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The Age Of Fear And Hiding In North County San Diego

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With increased actions by US Customs and Border Patrol in North San Diego County, residents return to a life of fear and hiding.

By Don Greene / djgreene.net

On February 20th, the Department of Homeland Security released two new memorandums for its agents. The memorandums increase the arbitrary authority of the agents in the field and reduce the rights of those who are arrested to almost zero. The ghost of immigration policies past is slowly creeping into our national dialogue once again. Though the Obama administration racked up a high tally of undocumented immigrants it deported, those who were deported were criminals or those who had deportation orders issued.

Over the last week, the Trump administration has begun a crackdown on undocumented immigrants of all sorts and those who had been able to come out of the shadows of fear and anxiety are quickly heading back to those all too familiar places. We have only begun to see what steps the current administration is willing to take to carry out campaign promises of “building a wall” and getting rid of some “bad hombres.”   [Read more…]

The Who, What, Why, When, Where And How Of SANDAG Prop A

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The San Diego Association of Governments has been under fire for poor forecasting and potentially deceiving the public about revenue projects from Proposition A.

At the February 24th meeting of SANDAG, the San Diego Association of Governments, the Board of Directors comprised of the 18 jurisdictions of San Diego County, heard an explanation of the bad forecast used to anticipate revenue generated from Proposition A, the 1/2 cent sales tax increases which failed on the November 2016 ballot.

Ray Major, SANDAG’s head of technology services and chief economist, explained through a series of power point slides the problems which he has uncovered in the formulas used by the agency to forecast revenues and other economic indicators. Only having been in the post for a little over a year, Major described finding a problem with the Retail Sales Tax estimates, which generated the emails the Voice of San Diego published in their story.

The Board took this opportunity to express their concerns and request an independent investigation into the details surrounding who knew what and when and why the Board had not been made aware of the mistake much sooner.   [Read more…]

A Message to the Grass Roots: Be Wary of Corporate Democrats in Sheep’s Clothing

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The momentum created through movements such as the Women’s March on Washington and the various Indivisible Groups is great and is noticed. All the strategists in the Democratic party – who, by the way, couldn’t excite and capture this level of energy during the last election – are conniving to capture and steer this energy for the Party’s gain. In other words, going forward, what may look like grassroots organizing and politicking will more than likely be a front for the “corporate Democrats” the movements are pushing against.   [Read more…]

The One About The Reverse Osmosis Plant in Escondido

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Escondido is considering placing a reverse osmosis filtration and treatment plant on a vacant lot. The lot sits next to a senior residential facility and low-income housing.

Monday, December 13, the Escondido Planning Commission continued its unbelievable policy of “Making Escondido the 50s Again” and approved a Reverse Osmosis/Membrane Filtration plant for the corner of Ash(Route 78) and Washington. How – you might ask – does adding something which is the future of water preservation make Escondido “the 50s” again? One of the major justification of putting this very industrial use in a very residential neighborhood was: this used to be the location of the water department.

Of course, back then, the water department was surrounded by fruit trees and mice. Now, the location sits smack dab in the middle of a highly residential area; a 100-unit Senior living facility adjacent to the east, a row of affordable housing directly to the north and commercial/retail on the remaining sides, along with the Escondido Creek adjacent to the south.

So why is this project bad?   [Read more…]

Tin Cup Week Comes To Washington

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The annual pilgrimage of municipalities and counties to Washington, D.C. might be very different this year. Depending, of course, on who your representative actually is.

Every year, many of the countries municipalities and counties make a pilgrimage to Washington, D.C. to meet with various federal departments and their elected Representatives and Senators to acquire funding for programs and projects.

The process, aptly nicknamed “Tin Cup Week”, begins months earlier with the paid lobbyist arranging meetings and appointments during the last week in February. When cities or counties identify projects which could potentially qualify for federal dollars, they make a presentation to the appropriate department to ask for direct funding or for grant opportunities.   [Read more…]

Early Speculation on County Supervisor Races

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While it seems the dust is just beginning to settle on last November’s election, it is a perfect time to begin to look at the 2018/2020 County Supervisor elections and take a look at the players we either know or have heard will be making a run.

The last election put Kristin Gaspar into office in the Third District, replacing incumbent Dave Roberts. This put the composition of the Board back to “all Republican.” This could be disastrous moving forward, especially in the land use arena. Projects like Merriam Mountain, Lilac Hills Ranch, Safari Highlands Ranch and others in the North County could be given the green light by an all Republican, pro-development Board.   [Read more…]

Another Chapter in Escondido’s History of Hatred

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By Don Greene / Escondido Democrats

The racial history of Escondido is long and filled with many stories of hatred. In 2004 the council followed the lead of Marie Waldron and called for a state-wide immigration police force. In 2006 the council approved an ordinance that required landlords to only rent to US citizens. Since then, we have had street parking restrictions, garage conversion crackdowns, police checkpoints, the only known hand-in-hand relationship between our police force and ICE, and, most recently, the denial of a company to open a housing complex for unaccompanied minors emigrating from Latin America.

One would think, that after more than a decade of racially divisive policies and practices, people who work for Escondido would be more sensitive to the impression that their actions give to the population.

Unfortunately there continue to be those who either don’t care what impression their actions make, or don’t think about their actions at all.   [Read more…]

Escondido Can’t Afford the Safari Highlands Ranch Development

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By Don Greene / Escondido Democrats

In 2012, after a number of years in planning and design, the residents of Escondido approved an update to our city’s General Plan. The General Plan is the guide to how the community wants to see our city grow. Included within the General Plan are different “elements” which address a variety of different yet related aspects of how we will grow our city. One of these elements governs land use. 

The Land Use Element of the General Plan addresses allowable land uses and the specific zonings. It also addresses a number of areas within the city that either will or could be developed for commercial, residential and multi-purpose use. Included in the Land Use Element are also “Land Use and Community Form Goals and Policies.” These set the tone and feel for all the future development within the city.    [Read more…]

Latina Olga Diaz Aims for the Top Spot in Conservative Escondido

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In North County politics, Olga Diaz is an anomaly.  Currently, as the Deputy Mayor of Escondido, Olga has achieved something that no one else has done in 126 years:  She is the first Latina elected to the City Council.  That’s nothing to sneeze at. Once named the 11th Most Conservative City in the United States, Escondido can be a lonely place for a Latina, especially if she fits the description of Olga Diaz.

Diaz describes herself as an environmentalist. She as championed the rehabilitation of Escondido Creek, turning it from a concrete, channelized flood control basin to a 7-mile linear park in the heart of the city.  She also describes herself as a feminist, a progressive, and, if those weren’t enough, a Democrat.

Being all these things should not be automatic detriment to a candidate or politician, but in Escondido, things are a little different.  Recently, at a Republican Central Committee meeting, current mayor, Sam Abed, declared that “Escondido is the Republican capitol of San Diego County.” It is much of that type of bravado that gets the city into a lot of legal troubles.  It was some of that legal trouble that launched Diaz’s political career.   [Read more…]

Escondido’s Park That’s Not a Park, Owned by the Mayor’s Family

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Budget discussions at the City of Escondido have for the last 4 years focused on a more streamlined approach to spending.  The City Council has cut back on many programs and amenities, none more so than our Parks and Recreation Department.

I drive past Grove Park and Washington Park and admire that the city has set aside outdoor space for its residents. The question always comes to mind as to why would we want to cheapen these areas or outright sell them off?  Why wouldn’t we want to preserve these spaces for the residents to enjoy?

Of course, with budget cuts, the city is having a hard time maintaining the programming at our city parks.  The move to make the Recreation Department as close to a “full cost recovery department” as possible, has stripped away many of the amenities that our parks offered to our residents. Many of the amenities at our local parks have fallen into disrepair and there doesn’t seem to be money in the budget to fix these problems. With limited amenities, our parks are not being used by residents.

There have been proposals such as the Water Park and the BMX Track slotted for Kit Carson Park.  These projects would have been, presumably, a public/private partnership that would have brought more revenue and more visitors to the city.  Opponents of these measures argued that we would lose valuable green space.  But our parks are not the only source of green space in the city.   [Read more…]

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