San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

The Dove and the Cockerel: Chapter 28

by

The desk clerk looked up in amazement as the detectives entered the lobby. This was certainly a diverse assortment of people so early in the morning.

“Welcome to Motel Seventeen, how may I help you this beautiful morning?” managed the clerk.

Scott Raines took the lead. Displaying his badge he said, “San Diego Police. We want to know who belongs to the silver Volvo out there. This is the license plate number.” Scott handed him a slip of paper.

The clerk looked at the paper and then to guest registry. “Here it is. Yes, the owner of that car is registered here.”

“Good,” replied Scott, “To whom and what room number.”

“Oh, I’m afraid I can’t give you that information unless you have a warrant or something,” said the clerk, trying to convince himself that was the way to handle things.

Carl stepped forward and reached over the counter. “Gimme that!” he growled as he grabbed the registry from the clerk. Carl looked down the columns. “Here it is, Leonard Jefferson, Room 314.” He turned back to the clerk and handed him the registry. “Thank you.”   [Read more…]

A Walking Tour of Coronado That Doesn’t Include the Hotel Del?

by

A few weeks ago, I received a telephone call from a member of one of my support groups telling me of a tour called “SoCal Food Tour.” She wondered if it would be something that I would be interested in, as well as other members of our group. Although not knowing much about it, I thought it might be fun and told her to sign me up.   [Read more…]

How Much of Your Income Goes Toward Rent? For 11 Million, Shelter Comes at a High Price

by

By Alyssa Figueroa / Alternet

The “Homes For All!” campaign launched nationwide [last week] to demand affordable, secure homes.

“Recovery” is a hot word these days. According to the mainstream media, the economy is on its way toward recovery. Unemployment? Recovering. And the housing crisis apparently is recovering, too.

But for millions of Americans, nothing is “recovering” — instead things are getting worse. In fact, 11 million renters currently pay more than 50 percent of their incomes on housing. Meanwhile, 15 million “underwater” homeowners pay inflated mortgages and an estimated 3 million families and individuals are homeless. That’s why 11 cities held demonstrations on Wednesday to launch the new nationwide “Homes For All!” campaign, which demands affordable and secure housing.   [Read more…]

The Public’s Hope for Meaningful Gun Reform Crumbles as Congress Still Hides From the NRA

by

By Steven Rosenfeld / Alternet

A number of states are making progress in establishing gun controls, but Congress has its head in the sand.

Politics is never pretty. But the recent optics by Democrats in the gun control debate have been more than discouraging. On Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pulled a new assault-weapons ban from a package of bills he will introduce next month. And in New York, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is already saying the major gun controls he pushed into law this winter have unworkable pieces that must be revised.

“How many assault weapons do you need circulating?” California Senator Dianne Feinstein asked this week, after meeting with Reid and learning that he would not push her bill. “To have these mass killings is such a blight on everything that America stands for.”

The biggest exception to these high-profile turnarounds is Colorado’s Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, who signed a new package of tougher laws including background checks for private gun sales, in addition to those already required at shops and gun shows, and a ban on ammunition magazines holding more than 15 rounds.   [Read more…]

The North Park Main Street – Interview with Executive Director Angela Landsberg

by

Walking into the office of the North Park Main Street, the main business association for the commercial area of the North Park community centered around University Avenue, I immediately recognized Angela Landsberg, its executive director. She was at her desk in the back, just finishing up in time for our interview. Everyone else had gone home at 3076 University Avenue. I was here to interview her for the San Diego Free Press focus during March on the community of North Park.

“I’ve been to meetings all day,” she declared. “I was out of the office for 3 hours and I now have 62 emails – not junk either – these all have to be responded to,” she said, signing off on her computer. I laughed, and we hugged. I’ve known Angie since she was a teenager, oldest daughter of my ex, and we’d lived together for a couple of years way back in the late Eighties.

And now she was the head of this North Park business group. Actually, North Park – a huge area, in fact, has several business groups, as there’s the El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association, and another one south of Angela’s area. Her North Park Main Street area goes from the Georgia Street Bridge or Florida Street to the west, all the way to the 805 on the east, but it’s only 2 to 3 blocks wide, from Upas to Howard on the north.   [Read more…]

Yer Up Aztecs!

by

7th seeded SDSU faces 10 seed Oklahoma tonight in the NCAA Tournament

Let’s get this out in the open: I’m a homer. Not a blind homer, but a homer nonetheless when it comes to the San Diego State Aztecs. MY Aztecs. I attended San Diego State University (sadly earned my degree elsewhere, though), and have been a SDSU basketball season ticket holder since Head Coach Steve Fisher arrived on Montezuma Mesa, and a regular attendee during the most putrid of days since Cox/Viejas arena first opened its doors. Hell, we paid for the damn thing, might as well use it, right?

OK, so that’s done. I have a vested interest in what happens tonight in the Aztecs’ NCAA Tournament matchup with Oklahoma and their head coach, old MWC foe Lon Kruger, formerly the boss at UNLV.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Anti Gay Editorial Shakes Up City Council Race

by

The stench of hate rolled over South San Diego this week as the Voice and Viewpoint, a newspaper that has traditionally represented the opinions of the old school Black community, made their endorsements for the District 4 City Council special election, slated for March 26th. (See more SDFP coverage on this contest here.)

