San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

San Diego’s “Anti-Drone Days of Action” Begins Today – April 4th – and Kicks Off Nation-Wide Protests through April 7th

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drone NO image wotextSan Diego Has Become “National Capital” of Military Drone Production

From San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice /April 3, 2013

“National Anti-Drone Days of Action” from April 4 through 7 in San Diego start a month of protests across the United States against the policy and practice of drone warfare and secret surveillance.

Local and national organizations are coordinating a series of events to increase the attention to why drone killings and surveillance are bad practice and policy for the United States.

San Diego’s “Anti-Drone Days” is not one, but a series of events (see listing).

San Diego is where these protests will start based on the region’s role as the “national capital” of military drone production. Killer and surveillance drones pour out of San Diego at increasing rates, matched by the rise in deaths and dismemberment from US strikes across the globe.

Most of this production is tied to two corporate contracting giants — Northrop Grumman and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, which is headquartered in San Diego.   [Read more…]

Pharmaceutical Corporations Gouging US Customers Out of Billion$ Every Year

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But Indian Supreme Court Rules Against Big Pharma

America spends about $200 billion a year on prescription drugs. It’s becoming part of American culture from preschool, where kids are started on Ritalin for ADHD, to old age where typical seniors are consuming an entire palette of pills for everything from arthritis to high blood pressure to cholesterol. Drugs are the fastest growing part of the health care bill.

In 2002 the average price for the fifty drugs most used by seniors was nearly $1500. for a year’s supply. That’s for each drug. Most seniors are taking an average of six.

Drug prices are highest for people who are the poorest. That’s because they have no insurance, and, therefore, no bargaining power. Drugs are marketed extensively by means of TV ads. Those ads are usually followed by ads for law firms trolling for clients who have been harmed by said drugs.   [Read more…]

Sex in San Diego: A Fine Farewell to Dating Websites

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As my subscriptions to five online dating sites comes to a close, I look back at some of the situations I have found myself in and can’t help but laugh hysterically. On the other hand, some of the time I found myself sad and depressed because things did not turn out the way I had hoped they would. Sounds like I might be bordering on bipolarism.

Some of the people that I have met have been wonderful and I consider them friends. Of course, I wasn’t looking for friends when I joined the sites; I was – and still am – looking for a companion, a lover, a best friend. I am thrilled that Joe, a man I frequently went out with has found a potential companion for life. I will always think of him as a friend and have also “friended” his new squeeze. Jim, I know I can always count on you if I need help; you have been there each and every time I have asked for some thing.

I have been amazed at the number of men that are married and are looking for a one-nighter. I know their wives don’t understand them, or their wives don’t like sex anymore, or their wives are having an affair and these men just want to “get back at them.” On the same hand, I am amazed at the number of men who are interested in having a mistress. One man told me that I would have to quit all the sites I am on if I were to be his mistress because he didn’t want me “screwing anyone else.” Huh? It’s OK for him to screw around on his wife but I, a single woman, cannot screw around on him. Yeah!   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Student Achievement Test Scores Are a Failed Metric

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 A discussion on Twitter with Voice of San Diego’s CEO Scott Lewis yesterday prompted me to dig deeper into the whole question of how and when we use student achievement tests today.

This all started with my critical (and cynical) take on a story published by VOSD about superintendent-designee Cindy Marten. The account led with (and makes much of) test data showing other elementary schools had better rates of improvement on test scores than Central Elementary, where she has reigned as principal over the last few years.

I erroneously assumed in closing yesterday’s column (by saying ‘that dog won’t hunt anymore’) that the realization of just how flawed and failed the use of test scores as a primary measure of educational progress was by now widely evident. I was wr…wr…wrr…wrong. Smart people still haven’t gotten the message.   [Read more…]

Desde la Logan: San Diego Free Press to Focus on Barrio Logan this Month

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My esteemed editors here at the San Diego Free Press, with the ok of us hardscrabble community journalists, have decided to focus our attention during the month of April towards the neighborhood that is my home: Barrio Logan. In March, we turned our attention to the hipster haven of North Park. And now we look a little southwest towards the barrio under the bridge.

