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San Diego City Council Passes Two Measures to Hold Banks Accountable for Abandoned Homes

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Certain circles of San Diegans are celebrating. The article in the UT San Diego yesterday [Wed. Sept. 19] said it all:

“The San Diego City Council Tuesday unanimously approved two out of three ordinances designed to keep banks accountable for distressed homes.”

The two ordinances passed will arm San Diego with more methods and ways to monitor and hold property owners responsible for abandoned properties, and they also will require banks that conduct business with the city of San Diego to provide information on lending, foreclosures and service to minority communities. The third ordinance will not be discussed until October.

Progressives who worked on these issues are giving thanks to the leadership of Councilmembers Todd Gloria and Tony Young. A broad coalition had come together to apply pressure and the San Diego City Council passed the Abandoned Properties Ordinance and the Responsible Banking Ordinance the same evening.   [Read more…]

Activists call NRC Ruling on San Onofre “Dangerous Coverup”

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The announcement on July 19th by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) stating that Southern California Edison (SCE) – the owner of the San Onofre Nuclear Power station – had complied will all regulations is yet another dangerous case of regulators looking the other way coupled with gutted unsafe regulations, according to local anti-nuke activist groups. The groups include Residents Organized for a Safe Environment (ROSE), Citizens’ Oversight, and the Peace Resource Center of San Diego.

Listen to the activists:

Carol Jahnkow of the Peace Resource Center of San Diego:

”It’s a very sad commentary when regulatory agencies will allow transgressions to occur and will not speak out about them, to avoid scrutiny themselves.”   [Read more…]

California to Mortgage Lenders: The Party’s Over!

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California became the first state in the country yesterday to enact tough consumer protection legislation holding home mortgage lenders to a higher standard that will help financially troubled borrowers stay in their homes. The legislation, SB 900 and AB 278, will make California the first state to prohibit lenders from “dual tracking,” the practice of negotiating with clients to modify a mortgage while concurrently pursuing foreclosure, outlaw “robosigning”, allow state agencies and private citizens to sue financial companies if lenders willfully or recklessly violate the law, and simplify dealings between homeowners and banks by requiring a single customer representative for consumers to work with. The bill requires all lenders to abide by a number of provisions of the national mortgage settlement negotiated by state attorneys general earlier this year to rein in foreclosure abuses.

The Assembly approved the legislation on a 53-25 vote, and the Senate voted 25-13.   [Read more…]

Monday, July 2nd,12pm– Fair Trade Not Free Trade Rally!

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Labor and the STOP TPP Coalition Sponsor a Kick-Off Press Conference / Protest Rally / Street Theater

Today begins a week of protests and teach-ins aimed at raising public awareness about the negotiations taking place at San Diego’s Hilton Bayfront Convention Center concerning a the 13th round of negotiations on a proposed trade pact called The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).  The nations involved are the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Chile and Peru. Japan, Mexico and Canada have indicated a desire to join. The economic power of this group is more than 40% larger than the 27-nation European Union. While the claimed purpose of TPP is to promote development and create jobs, protesters say this meeting is one of the final conclaves to secretly negotiate the economic structural adjustments necessary to appease the world’s largest multinational banks and multi-unit corporations.

Today’s events include a kickoff protest/press conference at noon in the park across from the Bayfront Hilton and the first of six days of a Better World Conference featuring speakers on Worker’s Rights, Outsourcing, Walmart, and Gentrification at the Logan Heights Branch Library starting at 6:30.   [Read more…]

Local Residents to Ask Oceanside City Council: ‘Is Our Community Prepared for an Accident at San Onofre Nuclear Power Station?’

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Oceanside, CA – On Wednesday, June 27, 2012, residents from Oceanside will attend the Oceanside City Council meeting and request that the Council place the issue of the safety of their community should there be an accident at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station on a future Council Agenda for in-depth discussion and presentation by experts.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission met in San Clemente on June 18th and pledged that San Onofre will remain shut down until a solution is found to fix the problem (a release of radioactive steam and unexpected, accelerated tube wear) which precipitated the emergency shutdown on January 31, 2012.
  [Read more…]

Did County Supervisor Ron Roberts Do A $1.56 Million End Run Around the General Plan?

