OB Rag

Last chance to help grocery workers avoid a strike

This weekend is our last chance to help our local grocery workers get a fair contract before they face the frightening turmoil of a strike. Join us at 9 a.m. tomorrow in front of the Ralphs store in Hillcrest to let the supermarkets know their customers will support the workers.

Rally to Protect Grocery Workers!

9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 17

Ralphs in Hillcrest

1030 University Ave, San Diego 92103

The local CBS affiliate, Channel 8, is reporting that San Diego Police have opened up an investigation into local Steven Marquez’s mysterious death. His body was found floating near the Ingraham Street Bridge on August 31st. The County Medical Examiner had originally opined that his death was by “drowning”.

But Steve’s family was convinced that something was not right – partly because they knew Steven didn’t know how to swim well and that he wouldn’t go into the water at Mission Bay. So, they hired a private investigator, Bill Garcia, and now the police are investigating his death.

Steve was last seen in the Crown Pointe area of Mission Bay. According to police, his cell phone was last used at 3:30 am on August 25th. Fliers are up in that neighborhood asking for any information on him.

Canceling the contract does not mean grocery workers will walk out in 72 hours, but it removes the final barrier to a strike. After the contract is no longer in effect, a strike can be called at any time.

Frustrated at supermarket corporation stonewalling, workers take next step towards strike

As contract negotiations stall, grocery workers issued a 72-hour notice canceling the grocery contract extension and paving the way for a strike.

By Center On Policy Initiatives / Sept 14, 2011 A committee of the San Diego City Council on Wednesday, Sept…

Jim Mahler (filming) assaulted by anti-worker petition gatherer at Mesa College, yesterday, September 14, 2011.
WARNING: The following video contains violence and graphic language.

This video documents the petition gatherer’s response to the AFT Decline to Sign team. (AFT is the American Federation of Teachers.) The petition gatherers are working for City Councilmember Carl DeMaio and his so-called “pension reform”.

The AFT Decline to Sign team at Mesa Community College on the 14th of September was comprised of African American, White, and Latina members. What the team did and is doing at Mesa is non-violent, and from a safe distance, hold up signs that ask students not to sign anti-worker petitions.

Come inside to see the video – Not Safe for Work!

By Billie Jo Jannen / East County Magazine / Sept 12, 2011

A resolution introduced by District 40 State Senator Juan Vargas (D-San Diego) and passed in both houses Friday [Sept. 9th] seeks to put the brakes on a high voltage trans-border power line slated to bring electricity in from the proposed 1250 MW La Rumorosa wind turbine project near Jacumba.

The recent 2010 Census confirmed something that we have observed for a while now. Many of our middle-aged friends are seeing their college-aged kids moving back home. And it’s the economy. They can’t find work – or cheap housing – so they move back to their parents’. My own 22-year old daughter is living with her mom.

Seems OB Ragsters are getting quoted everywhere these days. Doug Porter was quoted by the San Diego U-T just this past Sunday on why their former comment policy turned people off – particularly newbies to town.

And today, we are overjoyed to announce that our own Anna Daniels was quoted yesterday in a Washington Post article.

DeMaio Enters Signers’ Info Into Mayoral Campaign Database, But It Can Only Be Used For Qualification Of Measure

SAN DIEGO – The “Just Say No, San Diego” campaign has obtained documents from the Carl DeMaio for Mayor 2012 campaign illustrating the city councilman inappropriately stole voter identification information from a ballot measure petition, a violation of California campaign laws.

Ordinance would fine banks $1000 a day for failure to maintain foreclosed properties.

The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and the Center on Policy Initiatives (CPI) have released a brief outlining the costs of foreclosed properties on neighborhoods and cities. Some of the points they raise:

• Foreclosures harm the value of all homes within a neighborhood.
  Homes left vacant and untended during and after a foreclosure can become nuisance properties, deterring potential homebuyers and lowering home values in the neighborhood. Homes in foreclosure experience an average 22% loss in value, and homes within 1/8 of a mile of a foreclosure also decline in value.

By Mike James / Special to the OB Rag

In the fall of 1983 it came to the attention of the Ocean Beach Planning Board that certain large property owners and local Realtors had persuaded then Councilman Bill Cleator to silently put before the Council an amendment for the Ocean Beach Precise Plan. The amendment would have doubled Ocean Beach’s residential density from 25 units-per-acre to 52-units-per-acre.

By Mike Davis / TomDispatch.com / September 13, 2011

1. Twin Towers

Two years from now the staffs of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker will move into the most haunted building in the world. There, the elite of American celebrity photographers, gossip columnists, and magazine journalists may meet some macabre new muses, aloft in the upper stories of 1 World Trade Center where 658 doomed employees were sitting at their desks at 8:46 AM, September 11, 2001.