San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Holiday Shopping Goes Local, Independent

by

By Jeff Milchen /Common Dreams

For those suffering from too much quality time with their families, the chain stores are poised to offer an escape by opening Thanksgiving Day. Before your dinner is digested, you can flee the table to vie for pole position at the big box entrance like Roman chariot drivers and prepare to do battle for one of those few really cheap “door-buster” flat-screens.

And it’s not just shoppers jockeying for position. Americans are about to drop a big chunk of change during this holiday season, (an average of $738 on gifts, décor, greeting cards and other items) and every retailer is looking for their piece.

For many years, corporate chains and online giants have garnered an ever-greater share of our spending at the holidays and year-round. That means not only a greater share of revenue being funneled into fewer hands, but big challenges for our communities as downtowns struggle and opportunities for residents to run their own business decrease, diminishing their local multiplier effect.   [Read more…]

What’s Next in San Diego’s Mayoral Special Election Runoff?

by

By Andy Cohen

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion on the mayoral special election, hosted by the Pt. Loma Democratic Club. The panelists included La Prensa’s Daniel Muñoz, San Diego Voice and Viewpoint’s Dr. John Warren, NBC San Diego’s Wendy Fry (a veritable rock star in San Diego reporting circles), and myself from the ‘lil ‘ol San Diego Free Press.

The discussion centered not only on the primary race itself, but on where we go from here? What kind of campaign are we likely to see in the coming months leading up to the February runoff to determine who will fill out the remainder of Bob Filner’s term?

Some things to consider about this race: Unlike the June 2012 primary, which featured two Republicans, a converted Independent, and only one Democrat, the 2013 primary featured three rather prominent Democrats and only one Republican. But, like 2012, the Republican frontrunner carried the day, winning a plurality of the vote.

However, in the November 2012 general election, San Diegans did something almost unprecedented: They voted for the Progressive Democrat over the neo-conservative Republican. With two extremes represented, the voters swung left. Will voters do the same in February?   [Read more…]

Hell Freezes Over: California Conservative Launches Initiative to Raise Minimum Wage to $12

by

By Doug Porter

Earlier this year California Gov. Jerry Brown signed off on legislation to increase the minimum wage.  The measure would raise the current $8 minimum wage to $9 an hour next July 1 and to $10 on Jan. 1, 2016. The 25% increase will be the first minimum-wage hike in California in five years, affecting an estimated 2.4 million Californians.

Golden State business interests and their conservative allies railed against the measure.  The LA Times quoted the president of the California Restaurant Association, saying the 87,000 eateries in the state would be forced to cut back employee hours and reduce hiring.  The California Chamber of Commerce labeled AB10  “a job killer.”

The conservative CalWatchdog.com predicted that 68,000 jobs would be lost over the coming decade and a “reduction in real output of $5.7 billion”, citing the Koch brothers sponsored National Federation of Independent Business.

Today’s New York Times reports that California conservative activist and millionaire Ron Unz is filing ballot language with the secretary of state , declaring his intention to gather enough signatures to place it on the ballot in 2014.   [Read more…]

A Taste of Colombia on Imperial Avenue: Antojitos Colombianos

by

By Avital Aboody

If you’ve eaten on Imperial Avenue before, you’ve probably enjoyed some great tacos or perhaps pupusas. But you might not know about the newest gem on the corridor: “Antojitos Colombianos,” the first and only Colombian restaurant in San Diego. The doors at 2851 Imperial Avenue opened for business in January 2012, and this home-grown restaurant has been happily providing customers with a truly authentic Colombian experience ever since.

The owner of “Antojitos Colombianos,” Javier Rodriguez, is from Cali, Colombia. He moved to San Diego 28 years ago to study business at San Diego City College, and then decided to build his life here. Javier capitalized on his previous experience in hotel management, as well as his love for food, and spent the next twenty years managing various restaurants. In 2005 he got together with a couple of Italian friends and opened his first business, a continental restaurant in La Jolla.   [Read more…]

Walmart Workers Plan Raucous Black Friday

by

By Jenny Brown / Labor Notes

Walmart workers are gearing up for Black Friday with a series of short strikes around the country this week, including in California, Florida, Minnesota, Washington, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Many more actions are expected on Black Friday itself. (Click here to find one near you.)

OUR Walmart, the group planning the actions, hopes the biggest shopping day of the year will become better known as a day of action for retail workers. OUR Walmart is asking community members all over the country to participate.

“Be expecting things [on November 29]… but there’s nothing specifically I can mention,” said Los Angeles-area Walmart worker Anthony Goytia, noting that activists are trying to take their employer by surprise.   [Read more…]

Save the Turkeys

by

Our fast-growing, heavy-breasted birds can’t even mate anymore.

By 

It’s odd that the most iconic feature of Thanksgiving — the turkey — is likely the most unnatural. It’s got competition, of course, from the jellied cranberry sauce that retains the shape of its can and various food products sold in boxes marked “Just Add Water.”

