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Barrio Logan’s Resistance to Maritime Industry’s Referendum Has Begun

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Activists, Artists and Residents Meet to Discuss Actions

By Brent E. Beltrán

On a beautiful Tuesday evening a dozen individuals involved with the Barrio Logan community gathered at Bread & Salt in Logan Heights to plot out a strategy to take on polluting maritime industry’s anti-resident referendums.

Having not gotten their way during a five year Barrio Logan community plan update process maritime industry and their suppliers and surrogates have decided to take this local neighborhood issue out of the hands of Barrio Logan and put it to a citywide vote even though the San Diego City Council twice voted 5-4 to approve the community plan.   [Read more…]

Commemorate Día de los Muertos throughout San Diego – Long Live the Dead!

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Día de los Muertos Commemorated for Thousands of Years in the Americas

By Brent E. Beltrán

Los días de los muertos have been commemorated for thousands of years in the Americas. It started in what is now México and has spread throughout the United States and the world. Today these days are celebrated by people of many different colors and cultures.

November 1 is Día de los Inocentes (Day of the Innocents) when deceased children are honored and November 2 is known as Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) where we pay tribute to adults who have passed away. These dates correspond with the Christian holidays of All Saints’ Day and All Soul’s Day.   [Read more…]

A Short Lived Victory for Barrio Logan

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Maritime Industry Ramps Up Anti-Residents Referendum

By Brent E. Beltrán

The residents of San Diego’s neglected Barrio Logan neighborhood gained a significant win Tuesday over maritime industry’s attempt to derail the community plan update. On a 5-4 party line vote Democratic members of the San Diego City Council held firm in their resolve to do what is right for the people who live in Barrio Logan.

This was the second and final vote the city council made to implement the updated Barrio Logan Community Plan, the first significant update since 1978.

Over time the new plan will help separate unhealthy industry and businesses away from residential areas and create a buffer zone of non-polluting businesses between homes and those enterprises that are toxic to the neighborhood.   [Read more…]

Reflecting Upon the First Year of Desde la Logan

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By Brent E. Beltrán

One year ago today, October 12, 2012, my first Desde la Logan column was published here at San Diego Free Press. To date I’ve written forty-nine pieces: forty-four Desde la Logan columns and five articles on Comic-Con. If I had more time I probably could’ve written fifty more.

Like all SDFP writers I do not get paid to write. I write because the stories that I want to share rarely, if ever, get covered by the mainstream press. And the community I live in and write about doesn’t get much positive media attention.

I’ve taken it upon myself to cover the stories and issues that don’t get covered. To unashamedly champion the places, people, issues and causes that are near and dear to my community and myself.   [Read more…]

They Danced in the Barrio

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Trolley Dances Come to La Logan

By Brent E. Beltrán

For the past two weekends three different public sites within Barrio Logan were pleasantly invaded by the light-footed moves of hand-selected dancers. The 15th annual Trolley Dances shared the talents of local dance aficionados with the Logan community and those that came from outside the neighborhood.

Organized by the San Diego Dance Theater, under the direction of Artistic Executive Director Jean Isaacs, and in partnership with the Metropolitan Transit System, the concept of Trolley Dances is to “bring dance to the people using public transportation and introduce people to new neighborhoods and places.”   [Read more…]

Las Monthly Ondas October Edition: The Art and Heart of Lucha Libre

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Ruben Torres’ 2nd Annual HeART of LUCHA

By Brent E. Beltrán

Local music and video producer, curator, lucha libre lover and all around cool vato Ruben Torres is organizing his 2nd annual HeART of LUCHA event. It is being billed as the “largest lucha art and culture exhibition in the nation.”

Last year’s inaugural exhibition took place at The Spot Barrio Logan. For the second installment Ruben has taken over the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park where his other art series, HeART of Lotería, took place earlier this year. In addition to these two series he also organizes an annual winter toy and clothing drive for San Diego and Tijuana youth called Love Thy Neighbor (I wrote about it here).   [Read more…]

César E. Chávez Continuing Education Campus Breaks Ground

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College Courses Coming to Barrio Logan

By Brent E. Beltrán

On Wednesday morning (September 25) local community college dignitaries, area politicians, city administrators, business people and community members came together to break ground on the César E. Chávez Continuing Education Campus in Barrio Logan.

The facility, on the site of the first and third incarnations of Chuey’s Restaurant, will provide almost 68,000 square feet of space including 22 classrooms, a multi-purpose room and space for small business development, as well as a student lounge that will pay tribute to Chuey’s.

The school will focus on providing career training in allied health as well as job training/certificate programs, English as Second Language, Adult Basic Education, General Education Diploma preparation, business, computers and IT, parent education and older adult education programs.

