San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for La Mesa

La Mesa City Council Adopts Strong Climate Action Plan

by

SD350 Volunteers learn what grassroots organizing can accomplish

By Angela Deegan / SanDiego350

On March 13, the City Council of La Mesa unanimously adopted a strong Climate Action Plan (CAP), with a goal of 100 percent clean energy. This victory came after three years of persistent advocacy and organizing efforts by SanDiego350 La Mesa volunteers and allied organizations.

The SanDiego350 La Mesa CAP campaign began with our attendance at a meeting of the Environmental Sustainability Commission in early 2015. This was where the first draft of the Plan was released. Along with Climate Action Campaign, we identified numerous deficiencies in the Plan — it lacked a goal of 100 percent clean energy and didn’t identify Community Choice Energy (CCE) as a strategy. In addition, the time frame of 2020 was too short, too many measures were identified as voluntary, and, for the most part, the plan was not enforceable.   [Read more…]

San Diego Gardening in July: It’s about the Water!

by

By Susan Taylor

Friends—India and Pakistan had devastating heat waves in June. This makes my whine about too much heat in San Diego gardens a bit of a whine. Nonetheless, the heat in my La Mesa garden just about did my veggies and me in. I thought I was watering deeply only to discover that I was not.

San Diego County has many water districts, each of which has warned consumers about percentage of water reduction for their residential customers. Be sure you know how much water reduction is required (read mandatory) in your neighborhood.

We all waste more water inside and outside our homes than we realize and it really must stop. Here’s how to be water wise in the garden in July and probably August.
  [Read more…]

The Community vs Cops Conundrum

by

Today’s column includes coverage of proposed legislation in the wake of increasing concerns about police practices, another look at an SDPD officer-involved shooting, examples of the race/class divisions in prosecutions, some baseball news, and dispatches from the climate change denier front….

Multiple controversies about the use of deadly force by law enforcement agencies are prompting calls for reform.

Since the first of the year, 396 people have been killed by police in the United States. The officer involved fatalities include two would-be terrorists who attacked a right wing “draw a picture of Mohammad” contest in Texas over the weekend.

By way of contrast, there have been 38 line-of-duty deaths of law enforcement officers in 2015.   [Read more…]

When is a Smart Growth Project Really a Trojan Horse? – La Mesa’s Park Station as a Case Study.

by

By Bill Adams / UrbDeZine

In the wake of California’s now defunct redevelopment program and the 2008 real estate collapse, examples abound of demolished or shuttered buildings, where property owners received entitlements to build projects for which they had not secured funding.  

Sometimes, project funding was unlikely in the first place.  In cases in which a project requires significant variances or zoning amendments, wariness is warranted that the project is a “trojan horse” – far different than what will actually result.  

This article is a case study of an active proposal, which has many of the symptoms of a trojan horse project.   [Read more…]

The “Most Walkable” Cities in San Diego County – La Mesa Scores Highest

by

By Bill Adams/UrbDeZine San Diego

Walk San Diego rated La Mesa as 2013′s most walkable city in San Diego County. The number one reason for the City’s walkability happened 100 years ago.

It’s the traditional town pattern of it’s historic center. It’s a pattern that is relatively rare in Southern California but seen everywhere in the East and Midwest U.S.:

University Avenue: The Best Opportunity to Show What Cycling in San Diego Can Be

by

North Park – Mid-City Bicycle Meeting – Tues., June 25 6pm

SANDAG seeks community input for selection of route and infrastructure to make East-West bicycle connections

By John P. Anderson

Tuesday evening SANDAG (San Diego Associations of Governments) will host the 3rd Community Advisory Group Meeting to discuss the North Park – Mid-City (NPMC) Bicycle Corridors Project.  Members of the public are invited to attend and voice their opinion on which routes would be best and which type of infrastructure is preferred (sharrows, bicycle lanes, cycle tracks, etc.).  The meeting will be held from 6:00 PM to 8:30pm at 5450 Lea Street, San Diego, CA 92105 (Teen Challenge Center).   [Read more…]

Walking the Picket Line at Grossmont Hospital

by

By Nadin Abbott

Imagine, if you will, making $9.01/hour, being head of household, and having to pay $118.88 per pay period for your health insurance. Assuming you work forty hours, before payroll deduction, that is $$720.80 every fifteen days. This is the situation right now at Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, where employees working for Sodexo Corporation, the subcontractor for dietary, housekeeping, clerical and Engineering services are negotiating a new three year contract.

