At least seven people died when more than 50 tornadoes swept across parts of the south and eastern United States in late February. The extreme weather destroyed hundreds of homes and forced the closure of schools and government offices. At least four people died in Virginia, including a two-year-old boy. One witness said that the destruction in the small town of Waverly was “completely devastating.” Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency. Scientists have linked an increase in the intensity and deadliness of tornadoes to climate change. [Read more…]
Carlsbad City Council “Very Unfamiliar” with Lagoon Mall Review Process
Three days after the San Diego Registrar of Voters announced the defeat of Carlsbad’s Measure A, Mayor Matt Hall was interviewed on KUSI. When asked how he and the city Council would deal with the fallout over an issue that had been unanimously approved by the Council before the people said no and called for a public vote, here was his reply:
“The city council, our role, is to process projects. And obviously there’s more than one way to process a project. We’re very knowledgeable about the CEQA way of doing things (the California Environmental Quality Act). Mr. Caruso chose to use the 9212 Report, which the city is very unfamiliar with. So part of the difficulty was trying to work our way through a 9212 Report and get clear understanding. Most of the people I’ve talked to leading up to this, that was their biggest concern, that there was this sidestep of CEQA. And I think that’s one of the things we really need to look at. And I know, from my personal belief, that anybody coming forward that want to use a 9212 Report I would say, (long pause, nervous chuckle) not my idea…”
[Read more…]
It’s Not Smart Growth… It’s Called Avoiding a Housing Crisis
By Howard M. Blackson III / San Diego UrbDeZine
California’s Bay Area housing disaster tells Southern Californians that our housing crisis will only get worse and doing nothing is both an irrational and irresponsible response. We are faced with deciding to have more neighbors or pay more taxes as we desperately need money to fix our city’s crumbling infrastructure. The conundrum is that we despise taxes and the mere mention of ‘density’ polarizes any discussion into either demands for no new growth or building tall towers. [Read more…]
When Does the Violation of Women’s Bodies Become a ‘Red Line’?
If people divide their understanding of militarized violence into normal and not normal, acceptable and not acceptable, it makes a terrible kind of sense: violence against women has been “normalized.”
By Lauren Wolfe / Common Dreams
Two years ago I was on vacation in Maine when I started getting really, really mad. I’d been working to track sexualized violence in the Syrian war for a long time and had gotten very little response from policy makers despite many meetings with those in our government and the UK’s and at the UN.
Cases piled up, and response remained nil. And now suddenly President Obama was responding—but not to cases of rape, or torture, but to the possible use of chemical weapons. It was his so-called “red line”—the thing that would make him do something. [Read more…]
Dolores Huerta Joins Educators to Appeal Meritless Vergara Ruling
By Steve Smith / Labor’s Edge
This morning (Thursday, February 25th) in Los Angeles, civil rights icon Dolores Huerta joined teachers and parents to appeal the flawed ruling in the Vergara case that would undercut public education to the detriment of the state’s 6 million students.
Stating that Judge Treu’s decision striking down five California Education Code provisions “is without support in law or fact,” the speakers predicted that Treu’s numerous errors will be clearly visible to the appeals court, and the earlier Superior Court judgment will be overturned. Treu’s decision was stayed pending appeal. But if upheld it would cause great harm to public education.
Huerta, renowned civil rights leader, founder of the Dolores Huerta Foundation and co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association, talked about the importance of teachers’ having a strong voice for students and described how the backers of the Vergara case, a group deceptively named Students Matter, misrepresented details of the case in an attempt to get her support. [Read more…]
How the Little People Crushed a Corporate Bully
Preserving Carlsbad’s Future the Right Way
Citizen activism triumphed over corporate greed last week when Carlsbad voters defeated Measure A. If approved it would have transformed the quiet beauty of one of the city’s three pristine lagoons into the home of a Los Angeles-style shopping center/tourist magnet.
The 53 percent voter turnout surpassed SD County’s 45 percent in the 2014 gubernatorial election. The Citizens for North County activist group opposing the measure raised $115,000 in donations to produce 20,362 NO votes. That’s less than $6 per voter.
[Read more…]
The Stunning Moral Failure of the Presidential Debates: Where is the Climate Crisis in Our National Discussion About the Future of the World?