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“The process of public engagement [in developing the County of San Diego General Plan] had hundreds of hearings over 10 years…So the implication is that anything that is coming forward now would be inconsistent. It would be amazing if there is going to now be wholesale General Plan amendments.” San Diego County Planning Commissioner Michael Beck, Nov. 9, 2011 interview with KPBS

Last Wednesday, June 20th, the County Board of Supervisors held a hearing for 137 private property requests that would require amending the County’s new General Plan, which was approved in August 2011. These private property owners were critical of the plan’s guidelines which would concentrate new construction closer to existing infrastructure and down-zone to lower density numerous back-country and desert properties. Although this was not the first time that the Board of Supervisors had heard testimony on this contentious issue, Ron Roberts, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors stunned those attendees who were against the proposed amendments and were there to support the General Plan.   [Read more…]

Nurses Stage National Robin Hood Day Demonstration in San Diego

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National Robin Hood Day demonstrations…. Rallies in San Diego and 14 other cities across the country were held on Tuesday, June 19th to kick off a national campaign to institute a Wall Street tax that would produce billions for the public good.

This Financial Transaction Tax, called the “Robin Hood Tax,” is a levy of less than half of a percent on trades in derivatives, stocks, bonds and foreign currencies. According to the campaign, economists estimate that $350 billion could be raised each year for health care, jobs, education, infrastructure and various other needs, which may help rejuvenate the economy. The campaign states that it is pushing for “a tax for the people.”   [Read more…]

El Cajon Performing Arts Center – Plan to reopen theater to be released at June 21 Press Conference

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The El Cajon Performing Arts Center Foundation will submit a plan today, Thursday, June 21, to the City Of El Cajon to save the East County Performing Arts Center (ECPAC). The Foundation says the shuttered theater should be reopened, not demolished. They will hold a press conference at 3:00 pm today at El Cajon City Hall.

The Foundation will submit it’s 60 page proposal as an alternative to the the City’s March decision to turn the site over to private developers for the construction of a hotel. Ray Lutz, Founding Chair of the ECPAC Foundation, maintains that the Foundation should have the same chance to negotiate with the City on why is best to simply repair and reopen the theater. “Fair is fair.”   [Read more…]

Announcing the San Diego Free Press “Find the Koch Brothers Confab” Contest

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First Person Who Finds Koch Brothers’ Site Wins T-Shirt !

Earlier this week we let the cat out the bag that the infamous Koch Brothers, the guys that are pumping $395 million for right wing causes into this year’s elections, are having a little get together in San Diego.

These meetings bring together ultra wealthy individuals to convince them to pool their monies on behalf of right wing and conservative causes. Koch Industries, the brothers’ privately owned oil, chemical and household products company, has sponsored the summits twice a year since 2003.

Past meetings have included big names conservative speakers like political stars like Eric Cantor, Chris Christie, Bob McDonnell, Rick Perry, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck along with Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Thomas.

We’d like to make sure that they get a nice warm “San Diego” reception for their little shindig, but there’s only one problem.

Its location is a secret.
  [Read more…]

Activists to Demand San Onofre Closure at NRC Public Meeting – Monday, June 18th

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Nuclear Regulatory Commission to Release Investigation Findings on San Onofre June 18 in San Juan Capistrano

Anti-nuke, environmental activists and their supporters plan to rally at the up-coming NRC hearing and demand that the nuclear power plant at San Onofre be closed for good. They also plan on holding a press conference – all at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission public meeting on Monday, June 18th, at the San Juan Capistrano Community Center at 25925 Camino Del Avion, San Juan Capistrano, California.

The rally and press conference in opposition to continued operation of the San Onofre nuclear plant is at 5pm prior to the 6pm public meeting scheduled by the NRC.

This will be the first public hearing of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after the emergency shut down of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station on January 31, 2012. The NRC has had months of investigation into the steam generator failures.   [Read more…]

Election Night Live Blog

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Join us tonight – Primary Night – here at 8:00 pm when the San Diego Free Press and OB Rag join other local online media doing a live blog of the Primary’s mysterious being unfolded over the course of the evening. We will be joining San Diego CityBeat and San Diego Rostra in this joint online media project. Andy Cohen will be downtown blogging at Election Central, and both Doug Porter and Frank Gormlie will be live blogging from home, and Annie Lane will be somewhere in between.   [Read more…]

Filner Brings Pension Plan Into Focus

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by Andy Cohen and Annie Lane

Longtime Congressman and current candidate for Mayor of San Diego discusses mayoral race in an exclusive in depth interview.

On Friday mayoral candidate Bob Filner sat down with the OB Rag to discuss a wide range of topics, including sharing details on a pension plan that he has been promoting that as of yet has not been formally presented for examination.   [Read more…]

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