San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for At Large

San Diego North County Coastal Cities Moving Forward On Clean Energy Initiatives

by

By John Garcia / SD350.org

During the past year, the San Diego North County Coastal cities have taken steps forward in implementing their Climate Action Plans (CAP) and studying Community Choice Energy (CCE) initiatives, which will enhance their ability to significantly increase their use of Clean Energy in the future.

Three of the cities – Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Del Mar – have formally approved their Climate Action Plans. The Encinitas Climate Action Plan was approved in March 2011. It was not tied to a General Plan and therefore had purely voluntary measures. This month however, the Encinitas City Council voted to draft a new, enforceable Climate Action Plan as mitigation for the housing element of their General Plan and to allocate $100,000 towards its development.
  [Read more…]

Veterans Talk Pathologies of Hate and Violence After Orlando Nightclub Tragedy

by

By Brian Trautman

It is becoming increasingly clear that one of the shooter’s perceived justifications for perpetrating the murderous rampage may have been intense psychological and emotional pain over his sexual orientation – a catastrophic blend of deep shame, humiliation and bitterness over his possible queerness.

Besides his apparent queer inclinations, there were several noteworthy details about the shooter’s life that were omitted during many discussions about motives: his history of domestic violence, both as a victimizer and a witness to it in childhood; his employment with, one of the largest private security firms in the world, for which he rendered services that included the imprisonment and mistreatment of juvenile offenders; and, his fascination with the NYPD, which he apparently idolized as a would-be police officer.   [Read more…]

The High Costs of Policy Shortfalls in Housing

by

By Murtaza Baxamusa / Rooflines

The high cost of housing is one of the most challenging planning issues of our time. The meager supply of affordable housing is a major contributor to the problem, yet the policy tools to address the shortfall often seem to worsen the problem. But this is because they ignore the underlying infrastructure and financing to support growth.

Housing affordability is really about two things: income and cost. The building industry is doing very little about the former, oftentimes opposing prevailing wages for construction workers. On the latter, the key question (being debated in California now) is whether deregulation of market rate housing projects will somehow “trickle down” to households, enabling them to afford rising rents and mortgages.   [Read more…]

Crossing the Line: A Marriage Across Borders

by

This immigration love story does it the ‘right way’

By Sharon Kha

“It’s not that we don’t want Mexicans to come to America,” the woman in the coffee shop said. “It’s just that we want them to do it the right way.”

The right way? And what would that be? Should we advise them to do exactly as we did?

When we were the ones on the other side of the fence wanting to settle in this new country, we cheated the people who were living there at the time — the Indians. We herded them into reservations and broke every treaty we made with them. When all else failed, we gave them disease-infected blankets that killed them off.
  [Read more…]

Another Ten Minute Acquittal Against DA Dumanis in Medical Cannabis Trial

by

The thin-as-air manufacturing case against medical cannabis patient and collective operator, Shaun Smith swept so quickly through trial that before we knew it, Attorney Michael Cindrich had queued up his third cannabis-related not guilty verdict in four months.

The Cindrich winning streak started with defendant John Mazula in El Cajon, moved north to LA and then touched down in San Diego County’s Vista yesterday – surely making waves in District Attorney’s office and changing the landscape for medical cannabis patients.   [Read more…]

Burmese Family’s 20 Year Journey to US Citizenship

by

By Nile Sisters

In 1996, memories of a recently passed high school examination quickly faded as San San N., seven family members, and 35 others fled to the Burmese jungle to escape government troops. With their food supplies exhausted after 22 days, they quickly learned to forage for edibles in the jungle.

Approaching the Thai border, they slid down a mountainside to the river’s edge only to set off buried land mines along the shore, one exploding near San San. The terrified group had never before experienced such deadly weapons, which killed two members and injured several others with shrapnel. Miraculously, San San and her family crossed the river by boat and arrived alive in Thailand.   [Read more…]

We Need a New Public Use of the Old Central Library

by

By Joe Flynn

“Planning? We don’t need no stinking planning!” No, I am not talking about The Treasure of Sierra Madre, I’m talking about the treasure of our old Central Library. One would think after decades of working to build a new central library, some thought would have been given to a new use for the old library.

