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Local Pols Lead Rally to Save Historic La Jolla Post Office

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San Diego Congressional Representatives Scott Peters and Susan Davis joined City Councilwoman Sherri Lightner and members of the La Jolla community in an effort to save the historic 77 year old La Jolla post office this afternoon from the United States Postal Service ax.

Davis, whose 53rd District previously included La Jolla prior to redistricting, had introduced legislation in the last Congress that would allow community interests to purchase the building and lease it back to the Postal Service at a nominal rate. Peters, as the new representative to the area, has taken up that mantle and reintroduced the bill.

“The U.S. Postal Service is under attack,” and they need more funding, said Davis.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – San Diego’s ‘Drone Zone’ Attracts National Protests

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For many months now San Diego Veterans for Peace have been staging a weekly vigil outside the General Atomics plant in southeasternPoway. It’s a difficult place to protest, parking is very limited, the elements can be harsh and some locals have been hostile.

None-the-less, the group shows up every Thursday afternoon. They stand by the side of the road holding signs reminding passers-by that drones are indeed weapons of war and not just some abstract toy the military plays with. The Vets for Peace say they’ve been surprised at how supportive people who working in the nearby plant have been.

It’s certainly not the flashiest demonstration; there are no celebrities, no acts of civil disobedience and news coverage is a rarity. But, like the drip-drip-drip of a leaking roof, the cumulative effect of the Vets for Peace presence is starting to be felt.

Today (3:30pm, Scripps Poway Parkway and General Atomics Way) there will be a TV crew from PBS, getting advance footage for next weeks’ national-wide April Anti-Drone Days of Action.

Next Wednesday (April 3) a nation-wide coalition of anti-war and privacy groups will kick off a month long series of protests with a rally in New York, followed by three days of protest outside the facilities of companies that make drones, including the local General Atomics facility, which makes Predator and Reaper drones.   [Read more…]

San Diego For Free: Income Tax Preparation

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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.

Address: Various
Date and Time: Various (but recommended prior to April 15th)
Best For: Dutiful citizens, taxpayers, the elderly, working joes and joe-ettes
Website: IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program

April 15th is quickly approaching, much to the dismay of taxpayers across the United States of America. However, the due date for federal income taxes doesn’t have to be a bad thing. I previously wrote about how tax refunds are a good thing and if you’d like to find out if you are due a refund you may be able to do so for free.

San Diego has a number of locations that provide free tax preparation and filing services free of charge via the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – The Standoff at the Tourism Corral Continues

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There was plenty of drama yesterday in downtown San Diego, as Mayor Bob Filner was ordered by the City Council to sign an operating agreement that they originally approved in November for the city’s Tourism Marketing District (TMD).

Word was out on the grapevine prior to the meeting that the Mayor and TMD officials were close to a compromise agreement in closed door negotiations. Later in the day Filner told the media he and district officials had resolved 90 percent of the issues and was confident he could complete a deal if given more time.

His request to the Council for two more days to complete those negotiations fell upon deaf ears. It was obvious that the TMD folks were playing hardball. And you have to wonder if they’re willingness to negotiate with the mayor was mere posturing.

They packed the council chamber with hospitality employees brought in to put a face on earlier threats about jobs being on the line. More than 100 tourism workers booed Mayor Filner as he argued forcefully against the resolution.   [Read more…]

The Southern California Major Dailies Failed Miserably in “Commemorating” the 10 Year Anniversary of the Iraq War

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The LA Times and the U-T San Diego Continue the Deception of Ten Years With Their Failure to Discuss the War

Southern California is home to two major daily newspapers – each from the major cities in this part of the country: the Los Angeles Times and the U-T San Diego.

In a review of their coverage of the ten year anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, I found them to be woefully inadequate in any discussion about “lessons learned” on the war, the invasion, or the run-up to the conflict.  I especially searched to see whether they went further and exposed the falsehoods and lies that the Bush administration told the public to convince us to go to war.

Those of us who suffer the U-T would not be too surprised to learn that the Manchester daily would not get too involved with a critique of the Bush’s deceptions and misrepresentations.  However, one would have thought the LA Times – once the bastion of liberalness on the West Coast – would have at least attempted to put together some kind of journalistic endeavor in examining all the ways that the American people were misled a decade ago.   [Read more…]

America at a Crossroads: The Civil Rights Issue of Our Time

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Will the Supreme Court reinstate the “separate but equal” doctrine that was overturned in 1951?

The Supreme Court of the United States today takes up the first of two cases involving the rights of gays and lesbians to marry. Today, they heard oral arguments in Hollingsworth v Perry, the challenge to California’s Prop 8, banning same sex marriage. On Wednesday, the justices will hear arguments in United States v Windsor, the challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

It boils down to this: Should gays and lesbians have the same rights as straight people? Or should we as a society be allowed to discriminate against them because of who they are? In reality it is an issue that has implications that extend far beyond whether or not the marriages of gays and lesbians should be legally recognized. It is no different than the civil rights fight of the 60’s, where African Americans were routinely discriminated against for no other reason than the color of their skin.

This is a losing battle for social conservatives who continue to want to drag this country back to the 1950’s, and they know it. Our society has evolved on marriage equality, doing almost a complete 180 even since Prop 8 passed with just over 52% of the vote in 2008, despite polling showing at the time that 51% of Californians accepted same sex marriage. Prop 8 reinstated the ban on gay marriage in California that had been overruled by state courts.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line –A Day of Reckoning for Proposition H8

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There’s only one story that matters today for millions of Americans: Hollingsworth v. Perry.

The US Supreme Court will hear arguments today challenging the legality of California’s Proposition 8, a measure passed by voters in 2008 that banned same sex marriage.

Hundreds of San Diegans, including prominent politicians from both sides of the aisle, converged on the federal courthouse downtown last evening to rally in support of same sex couples having the fundamental right to marry.

But you wouldn’t know about that outpouring of support by reading the morning paper. UT-San Diego studiously ignored the rally. There was no mention of the dozens and dozen of similar events around the country.   [Read more…]

Spare Us from Our Good Boys

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By Norma Damashek

You’ve already read my take on bad boys.  Now it’s time to flip the coin and ponder San Diego’s good boys. 

Lately, good boys have been coming out of the woodwork.  You can spot them a mile away by their gee-whiz grins and GQ grooming.  Their toothy, soulful smiles can break your heart.  Of course they’re super-civil and never raise their voices in public.  You wouldn’t hesitate to bring these dewy-eyed boys home to meet your momma. 

Don’t do it!  What you see is NOT what you get from these two-dimensional paper dolls… Stepford wives in drag.  Who are these people, you ask?     [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Much Ado About Something? Opposition Research Dressed Up as Journalism Or Journalism to Control the Narrative?

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Carl DeMaio’s back in the news just months after losing San Diego’s Mayoral election. The UT-San Diego ran with a front page banner headline and the hot button sub heads using words like ‘secret project’, ‘financiers’, and ‘legality unclear’. The gist of the story is that DeMaio was the focus of a failed effort by his political enemies to dig up ‘dirt’ under the guise of a journalistic enterprise.

The cast of characters aligned against the then-mayoral candidate includes a downtown developer with a personal dislike for DeMaio, an aide to former Mayor Jerry Sanders, and several individuals ‘aligned with’ the candidacy of Republican-turned-Independent Nathan Fletcher. Additional funding came from a Native American casino and the Firefighters union.

This project was active in the early months of 2012, as a crowded primary campaign was underway for the top spot in San Diego. The contest got very ugly, replete with nasty TV advertising campaigns, charges and counter-charges. Carl DeMaio and Bob Filner emerged as victors. By then the project was dead.   [Read more…]

Emerald: It’s Time to Take the Mayor Seriously

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City Council likely to amend resolution to nullify judge’s ruling

Last Friday Judge Timothy Taylor affirmed his tentative ruling in favor of Mayor Bob Filner in the Tourism Marketing District’s suit against him personally, determining that the Mayor was not in fact obligated to sign a contract negotiated by the City Council and previous mayor. The language in the resolution authorizing the city to enter into an operating agreement with the Tourism and Marketing Authority, Taylor found, allowed the Mayor to sign an agreement, but did not mandate that he sign this agreement.

There is one caveat, however: The judge will entertain another hearing should the City Council see fit to revise its resolution and close the loophole and instead require Filner to sign the contract in front of him. The City Council was due to take up the matter in closed session last week, but tabled it until after Friday’s court hearing. They are now slated to discuss it Tuesday.   [Read more…]

The North Park Main Street – Interview with Executive Director Angela Landsberg

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Walking into the office of the North Park Main Street, the main business association for the commercial area of the North Park community centered around University Avenue, I immediately recognized Angela Landsberg, its executive director. She was at her desk in the back, just finishing up in time for our interview. Everyone else had gone home at 3076 University Avenue. I was here to interview her for the San Diego Free Press focus during March on the community of North Park.

“I’ve been to meetings all day,” she declared. “I was out of the office for 3 hours and I now have 62 emails – not junk either – these all have to be responded to,” she said, signing off on her computer. I laughed, and we hugged. I’ve known Angie since she was a teenager, oldest daughter of my ex, and we’d lived together for a couple of years way back in the late Eighties.

And now she was the head of this North Park business group. Actually, North Park – a huge area, in fact, has several business groups, as there’s the El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association, and another one south of Angela’s area. Her North Park Main Street area goes from the Georgia Street Bridge or Florida Street to the west, all the way to the 805 on the east, but it’s only 2 to 3 blocks wide, from Upas to Howard on the north.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Anti Gay Editorial Shakes Up City Council Race

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The stench of hate rolled over South San Diego this week as the Voice and Viewpoint, a newspaper that has traditionally represented the opinions of the old school Black community, made their endorsements for the District 4 City Council special election, slated for March 26th. (See more SDFP coverage on this contest here.)

Read it for yourself:

Dwayne Crenshaw, who lists himself as a Community Nonprofit Director/Educator looks and sounds like a great candidate, however, Mr. Crenshaw has a tremendous amount of baggage from the issues surrounding his days with the Coalition of Neighborhood Councils (CNC). His openly confessed gay lifestyle is at odds with a great deal of the District’s African American residents in spite of his family’s history in the community. His positions in leadership and advocacy in the Gay community does not lead itself to the building of the kinds of coalitions between the religious and civic community that the Fourth District has enjoyed in the past and needs to build on during this critical period of restructuring. Mr. Crenshaw is not our choice at any time for this position.

Crenshaw responded forcefully over at SDGLN.com, pointing out the history of anti-gay bigotry directed at his campaigns. In the 2004 campaign, the V&V went so far as to say he ‘had bad judgment because God’s judgment was against gays’.   [Read more…]

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