OB Rag

Part 1

Often, when one walks by the Starbucks in OB at the corner of Newport and Bacon, there doesn’t seem to be that many customers inside. Unless it’s a weekend or a crowded holiday. There’s many more people sipping java and staring at their laptops down around the corner at Newbreak on Abbott.

Homeless people and petition hawkers still congregate in front, though, so the corner itself seems busy.

Part 2 : The Stage Is Set for Revolution

Editor: This is the second part in a series about the history of Mexico written for gringos, and it was written in 1979-80. (Come inside for the link to Part 1.)

The liberal reform movement in Mexico during the middle of the 19th century was lead by Benito Juarez, the first and only Indian to gain the Presidency of Mexico. The reformers wished to dismantle the old semi-feudal economic structure, where the masses of peasants worked on large estates. But the conservative forces of society, the Church, large rancho owners, merchants, militarists, and opportunists who wanted to re-establish the Crown, violently resisted Juarez’s reform efforts.

Councilmember Kevin Faulconer is so concerned about the failure of the City of San Diego to yet successfully put out to bid – or to have built – the public restroom at the foot of Brighton Avenue in Ocean Beach, that he plans to have the Council audit the department that is responsible for the bidding process.

Mr. Faulconer, who represents Ocean Beach as part of District 2, has added and has had approved an audit of the City’s Purchasing and Contracting Department …

By Laurie Macrae, MLS

May 25th, Capitol Action Day in Sacramento, saw a thousand members of the disability community, in-home health care workers and family members massed before the capitol trying to get the attention of state legislators who have put their survival on the chopping block.

It rained steadily as people, many in wheel chairs, many being assisted by care workers and many family groups moved about the pavilion and the various organization tables, gathering information and communicating with their regional counterparts. All day individuals and groups trooped in to the capitol building to meet with legislators.

On this Saturday, June 11th, garage sale enthusiasts will be in heaven in Ocean Beach. 35 homes have been organized into a “community garage sale” – most in OB (there’s a couple in Point Loma). Each resident will hold their own garage sale at their home, and is responsible for all sales, exchanges, etc.

A map of the participating homes is provided …

The next meeting of the San Diego Redistricting Commission is Thursday, June 9th. The Commission will meet at 4:00 pm in the auditorium of the City’s Metro Operations Center in Kearny Mesa, 9192 Topaz Way.

The Commission is in the process of re-drawing the City of San Diego’s council districts and adding one. There are currently eight districts, and the voters elected to add one additional district to make 9. Having nine districts in a strong-mayor city government system aids the council-branch in its deliberations with the mayor over policy, budgets, and other issues, such as land use.

Soccer is the great global game: the closest thing we have to a connective cultural tissue that binds our species across national and cultural borders. But only in a world so upside down could “the Beautiful Game” be run by an organization as corrupt as FIFA [international federation of football (soccer) association] and by a man as rotten to the core as FIFA President Sepp Blatter. Only Sepp Blatter, whose reputation for degeneracy approaches legend, hire a war criminal like Henry Kissinger to head “a committee of wise persons” aimed at “rooting out corruption” in his organization. And only these two twinning avatars of amorality would use “the Beautiful Game” as an instrument of Islamophobia.

On Tuesday, June 7th, there was a big win for community gardening in San Diego. The San Diego City Council voted unanimously to allow community gardens by right in commercial and residential zones, without costly and complicated permits, and they would be allowed everywhere outside most coastal areas. Individual garden water meters, locks and fencing will no longer be required.

By David Langston

Note: There will be a Town Hall Meeting on this issue on Thursday, June 9 at 6pm at Memorial Prep School at 2850 Logan in San Diego. The forum will highlight the impact of the foreclosure crisis, connect families in danger of losing their homes with resources, and discuss solutions to hold bad actors accountable.

The big banks shattered our economy and left workers and our communities to clean up the pieces. We’ve lost 8 million jobs, our retirement savings vanished, entire neighborhoods sit abandoned by foreclosure, and cities and states are facing an ever widening budget crisis.

Editor: This short history of Mexico was written for gringos because gringos are not taught anything about the real history of our close neighbor to the south in our classrooms. And this account stops at the Revoluccion.

Most North Americans don’t know too much of the history of our southern neighbor, even though our nation has been deeply involved in its internal affairs. This involvement over the last 150 years has led to the domination of Mexico’s economy by North American capitalists. To understand this relationship, and to understand why undocumented workers migrate north, we must trace Mexico’s history …

Editor: Here are several reports from local San Diego media on this issue.

Grocery Workers Get Support From Other Union Members

Union leaders say the Vons, Ralph’s and Albertson’s stores are trying to gut the worker’s health care plans, shifting up to 80 percent of the cost to the workers. The grocery chains say they’re are making a fair offer that gives workers access to excellent coverage. The AFL CIO Labor Council’s 190,000 members pledged to honor a possible strike.

By Monty Kroopkin / June 7, 2011

Saturday, June 4, 2011,the San Diego County Board of Supervisors was issued a warning. 700 County union members and their supporters rallied and picketed at the County Admin Building.

Many of the picket signs read: “More work, for less pay? No way!” and “Cut the Fat at the Top.” They marched around the County Center on Pacific Highway . They chanted. They ….