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Civility? We don’t need no stinkin’ civility

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by Norma Damashek
Mayor Jerry Sanders has betrayed the public. How? by refusing to separate the communal public agenda from the financial agendas of the people who brought him to power – the heavy-hitting fraternity of property developers, hoteliers, bankers, sports team owners, and financiers. They took up residence in the mayor’s office 7 years ago and should have been evicted. He never showed them the door.

By climbing into bed with Carl DeMaio’s campaign and supporters, our avuncular Mayor Sanders revealed one of his least endearing charms – the broken ethical/moral compass he uses to justify a long history of political ineptitude, questionable judgment, and cover-ups.   [Read more…]

City Government? we don’t need no stinkin’ government

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By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner

This is the 3rd installment in the stinkin’ series. It’s called City government? we don’t need no stinkin’ government.

Before we gird our collective loins to confront a scam called “Tourism Marketing District” I will pose this question: Why do we need city government?

Here’s a straightforward answer: to provide us with safe and pleasant surroundings so we can pursue our daily lives with a minimum of hassle – activities that include making a living, developing our talents, safeguarding the next generation, trying to be happy….   [Read more…]

We don’t need no stinkin’ newspaper!

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Here’s today’s’ top pick in the don’t need no stinkin’ category.  It’s called we don’t need no stinkin’ newspaper!

Doug Manchester’s high-flying plan to convert the entire San Diego region to a super-conservative privately-held corporation is highlighted by his latest acquisition of the North County Times (and affiliated Daily Californian).  Manchester makes no secret of his intention to capture the market of major news outlets — newspapers, TV, radio, and electronic/online.  Given his deep pockets, political objectives, and near-sociopathic super-size ego and ambitions, Manchester will undoubtedly do whatever it takes to get where he wants to be.

  [Read more…]

Audits? we don’t need no stinkin’ audits!

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by Norma Damashek/NumbersRunner

I’ve been working on a new informal series called WHAT SAN DIEGO DOESN’T NEED.  Here’s the first installment, to be followed by short pieces on other things our city doesn’t need, like Newspaper? we don’t need no stinkin’ newspaper…no stinkin’ pensions…stinkin’ lawsuits…scandals…moral terpitude…and so on.

Today it’s audits.

My mother introduced me to audits when I was a child by way of specific instructions on how to deal with the outside world.  It was the ordinary dose of Be careful crossing the street and Don’t talk to strangers — until one day she catapulted me into a grey zone of ‘little white lies’ with a new caveat: Honey, whenever anyone asks what daddy does for a living don’t say bookie. Say he’s an auditor…just say he does hotel audits.   [Read more…]

Bad Boys With Terrible Judgment

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By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner

Dog days of summer — they’re scorchers.

Not quite like the old days when sweaty families uncapped the corner fire hydrants to cool off with communal dousings.

If you haven’t seen it on TV news you can read about last Saturday night’s ‘happening’ in Balboa Park here.  This was no spontaneous event.  Rather, it was a vigorously-publicized invitational extravaganza to entice thousands of unchaperoned, unsupervised, unpermitted revelers to come on out and wreak some mindless havoc on a landmark piece of public property.  “Load your guns,” broadcasts a Facebook page (now expunged) “and join us for the 2nd Annual Midnight Water Gun Fight in Balboa Park!”   [Read more…]

San Diego’s Mayoral Race, Part Three: Sex, Lies and Video Tape

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By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner
Political suicide is not an acceptable option. There are billionaire puppeteers on the national scene who groomed Carl DeMaio to be their “vehicle,” their instrument for a right-wing takeover ofSan Diego. The Koch brothers are alter egos of Te and Do…Bo and Peep…The Two…. As they say in my birthplace, fuggedaboudit.

There are big-business/ downtownSan Diegointerests who believe they can keep Carl DeMaio in check… reined in… serving their interests… doing their bidding. It’s a delusional fantasy. He’s got richer, more powerful masters to please.

