San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Downtown San Diego’s East Village South Without a Stadium: An Alternative Vision

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By Bill Adams / UrbDeZine

With the adoption of the Downtown Community Plan in 2006 it was determined that each designated downtown neighborhood would create a finer-grain plan, in the form of a Focus Plan, to make certain future development would honor the Community Plan and enhance the unique personality of each district. For several reasons, including the economic downturn and the elimination of CCDC, the Focus Plans for the four East Village quadrants were not completed.

In fall of 2015 a group of East Village residents, business, academic and community leaders and land owners discussed the need for a Focus Plan for the southeast quadrant as new development started rapidly taking shape throughout East Village.   [Read more…]

Looking Back at the Week: Aug 7-13

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This week’s edition of Looking Back at the Week features articles, commentaries, columns, and other work by San Diego Free Press regulars, irregulars, columnists, at-large contributors, and sourced writers on: what many people are saying, Da Bonnie subpoenaed, GOP doom and gloom, Ellis dropping out, Barrios Against Stadiums, the local abortion fight, electing Dems, Midge Costanza, adjuncts, money in Carlsbad, and lots of other inspiring, grassroots news & progressive views from San Diego’s friendly, neighborhood, all volunteer, slightly funky, community news site.   [Read more…]

Laying the Groundwork of Groundwork Books

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By Groundwork Books Collective

At the open house at Groundwork Books during alumni weekend our classic sign got a new layer of paint. A photo was posted online and we learned that the logo was designed by Charyn Segal and Lincoln Cushing.

It was Lincoln Cushing humself* that shared that bit of knowledge. Lincoln, a political poster designer and archivist, was involved in the original Groundwork Books project starting back in 1973.

Wanting to learn more about the groundwork of Groundwork Books (see what I did there mhmm) I reached out to Lincoln and he was happy to share some details.   [Read more…]

Follow the Money In Carlsbad’s Pay to Play Politics

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Why did elected officials unanimously support an L.A. developer’s failed attempt to bring a shopping mall to the city’s Agua Hedionda Lagoon last year?

Carlsbad voters may find an answer in the August 1 Financial Disclosure Statements filed by incumbent city council candidates Keith Blackburn and Lorraine Wood. Just follow the money they’ve already raised this year, combined with their 2012 campaign stashes, to see why city leaders get along so well with developers.

There’s a lot of overlap in the special interest groups supporting Blackburn and Wood. Topping the list is one of the few local residents with a financial interest in winning the favor of council members, James Ukegawa. He’s the owner of the Carlsbad Strawberry Company. Other than the billionaire developer, he’s also the single individual who had the most to gain from the lagoon mall project.   [Read more…]

Geo-Poetic Spaces: The Maypole

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In Germany
love
decorates windows
with ribbons and branches

Town squares resurrect Spring
with Maypoles:

A fertility rite
older than written words.   [Read more…]

Ayad Akhtar’s JUNK: The Golden Age of Debt

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By Yuko Kurahashi

The world-premiere of Ayad Akhtar’s JUNK: The Golden Age of Debt, directed by Doug Hughes, is currently playing at La Jolla Playhouse.

JUNK’s pivotal character is Robert Merkin, a financier, loosely based on bond traders from the junk-bond era of the 1980s such as Michael Milken. Merkin helps Israel “Izzy” Peterman, a businessman, to wage a hostile takeover of a Dow Jones industrial steel company owned by Thomas Everson, the grandson of the founder.   [Read more…]

GOP Down-Ballot Disaster Begins in San Diego As Ellis Drops Out

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The general election is still three months away and Republicans have already lost their first local down-ballot contest.

Republican candidate Ray Ellis has conceded the District One city council seat contest to Democrat Barbara Bry.

This council race was supposed to be the marquee local contest, with the winner’s party having the political balance of power. An up and coming Republican mayor in a big city could have paved the way to a political future for his party.   [Read more…]

Remembering a Sad Moment in ‘Gay Paree’

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Paris. Maria and I and her family spent 16 days there in late June, literally taken by its beauty and its charm.

I have such sweet memories of our time there:

Our cursing the five flight of stairs to our apartment every time we returned from somewhere;

All the sights, the art, the culture, the fashion, the cuisine; the Metro; the soccer madness created by the Euro-Games;

Eye-shopping in a store with prices way beyond what we could ever pay without suffering tremendous buyer’s remorse, when out of nowhere there came a little fuss and then to the left of us walked Celine Dion, taking a selfie with a woman who was way beside herself with joy, smiling at her admirers, quickly signing autographs, and leaving as gracefully as she had appeared …   [Read more…]

The Plight of Adjunct Teachers

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Here in California, adjunct teachers are like the comedian, Rodney Dangerfield, in the community college world. They get some respect, but not a lot, despite being the backbone of the system.

More classes are taught by part-time teachers than full-time teachers. The ratio has been as high as 70% part-time teachers to 30% full-time teachers. Part-time teachers are paid by the hour; whereas, full-time teachers receive a salary and if one calculates the hourly rate, it is higher. The various districts do this because it saves them money.

The community colleges in San Diego also limit the number of hours an adjunct can teach each semester, so many part-time teachers become freeway flyers. That means they have to teach at various colleges to make ends meet. They fly on the freeway from one location to another because they don’t get enough hours at one college.   [Read more…]

Doom and Gloom at the Grand Old Party

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The presidential contest is looking increasingly bleak for the Grand Old Party, with even Karl Rove saying things are not looking good for the Donald.

The latest Economist/YouGov Poll finds nearly one in three Republicans expect a Clinton victory in November, nearly double the percentage who thought that a week ago. The same poll has 81% of Democrats agreeing with that assessment.

The question both parties are asking is whether or not voters will be willing to split ballots. Some Democrats are even dreaming of their party retaking the House of Representatives.   [Read more…]

Midge Costanza: Brilliant, Flawed Feminist in the White House

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San Diego author Dr. Doreen Mattingly’s biography of Midge Constanza

By Nassim Moallem

Midge Costanza wanted her life story to inspire women to become engaged with the political process—but struggled with how to do so when her own political career was full of frustrating barriers and disappointments. San Diego State University Women’s Studies professor Doreen Mattingly outlines this dilemma in her introduction before presenting us with ten chapters that do just what Midge wanted.

A Feminist in the White House is a biography that shows us a woman who tried her best to make change she believed in. She was a woman who succeeded by winning a seat on City Council, hosting the first group of openly gay and lesbian leaders at the White House, having diverse and progressive women commission International Women’s Year, becoming the first female assistant to the president.   [Read more…]

League of Women Voters Tour San Diego Border Crossings

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By Beryl Flom

The League of Women Voters of San Diego recently took a tour with Customs and Border Patrol. The August 2 tour was arranged by the League’s Immigration and Deportation Committee as an opportunity to educate members about various border and immigration issues.

Those issues include the wait time crossing the border, regulations by the U.S. which can slow down a smooth transition between the two countries and the court backlog for people without documentation seeking asylum. Another issue that concerns us is the deportation of non-citizen veterans who have served our country and then commit some minor legal infraction and are deported without consideration of their readjustment back to civilian life.   [Read more…]

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