Read it for yourself:

Dwayne Crenshaw, who lists himself as a Community Nonprofit Director/Educator looks and sounds like a great candidate, however, Mr. Crenshaw has a tremendous amount of baggage from the issues surrounding his days with the Coalition of Neighborhood Councils (CNC). His openly confessed gay lifestyle is at odds with a great deal of the District’s African American residents in spite of his family’s history in the community. His positions in leadership and advocacy in the Gay community does not lead itself to the building of the kinds of coalitions between the religious and civic community that the Fourth District has enjoyed in the past and needs to build on during this critical period of restructuring. Mr. Crenshaw is not our choice at any time for this position.

Crenshaw responded forcefully over at SDGLN.com, pointing out the history of anti-gay bigotry directed at his campaigns. In the 2004 campaign, the V&V went so far as to say he ‘had bad judgment because God’s judgment was against gays’.   [Read more…]

District 4. Who Do I Vote For? Vote Against the Bad Guys.

by

Part Three of a Three Part Series on the District 4 City Council Special Election 

So what we know so far is that there are nine candidates vying for the historically “Black’ City Council seat vacated by Tony Young. Change has come to the district; although they still hold political supremacy by virtue of their community institutions, African-Americans are now a minority.

The winning candidates will be Black, this time at least. The winning candidates will also be Democrats. Based on my reading of their campaign literature and interviews the contenders have given the media, the winning candidates’ programs will be mainly the same. Crime=Bad. Economic Development=Good…. Etc., etc.

I say candidates as in plural because it’s a virtual lock that nobody will get more than 50% of the vote. This much we can tell simply by looking at the fundraising, the ground game, the internet presence and (thanks to a few covert peeks I’ve been granted) the polls.

There will be a run-off election six weeks down the road between the top two candidates. Here are my prognostications on this contest….   [Read more…]

Hospitals to US Citizens: Your Money or Your Life

by

Chargemaster: Hospitals’ Killer App for Sucking Your Financial Blood Dry – Part 4

Hospital care in the US has morphed into a multi-headed monster in which every advance in medical technology ups the cost of medical care. What Matt Taibbi said about Goldman Sachs in a Rolling Stone article applies to hospitals as well: “[They are] a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming [their] blood funnel[s] into anything that smells like money.”

More expensive technologies like cat scans are used when less expensive ones would be adequate to do the job. In addition to the economic incentives to use more expensive technology and equipment, there’s the legal incentive that doctors are less likely to be sued if they administer every test under the sun and use the most expensive equipment. Drugs that are administered to cancer patients can cost tens of thousands of dollars a shot.

The Chargemaster is a humungus computer file which details every charge that a hospital can add to a patient’s bill from a lowly aspirin to heart surgery. A recent perusal of a Chargemaster for San Diego’s Scripps Memorial Hospital revealed over 54,000 items.

These charges are so far removed from actual costs to the hospitals (most of which are non-profits) that the US spends twice as much on health care as most other advanced nations – 20% of GDP compared to 10%.   [Read more…]

Proposed City of San Diego Medical Marijuana Dispensary Regulations with Map of Proposed Zones

by

San Diego MedMJ map zonesMayor Filner Proposed 2% tax, $5000 annual licensing fee, and collectives / cooperatives in limited commercial and industrial zones; Full Council Votes March 25th

From Americans for Safe Access / March 15, 2013

Over the years, medical marijuana patients in San Diego have endured a lack of representation in local governments, raids, lawsuits, eradication efforts, federal interference, and outright misinformation about the issue. Fortunately, now we have a new Mayor who sides with compassion instead of ignorance and is willing to move forward with regulations.

After attending the January San Diego Americans for Safe Access Meeting, where he promised to move forward with regulations, Mayor Bob Filner began working on a proposal to bring to council.
  [Read more…]

State Public Utilities Commission to vote today – March 21 – on SDG&E’s $1.5 billion power plant scheme.

by

From the Sierra Club

Numerous elected officials—including San Diego Mayor Bob Filner and County Supervisors Dianne Jacob and Dave Roberts—the Sierra Club, Environmental Health Coalition, Save Mission Trails, and SD350.org are calling for the CPUC to cast the final affirmative vote on its preliminary decision, which determined that the power plants should be rejected because SDG&E could not prove that they are needed to meet our region’s energy needs.

Elected officials and opponents are declaring that our region is already on a local, clean energy path and dirty energy is no longer welcome.

The San Diego region leads the nation with over 15,000 rooftop and parking lot solar installations, generating approximately 150 megawatts in support of the local grid and fueling a rapidly expanding job base.

UPDATE: The PUC voted 5-0 against the power plants.   [Read more…]

San Diego For (Mostly) Free: Second Saturday with Suzie’s Farm and Hamilton’s Tavern

by

A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free (or ‘mostly free’ as in today’s offerings)! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Address:

  • Suzie’s Farm – 2550 Sunset Avenue, San Diego, CA 92154 (Tijuana River Valley / Nestor),

Date and Time: Suzie’s Farm Tours – 2nd Saturday of the month, 10 AM – 11:30 AM.

  • Hamilton’s Tavern – 1521 30th Street, San Diego, CA 92102 (South Park)

Date and Time: Hamilton’s Tavern – 2nd Saturday of the month, 5 PM – 8 PM.

Best For: Organic veggie lovers, farmers-at-heart, beer enthusiasts, weekend warriors

The Second Saturday of each month a couple of San Diego’s finest commercial institutions have unique events that make for a fun day.
  [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry