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The Cases Against UFCW Local 135’s Mickey Kasparian: The Depositions

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On December 9, 2016 Sandy Naranjo was unjustly fired by UFCW Local 135 President Mickey Kasparian and subsequently filed a lawsuit. That firing and lawsuit lead to a chain of events that will soon culminate in the end of Kasparian’s Machiavellian grasp on San Diego’s progressive body politic.

Kasparian settled five civil cases against him. Yet, after all of this, there are still many within the local Democratic Party and a dwindling few within labor that still support him.

Below you will find all of the depositions, in chronological order, that have been made public. Including ones from Kasparian himself, Richard Barrera, Lori Kern, Sarah Saez, and Melody Godinez. Read them for yourself and judge whether or not Kasparian is a detriment to women, labor, and progressive politics in San Diego.   [Read more…]

La Vuelta Car Cruise End of Summer Cultural Festival to Highlight El Barrio

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Logan Avenue Consortium Doing Good Work on the Avenue

Change is coming to Barrio Logan. Some of it good, and some of it bad. But what hasn’t changed is this working class community’s cultural ethos rooted in its history.

Hipster galleries may have opened selling thousand-dollar bongs and tours of the neighborhood, but there are still people and organizations doing solid work trying to keep barrio culture alive. Groups like the Logan Avenue Consortium (LAC).

The LAC promotes Barrio Art Crawl and organizes the bi-weekly summertime La Vuelta Car Cruise that has been a hit among the lowrider set. They also support each member’s endeavors from the weekly Latin Jazz Jam to the Logan Avenue Flea Market to the various events that take place at many of the different cultural spaces along Logan Avenue.   [Read more…]

What Would You Do If White Supremacists Tried to Hold a Rally in Chicano Park?

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Community Activists Respond to a Very Real Hypothetical

Barrio Logan’s national landmark, Chicano Park, is sacred space to the multitude of people that visit every year. It is the epicenter of Chicanx art and culture in San Diego and “el ombligo de Aztlán” as poetic wordmaestro alurista once wrote.

After the white supremacist terror in Charlottesville, Virginia I thought about what I would do if nazis and white supremacists decided to hold a rally in Chicano Park, steps away from my home.   [Read more…]

Barrio Logan’s Chicano Park, Our National Treasure

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By Brent E. Beltrán

Editor’s Note: Chicano Park was designated as a National Historic Landmark on January 11, 2017. This 2013 article from the San Diego Free Press archives chronicles Chicano Park’s placement on the National Register of Historic Places.

On Friday, March 15, the Ides of March, there was a press conference at Chicano Park in my beloved Barrio Logan. The press conference was put together to announce Chicano Park being added to the National Register of Historic Places. In other words, Chicano Park was officially recognized as being a national treasure of the United States. Those of us who live in Logan and the various barrios throughout San Diego, California and beyond already recognize this fact. But, through the fine work of Chicano Park co-founder, Josie Talamantez, the nation now officially recognizes this.

In front of Chicano Park co-founders, activists, artists, professors and numerous members of the media Mayor Bob Filner gave praise to Chicano Park and those that struggled for a peoples park. He was followed by District 8 City Councilman David Alvarez, State Senator elect Ben Hueso, Chicano Park Steering Committee Chairperson Tommie Camarillo and Josie Talamantez who broke down the process and criteria for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. It was a proud day for all involved in the creation and maintenance of Chicano Park.   [Read more…]

Donna Frye and Irene McCormack Show Solidarity with Kasparian’s Accusers

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“Doing nothing is not an option for people of good conscience.”

On a cold Wednesday evening in Kearny Mesa prominent San Diegans Donna Frye and Irene McCormack joined community members to show their solidarity with Sandy Naranjo, Isabel Vasquez and Anabel Arauz and call for the resignation of the President of UFCW Local 135 and San Diego and Imperial Labor Council, Mickey Kasparian.

Naranjo, Vasquez, and Arauz filed separate lawsuits against Kasparian accusing him of gender discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and other misdeeds. Also named in all three complaints are the union itself and in Arauz’s filing, Richard Barerra, executive assistant of the local.

McCormack was the chief communications aide to disgraced, former mayor Bob Filner and the first of many women to accuse him of sexual harassment. Former City Councilwoman Donna Frye, alongside lawyers Cory Briggs and Marco Gonzalez, was the first person to come out publicly to condemn Filner and call for his resignation.   [Read more…]

Community Campaign Against Accused Sexual Harasser Mickey Kasparian Continues

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UFCW headquarters site of protest in support of brave Latinas

The relentless campaign being waged by supporters of Sandy Naranjo, Isabel Vasquez, and Anabel Arauz continued Wednesday night at the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 135 office in Mission Valley for the quarterly membership meeting.