Barrio Logan is one of the oldest neighborhoods in San Diego. It used to be one whole community called Logan Heights, named after congressman John A. Logan, but the creation of the Interstate 5 freeway that bisected the neighborhood changed that. Then the building of the San Diego-Coronado Bridge changed it again. Thousands were displaced from building the freeway and the bridge. Now Barrio Logan encompasses a relatively small patch of land sandwiched between the San Diego Bay and the I-5 freeway and north of National City and south of San Diego’s East Village.

Less than 5,000 people inhabit my barrio. Thousands more come during the day to work here in the shipyards, the Port of San Diego and the other companies that line the bay side of Barrio Logan. Of those 5,000 barrio denizens about 85% of them are non-white, most of which are of Mexican descent. But things are changing. There are demographic shifts as property values rise and the proximity to Downtown San Diego is realized. Developers are drooling to take over the land to build condos and hipster bars. A showdown over the future character of my community is on the horizon.   [Read more…]

San Diego Street Trees: My Love-Hate Relationship with Palm Trees

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A requiem for the palm at the end of the mind

Street trees in urban areas are important. They provide a human scale to our surroundings and soften the mind numbing linearity of vast expanses of concrete. They clean the air we breathe and provide much appreciated shade. On an often unconscious level they impact our feelings about a street or neighborhood’s economic status and safety, which is to say its desirability as a place to walk or live.

A specific iconic tree can define where we live on a particular street or in the city of San Diego itself. For many residents of Ocean Beach, that iconic image is of a Torrey Pine. I can remember a spectacular late afternoon descent over the downtown cityscape which had been turned into a massive violet bouquet of blossoming jacaranda. And of course, there are the eucalyptus in Balboa Park and lining Park Boulevard.

But the ultimate iconic image in San Diego is of palm trees. A line of sixty foot palm trees silhouetted against the sky is a stirring sight, but it can only be appreciated from a distance and therein is the palm tree problem. Walking under or close to them day in and day out is a sure way to kill your palm tree passion.
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Barrio Logan No Longer a Food Desert: Gets Spiffy New Supermarket

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The new Northgate Gonzalez supermarket opened on December 12, 2012 bringing fresh foods and groceries to an area long neglected by mainline supermarket chains – Barrio Logan. It is located at the corner of Cesar Chavez Parkway and Main Street. Prior to opening, this ethnic Latino neighborhood had only the usual complement of fast food restaurants offered to poor ethnic neighborhoods such as McDonald’s and Church’s and Popeye’s fried chicken chains.

In a food desert there is little in the way of fresh fruits and vegetables, but thanks to the Mercado Redevelopment Project, Barrio Logan has been considerably spruced up and is a food desert no more! In 2010 The San Diego City Council approved plans to transform two city blocks of vacant land in Barrio Logan into the Mercado Project which also featured 92 affordable housing units.   [Read more…]

A Tale of two City Council Meetings

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The contentious, adversarial nature of one meeting gives way to the spirit of cooperation and common ground.

What a difference a couple of days make, eh? Last Tuesday the San Diego City Council—save one member—looked like it was fully intent on joining forces with the local hotel lobby to declare an all out war on the newly elected Mayor. The Mayor was backed into a corner while the Council attempted to force him to sign a contract he was vehemently opposed to signing. But this Council was unbowed, determined to show the mayor just exactly who ran this city—they would show him who was in charge.

It was a rather embarrassing episode, really.

At the conclusion of agenda item S501, it was clear what interests the City Council represented, and it wasn’t those of the voters who elected them. Their strings were being pulled by someone else.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Controlling the Narrative: San Diego ‘News’ Stories That Get Stood on Their Head

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Sometimes it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.