What is the company offering? According to Housekeeping Shop Steward Alex Burstein “Sodexo is being difficult” and are holding at keeping salary increases at 2.25% over a three year period. This is not even a cost of living increase. When pay averages at $9.09/ Hour these workers have a difficult time making rent, let alone paying bills, or buying food.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Thanksgiving Dinner at Walmart? Why not make it Black November?

by

The one thousand Black Friday protests at Wal-Mart locations around the country have had an unintended benefit; the onset of a national conversation about the insanity of putting shopping before family.

As I flipped around the news channels on TV last night it became obvious that the efforts of OUR Walmart and likeminded groups have struck a chord in the American psyche.

Inside:
UT-D Watchdog Nips at the Heels of the Port Commission, Retiring County Supe Has a Few Choice Words for the Republican Party, Twinkies on Fire

  [Read more…]

A Restaurant Review – D.Z. Akins

by

I was born and raised in the “borscht belt” of Los Angeles. I graduated from Fairfax High School, just steps away from one of the more famous deli’s in the United States – Cantor’s -.  It is impossible to tell you how many times I ate at Cantor’s; and even now I frequently have them send me some of their raisin pumpernickel bread.

When we moved to San Diego in 1966, the only Jewish Deli around was “Ross-Sands”, located in the old Sav-On shopping center off of Rosecrans in Pt. Loma. When they closed, it left an emptiness of traditional deli’s for quite some time, even though one of the sons – Myron Ross – went to work at the deli at Fed Mart for a few years. (Interesting to note that Myron is now a musician, having played for George Gobel, Buddy Greco, Andrew Sisters, Kay Starr, and many Las Vegas type shows, Ben Blue Review, Frank Sinatra Jr., Frankie Laine, Earl Grant, Tommy Noonan, Jane Russell, Connie Francis, etc. He has lost most of his vision but still continues to play and draw crowds.)   [Read more…]

La Mesa Mayor Declares City “Fair Trade Town” – Bypassing Council

by

From East County Magazine / Oct. 31, 2012

Last year, La Mesa Council voted 3 to 2 against declaring La Mesa a “Fair Trade Town.” But on October 12, Mayor Art Madrid signed a commendation letter posted on the Fair Trade La Mesa website and urged the national Fair Trade Towns USA group to grant the designation to La Mesa.

At the Fair Trade Towns and Universities Conference in Chicago in late October, La Mesa Fair Trade steering committee co-chairs Nancy Ryan and Anne Pacheco “were given the long awaited certificate declaring La Mesa a Fair Trade town,” the national group’s website states, adding, “Plans are in process for a formal presentation and celebration involving La Mesa residents and city officials.”

But now some opponents of the Fair Trade Town designation are questioning the appropriateness of the Mayor’s actions—and whether the rules were followed, or broken.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Polticos Seek to Spin California Gasoline Price Spike

by

While the increases in the price of gasoline in California are setting records, politicians of every stripe are looking for ways to gain an advantage with voters. The fact is that there is no magical solution to the crisis, which has consumers paying well over $5 a gallon in parts of the Golden State. A little fairy dust from the GOP’s free market wand isn’t going to solve the problem. Sen. Diane Feinstein’s letter to the Federal Trade Commission won’t help either.

Of course, if you’d like the smog to return and don’t mind the asthma and respiratory diseases associated with air pollution to increase, we could dump some of those environmental regulations the righties are always complaining about. Or we could find ways to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels. And don’t hold your breath (pun intended) waiting for anyone to get busted for profiteering. Step inside to read all about it.   [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry