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Chicano Park Documentary by Redbird Films

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Video by Redbird Films
Intro by Brent E. Beltrán

With the ballot battle looming over the future of Barrio Logan, due to Maritime Industry’s refusal to accept the Barrio Logan Community Plan update, I feel it is necessary to give voters of the city of San Diego a little history of Barrio Logan and highlight the issues residents face. In June, eligible San Diego voters will go to the polls to vote on wether to approve the community plan or reject it.

Over the next few weeks I will post a video on Sundays that highlights the community of Barrio Logan and the beauty within San Diego’s most historic barrio.

This week’s video is the classic Chicano Park documentary produced in 1989 by Redbird Films. The film, narrated by veteran actor Tony Plana, depicts the founding and history of this world famous historical site.   [Read more…]

Special Report: Get Ready for the Anti-Minimum Wage Tsunami of Lies in San Diego

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By Doug Porter

Sometime over the next couple of months the San Diego City Council will consider a ballot measure for November raising the minimum wage. Although California has already enacted legislation boosting the minimum wage from $8 an hour to $9 next July and $10 by January 2016, research by the Center on Policy Initiatives indicates those raises fall way short of the $13 per hour wage necessary to live here without government assistance.

Raising the minimum wage polls well with the public. Just last week a limited advisory referendum urging the Chicago City council to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour (for corporations with over $50 million in annual sales) passed with an overwhelming 87% approval. Nationally a variety of surveys indicate two thirds of voters favor increasing the mandated minimums.

Today we’ll take a look at how business interests both nationally and locally are working to defeat increases in pay for low wage workers. Given that  a significant number of San Diegans were naive enough to believe that the US Navy was preparing to leave town (the Barrio Logan referendum), the downtown clowns who perpetrated that falsehood can be expected to roll out the mother of all shock and awe campaigns as fall approaches.   [Read more…]

Following the Money Wasted on the Balboa Park Centennial

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By David Lundin

“Follow the money, and you will find your story.”

That was the advice Woodward and Bernstein received from Deep Throat, the source that gave the Washington Post a leg up during the Watergate scandal that ultimately forced the resignation of a president. Time has done nothing to diminish the wisdom of that wise counsel.

The structural and funding flaws of Balboa Park Celebration, Inc. [BPCI”] that contributed to failure have been presented previously.

However, even these foundational flaws could have been overcome by a smart, creative, motivated, ethical and honest board.   [Read more…]

Increasing San Diego’s Minimum Wage: If You’re Not at the Table, You’re on the Menu

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By Doug Porter

The ‘Improving Wages and Working Conditions’ measure is set to be introduced at the City Council Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations (EDIR) Committee on Monday morning. In addition to calling for an increase in the minimum wage, the proposed initiative would also guarantee workers up to five earned sick days.

While serving as iMayor, Councilman Todd Gloria made a bold pledge to get a measure before the voters that would raise local minimum wages. He’s now softened that pledge a bit making it clear that the actual amount of any increase is negotiable. And the opening negotiating position for the Chamber of Commerce (and their as yet silent allies) is: Zero.

While advocates and opponents of increasing the minimum wage each have studies that purport to back up their claims, there can be no doubt about the realities that the value of dollars earned by low wage workers has decreased and the unsustainability of trying to eke out a living on the lower end of the payscale in San Diego.   [Read more…]

Sunshine Week: It’s Not About the Weather in San Diego

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By Doug Porter

Sunshine Week is not another tourism promotion for San Diego. It’s about open government. The public’s right to know. And if there’s one place in the country that could use more of this type of sunshine, it’s San Diego.

America’s Finest City, as boosters are wont to call it, has a sordid history of corrupt mayors, underhanded deals blessed by city hall, and failed civic leadership. As in past decades, local apologists would like to have us believe this is all old news or, at worst, ending with the removal of the most recent ex-Mayor-who-can-not-be-named.

Today we’ll take a look at recent events connected with more open governance on the local scene, or at least the illusion thereof. Yesterday (Tuesday, March 18th)  included two seemingly contradictory events that speak to the popular notion of keeping the activities of government accessible to those of us who ultimately pay for it.   [Read more…]

Get Real: End Patriarchy

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What is reality?

The reality for women in this country is horrifying. 1 in 4 of them will be raped in their lifetimes. Every day, three to four women are killed by their partners. Every 15 minutes, a woman is beaten.

The reality for women in San Diego is even more horrifying when you consider the sexual violence being perpetrated by the SDPD. The reality for a woman in San Diego is that she must worry what kind of an officer might show up when she requests assistance.   [Read more…]

Reclaiming the Radical Spirit of Women’s History Month

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By Nadine Bloch / Waging NonViolence

If you missed celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8, don’t worry — there’s most of “Women’s History” month left to make amends. If you did celebrate it, there’s a good chance you participated in something quite unlike the original radical intentions for the day. Since 1975, when the United Nations established March 8 as the official date for International Women’s Day, it has been co-opted by corporate and state sponsorship of feel-good events — celebrating women’s achievements and inspiring actions — that cater to the political mainstream. That is, of course, only part of the story. It wasn’t always all about fun — and certainly it did not start that way.

The first International Women’s Day was celebrated in 1911 by socialists and labor activists to call for organizing rights for working women. It was followed quickly with other demands, including suffrage. Locking up so many women to slave away as garment workers in horrendous conditions in the early 20th century not only catalyzed the young women and girls into activists, but also led to organized resistance with fellow workers with whom they spent so much time. With no sick days, 16-hour shifts, a grueling pace, crowded and dirty floors, dangerous machinery, and hardly any time off, there were plenty of reasons to get mad and organize on the job!   [Read more…]

The Sound of One Fin Flapping – San Diego’s SeaWorld ‘Debate’

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By Doug Porter

A couple of weeks back Assemblyman Richard Bloom introduced AB 2140, legislation that would put a stop to the practice of using orcas as performers, along with ending captive breeding programs and trafficking of the species in California.

SeaWorld, which has been in major damage control mode since release of the Blackfish documentary last fall, has seized upon this opportunity to bring its story to the media. There has been a virtual blitzkreig of coverage about the many wonderful accomplishments of this salt water-based amusement park.

Given that the San Diego City Council will most likely be declaring March to be “Sea World San Diego’s 50th Anniversary Month” later this week, we’ll take a look at some of the local reportage and commentary on this subject today.   [Read more…]

Escondido Charter Proposal Offers Few Benefits, Many Hazards

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By Rick Moore /Escondido Democratic Club

City charters offer few benefits and many hazards, according to Kyle Krahel-Frolander, who spoke to Escondido Democrats at their March 2014 meeting. Krahel-Frolander is a Community Outreach Coordinator for Smart Cities Prevail, a California non-profit that provides information, research and education on how prevailing wage standards on public construction projects benefit taxpayers, local governments and working families.

Krahel-Frolander, who hails from Oceanside and worked as an aide to Council member Esther Sanchez when that city changed to charter status, monitors charter city proposals in Southern California.

Most California cities are created under state law and are known as “general law” cities. About one-third of California cities, including most larger cities, switched to charter city status in the past, when there were significant differences between the powers granted to charter cities.   [Read more…]

Overcoming Environmental Discrimination in San Diego’s Barrio Logan

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Video by Journey to Planet Earth
Intro by Brent E. Beltrán

With the battle looming over the future of Barrio Logan, due to Maritime Industry’s refusal to accept the Barrio Logan Community Plan update, I feel it is necessary to give voters of the city of San Diego a little history of Barrio Logan and highlight the issues residents face. In June, eligible San Diego voters will go to the polls to vote on wether to approve the community plan or reject it.

Over the next few weeks I will post a video on Sundays that highlights the community of Barrio Logan and the beauty within San Diego’s most historic barrio.

This week’s video, Future Conditional: Overcoming Environmental Discrimination in San Diego’s Barrio Logan, is narrated by actor Matt Damon and documents the challenges Barrio Logan residents face when trying to overcome environmental discrimination in their community.   [Read more…]

San Diego Charter Teachers: Bullying Contributed to Death of Colleague

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School Board meeting not ‘the time or place’ to discuss confidential personnel matter of a Teach for America instructor, says Harriet Tubman Principal

By Doug Porter

I didn’t write the headline for today’s column. It’s a headline at Education Week, a nationally recognized print and digital (edweek.org) publication. With a staff of over 70 and budget of over $13 million annually, it’s hardly the product of some basement blogger. Amazingly, it’s about a story nobody else in the San Diego media seems to have covered.

The EdWeek story is about a meeting of the San Diego Unified School Board on Tuesday, March 11th. The charter for the Harriet Tubman Village Charter School was up for renewal. A group of  parents, teachers and students wearing blue bravely stood up before the Trustees and proceeded to raise serious questions about the way the school is operated.

Accusations were made suggesting violations of both the Education Code and State Law by the school’s administration. And the suggestion was made that the bullying tactics and leadership style at Harriet Tubman contributed to the death of Sarah Jenkins, “a young, bright, dedicated, caring first year teacher at Tubman.”   [Read more…]

Balboa Park 2015 – What Went Wrong?

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By David Lundin

Plans for the Balboa Park Centennial in 2015 are non-existent. The Official Centennial management entity, Balboa Park Celebration, Inc. [“BPCI”], is closing its doors and transferring all its powers and obligations to the City.

More than three million dollars in public funds and donations have been spent on inflated salaries, consultant’s fees, payments to Board member’s friends, and other expenses having little if any salvage value. Time, credibility and opportunity have all been irrevocably lost.

What went wrong ? How could this major debacle for the City and Balboa Park have been prevented ? The story for most total failures begins at the beginning. This is no exception. In a perfect world, or at least one better than San Diego, what should have happened ?   [Read more…]

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