And it is not just another old building; this one has a lot or treasured memories for many San Diegans, especially those who spent hours there doing school projects and term papers or just for the pure enjoyment of literature.   [Read more…]

Nailed It! 4 Texts That Get it Right About Invisible Disabilities

by

By Linda Williams, Ph.D. & Monica Slabaugh / Invisible Disability Project

1. Canceling Plans

It happens. Invisible disabilities may be unseen, but they aren’t unfelt or unreal. They are, however, unpredictable. One moment, our body tell us game on; and the next, it’s curled up on the sofa, and it’s not going anywhere today. Bodily and neurodiversity need flexible structures, allies, and partnerships. Go with the flow.

2. Accessibility? That’s a Thing Now

Asking about accessibility may not always have been front and center on our minds. But now, it is. And if it’s not on yours, it should be. It is part of the everyday language we use, and exists in the social world around us. It’s not a formality. It’s not about following a rule. It’s equitable, and it’s the right thing to do. Public and social spaces may not be built for all bodies and all people. But all bodies and all people have a right to exist in the world as they are. So check in about accommodations often, ok?   [Read more…]

An Inside View of Homelessness in San Diego

by

By Orlando Barahona / San Diego UrbDeZine

I’m Orlando Barahona and this is the first account of my experiences as a homeless man in San Diego. One aim in writing this editorial is to raise a sharp awareness of a homelessness crisis I have experienced that cannot be ignored any longer: men, women and entire families are on the streets or in sub-par dwellings; the other is to dispel the myth that anyone who enters adverse situations cannot recover.

Once upon a time in a shelter far, far away… I haven’t been chronically homeless since the beginning of my life journey. As far back as 1998 I had a career as a graphic and web designer that felt like a holiday in Valhalla, using my artistic and technical skills for clients with a lovely budget. That career’s success was enjoyed thoroughly in mind and spirit. Unfortunately, two of my largest accounts ceased to exist, taking with them seventy percent of my income.

I finished a terrible relationship in Iowa back in 2014 and I called my middle sister, who lived in Vista at the time and she invited me to California to rebuild my life. Sadly, personal and psychological problems sprouted in our relationship and that threw me into destitution when I was asked to leave her home.   [Read more…]

San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association, Judge Curiel and Trump Attacks on Independent Judiciary

by

The San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association along with Tom Homann LGBT Law Association and Justicia Criminal Defense Lawyers announce their response to Donald Trump’s misleading remarks regarding the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association and his repeated comments regarding U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel.

By Luis O. Osuna, San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association President

In recent days our organization and Judge Curiel have become the targets of Donald Trump’s attacks. The comments made by Trump have been misleading, blatant lies and even racist in nature. Given the amount of attention that Trump’s remarks have produced, this statement seeks to clarify who we are as an association, our purpose and the abject impropriety of Trump’s criticism of Judge Curiel and his attacks on the independence of the judiciary.   [Read more…]

Term Limits on November Ballot for National City

by

By Mona Rios

The city of National City, where I serve on the City Council, is the second oldest city in the County, surpassed by the City of San Diego by a mere six months. However, in the last 50 years we have only had four mayors, while San Diego has had 14.

Because of this lack of turnover in the Mayor’s office, in 2004 the voters of National City approved Proposition T by an overwhelming vote of 70%, which enacted mayoral term limits by capping at three the number of consecutive mayoral terms one can serve. Today there is a stealth campaign underway to repeal those term limits so that the current mayor, Ron Morrison, can perpetuate himself in office.   [Read more…]

Free Speech and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign at SDSU

by

Open Letter From SDSU Staff and Faculty Regarding Naming and Targeting of Students

Dear President Hirshman

As staff and faculty of San Diego State University, we stand in support of students whose rights to free speech have come under threat as a result of flyers posted across campus by the Horowitz Freedom Center on April 14, 2016. The flyers specifically targeted seven students from Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Muslim Student Association (MSA), claiming that they have “allied themselves with Palestinian terrorists to perpetrate BDS and Jew Hatred on this campus.” We condemn these false and defamatory allegations that have caused harm and distress to our students.

We are disappointed that the administration has refused to defend students from charges of “Jew-hatred” and of being linked to “terrorists.” This is not only offensive, it leaves the targeted students exposed to harassment, discrimination, and other bias-motivated offenses. Students rightly feel betrayed. When protesting students hold signs that read “SDSU thinks we are terrorists,” they are correctly rebuking the university for failing to fulfill its mandate to treat students with respect and dignity.

We are speaking out because we have a collective responsibility as both community members and employees in supporting and promoting student rights to freedom of speech and to be free of intimidation.   [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry