San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Carlsbad City Hall No Place For Apologies

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By Richard Riehl

Mayor Matt Hall called for peace in the city at the Carlsbad City Council’s March 8 meeting, days after Measure A was defeated. After enduring a verbal waterboarding of criticism by seven speakers who asked him to apologize for his role in dividing the city, he concluded the meeting with a promise:

“If an apology is what it takes to bring us all back together I will say that 1,000 times. I realize there was a difference in this and I realize the passion for what you believe in. But right now I think the best thing for us is to come back together. That’s what separates Carlsbad from any other city in North County. It’s allowed us to go through a lot of different issues where there were differences. But at the end of the day we came back together and were willing to work together. And that would be my commitment to you.”

I guess he wasn’t ready to begin those 1,000 apologies just yet. But after someone yelled from the audience to remind him, he relented. “I apologize to you, Greg. Looking at you, I clearly apologize, if that’s what it takes to bring us back together, I apologize.”   [Read more…]

Parents Angered By Attendance Boundaries Change In Chula Vista …

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… Humpback Whale Washes Ashore and Latinos Have a ‘Rage Deficit’

As Chula Vista expands, an East-West divide has developed along the I-805. In the West, elementary and high schools tend to be old and under-enrolled. In the East, where homes are newer, elementary and high schools tend to be state-of-the-art. Those newer schools are also bursting with too many students. Back in January, the Sweetwater Union High School District addressed the issue by approving new attendance boundaries.

The attendance boundaries created what some are calling an “East-West Divide along the I-125”. Last week, some parents received emails explaining that their children might go to a different school than the one they had expected.   [Read more…]

What the GOP’s Supreme Obstruction Means for Women

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Senate Republicans are leaving women in limbo on several crucial issues.

By Martha Burk / OtherWords

Senators, constitutional scholars may tell you, must “advise and consent” on the president’s Supreme Court nominees. But apparently the official GOP policy is to “refuse and obstruct.” They’ve vowed not even to give President Obama’s nominees a vote.

These Republicans claim that leaving the Supreme Court understaffed is no big deal. Well, it’s certainly a big deal for women. Pending cases on abortion, birth control, education, and public employee unions are all sitting before a divided court.

The scariest case is Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole.   [Read more…]

Gonzalez Bill Opens the Door for Gig Economy Workers Rights

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Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez has (re-)introduced legislation (AB 1727) ensuring that independent contractors working in the gig economy are allowed workplace rights currently enjoyed by conventional employees. Thus begins what will likely be a multi-year struggle to redefine the role of labor in the 21st century.

The rights under consideration include negotiating as a group, communicating with customers and the public, boycotting or critiquing a hosting platform’s business practices, and reporting publicly or to law enforcement any practices in violation of local, state, or federal laws.

The 1099 Self-Organizing Act, as it’s called, would apply to businesses and workers in the “gig economy,” where companies use online systems and mobile apps to match laborers with customers. State labor law would be amended, allowing 10 or more independent contractors, who work for “hosting platforms” such as Uber and Lyft, to join in union-like groups and negotiate workplace protections.   [Read more…]

Latinos and Baseball: In the Barrios and the Big League

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On February 19, 2016, I drove to San Bernardino to attend what turned out to be a very special project and event. This past summer I attended an advisory board meeting of the Mexican-American Baseball Project, Cal State San Bernardino. As I arrived at the John M. Pfau Library, I took a few minutes to rehash my last visit to the building.

At that time, we were talking about the possibility of San Diego having a baseball book like many other cities. I returned this time as a member of that advisory board.

I had recently completed a chapter for San Diego in a book that will be published later this year.   [Read more…]

Readers Write: Eliminate Under the Table Gifts and Payments to San Diego Politicians

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By John Stump

The U-T editorial “Who should vote on San Diego pol’s pay raises? They should” concerning the Citizen’s Salary Commission’s call for ethical pay reforms came to the wrong conclusion. I had hoped that it would stand for the elimination of gifts, luxury banquet dinners, closure of the Stadium Emperors’ Sky Boxes, and the rest of the insider’s under the table payments to politicians.

There is a political revolution going on.
  [Read more…]

Is Jerry Brown Involved in the San Onofre Nuclear Plant Shutdown Scandal?

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Nuclear Shutdown News for February 2016

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Last year Nuclear Shutdown News reported on a scandal involving the San Onofre nuclear plant shutdown, and a secret deal that left its ratepayers holding the bag for a multibillion dollar debt for which the public bears no responsibility. This onerous debt will take consumers and their descendants decades to pay off if the powers that be get their way. But the people are fighting back.   [Read more…]

Why Seniors—Not CEOs—Deserve a Raise

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Social Security is the most powerful tool available to lift people out of poverty.

By Elizabeth Warren /TalkPoverty.org

Any conversation about tackling poverty in the United States should include protecting and expanding Social Security. The reason is pretty straightforward: Social Security is the most powerful tool available to lift people out of poverty. Nearly two-thirds of seniors depend on Social Security for the majority of their income, and millions more children and adults depend upon survivors and disability benefits. According to Center for Budget and Policy Priorities analysis of Census data, Social Security kept 21 million Americans out of poverty in the last year alone. All told, that’s more people than any other government program.   [Read more…]

Will California Feel the Bern? Vermont Senator’s Michigan Win Changes the Game

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In past years, California’s presidential primary has come so late in the cycle as to be irrelevant. This year might be different.

Despite pollsters unanimously saying Senator Bernie Sanders would lose to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by as much as 20 points, he won in Michigan. Sanders trails in total delegate count at this point, but my prediction is that last night’s upset will quell talk of an early conclusion to Democratic contests.

The Donald carried Michigan, Ted Cruz carried Idaho and Marco Rubio got nada. John Kasich thinks he stayed alive by coming in third in Michigan. In Miami, Trump gave a totally bizarre victory speech that at times sounded like an infomercial for his retail lines. ….And there are a few interesting tidbits in local politics to share today.   [Read more…]

Illegal Pot Shops Sell Black Market Products, Challenging Legal Dispensaries

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By Dr. David Blair / A Green Alternative

A Green Alternative, after its first year of operation serving the community, still faces unique challenges in the evolution of the consumer friendly medical marijuana marketplace. The biggest problem legal dispensaries face are the illegal pot shops and delivery services, which pop up like weeks after a rainstorm; each time a licensed dispensary opens, three to four illegal pot shops open up right next to them.   [Read more…]

Guest Workers Or Bracero Slaves? Historically, Chicano Activists Opposed the Bracero Program

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By Herman Baca

The immigration proposal exposing the hypocrisy & manipulation of the so-called immigration issue (or Mexican undocumented worker) is the foreign “guest worker” program. To date, every immigration plan proposed has included a proviso for a foreign worker importation program. Why, the historical reason is; “The U.S.’s economic addiction to cheap and exploitable labor.”   [Read more…]

Trump Is the Most Offensive GOP Candidate, But Cruz Would Be More Dangerous in the Oval Office

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Ted Cruz is a conniving, uncompromising, power-hungry demagogue whose policies would serve the richest Americans

By Steven Rosenfeld / AlterNet

As the 2016 primary season continues, the notion that Ted Cruz might be the Republican Party’s last best chance to save itself from Donald Trump’s takeover is a spectacle all by itself. Cruz, the most mistrusted and reviled Republican senator, a serial liar who led the 2013 government shutdown and called Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a fraud on the Senate floor, is now the party’s great savior?   [Read more…]

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