(Really, is it so hard to mash potatoes yourself, especially given their divine taste and creamy texture after you’ve added in all the cream and butter required?)

But it’s the turkey that takes the cake. Not that most of us would know that, since the last time most of us met a turkey was in a sandwich, not on a farm.   [Read more…]

Just Say No! To a Depressingly Grey Thursday and Black Friday at Walmart

by

By Doug Porter

It’s the last week in November and Americans are supposed to be in a frenzied holiday mode. It’s one of the rare times when Hanukkah and Thanksgiving converge. There are even recipes in People magazine for Thanksgivukkah.

It’s one of those years when FDR’s decision to make turkey day the fourth Thursday in November, provides a smaller than usual window of opportunity for shopping for the December holidays.

Do yourselves and the country’s working poor a favor. Stay home. If the truth were to be told, the actual deals offered on Black Friday, and now, Depressingly Grey Thursday, are becoming increasingly limited in scope and quantity.  It’s also a rotten deal for employees who are called in on a holiday with the promise of a plate full of “fixin’s” eaten while standing up just before the hordes rush the doors.   [Read more…]

Redemption Time: Alvarez Beats the Odds and Keeps Hope Alive

by

By Jim Miller

Last Tuesday, fortune favored the bold. David Alvarez defied the pundits and political insiders and beat the prohibitive favorite, Nathan Fletcher, in the race to face Kevin Faulconer in the run-off to be San Diego’s next mayor. This was a seminal moment for San Diego—perhaps the biggest political upset in history of the city.

It just wasn’t supposed to happen. Guys like this aren’t supposed to have a chance. Nobody knew who he was, the favored one had already been chosen, and all the experts thought he couldn’t win. He had powerful party insiders opposing him, the Governor of California campaigned against him, Sacramento politicians came out of the woodwork to support his opponent, and he was down near the single digits in the polls.

Everybody knew it was a crazy to run a little-known Latino councilman from South of 8 in a low turnout special election against a well-funded, favored son of the local establishment. It wasn’t his turn. The deck was stacked against him. Only folks who’d lost their minds would support him.

Then he won. David beat Goliath.   [Read more…]

A Place Called I-Park: Erasing the Separation between Life and Art

by

By Ishmael von Heidrick-Barnes

On September 17, 2013, I awakened in a small boat house on a pond in the wooded Connecticut countryside of East Haddam. A thin smoky mist wrote in calligraphy just above the water. My roommate, Roger Rigorth, peeked his head through a curtain separating our two beds and whispered, “Welcome to I-Park!”

I-Park is 450 acres of living art married to nature. International artists experienced in a variety of mediums are invited to spend 3 to 4 weeks living and working in the idyllic setting reminiscent of Thoreau’s Walden Pond.

Founded by Ralph Crispino in 2011 as an “unconventional memorial to a friend,” I-Park evolved into a residency program for artists. It’s almost sacrilegious to write about a place imbued with an uncompromising respect for the mystery of life and art. I-Park defies simple categorization so it will be impossible to capture it in prose.   [Read more…]

Why Poor People Make Terrible Decisions — And the Perfect Sense Behind Them

by

By Linda Tirado / Killer Martinis

There’s no way to structure this coherently. They are random observations that might help explain the mental processes. But often, I think that we look at the academic problems of poverty and have no idea of the why. We know the what and the how, and we can see systemic problems, but it’s rare to have a poor person actually explain it on their own behalf. So this is me doing that, sort of.

Rest is a luxury for the rich. I get up at 6AM, go to school (I have a full courseload, but I only have to go to two in-person classes) then work, then I get the kids, then I pick up my husband, then I have half an hour to change and go to Job 2. I get home from that at around 1230AM, then I have the rest of my classes and work to tend to. I’m in bed by 3.   [Read more…]

For the Love of Food: Mapo Tofu

by

By Melissa Phy / For the Love the Food

As a lover of food, there’s nothing better than meeting someone with the same kind of affinity for all-things edible. “You like cow tongue?! I like cow tongue!”

I’m a lucky person. My most recent job had me meeting new people everyday and I’ve been fortunate enough to stay in touch with some of those awesome people. The reason they’re so awesome? They’re FFAs (Fellow Food Appreciators… and, since they hail from Ramona, probably also Future Farmers of America).

Remember my good friend D who miraculously paired pomegranate seeds with spinach and bacon? Well, his dad (Dan) made something recently I had never heard of: Mapo Tofu.   [Read more…]

Talking Turkey About Climate Without Starting a Food Fight

by

Via the Environmental Defense Fund

Climate change has become one of those divisive, polarizing issues that confound our political system. It’s often hard to even have a civil conversation with folks who disagree, even with close relatives or friends.

But it is clear that the climate crisis has arrived. And the key to solving it is educating those around us.

Chances are your friends and family fall into one of the following six categories:

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry