San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Spreckels Organ Concerts – Outdoor Auditory Enjoyment in Balboa Park

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Spreckels Organ Concerts – Outdoor Auditory Enjoyment in Balboa Park

Best For: Music players, music listeners, picnickers, people watchers

Free concert times: Sundays at 2pm, see Website for additional special performances

2215 Pan American Road San Diego, CA 92101, Balboa Park

Every Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park is the site of a free organ concert, performed by Dr. Carol Williams, the San Diego Civic Organist since 2001.   [Read more…]

Labor Council Head Lorena Gonzalez: ‘San Diego Progressives Have a Lot to Be Thankful For’

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Passage of Prop 30, Defeat of Prop 32 and Bilbray, Filner and Roberts Victories All Are Cause to Celebrate

By Lorena Gonzalez

San Diego’s progressive community has a lot to be thankful for this November. We passed Proposition 30, defeated Proposition 32, took down Brian Bilbray and elected Bob Filner our next mayor! And for good measure, we elected Dave Roberts as the first Democrat and first fresh blood of any kind on the county Board of Supervisors in two decades.

In the process, we swept through dozens of school board and city council races across the region and elected leaders like Dr. Shirley Weber to continue the good work in Sacramento – now with a supermajority that has the ability to break the stranglehold of Grover Norquist’s no-tax pledge.
  [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Anti Union Group Cries Foul Over Convention Center Expansion

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The Associated Builders and Contractors of San Diego, a local chapter of a national right wing anti union group, has responded to prompts from the SD-UT editorial page by demanding that the city of San Diego release details of a recently reached agreement between a private contractor and organized labor.

KPBS reports that the ABC group is claiming that the deal gives unions control of the expansion of San Diego’s Convention Center project. They are demanding details of the agreement, hoping to prove that the city government played a role in brokering the agreement, which could then be construed as being in violation of a ballot measure passed earlier this year banning Project Labor Agreements on government projects.   [Read more…]

Sex In San Diego: Inside the New Hipster Megachurch that Tells Modern Women to Submit

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In the nation’s fastest-growing megachurch, Mars Hill Church, faith and feminism don’t mix.

By Alison Sargent / Bitch Magazine via Alternet

When Jess came to the University of Washington as a freshman, she was a feminist economics major whose postcollege goal was to land a position at an organization dedicated to social entrepreneurship. Now in her early 20s and just a few years out of college, she is married, looking forward to a life as a homemaker, and involved full-time at the Seattle-based Mars Hill Church, one of the hippest, fastest-growing, and most conservative evangelical churches in the nation.   [Read more…]

The Elections are Over. Will City Heights Get “Stuff” with their Pizza?

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Last Tuesday I walked the four blocks from my house to Euclid Elementary School in City Heights to vote. The election notices were in five different languages and the citizens lined up in the hallway were conversing in those languages. Young people had small children in tow and pushed baby carriages. Elderly people moved slowly using canes and walkers. The poll workers were all young and ethnically and racially diverse; the voting process went smoothly and quickly. Despite all of my anxieties regarding the electoral outcomes, I felt that “rush of democracy” Megan Burks described so well in her Speak City Heights article about election day in City Heights.   [Read more…]

Down the San Diego County Ballot – Results of Races Endorsed by Labor and Democrats

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A week or so after the November 6th election, we can now decipher a more whole picture of how San Diego County voted – and look at the results of those races where candidates were endorsed by the San Diego Labor Council* and/ or the Democratic Party. And we also can see just how extensive Barack Obama’s coattails were. Just who were the winners and losers down the ballot – the lesser knowns running in those smaller cities and school boards scattered across this huge county?
City Races

Chula Vista – Both candidates endorsed by Labor and the Dems won handily: Pamela Bensoussan with 60% of the vote and Mary Salas with 58%.

Coronado – Casey Tanaka, endorsed by the Labor Council and the Democratic Party for mayor, won in a landslide with 70%.
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Election Update: Peters Widens Gap with Bilbray

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As the vote count at the San Diego County Registrar of Voters office extends into its second week, Scott Peters continued to see his lead in the 52nd Congressional District race grow. The previous update from the Registrar showed Peters with a 1,899 vote lead over Republican incumbent Brian Bilbray.

As of last night’s update, with approximately 210,000 mail-in and provisional ballots from around the county yet to be counted, Peters’ lead grew to 2,660, further dimming Bilbray’s reelection hopes.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Foreclosure Notification Ordinance Passes City Council on Party Line Vote.

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After more than a year of organizing and agitating, including protests at local bank branches, activists have succeeded in winning City Council approval of an ordinance requiring registration of foreclosed homes in San Diego.

A coalition including the Center on Policy Initiatives, ACCE, the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, AFSCME and many others fighting bank foreclosure blight in San Diego neighborhoods was on hand last night as the City Council voted 5-3, splitting along party lines with Republicans opposed, to enact the Property Value Protection ordinance.

Walmart Walkouts Redux, Education ‘Reformers’ Lose Elections, Bigotry on Parade

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Republicans’ Exile into Ignominy Not Healthy in the Long Run

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Anti-tax, anti-reality zealotry smacked down in San Diego, statewide, and nationally, but a more moderate and modern Republican Party is needed for good governance long term.

Last week, Republicans across America—and especially in California—were dealt a pretty crushing defeat. Despite confident predictions to the contrary and despite a pre-election victory dance being done by Republicans and their talking heads on Fox News, Barack Obama thrashed Republican standard bearer Mitt Romney to win a second term as President of the United States.

  [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Hundreds of Thousands Sign Up to Dump the Trump

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An online appeal aimed at getting Macy’s Department stores to fire Donald Trump as an advertising spokesman is expected to pass the half million signature mark today.  Citing the celebrity millionaire’s ‘unpleasant, nasty and despicable behavior’, the signon.org petition statement says:

Macy’s: Donald Trump does not reflect the “magic of Macy’s.” We urge you to sever ties with him. Macy’s says it has a strong obligation to be “socially responsible” and that “actions speak louder than words.” Indeed. It’s time to act.
  [Read more…]

The Fable of Brian Brown or the Great Marriage Non Sequitur

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(Note, 11 Nov 2012: On November 7, the nation’s evolving attitude toward same-sex marriage was demonstrated at the polls in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington, where voters supported the right to marry. And the reaction from Brian Brown, Executive Director of the National Organization for Marriage? We are not defeated. We are not defeated. We are not–. … And, so, my thanks to Brian for providing much of the dialogue and a significant amount of the narrative for the following fable, from the last four year’s of NOM emails, media releases and website content.)   [Read more…]

Scott Peters’ Lead Grows

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The race to determine who will represent San Diego’s 52nd Congressional District has not yet been officially determined, but with 260,000 mail in/absentee ballots from all around San Diego County left to be counted, Democratic challenger Scott Peters’ lead over Republican incumbent Brian Bilbray has grown. With the latest vote tally showing 118,476 votes for […]

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