San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

General Dynamics, Once a San Diego Mainstay, Now Dearly Departed

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The following article appeared in the 1969 print edition of the San Diego Free Press. It has been transcribed from the microfilm at the San Diego Public Library.

As Frank Pace says in the Foreward to Dynamic America: A History of the General Dynamics Corporation by John Niven. “In 1960, ours is the most powerful of nations, intimately involved in all the earth’s daily business, the major bulwark against communism and so most threatened. From these times to the present, during our growth, from an insular agrarian society to the world’s political and industrial leader, the position of the United States in world politics has determined, almost exclusively, the flow of product research and development from General Dynamics.”   [Read more…]

Suspect in Homeless Attacks Arrested, Another May Be At Large

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There were two more attacks on homeless people in San Diego. An early morning attack on a 55-year-old man in Golden Hill fit a pattern of evidence suggesting it was linked to four other recent assaults on homeless people, three of which have proved to be fatal.

Several hours later police arrested a person resembling the description of the killer on Laurel Street. On Thursday, police distributed an updated sketch of the purported serial killer.

Earlier in the morning at Second and Cedar Streets, police reported another incident matching the style of other attacks, wherein homeless people have been struck in the head by a person or persons riding a bicycle. There have been more than a dozen such attacks around downtown and the East Village in recent weeks. Today’s arrest does not appear to be connected to these incidents.

ALSO: Weekly Calendar of Progressive Events

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Una Carta a José

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By Adrián Arancibia

A friend once said, the good ones always leave San Diego and never come back. They leave. They never come back. I’ve spent the better part of 20 years watching brilliant folks build something here. Build something. And move on. This year will be no different. This year will be especially sad for me.

Two folks I admire and love will be leaving. They’ll be moving to Seattle. Jade Power Sotomayor and José Fuste will be moving to Seattle. If you don’t know, they’ve created a following in San Diego. A following for bomba. Something I’ve found to be one of the few authentic music events here in San Diego.

But how does San Diego say thank you?   [Read more…]

Pedestrian Crossing Now Open At San Ysidro Port of Entry …

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… National School District May Have First Female Superintendent, and Imperial Beach Hosts Sand Castle Competition

The San Ysidro PedWest Crossing opens today, with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. Some in nearby Chula Vista, let alone cities much further north, may not think a new pedestrian border crossing has an impact on their community — but think again.

The San Ysidro Port of Entry (POE) is the largest land POE in the world, with more than 50 million people crossing each year. Mexico is our third largest trade partner and both San Diego and Tijuana are economically intertwined, whether people appreciate that fact or not.

As the data shows, more than 68% of the 1.6 million people living in Tijuana cross the border to shop. They spend at least $6 billion a year, or more than $1 of every $8 in retail sales. That means the Mexican population pours at least $480 million sales tax dollars into the economy every year — and that’s an extremely conservative estimate.   [Read more…]

At Least 84 Dead as France Reels from Attack in Nice

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At least 84 have been killed, another 50 seriously injured, and many others hurt after truck hits crowd.

By Nadia Prupis / Common Dreams

Scores of people were killed in Nice, France late Thursday night when a truck rammed into a crowd that had gathered for Bastille Day, in what officials say was a deliberate attack.

At least 84 have been killed, another 50 seriously injured, and many others hurt.

The Guardian is providing live updates here.

The truck slammed into the crowd shortly after a fireworks display celebrating the French national holiday ended around 11pm in the southern coastal city, reportedly swerving and zigzagging for two kilometers (1.24 miles) in an apparent attempt to hit more people.   [Read more…]

City Attorney’s Justice for Sale Scheme Targets Family of Mentally Ill Man Slain by Police

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PLUS: Trump, Trump, Trump, and More Trump

The office of City Attorney Jan Goldsmith has proved beyond a doubt that San Diego has the best legal system money can buy… provided the victims have the money to pay.

Fridoon Nehad was shot and killed in April 2015 by veteran San Diego Police Officer Neal Browder. The officer said–after being shown a video of the incident– he believed Nehad was carrying a knife, but it turned out to be a shiny blue pen. The dead man was a 42-year-old refugee from Afghanistan diagnosed as mentally ill following incarceration in a Taliban prison camp.

In the wake of an investigation clearing the officer of any misconduct, the family is suing, saying the city has a pattern of inadequate investigations into police shootings. A federal judge has ordered the city to turn over records of other shootings by officers as part of the case. The City Attorney’s office is demanding that the family pay $12,000 up front to search for and assemble the documents.
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Haitian Storytelling: The Last Tiger in Haiti at the La Jolla Playhouse

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By Yuko Kurahashi

The La Jolla Playhouse, in partnership with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, presents Jeff Augustin’s The Last Tiger in Haiti, a play about “restavek” (child slavery in Haiti), directed by Joshua Kahan Brody, at the Mandell Weiss Forum through July 24, 2016. The playwright Augustin, of Haitian descent, chose to use the traditions of Haitian storytelling as a vehicle not only to expose child slavery but also question traditional and contemporary “story-telling” and its power.

Augustin depicts child slaves making up stories about their lives in a competitive way, shaping the stories in response to the comments of the listeners. In Haiti, the tradition is that a storyteller says, “krik” if one has a story to tell. Then the “listener” says “krak” if they are willing to listen. Using this set of call and response the stories in the play are comingled with folktales and religious traditions, while they also introduce the audience to the tragic reality of child slavery.   [Read more…]

Black Lives Matter San Diego Rally: Photo-Essay

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By Bree Davis

I’m Bree and I had the privilege and honor to attend and support the Black Lives Matter: San Diego rally in downtown San Diego outside of the Convention Center on July 10. It was strategically timed so we would be meeting and marching as the All Star Convention was opening it’s doors. Black Lives Matter: San Diego is not yet an official chapter, however they are working hard on becoming one, so hopefully soon this will happen.   [Read more…]

Artificial Turf Wars in San Diego Schools

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Some parents at Silver Gate Elementary School in Point Loma are leading an uphill battle against artificial turf that is supposed to be installed on the school’s playing field next Fall. And other beach area activists have been fighting the artificial turf wars for a few years now.

Writer Ashly McGlone, in a fairly exhaustive piece in Voice of San Diego published June 27th, captured the highlights of one of those battles in describing efforts of some parents at Silver Gate.

McGlone focused on Point Loma resident Erika Lundeen, who became concerned to hear that the school her kids attend, Silver Gate, was getting a new artificial turf field called “crumb rubber”. It’s a type of artificial turf made up of particles from crushed-up car tires which act as a cushion and is used as a filler between blades of artificial grass. And this FieldTurf is what San Diego Unified uses – and plans to use on dozens of playing fields around the District.

Lundeen had seen local kids covered in little black specks on their clothes and bodies after rolling around in the turf at a field at Loma Portal Elementary School, with some kids playing with the black stuff.   [Read more…]

Attacks on San Diego’s Homeless Continue

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Volunteers Offer Relief – ‘Troll Bashers’ Promote Fear and Loathing

There has been yet another early morning attack on a homeless human in San Diego.

Local TV news outlets are reporting on an attack occurring at 10th Ave. and G Street around 6 a.m. The man was taken to the hospital. The extent of his injuries, caused by what was said to be a hammer blow to the head is not yet known. The assailant was described as a white male and was seen riding off on a blue mountain bike.

This latest act of violence comes just two days after the San Diego Police Department released 36-year-old Anthony Padgett, who’d been accused of a series of early morning attacks that left three people dead, because of new evidence challenging the case put together by detectives.   [Read more…]

The San Diego Convadium – Part 3

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If the taxpayers of San Diego swallow this hogwash and vote for the Chargers’ plan on the November ballot, they are voting for a pig in a poke. They are authorizing the City to go into debt for $1.15 billion without knowing the final terms and the small print in the contract with Wall Street for the bonds. They aren’t privy to the negotiations between Wall Street and the City. Despite the fact that the proposal states that there will be a firewall between the City’s General Fund and the Fund that pays the interest and principal on the bonds, Wall Street might have a different idea and then the City would have to go along with it or be sued by the Chargers if the voters approve of this proposal.

Finally, what about the homeless? In light of the City’s trying to remove them from the proposed area of the Chargers stadium in order that the All-Star game at Petco Park not have them littering up the streets, what would happen to them if a new Stadium was built right in the area where they all congregate? What mitigation is in this proposal for them? They are totally ignored although their impact on another stadium downtown would be crucial. What’s in this proposal for them? Nothing. They never even crossed the Chargers’ minds.   [Read more…]

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