If you are an observant reader you might have noticed that last week, amidst the usual banal political commentary surrounding the Presidential race, the New York Times matter-of-factly reported that, “Seas are Rising at Fastest Rate in Last 28 Centuries”. If you managed not to spit out your coffee, you read the alarming news that:
The worsening of tidal flooding in American coastal communities is largely a consequence of greenhouse gases from human activity, and the problem will grow far worse in coming decades, scientists reported . . .
Those emissions, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels, are causing the ocean to rise at the fastest rate since at least the founding of ancient Rome, the scientists said. [Read more…]
Black History Month Ends on a Sad Note
By Rev. Richard Lawrence
Affirmative Action–a restorative justice program that tried to level the playing field for minorities, women and the disabled has been a miserable failure if the measure is increased pressure for justice.
The best example of affirmative action I’ve seen was organized by Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) when in 1962 Dr. King appointed the Rev. Jesse Jackson to organize a chapter of Operation Breadbasket in Chicago. Jesse was a student at Chicago Theological Seminary–part of the Federated Theological Faculties–a cooperative academic venture that included the University of Chicago Divinity School (where I was a student). Disciples Divinity School and the Unitarian-Universalist Seminary. [Read more…]
Geo-Poetic Spaces: Flamingo Exodus
Mountains swoop down
into clouds
Tributaries rain salt into lakes
Feathers of empyrean pink light
falling on water
Flocks of muddied footprints [Read more…]
Spinning SeaWorld: “Hey Look, We’re No Longer Spying on Activists!”
Forgive me if I don’t seem all that excited about SeaWorld CEO Joe Manby’s admission about SeaWorld employees posing as animal rights activists in order to spy on opponents. And their promise not to do it anymore.
We already knew about Paul T. McCombe, using the alias Thomas Jones, the guy who was fond of inflammatory rhetoric and tried to incite PETA activists to violence. His activities and the high probability that more of his ilk were lurking in the shadows was reported in the Union-Tribune in the summer of 2015.
The company’s statement was given at the end of a conference call to discuss an earnings report. The press has largely taken the bait reporting on this disclosure over the real news, namely that SeaWorld had just posted an adjusted loss of $9.6 million, or 11 cents per share. [Read more…]
Private Encroachments into Public Space: Ocean Beach Grows Wary
From Restaurants to the Beach, Private Interests Are Taking More Public Grounds
The recent uproar among OBceans over the intrusions into public sidewalks by two Ocean Beach restaurants illustrates a broader and growing wariness by the public of the larger issue of encroachment by private interests into public space.
Just several weeks ago, two OB restaurants, The Joint and the yet-to-open OB Brewery – both on Newport Avenue – have installed permanent fixtures outside their establishments that seriously curtail pedestrian traffic and block the public access to the public sidewalk immediately in front of the restaurants.
The Joint put in tables with a metal fence and gate, taking the encroachment trend in OB’s “outdoor cafes” to a new level. The OB Rag ran a poll where 42% of the respondents agreed that what The Joint did was an encroachment into public space and agreed that the fence and tables should be removed. The OB Brewery also installed exterior fencing that significantly narrows the public walkway.
The future of these intrusions into what many feel are the public’s right-of-way has yet to be ultimately decided, but the response by locals reflects a growing wariness among OBceans – and others who live up and down the coast or near parks – to what they perceive as an invasion into public space by people with private interests as their motivation.
[Read more…]
TransNet Tax Increase Gives SANDAG Opportunity to Course-correct on Environmental Priorities
Will SANDAG prioritize sustainable projects and protect San Diego’s most vulnerable populations?
By Hutton Marshall / SanDiego350
A region doesn’t become environmentally friendly by accident; it does so through careful, ambitious planning with the good of future generations in mind. In this regard, the San Diego region now finds itself at a crossroads.
Through the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the region’s planning agency, we now have the opportunity to begin realizing an environmentally friendly future in the San Diego region for many years to come. SANDAG recently announced that it will consider putting forth a ballot measure that will increase the TransNet sales tax by half a cent. Pending voter approval, such an increase would mean billions of additional dollars for transportation projects in coming decades. Although SANDAG may do the opposite, this money should be spent on projects that will mitigate climate change and protect San Diego’s most vulnerable populations. [Read more…]
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