Naranjo, Vasquez, and Arauz filed separate lawsuits against UFCW Local 135 president Mickey Kasparian accusing him of many things including gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation. Also named in all three complaints are the union itself and in Arauz’s filing, Richard Barerra, secretary-treasurer of the local.

Almost two dozen supporters came out on a cold weeknight to champion the cause of these brave women. Each protestor held a homemade sign showing solidarity with their union sisters or contempt for the man accused of harassing them.   [Read more…]

We Stood With Sandy and Isabel!

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Community Expresses Solidarity in Support of These Brave Women

This past Saturday friends, family, labor, and community came together to support Sandy Naranjo and Isabel Vasquez in their quest for justice. In mid-December they both filed serious complaints against Labor Council President and UFCW Local 135 President Mickey Kasparian.

Naranjo’s complaint was filed based on gender discrimination whereas Vasquez’s complaint was for sexual harassment. A third complaint by Anabel Arauz, based on retaliation, was filed the same day as people gathered for the action.

The solidarity picket took place during the ADEM election for the 80th district at Machinists Hall in Chula Vista. Hundreds came out to vote with many of them standing in solidarity with these brave women. It takes a lot of guts to stand up against the most powerful labor leader in San Diego.   [Read more…]

Councilman Alvarez: “I am disgusted by the allegations” About Sexual Harassment by Labor Leader

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Respected Latinas Step Forward with Shocking Claims Against Former Boss Mickey Kasparian

On December 17, 2016 NBC 7 San Diego broke the news that former UFCW Local 135 organizer Sandy Naranjo had filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against UFCW President Mickey Kasparian.

A few days later on December 21 NBC 7 San Diego came out with another story on Kasparian. This time it was regarding allegations of sexual harassment filed by former employee Isabel Vasquez. Vasquez’s complaint was full of lurid details.   [Read more…]

Barrio Logan’s Marine Terminal Expansion Moves Toward Sustainability

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[Editor’s Note: Yesterday, more than 40 community members from Barrio Logan, Logan Heights and Sherman Heights attended a hearing to urge Port of San Diego commissioners to reduce pollution and incorporate community benefits into the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal Expansion plan.

According to the California Environmental Protection Agency’s environmental justice screening tool, CalEnviroScreen, Barrio Logan remains among the worst five percent of neighborhoods suffering from the cumulative impacts of pollution in California.

SDFP Editor Brent Beltrán was one of the speakers. Here is what he said.]   [Read more…]

Barrio Logan vs the Stadium: Why it Matters

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By Mario Torero, Brent Beltrán, and Bill Adams / UrbDeZine

Barrio Logan is little known to most San Diegans – beyond being a predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood near downtown. Yet it is one of San Diego’s most historically significant and culturally important neighborhoods.

In particular, it has national prominence for its role in the Chicano / Mexican-American civil rights movement. However, more than a Chicano historic asset, the neighborhood and it’s history stands as a monument to the resilience and survival of the nation’s minority and working class populations in the face of assaults and exploitation by the overwhelming power of the state and business interests.

In particular, many ethnic working-class urban neighborhoods across the country were destroyed or severely damaged by en masse relocation of their residents to build freeways and other neighborhood-destroying and suburb serving facilities. Barrio Logan repeatedly faced such assaults, and not only survived but like putting a bouquet of flowers in a tank cannon, sometimes made beauty and purpose out of injury. Nevertheless, once the second largest Mexican-American enclave in the U.S., it has shrunk to less than 5,000 people as a result of the loss of land to the freeways and industrial uses. It may not survive another such assault.   [Read more…]

Local Native Community Rallies Against Dakota Access Pipeline

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Water is Life, You Can’t Drink Oil

On Sunday, August 28 Native people and their allies from throughout San Diego County came together in Horton Plaza Park to rally against the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Standing Rock Sioux reservation, lead by Chairman Dave Archambault, has made a call to all Native Americans and supporters to nonviolently protest the creation of the pipeline which would cross the Missouri River potentially harming this great, natural source of water.   [Read more…]

San Diego Chargers Stadium: Q&A with Barrios Against Stadiums

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“Our backyard has historically been neglected. People can call BASTA! NIMBY as much as they want but our backyard is full. Start storing stuff in yours.”

Interview by Jeffrey Siniard / Bolts From The Blue

Bolts From The Blue blogger Jeffrey Siniard reached out to interview SDFP columnist/editor Brent Beltrán to discuss why Barrios Against Stadiums, which he is a part of, opposes a stadium in the East Village. We reprint the interview here in it’s entirety with photos added from a protest against the Chargers stadium held on July 15 in Barrio Logan.   [Read more…]

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