These are all programs that will serve the community of Barrio Logan and surrounding neighborhoods well.   [Read more…]

Barrio Logan Community Plan Update Alternative 1 Passes

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Not All Stakeholders Are Pleased With Compromise

By Brent E. Beltrán

I have never been to a San Diego City Council meeting before. Never had a need nor did I ever care about the goings on inside the council’s chamber on the 12th floor of City Hall. But that changed on Tuesday, September 17. That was the day that the council was to vote upon the Barrio Logan Community Plan Update.

For five years the Barrio Logan Community Plan Update Stakeholders Committee held meetings to create a new community plan for Barrio Logan. A plan that would change the mixed use zoning that has been detrimental to the health and welfare of the residents of this predominantly working class, Mexican neighborhood. The Stakeholders were to create a plan that would delineate industrial areas from residential ones and create a barrier of sorts between the two.

For five years the various Barrio Logan Stakeholders met time and time again to create this plan. It was a democratic process. Votes were cast overwhelmingly in favor of Alternative 1 yet the maritime industry that has been polluting this community for decades kept holding out hope that their plan, Alternative 2, would ultimately be voted on and implemented by the San Diego City Council.   [Read more…]

Barrio Art Jam and Barrio Film Festival Set to Go Off this Weekend

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Barrio Logan at the Epicenter of Grassroots Arts & Culture Movement

By Brent E. Beltrán

Word is out that Barrio Logan is a thriving, happening community that treasures its art and culture. Not a week goes by without some type of artistic happening taking place within this predominantly Mexican neighborhood.

Places like Chicano Park, Voz Alta, The Roots Factory, Glashaus, Bread & Salt and even the placita at Mercado del Barrio feature a variety of arts and culture events that showcase the desire to create and present. This weekend is no different.

The first annual Barrio Art Jam and the second annual Barrio Film Fest are going down simultaneously. The neighborhood may be relatively small but there is plenty of artistic space for both of these grassroots ventures to thrive.   [Read more…]

Support the Barrio Logan Community Plan Update Alternative 1!

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San Diego’s Maritime Industry Doesn’t Care About Barrio Logan

By Brent E. Beltrán

I come before you today not as a paid employee of Continental Marine or of the other ubiquitous polluting industries that mar the streetscape of Barrio Logan. Nor do I come as a high paid lobbyist or lawyer of these same businesses. Neither am I a CEO or manager of said industry.

I come before you today as a relatively new resident of Barrio Logan. I’ve lived in Logan Heights for two years and am now finishing my first year as an apartment dweller in the new Estrella del Mercado complex. Though for the past 20 years I have participated in various ways in the life and activities of Barrio Logan.

For decades my community has struggled with neglect by the political players, power brokers and industries that have never cared about the residents of this barrio.   [Read more…]

“Everything Comes from the Streets” Filmmakers Seek Funding

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Local Lowrider Documentary Needs Help for Post-Production Costs

By Brent E. Beltrán

In my neighborhood of Barrio Logan lowriders are a ubiquitous presence. They’re part of the cultural fabric that sews this community together. It’s not a new phenomenon. They’ve been around here for decades and are part of the history not only of Barrio Logan but of San Diego as a whole.

Recognizing a need to document and tell that history local lowriding legend Rigo Reyes joined forces with professor Alberto Pulido to create a documentary on the beginnings of San Diego’s lowrider scene. Though the film, Everything Comes from the Streets, might be their first these two longtime San Diegans know their stuff when it comes to lowriders and Chicano history.

Rigo Reyes is a founder of Amigos Car Club, which organizes the annual Chicano Park Day lowrider car show, and the San Diego Lowrider Council, which have been in existence since the late 1970’s. Dr. Pulido is the chair of the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of San Diego. Both have been members of the Chicano Park Steering Committee for many years, Rigo since the takeover on April 22, 1970.

As a professor Alberto has come to recognize that all learning doesn’t happen inside the ivory towers of academia. A lot happens outside the hallowed halls of learning institutions. “As an educator one of the things that I’ve come to realize is that so much of the knowledge that we’re trying to do in the classroom is actually out in the community or like our film says its out in the streets.”   [Read more…]

Las Monthly Ondas September Edition: Spend a Weekend with Picasso

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Herbert Siguenza Returns as the Iconic Artist

By Brent E. Beltrán

Some may have thought that Pablo Picasso died at the gravely old age of 91 while entertaining friends at his home in France. That was not the case because the famous artist lives on here in San Diego.

This month you can see him live and in the flesh as Salvadoran actor Herbert Siguenza, of Culture Clash fame, captures the pure essence of the master himself in A Weekend with Picasso. From his mannerisms and speech to painting live Siguenza channels his inner Picasso and transforms into one of the most influential artists in modern history.   [Read more…]

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