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Veterans For Peace Give Out 3200th Sleeping Bag Set in Downtown San Diego

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By Gil Field / San Diego Veterans for Peace

Veteran members, associate members, and friends and supporters of the San Diego Veterans For Peace, Chapter 91, are proud to announce that in November 2017 the 3200th  sleeping bag set was given out to the homeless in downtown San Diego!

It’s through the generous ongoing financial contributions of friends and the general public that our Compassion Campaign is able to indefinitely continue this humane, lifesaving program.

In December 2010 the San Diego chapter of the national Veterans For Peace organization began the Compassion Campaign — an outreach effort to help displaced homeless veterans. Ignited by conversations with many homeless veterans on the street in downtown San Diego, the chapter membership determined the lives of homeless veterans and non-veterans downtown could improve significantly if given basic equipment — like a sleeping bag, as many weren’t sleeping well on the hard pavement with only a light blanket, their jacket, or nothing.   [Read more…]

ACLU Asks City of El Cajon to Reconsider Its ‘Food Sharing’ Ban

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New Ordinance May Violate First Amendment Protected Expression of Charity

By ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties

A few weeks ago, the City of El Cajon adopted an ordinance prohibiting people and organizations from sharing food with homeless individuals on public property. This needlessly cruel ordinance dampens the spirit of giving this holiday season. It may also be unconstitutional.

On Friday, the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties sent a letter to the City of El Cajon requesting reconsideration of its food sharing ban.

“By prohibiting food sharing only when done for ‘charitable purposes,’ El Cajon is regulating food sharing because of its expressive content, punishing only those who share food to express their religious or political beliefs in ministry or charity but not those who share food for other purposes,” said David Loy, Legal Director for the ACLU of San Diego. “If charitable appeals for funds are within the protection of the First Amendment, the same is true for charitable giving, whether of money or food.”   [Read more…]

A Look at Climate Change Effects On San Diego County

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By Cynthia Wootton and Angela Deegan / SanDiego350

A  recent presentation by Dr. Veerabhadran Ramanathan of UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography on climate change held locally (at the San Diego City Council Environment Committee meeting), made us wonder what climate change might look like here in San Diego County.

Typically, weather events will conform to two characteristics of climate change: more extreme and, generally, more frequent weather events.   [Read more…]

Readers Write: ‘Non-Partisan’ Forum Slanted for GOP Candidate in District Attorney Race

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By Terrie Best / OB Rag

While following local politics I was surprised to find intelligent people right here in urban San Diego who will vote against their own interests. This particular anomaly is one I’d long ago set aside for white people in the rural south – the ones who are in bad need of dental check-ups but nevertheless want Obama Care repealed.

When I hear of communities targeted by law enforcement, I assume their leaders will be savvy enough to seek out and oppose the perpetrators of racist practices in the justice system.

Recently, what I saw in the name of party line politics is folks actually stacking the deck against those who would make life better for people of color and therefore, all of us. This show of self-sabotage was carried out all while pretending to lead without bias.

I’m talking about the Latino American Political Association, which hosted the District Attorney Forum last week and afterward endorsed Republican Summer more-of-the-same Stephan. LAPA also disregarded the public who were only trying to do what LAPA was offering: to learn more about the two DA candidates at the forum.   [Read more…]

Veterans Challenge Trump’s Islamophobia

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By Brian Trautman

President Donald Trump revealed his inner nature again last week when he retweeted a series of anti-Muslim propaganda videos from the deputy leader of an ultranationalist, neo-fascist hate group in the UK.

Trump sank to a new low in terms of the blatant falsehoods and myths he will invoke and propagate to incite enmity against Muslims. He’s demonstrated repeatedly that white nationalism and the demonization of Islam is something that he wholeheartedly embraces and intends to advance at every opportunity.

The encouraging news is that Trump’s fear and hate mongering against Islam and Muslims is increasingly being denounced by a wider spectrum of individuals and groups, including many staunch conservatives, both in the U.S. and abroad. The groundswell of resistance is steadily growing.   [Read more…]

Carr, Geraci Believe a Democrat Can Top Waldron in the 75th Assembly District

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By Rick Mercurio / Alianza North County

Two democrats are gearing up to challenge incumbent republican Marie Waldron next year for the 75th Assembly district, which has traditionally been a safe seat for conservatives. Waldron is currently serving as the Assembly’s minority floor leader and is in her third two-year term after serving 14 years on the Escondido city council.

Eric Carr and Alan Geraci hope to harness the political activism that has been sweeping the nation, including North County, and turn that energy into an electoral upset.
The 75th encompasses Escondido, San Marcos, Valley Center, Fallbrook and southern Riverside County.   [Read more…]

Readers Write: Time to Pull the Plug on Football in City Schools?

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By John Stump

The Board of Trustees is beginning the processes for preparation and funding of the upcoming Fiscal year 2018-19 Budget. I am requesting that your deliberations include a report of the revenues and expenses associated with promoting and subsidizing the injury and brain concussion prone NFL Style Football, as an academic sport at City of San Diego schools.

I request that the Board request a report which identifies all of the expenses associated with football, including but not limited to coaching, uniforms, facilities, workers compensation claims, and claims associated with students’ and the public’s participation in this sport. Analysis must consider both costs and revenues to determine the benefits of any budget item.   [Read more…]

Feeding the Deportation Pipeline: Caveat Recruitees

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By Isidro Ortiz / Draft NOtices

A previous Draft NOtices article, Removing a Few Bad Hombres, discussed the deportation of immigrant military veterans. Non-citizen immigrant recruits in the United States now find themselves possibly facing a similarly cruel and irreversible fate.

In this case, their potential deportation isn’t due to any criminal actions on their part. Instead, its roots lie in the Department of Defense’s (DoD) proposal to terminate the Military Accession Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program over security concerns. The program’s end would result in the cancellation of enlistment contracts with non-citizen recruits.

As reported in media venues such as NPR, this action would leave 1,000 non-citizen recruits without legal protection from deportation. Their plight is yet another reminder of the highly problematic and untrustworthy nature of the institutional commitment to those who aspire to serve in the military.   [Read more…]

Letter to Mayor Faulconer on the Temporary Shelters in Barrio Logan, East Village

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By Barrio Logan Planning Group

Re: Temporary (Bridge) Homeless Shelters

Honorable Mayor Faulconer:

Learning of the intent of the City of San Diego to return the homeless shelter to 16th Street and Newton Avenue and Commercial and 14th Streets has raised grave concerns among those of us who live and work in Barrio Logan and East Village. While we understand the need to act to serve the needs of the growing homeless population in San Diego, community residents have a vivid memory of the impacts the last “temporary shelter” brought to Barrio Logan. …

It is understood that the bridge shelters are meant to be temporary while the City implements a permanent solution to housing the homeless in San Diego. Our natural concern is that having temporary shelters relieves the “pressure” on the City to find the permanent solution that is needed. We remain hopeful that this is not the case and a more permanent solution is on the horizon.   [Read more…]

Letter from Puerto Rico: ‘56 days after Maria and honestly everyone here is tired’

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By Jessica Carrera

Hola mi tia.

Well yeah there was another “blackout”. Which is funny because most of us don’t have lights anyway and are using generators. On Sunday my neighborhood got lights. We heard “llegó la luz llegó la luz,” turned our breaker on and we are pretty much the only house now on my block with no lights. I had a meltdown and could only sit and cry.

The electric company told Eduardo that it would be a few weeks before our lights come on because of the downed electric pole from the hurricane that is still on the patio. Which they didn’t remove! “Few weeks” in Puerto Rico time is months. No lights or cookies for Christmas.   [Read more…]

San Diego’s Community Choice Energy Technical Study Stands Up Under Scrutiny

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Conservative Assumptions Camouflage this New Energy Option’s Benefits

By Tyson Siegele / San Diego 350

San Diego struggles under the yoke of the highest electricity prices in the state. Meanwhile, thousands of cities across the United States have executed a plan to reduce their electricity prices, called Community Choice Energy. City officials hired an expert to determine if Community Choice would work here too. The technical study, also know as the feasibility study, found that San Diego would benefit from Community Choice, just like thousands of cities before it.

In July, when the City released the technical study, several publications such as the San Diego Union Tribune and the Voice of San Diego highlighted the main finding of the study: “San Diego could provide cheaper, greener energy than SDG&E.” Now, having had several months to digest the findings and compare them to Community Choice Energy programs across the state, additional conclusions can be teased out of the study.   [Read more…]

Readers Write: Another ‘Business As Usual’ Fixer at City Hall Won’t Help the Homeless

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By Martha Sullivan / San Diego Housing Emergency Alliance

Longtime mayoral fixer, Kris Michell, returns to San Diego City Hall this week as Deputy Chief Operating Officer. She seems to be Mayor Faulconer’s “Jared,” with a wide-ranging portfolio:

“Michell was announced Sept. 28 as a top city adviser on homelessness, special events, corporate sponsorships, the commission on arts and culture and the city’s redevelopment arm, Civic San Diego.”

Michell returns to City Hall after several years doing much of the same as the head of the Downtown Partnership — the Business Improvement District for downtown. This city-sanctioned partly-funded entity has been a primary tool for persecuting unsheltered San Diegans left with nowhere to live, after the city’s replacement of 10,000 low-income housing units with market-rate/luxury development (mostly downtown) since 2010. This devastation started during her six years as chief of staff for Mayor Jerry Sanders.   [Read more…]

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