San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for Media / Encore

OB Bamboo Bicyclist Lives to Inspire “Earth-Friendly Lifestyles”

by

Activist to Give Away Free Seeds

By Rob Greenfield

This spring I left my comfortable beachside home in sleepy Ocean Beach to wake America up. On April 16th I hopped into a van with a stranger from a Craigslist.com rideshare board, stopped in Santa Cruz to pick up a bamboo bike, and arrived in San Francisco a with a few days to prepare for a 4,700 mile bike ride across the USA.

The journey, coined Off the Grid Across America, was designed to inspire Americans to start living a more earth-friendly lifestyle for themselves, their community, and the earth.

To lead by example I followed a set of rigorous ground rules:   [Read more…]

What You Don’t Know About Me (As If You Cared)

by

By Ernie McCray

I like facebook. For me it’s been a nice way to get snippets, sometimes daily, of what’s going on in the lives of both new and old friends: students of mine from over time, some of my children and grandchildren, ex-colleagues, fellow actors and writers and activists – interesting people all.

Occasionally one of them will suggest a game for me to play and I usually don’t take part in such online activities because it’s too easy to spend too much time on social media without the temptation of getting involved in diversionary attractions of any kind.

But lately a number of my friends have been revealing a number of random things about themselves that no one knows or bits of information only a few people are in on and if you profess a “like” for or make a comment on what they have exposed they assign you a number and you’re to make a list of unknown facts about yourself equal to that number. I was given the number 8 by one of my favorite students of all times, Shannon, who disclosed that her name is really Shanna in keeping with the idea of the game.   [Read more…]

Average Car Costs $9,000 Annually; What Else Could You Buy With That Much Money?

by

By John P. Anderson

In May my family moved to North Park and we promptly had our bicycles stolen from our garage, including the trailer we used to transport our young daughter.  Bummer, big time.  One plus side was the encouraging messages and help I received from many sources in San Diego, including the Free Press.

Although it’s not fun to have a bicycle stolen it’s some comfort that having bicycles has made it possible for us to avoid the costs of owning a second vehicle.  My bicycle cost about $650, which is a pretty nice bicycle, but I could buy 14 bicycles per year for the annual costs of one car.  This got me thinking, what else could I buy for the annual cost of a car?   [Read more…]

Analyzing the Responses: Virtual Mayoral Forum—Transit and Walkable, Bikeable Communities

by

Civic leaders have a renewed focus on a bikeable city, but transit still falls woefully short of serving San Diego’s needs.

By SDFP Staff

Part 4:  Walkable/ Bikable Neighborhoods and Public Transit

Here’s our question to the candidates:

What is the importance of walkable/bikeable neighborhoods and public transit in San Diego? 

World class cities have world class transit.  In San Diego, we have a world class, and often overcrowded, freeway system and city streets that are often pocked by ruts and cracks, and sometimes suspension-bending potholes.  But we are a city that is dependent on our cars, so we continue to climb behind the wheel simply to get to the grocery store 3/4 of a mile away.  Our public transit system is almost entirely inadequate to act as a replacement for cars, leaving San Diegans who don’t live on the trolley line or on one of the major bus routes little choice but to drive to their destination in order to arrive in a timely fashion.

So in this regard, San Diego has a long way to go to be able to consider itself world class.   [Read more…]

Analyzing the Responses: Virtual Mayoral Forum–Building Permits and the City Planning Department

by

Big developer interests should not receive preferential treatment.

By SDFP Staff

Though his brief tenure came to a tumultuous end, former Mayor Bob Filner did do some good things for the city while in office. Arguably, one of the best things he did was to revive the city’s planning department, dismantled and incorporated into the Development Services Department by Jerry Sanders. Filner then went on to hire Bill Fulton to lead the department, a veritable rock star in civic planning circles.

In the past, due to lax enforcement by the City of San Diego—particularly during Sanders’ tenure—developers tended to view the rules more as guidelines or suggestions than they did hard and fast laws they were required to follow or face consequences. Filner changed that, but with his departure, there is concern that developers will once again be allowed carte blanche to skirt the rules when it suits them.

“It’s not a problem of building permit enforcement,” wrote Mike Aguirre, but a problem of whether, when, how, and what type of permit should or should not be issued in the first place.”   [Read more…]

A State Capitol Awash In Oil Money

by

Big Oil treated legislators to $13,000 dinner before fracking bill vote

By Dan Bacher/Indybay.org

The oil industry, the largest and most powerful corporate lobby in Sacramento, dumped millions of dollars into its successful lobbying efforts to eviscerate an already weak fracking bill, Senator Fran Pavley’s Senate Bill 4, at the end of the Legislative Session.

Chevron, the Western States Petroleum Association and Aera Energy LLC spent the most money lobbying legislators in the third quarter of 2013, according to California Secretary of State documents.

