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Clemency for Imprisoned War Resister Kimberly Rivera Denied!

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Rally Dec. 1 in protest of Rivera’s separation from new born son to serve remaining 4o day sentence.

By Staff

Kimberly Rivera gave birth to her son Matthew Kaden Rivera in the Naval Hospital on November 25th. Her husband Mario was initially denied access to the birthing room but was ultimately granted permission to attend the delivery. Although the delivery itself went smoothly, this was no ordinary birth– Rivera has been serving a ten month sentence for deserting the US army while deployed in Iraq. She deserted in 2007 because she felt morally unable to take part in the conflict. She was arrested after she was denied refugee protection in Canada in September 2012.

Amnesty International has requested urgent action on her case based on humanitarian reasons because of her pregnancy. Rivera is the mother of four other children, ages 11, 9, 4 and 2. She has been separated from her family in Texas since she began serving her sentence here in San Diego.   [Read more…]

Movie Review of ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’

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A thrilling adventure film held back only by the lead heroine’s need for a savior.

By Melissa Phy

Screaming tweens and indulgent adults finally got to check back in with Katniss, Peeta, Gale and the rest of The Hunger Games crew this week after the second installment of the series, Catching Fire, was released Friday.

The movie starts out nearly a year after the last hunger games, in which Peeta and Katniss (tributes from District 12 in the futuristic Panem) both survived, making headlines as the first dual winners of the barbaric games in which two children from each district (there are 12 total, with a former 13th reportedly obliterated by the capitol for rebelling) duke it out in an arena in a fight to the death.

Katniss, now a sign of hope for the starving and suffering districts, is considered a threat by Panem’s president. In an effort to eliminate Katniss and restore order among the districts, the 75th’ Hunger Games has a twist: all participants will be pulled from the pool of previous victors, meaning Katniss and Peeta must return to the arena. The catchphrase of the film? “Remember who the enemy is.”   [Read more…]

Analyzing the Responses: Virtual Mayoral Forum—Transit and Walkable, Bikeable Communities

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Civic leaders have a renewed focus on a bikeable city, but transit still falls woefully short of serving San Diego’s needs.

By SDFP Staff

Part 4:  Walkable/ Bikable Neighborhoods and Public Transit

Here’s our question to the candidates:

What is the importance of walkable/bikeable neighborhoods and public transit in San Diego? 

World class cities have world class transit.  In San Diego, we have a world class, and often overcrowded, freeway system and city streets that are often pocked by ruts and cracks, and sometimes suspension-bending potholes.  But we are a city that is dependent on our cars, so we continue to climb behind the wheel simply to get to the grocery store 3/4 of a mile away.  Our public transit system is almost entirely inadequate to act as a replacement for cars, leaving San Diegans who don’t live on the trolley line or on one of the major bus routes little choice but to drive to their destination in order to arrive in a timely fashion.

So in this regard, San Diego has a long way to go to be able to consider itself world class.   [Read more…]

Analyzing the Responses: Virtual Mayoral Forum–Building Permits and the City Planning Department

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Big developer interests should not receive preferential treatment.

By SDFP Staff

Though his brief tenure came to a tumultuous end, former Mayor Bob Filner did do some good things for the city while in office. Arguably, one of the best things he did was to revive the city’s planning department, dismantled and incorporated into the Development Services Department by Jerry Sanders. Filner then went on to hire Bill Fulton to lead the department, a veritable rock star in civic planning circles.

In the past, due to lax enforcement by the City of San Diego—particularly during Sanders’ tenure—developers tended to view the rules more as guidelines or suggestions than they did hard and fast laws they were required to follow or face consequences. Filner changed that, but with his departure, there is concern that developers will once again be allowed carte blanche to skirt the rules when it suits them.

“It’s not a problem of building permit enforcement,” wrote Mike Aguirre, but a problem of whether, when, how, and what type of permit should or should not be issued in the first place.”   [Read more…]

Nearly 1,000 Flood NFL Stadium Demanding ‘Horrendous’ Redskins Name Must Go

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‘We’re raising up and saying anybody who denigrates any class of people like that needs to be stopped.’

via Common Dreams

Calling for the Washington Redskins to retire their “inherently racist” name once and for all, nearly 1,000 protesters came out against the controversial NFL team on Thursday night, flooding the streets outside the Minneapolis Metrodome Stadium where they were set to face off against the hometown Minnesota Vikings.

“[The name] conveys the murdered scalps of indigenous people — men, women and children,” Alan Yelsey, who identified himself as an organizer for the American Indian Movement, told the Washington Post. “And that name is just a horrendous name for all of these people and for anybody of color… we’re raising up and saying anybody who denigrates any class of people like that needs to be stopped.”

The demonstration, described by Yelsey as a ‘consciousness-raising walk,’ is part of an upsurge of protest demanding the Redskins change their name.   [Read more…]

All Major Mayoral Candidates to Appear at KNSJ / Cal Western Law School Forum

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San Diego Free Press reporter Andy Cohen is slated to be among the panelists on Monday, November 11th at a mayoral forum slated for the Cal Western School of Law starting at 6:30pm.

Sponsored in part by listener sponsored progressive radio station KNSJ (89.1FM), the panelist will also include other members of the local non-mainstream press including San Diego City Beat, La Prensa and Voice of San Diego.   [Read more…]

Analyzing the Candidate’s Responses: Virtual Mayoral Forum–Plaza de Panama

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The Plaza de Panama saga was a debacle for San Diego and its City Council, which doesn’t seem to be of any concern to the mayoral candidates.

By SDFP Staff

Earlier this month we published an eight part virtual mayoral forum, and invited each of the mayoral candidates to answer one question each day with the promise of no editorial intervention on our part. You can view that series by going to our 2013 special election coverage, here.

Part 2 of our virtual forum asked the candidates their position on revising the Municipal Code in order to accommodate the now defunct Jacobs plan for Balboa Park’s Plaza de Panama. Mike Aguirre provided the most in depth response, while Nathan Fletcher and David Alvarez’ responses were somewhat concerning. Kevin Faulconer did not participate. Click through to see our analysis of the candidate responses.   [Read more…]

Analyzing the Candidates’ Responses: Virtual Mayoral Forum – On Managed Competition

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Democratic Candidates agree:  Significant savings and efficiencies could have been achieved without managed competition, and San Diego might have been better off.

By SDFP Staff

Earlier this month we published an eight part virtual mayoral forum, and invited each of the mayoral candidates to answer one question each day with the promise of no editorial intervention on our part. You can view that series by going to our 2013 special election coverage, here.

Now that the three major Democratic candidates have answered (Kevin Faulconer didn’t reply), we thought it might be useful to examine their answers and share our analyses. So over the coming days we’ll be covering one question at a time, comparing their answers with some of editor’s visions about what’s best for San Diego.   [Read more…]

Virtual Mayoral Forum – Part 8: The Environmental Essay Question for Extra Credit

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Welcome to Day 8 of the SDFP Virtual Mayoral Forum.

All of the candidates running for mayor were invited to participate in this forum, where their verbatim answers to questions posed by our editors and contributors would allow readers to get a different look at these aspirants for higher office than they might see in a TV interview or a panel debate.

Of the major candidates only Kevin Faulconer’s campaign decided not to participate. They didn’t say “no”. They didn’t say “we’re too busy”. They didn’t say anything. And that speaks volumes about both the candidate and the campaign, we think.

SDFP will follow up next week with some analysis of the candidates’ responses, talking about whether they did or did not correspond with out values.

Today’s topic was in fact an invitation for the contenders to speak in depth about any one (or more) of  four issues.   [Read more…]

Halloween Video Picks: Don’t Go Into the Basement, Dancing Skeletons and the Ghost of Stephen Foster

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Sally Cruikshank’s animation, funny dialogue– “Do you have rabies?” “No, we gave it all away,” and Danny Elfman’s music– what is there not to like ?

Face Like a Frog/Don’t Go into the Basement and more videos!   [Read more…]

Virtual Mayoral Forum – Part 7: ObamaCare for San Diego?

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Welcome to Day 7 of the SDFP Virtual Mayoral Forum. (See Day 1, Asking about managed competition, here , Day 2, Looking back on the Plaza de Panama controversy, here, Day 3, The Building Permit Process is a Hot Mess and Plans for the Planning Department, here. Day 4.  Walkable/Bikeable Neighborhoods and Public Transit, here. Day 5, Fixing the Infrastructure, here. Day 6, What About the Homeless?, here.)

With input from our many contributors, editors put together a series of eight questions we felt were unique, not too open ended and not trite. We’re publishing one response from the candidates per day (Monday-Friday) so readers can see the verbatim responses side by side.

We emailed the questions to the addresses listed with the City Clerk’s office as contact points, knowing most of the minor candidates wouldn’t respond. Kevin Faulconer’s campaign is refusing to participate. We can only assume–and, believe me we’ve tried to get them involved– their non-response sends a message about their openness to the citizens in this city. You can decide what that message is.

The complete questionnaire can be found here.

SDFP editor Doug Porter provides context for today’s question: What about the Affordable Care Act?   [Read more…]

Virtual Mayoral Forum – Part 6: What About the Homeless in San Diego?

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Welcome to Day 6 of the SDFP Virtual Mayoral Forum. (See Day 1, Asking about managed competition, here , Day 2, Looking back on the Plaza de Panama controversy, here, Day 3, The Building Permit Process is a Hot Mess and Plans for the Planning Department, here. Day 4.  Walkable/Bikeable Neighborhoods and Public Transit, here. Day 5, Fixing the Infrastructure, here.)

With input from our many contributors, editors put together a series of eight questions we felt were unique, not too open ended and not trite. We’re publishing one response from the candidates per day (Monday-Friday) so readers can see the verbatim responses side by side.

The complete questionnaire can be found here.   [Read more…]

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