There are sincere and good people in San Diego who cry out for meaningful pension reform and mistakenly believe that Carl DeMaio can take them to the “next level.” His message is untrue. His true agenda is not reforming but dismantling public institutions of government. It’s a new-age form of anarchy.   [Read more…]

San Diego’s Mayoral Race, Part Two: Sex, Lies, and Videotape

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By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner

For the past few years the man who would be San Diego’s highest elected official has been leading a bifurcated life.

In public, Carl DeMaio remains a populist avatar of fiscal rectitude and righteous tea-party values.   In private, DeMaio is now the live-in mate of the publisher of San Diego Gay and Lesbian News and SD Pix magazine.  This partner is a controversial and successful videographer and photo cataloguer of social and party events in the gay community, a go-to man.

This is not a casual relationship.  Carl DeMaio and his partner have shared ‘promise rings.’  They share DeMaio’s home in Rancho Bernardo.   [Read more…]

San Diego’s Mayoral Race, Part One: Sex, Lies and Videotape

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By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner

Does anyone out there remember the doomsday cult called Heaven’s Gate — UFO-believers led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles, aka “The Two,” aka “Te and Do,” aka “Bo and Peep”? Heaven’s Gate cult members were ascetic “vehicles” on a journey to the “next level.” Their shared delusions and willing submission to authoritarian leaders came to a shocking end in a tragic group suicide. This happened in 1996. Only videotapes remain, documenting their stay in and departure from San Diego.

Yes, truth can be stranger than fiction. But if you think it can’t get even stranger, consider this: we’ve got another Hale Bopp scenario on our hands. This time it involves billionaire corporate investors with an anointed “vehicle” who happens to be running for mayor of San Diego. This could be the plot for a 3rd rate horror film but I’m afraid it’s real. Here’s what’s going on:

A group of of multi-million/billionaires — well-known for their anti-tax, anti-government, anti-labor, anti-regulation, anti-pension, anti-public, anti-environmental, pro-privatization proclivities — have targeted the city of San Diego for political takeover. Their goal is not greater efficiency or raising the standard of living. Their goal is to transfer the control, ownership, and wealth embedded in the city’s valuable public assets straight into private corporate hands. Their goal is a new world order. Their goal is to use San Diego as a launching pad.   [Read more…]

The Balboa Park Controversy: Cats, birds, and bridges

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By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner

I don’t know how the City Council hearing on the Balboa Park/Jacobs bypass bridge, scheduled for Monday afternoon, will end up.

I don’t know how many people will show up to support the Jacobs plan and how many will be there to condemn it.

I don’t know what the final vote will be if, indeed, there is a final vote.

But this I do know. We’re getting exactly what we should expect to get when private business is brought in to solve a public problem.

Irwin Jacobs has been at the receiving end of criticism, potshots, and denunciation since he stepped in to take care of traffic and parking problems at theLaurel Streetentrance toBalboaPark. But it’s misplaced fury.

It reminds me of the first time the cat deposited a dead bird on my kitchen floor. The kids yelled at poor pussy, berated her, told her she was bad.   [Read more…]

Try to smell the flowers before the Filner vs DeMaio battle begins

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By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner

Take a break, friends and fellow voters. We could all use a brief respite from campaign-season frenzy. Soon enough San Diego’s two heavyweight contenders for mayor will be climbing back into the ring for what’s guaranteed to be a nationally publicized, brutal battle for the heart and destiny the 8th largest city in the USA. Our town.

So sniff the flowers while you can and begin preparing yourself for the Filner-DeMaio race for mayor. It’s no ordinary contest. The stakes are at an all-time high, not just for San Diego but for cities across the nation. If this sounds dramatic, you can bet it is.

That’s why we ought to use this short time-out to reflect on how our city got to this political point. To provide some context and fill in some of the blanks about San Diego’s quixotic and freighted mayorship history, here’s a quick and painless civics lesson.   [Read more…]

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