This just in: we’re not the Wisconsin of the West. There were some big winners and losers in last week’s election and the principal players themselves have gotten the bulk of the attention. Here are a few of the most noteworthy victors and flops besides the candidates themselves. Let’s start with the triumphs:
The Starting Line –A Very Good Night for Progressives in San Diego and California (With Election Results!)
Although there remain over 400,000 provisional ballots to be counted in San Diego County, it would appear that most politically progressive candidates and causes were triumphant on Election Day. A huge Get Out the Vote effort on the Democratic side of the equation appears to have yielded victories in just about every race where the changing demographics of the region made a win possible.
Debunking the Opposition to Proposition Z, San Diego Schools’ Opportunity to Keep Moving into the 21st Century
San Diego voters are being asked to authorize $2.8 million in bonds for school repair and construction in this fall’s election via Proposition Z. This initiative should be a straight up or down deal; whether or not to raise property taxes to support this vital part of our infrastructure.
Instead, a coterie of right wing groups with a barely disguised extremist agenda have turned the discussion on Proposition Z into a battlefield, mined with half-truths, pock marked by a barrage of lies and overrun by waves of tea party types convinced that they are stopping an assault on common sense itself.
The Educated Voter – San Diego School Board Races
This is Part One of series on ballot choices in San Diego that relate to our schools.
There’s been a war going on over San Diego Unified’s Board of trustees for a long time now, and this year’s races for school board are just the latest skirmish.
There are two contests for seats on the San Diego Unified School Board and they’re both important. Politicians (of all stripes) are prone to saying “it’s about the children” whenever they talk about education, but the fact is there are many other issues at play. Candidates for our local top spot all have preened before the cameras touting their education platforms, when the reality is that the School District is financially and politically independent of the City Government.
The Mayor and the City Council can’t actually do squat about what’s going on with schools. Change, when and if it comes to local schools, is through the Board of Trustees, popularly known as the school board. [Read more…]
The Starting Line –Three Halloween Stories About Politics That Should Send Chills Up Your Spine
Politics takes a back seat today as the nation casts its eyes towards the East Coast and mid-west , which are under assault by Hurricane Sandy barreling from the southeast and an early winter storm coming in from the northwest. Here on the left coast life goes on and there are headlines to report.
The Giants won, the Chargers suck and there are too many political commercials on TV this week. That about covers it for today.
In the absence of any major breaking news, I’m putting out three stories that illustrate what a tangled web the media can spin when it comes to politics. [Read more…]
The 2012 Elections: Vital Issues That Affect Latinos
By Jimmy Franco Sr./LatinPOV.com
The growing Latino population within the country has now reached 50 million people of which 24 million are registered to vote. This population is predominantly located within the large urban areas and in the key political states of New York, California, Texas and Florida. This is a generally young population which works and pays taxes that benefit all of our society and will do so for many years to come.
It is this youthful sector within our society that will play a particularly important role in the country’s future by working and supporting the growing number of retired and elderly persons by paying taxes into Social Security, Medicare and other government programs which will bolster the country’s social safety net. [Read more…]
The Starting Line –San Diego Mayoral Education Debate Fails to Advance USD Power Play on Schools
There have been so many debates between City Councilman Carl DeMaio and Congressman Bob Filner that even an earnest politico like myself has become inured to them. DeMaio and Filner have circled around each other like snarling cats, making lots of noise but not really inflicting much damage. One candidate sneers. The other becomes combative. And so forth.
So it comes as a real shocker that these aspirants actually agreed on something, rising above the partisan fray at a University of San Diego debate last night to concur that the job of Mayor in San Diego does Not include expanding the power of that office to oversee city schools. And the debate must have been a real disappointment for USD’s Center for Education and Law Policy (CEPAL) which has tried repeatedly to sell local policy makers and voters on the idea that undermining the power of an elected school board was the only way to ‘save’ San Diego Schools.
One local reporter Tweeted this characterization of the debate: “Moderator: Do you support mayoral control of schools? Candidates: No. Moderator: But c’mon, do you support mayoral control of schools?” [Read more…]
The Starting Line –How the Taxpayers Association Enabled the ‘$2500’ iPads Being Used in San Diego Schools
The email has been everywhere. It’s at the center of the campaign against San Diego Unified’s School District’s Proposition Z, a measure asking the voters for additional financing for capital improvements and repairs to school properties.