Let’s start with the California Coastal Commission story in today’s UT-San Diego.

San Diego Assemblywomen Toni Atkins is sponsoring a bill that moved out of committee yesterday giving the California Coastal Commission the authority to directly fine law breakers.

Paragraphs three and four of the UT-SD story tell us first about the reaction against the proposed legislation:

Her Assembly Bill 976 has drawn sharp rebukes from business interests, many of whom already regard the Coastal Commission as too arbitrary when it comes to issuing permits for development along California’s 1,100 miles of coast.

The legislation “creates a bounty hunter mentality among Coastal Commission staff (and) would strip alleged violators of due process afforded by the courts,” states a letter signed by various associations representing the housing, oil, aquaculture and agricultural industries.

Gosh, that sounds pretty bad, huh?   [Read more…]

The Two Ends of a Bridge (Seeking Environmental Justice)

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I look at a picture of the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge emptying into the Crown City against a waning yellow and orange sunset and the word “beauty” sums up all that I see.

And as one drives into Coronado there’s more beauty to be seen, little plots of sand, the green colors of a park and a golf course; it’s pleasant to the eyes.
As I reverse the trip in my mind, I find the sunset and gentle setting fading behind me and I remember how just a few days ago I listened to a woman’s voice tremble and watched as she, in mid-muddled-sentence, fought back tears. She was sharing a story out of her community’s struggle for environmental justice on a “Barrio Live” bus tour which was put on by the Environmental Health Coalition (EHC). She so desperately wanted not to cry but her emotions couldn’t be put aside as she described a neighborhood where people have had to keep their doors and windows closed at all times because the bad stuff that is in the air is at levels way, way, way above what is considered “unhealthy.”
How does one tell about a little boy who lived in one of the homes and became seriously ill, remaining so for years, and not feel like weeping?   [Read more…]

Desde la Logan’s Las Monthly Ondas April Edition: Chicano Park Celebrates 43 Years

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On April 22, 1970 a rag tag group of artists, activists, and community members joined forces and took over the land underneath the San Diego-Coronado Bridge in Barrio Logan. At the time, construction was about to begin on the building of a California Highway Patrol substation. For many years, residents of Barrio Logan had been promised a park. Seeing the pending creation of a CHP substation was the straw that broke this barrio’s back.

City College student Mario Solis, the Paul Revere of Chicano Park, discovered bulldozers on the site and immediately began to spread the word. He burst into the Chicano Studies class of professor Gil Robledo and let all present know what was going down under the bridge. At noon, Chicano high school students from San Diego High and other area schools walked out and marched to the construction site.

Protesters formed human chains around the bulldozers. Many demonstrators planted trees, flowers and cactus. The community wanted their park. As the crowd swelled to over 250 people, construction on the site was called off. The community took action and occupied Chicano Park for a total of twelve days. With many protesters coming from outside of San Diego after hearing the news of the occupation.   [Read more…]

Easter Celebration 2013 in Barrio Logan

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by Alejandra Enciso Guzmán

The new ‘Mercado del Barrio’ and Northgate Market (a supermarket chain from LA) were the proud hosts of a great family gathering organized to celebrate Easter in the heart of Barrio Logan. A free afternoon event was held at the recently opened retail center. These projects had been in the works for over two decades.

“We partnered with Chelsea for the affordable housing. Everything came together pretty smoothly; the community was really positive about it. We did not have any kind of disputes so we wanted to make sure we got the community involved with this center and do some events for families and make them more aware that we are here” explained Kimberly Powell, Real Estate Manager for the Honors Association and Shay Realtors.

There is a also a new residential area above the retail center. It has a very urban and ‘downtown’ look. “It is mixed use. To build this it took about two years, but had been an ongoing project for about five years; we worked with the community to make it happen. It is a multimillion dollar project that had A LOT of people involved to make it happen” explains Powell “We are talking about 91 apartments –all affordable housing, based on your income”.   [Read more…]

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