because Josh, at the age of 28, is becoming aware of the strength and failure of politicians today. In his own words:

When America made me proud.

Near the end of George W. Bush’s 2nd term I became a “Proud American”. I felt the passion that our ancestors must have felt when they learned of a country where their vote counted. People were talking politics everywhere, Republican and Democrat.

Scott Lewis had an interesting article in the Voice of San Diego last week on the tense relationship between Nathan Fletcher and the U-T San Diego editorial board. What was not particularly shocking was the clear evidence of the fact that the U-T sees itself as an extension of the local GOP and was disturbed that Fletcher may have harmed the Republican brand. More illustrative, however, was Fletcher’s defense of his move (note the part in bold):

Well I think you’ve got to go and look at what I actually said. And what I said is that I’m rejecting the partisan environment of today. People say “well did you ever consider becoming a Democrat.” I didn’t. Because I think there’s unwillingness on that side as well to step out and solve problems, whether we’re talking about pensions or managed competition or some of these other types of issues.

It is time for OBceans to start submitting photos to OB Exposed – the annual photo contest sponsored by the OB Historical Society. And mark your calendar for the May 18th OB Exposed! event.

Entry forms can also be downloaded from the OB Historical Society Website

A world biking event is coming to the Ocean Beach Rec Center on May 9th. The traveling event called “Biking for Baseball” is cruising into OB and San Diego on that day, as the longest charity bike ride in the world.

Its sponsors are stopping at every city that has a major league baseball team, hoping to energize each community by raising funds and awareness for youth mentoring programs.

Here is the remainder of a report from NBC San Diego:

The event really goes the distance — with participants bicycling across 27 cities in the U.S. for charity. It’s known as the longest charity bike ride in the world, because after all is said and done, the bike ride spans 11,000 miles.

Ocean Beach’s own Pizza Port pulled off three wins during this past weekend’s World Beer Cup. Pizza Port won a Gold: its Bacon and Eggs Breakfast Coffee Imperial Porter; in the coffee beer category.

Plus, it won a Silver: Tarantulas 2.0; American-style black ale. And a Bronze award: Achievement Beyond Life’s Experiences American Stout Brit Antrim Benefit Ale; American-style stout. Pizza Port won nearly one-fifth of all the awards by San Diego breweries.

Here’s the remainder of the report from the U-T San Diego:

This year’s World Beer Cup lived up to its international name, with winners coming from all corners of the globe — including San Diego County, where breweries took 16

On Cinco de Mayo, the Navy’s newest ship was christened in honor of the late Mexican-American labor leader Cesar Chavez. His widow cracked the champagne bottle and christened the USNS Cesar Chavez at the San Diego shipyard owned by General Dynamics NASSCO near Barrio Logan. The cargo ship then slid into San Diego Bay, witnessed by about 7,000 people – many of whom had worked on the ship.

The naming of the Navy supply ship after Chavez – who served in the Navy for two years – had its controversies, however.

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Naming Navy cargo ship for Chavez honors his remarkable achievements

By Richard Griswold del Castillo & Rita Sanchez / U-T San Diego / May 4, 2012

The U.S. Naval Ship Cesar Chavez will be launched today, May 5, christened in honor of the man who became an internationally known labor and civil rights leader and who has inspired generations of youth with his nonviolent philosophy of self sacrifice for others.

NORML to Hold Protest Outside DEA Office for UCSD Student’s Imprisonment and Starvation

On May 7, 2012 at 4:20 p.m., the local chapter of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) will protest the Drug Enforcement Administration’s detention of UCSD Engineering student Daniel Chong for five days without food and water. The protest will take place outside of the DEA office compound at 4560 Viewridge Avenue in San Diego.

According to news reports, Chong was arrested for smoking marijuana at a 4/20 party with other UCSD students. He was transported to a DEA holding cell and then forgotten about.

Since the untimely demise of the Millionaires Tax and the birth of the subsequent “compromise measure” Governor Jerry Brown has come out of the gates lauding the new ballot initiative as the result of his superior political experience and judgment. He has also made it clear that his vision is not one of progressive taxes in the service of social justice. Indeed, Brown recently challenged Democrats in the legislature to “man up” and make steep cuts to social services to help pave the way for the tax measure’s passage. In sum, his notion seems to be that only by demonstrating more austerity budgeting can we convince voters to pass the new measure.

Note: Of course Brown was put in this box by the Republicans in the legislature (like our own would-be mayor Nathan Fletcher) who all signed the Grover Norquist pledge to never raise any revenue in any instance. That said, the Governor didn’t have to adopt his role with such relish. But that’s the austerity Democrats for you.

Nonetheless, the early polling results on the compromise measure seemed encouraging for Brown with the first USC/LA Times poll showing the measure at 64% approval in late March. Sadly, this has not held. As the San Francisco Chronicle noted last week:

A new poll confirms a fear we’ve raised before – Gov. Jerry Brown’s insistence on coupling the popular tax on millionaires with an unpopular increase in the sales tax could doom the revenue package this November – putting pressure on the governor and his allies to step up their political games and save the schools from disastrous cuts.

Straight from Editordude’s desk. Here are a number of articles and issues that you may have missed, published in mainly local media. Here they are, straight, without humor or much comment.

Protest to greet Ron Paul – speaking tonight at UCSD, Friday, May 4th. Presidential candidate and right wing libertarian Paul to speak at Warren College at 7 pm, with limited seating to open at 6pm. Students are planning a protest either at the event or outside. Here’s the protest facebook link: http://www.facebook.com/events/292622367489388/296447457106879/

Crime in San Diego County is at a 30-year low. On average, violent crime – defined as homicide, rape, robbery or aggravated assault fell to about 11,000 in 2011. But the county experienced an increase in homicides and domestic violence-motivated murder, according to the “Thirty Years of Crime” report by SANDAG. msnbc San Diego

Maintenance District guru LiMandri in Hot Water. Expert on assessment districts reviewed LiMandri’s proposal to loosen how districts are created – unsuccessfully advocated by Assemblyman Juan Vargas – and sees it at as ‘a full-employment act for LiMandri, who would get a lot of new business as a consultant for forming maintenance assessment districts.’ The San Diego Reader