The headline screams “School Board is Buying iPads for $2,500, New San Diego County Taxpayers Association Analysis Shows”. We’re quickly told that SDUSD “is using 40-year Capital Appreciation Bonds, the same risky, long-term financing notoriously used by the Poway Unified School District.” Without skipping a beat we’re breathlessly told that every dollar spent by the Board will cost taxpayers seven dollars.
But what the “No on Z” people (who are basically the same as the Taxpayers Association) aren’t telling us about is the role that they played in approving this “risky financing”. Or that the financing deal really isn’t the same as Poway’s. And that there’s a really big “IF” underlying their financial assumptions. [Read more…]
Connecting More Dots Between Propositions 30, 32, and 38
The Munger Muddle, Democrats for Education Reform, Obama, and the Koch Brothers et al Weave a Tangled Web that Might Just Kill Our Children’s Future (if we let it)
In a recent column, I outlined the connections between the advocates and funders of Proposition 32 and opponents of Proposition 30, noting the central role of Proposition 38 backer Molly Munger’s brother, Charles Munger, who has donated over $20 million of his own money to a campaign fund to gut unions and defund education. Charles’s main allies in this effort, as I pointed out in that column, are also big supporters of the privatization of education and other forms of profiteering at the expense of public schools.
It is clear that the incestuous political relationship between the Mungers is mutually beneficial in the short term and that Molly had hoped to kill Prop 30 with negative ads while passing her own initiative, and perhaps she just doesn’t mind if the political voice of teachers’ unions is silenced as collateral damage.
Are We Headed for a Servant Economy?
Jobs in the US are undergoing a huge transformation. People are being laid off from good paying jobs with benefits, and, to the extent they are finding new ones, they are being paid about half what they were at their previous job with no benefits. Most of the newly created jobs in the “promising” recent jobs report were part time or temporary jobs. The September Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) jobs report indicated that 114,000 jobs were added in September and that the unemployment rate dipped to 7.8%. This is good news to be sure, but the fact remains that the issue is more about the quality of jobs added than the actual number.
Half of all college graduates are not able to find work. The good jobs out there are only for elite students from elite institutions. Half of all graduates including graduates in science and engineering from universities like Harvard and Duke are going to work on Wall Street.
This is where the top talent is going, and they’re making big bucks – six figures to start plus signing bonuses. If you are just an average college student though from a run of the mill college, chances are the only job you will find is as a barrista at Starbucks or at the Apple genius bar. The Microsofts, Qualcomms, Googles and Intels are only hiring the top 1% or 2% from elite colleges.
The myth that with a college education you will be able to get a good paying job is being laid to rest. [Read more…]
San Diego For Free: Amazing Campus Art at The Stuart Collection at UCSD
A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.
The Stuart Collection at UCSD
Website: http://
Neighborhood & Address: La Jolla; 9500 Gilman Drive, San Diego, CA 92093
Best For: All ages, modern art fans
Hours: All day, every day, always free
The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) sits on 1,200 acres above the Pacific Ocean about 10 miles north of downtown San Diego in the neighborhood of La Jolla. UCSD is the highest ranked university in San Diego, ranked #38 among national universities in the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings.
The Starting Line – San Diego Zoo Expansion Plan: Make 61% of Balboa Park’s Parking Paid
Now that (it appears) plans for construction of a paid parking garage adjacent to the Plaza de Panama are moving forward, the San Diego Zoo has dusted off an eight year old project involving construction of a fee based 4800 space underground garage and will eliminating the free 2500 space surface lot currently in use.
The announcement for the latest proposal came via a very carefully controlled roll out with members of the Balboa Park conservancy and the UT-San Diego editorial board being given a ‘first look’ at the revived plan. Today’s newspaper features a front page article putting a positive spin on the Zoo’s parking scheme, stressing an alleged paucity of parking in Balboa Park. It will be very interesting to see if any opposition develops.
INSIDE: Fletcher Blesses Prop Z, Undecided Voters Who Have Already Voted, Adios NC Times, Munger Pulls Negative Ads
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