Chevron spent $1,696,477, the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) spent $1,269,478 and Aera Energy LLC spent $1,015,534. That’s a total of $3,981,489 just between July 1 and September 30, 2013. In the first three quarters of 2013, WSPA alone spent a total of $3,578,266 on lobbying legislators.

In a classic example of the “pay to play” and “wine and dine” corruption that infests California politics, nearly $13,000 of the Western States Petroleum Association’s third quarter spending went toward hosting a dinner for 12 lawmakers and two staff members in September.   [Read more…]

Latino Voters Could Determine the Future … If We Vote

by

By Andrea Guerrero

A couple of weeks ago my nine-year-old son and I got into a friendly argument about who should be the next mayor of San Diego. He seemed to get the same thrill out of talking about his favorite candidate as he gets out of talking about his favorite superhero. If you have a child, you may have been asked a thousand (or maybe a million) times what your favorite this or that is and then told why it should be something else.

In our conversation, my son reminded me that he could not vote, but that I could and should vote (for his favorite candidate, of course). It made me think of others who cannot vote, like friends and family whose immigration status prevents them from voting, and why I can and must vote in every election for the candidate or the ballot measure that will move my family and my community forward.   [Read more…]

San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, City Attorney Jan Goldsmith Get Some Much Needed Scrutiny

by

By Doug Porter

The people’s prosecutors.

They’re chosen by voters in both San Diego City and County and charged with the responsibility of protecting our interests. Today we’ll look at recent news accounts suggesting there’s much to be desired in assessing the job performance of County DA Bonnie Dumanis and City Attorney Jan Goldsmith.

I’ll also recap developments in the mayoral race (new poll results!) including a young union organizer reading Nathan Fletcher the riot act, a high profile endorsement of David Alvarez that compares him to Jackie Robinson, and a gaggle of of young Republicans from around the state taking to the streets for “super candidate” Kevin Faulconer…   [Read more…]

Heartless for the Holidays

by

Why do rich and powerful people engage in callous behavior?

By Sam Pizzigati / Otherwords

Scrooge has come early this year. He’s already kicking our Tiny Tims. This holiday season, kids in America’s poorest families will have less to eat.

November 1 brought $5 billion in new cuts to the nation’s food stamp program, now officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Poor families are losing on average 7 percent of their food aid, calculates the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. A mother with two kids will lose $319 over the rest of the current federal fiscal year. The cuts could cost some families a week’s worth of meals a month, says the chief of America’s largest food bank.

More cuts are looming. A House of Representatives majority is demanding an additional $39 billion in “savings.” Ohio and other states, in the meantime, are moving to limit food stamp eligibility.   [Read more…]

Nearly 1,000 Flood NFL Stadium Demanding ‘Horrendous’ Redskins Name Must Go

by

‘We’re raising up and saying anybody who denigrates any class of people like that needs to be stopped.’

via Common Dreams

Calling for the Washington Redskins to retire their “inherently racist” name once and for all, nearly 1,000 protesters came out against the controversial NFL team on Thursday night, flooding the streets outside the Minneapolis Metrodome Stadium where they were set to face off against the hometown Minnesota Vikings.

“[The name] conveys the murdered scalps of indigenous people — men, women and children,” Alan Yelsey, who identified himself as an organizer for the American Indian Movement, told the Washington Post. “And that name is just a horrendous name for all of these people and for anybody of color… we’re raising up and saying anybody who denigrates any class of people like that needs to be stopped.”

The demonstration, described by Yelsey as a ‘consciousness-raising walk,’ is part of an upsurge of protest demanding the Redskins change their name.   [Read more…]

Homelessness: Does A Dollar Make A Difference?

by

By Christine Schanes

Every day many of us see a homeless person holding a sign or a cup begging for money. The kind-hearted people among us often give spare change or a dollar to this homeless person. However, we may ask ourselves, “Will a dollar make a difference in the life we’ve just touched?”

Yes, a financial gift of any amount does make a difference – a number of differences, in fact. With our contribution, the homeless person will be able to accumulate enough money to purchase the basic necessities of life – food, clothing and shelter. Further, by reaching out to the homeless person, we show that we care, which uplifts his/her spirits. And our generosity expands our own feelings of compassion which science has shown positively affects our immune system.   [Read more…]

North Park Mayoral Debate Tosses the Rulebook: Intelligent Questions Evoke More Informative Answers

by

By Doug Porter

I’ve listened to and watched a bunch of mayoral debates this year. Usually I come away from those things feeling like I’d wasted my time.

No other face-off featuring the major players even came close to what occurred last night at the North Park Theater.

I came away with a much better understanding of who the candidates are and what they stand for. Which is what’s supposed to happen.

A broad range of issues were covered. There were no opening statements, no mandated time for each candidate to rebut. Questions were submitted from the general public via electronic media and thoughtfully shaped by Voice of San Diego’s Scott Lewis.  There were no mouth-breather questions about traffic tickets, favorite colors or unicorns.  No candidate promised free ponies for everybody if they were elected.   [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry