San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for North Park

Alvarez Draws Democratic Stars; Faulconer Attracts Reactionaries (Who Tear Down a Few Campaign Signs)

by

By Doug Porter

The contrast couldn’t be starker.

A procession of nationally recognized elected Democrats has rolled through San Diego to endorse the candidacy of David Alvarez for Mayor of San Diego.

More than three dozen elected officials from around the state have endorsed his candidacy.  The candidate’s got some star power behind him, connections that could prove valuable in the future.

Exactly zero Republicans outside the Chamber of Commerce/downtown developer set  have stepped up to the plate for his opponent Kevin Faulconer. Only four elected officials from anywhere are listed on his endorsements page. After promising the endorsement of “dozens” of Democrats from around the city for a press conference yesterday, only four were willing to be named on the press release.   [Read more…]

UT-San Diego Shafts its Employees, Blames Obamacare

by

By Doug Porter

Employees of the UT-San Diego are the latest casualties in the sordid saga of the right wing’s assault on the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

UT Publisher Doug Manchester has made opposition and denigration of the President’s health insurance reform agenda a top priority since the day he bought the paper. His editorial pages have been (figuratively) screaming about the impending end of Western Civilization for months on end.  The ACA’s primary pillar—the individual mandate—was actually a conservative counter-proposal to President Clinton’s attempt to implement universal health care nearly two decades ago.   [Read more…]

Support Local Artists, Artisans and Small Businesses, Buy Independent for the Holidays

by

By Brent E. Beltrán

The holidays are upon us and the time for gift giving is here. Instead of shopping at the malls and giving your hard earned cash to a corporation why not purchase items from local artists and artisans?

Here is a short list of holiday art bazaars and small businesses that deserve to be patronized this holiday season.   [Read more…]

North Park Mayoral Debate Tosses the Rulebook: Intelligent Questions Evoke More Informative Answers

by

By Doug Porter

I’ve listened to and watched a bunch of mayoral debates this year. Usually I come away from those things feeling like I’d wasted my time.

No other face-off featuring the major players even came close to what occurred last night at the North Park Theater.

I came away with a much better understanding of who the candidates are and what they stand for. Which is what’s supposed to happen.

A broad range of issues were covered. There were no opening statements, no mandated time for each candidate to rebut. Questions were submitted from the general public via electronic media and thoughtfully shaped by Voice of San Diego’s Scott Lewis.  There were no mouth-breather questions about traffic tickets, favorite colors or unicorns.  No candidate promised free ponies for everybody if they were elected.   [Read more…]

Even Congressman Darrell Issa is Threatened by Falling GOP Poll Numbers

by

By Doug Porter

Bad things come in threes, so the saying goes, and the Republican Party just got a triple whammy of disastrous poll results.  How bad is it?

It’s so bad even a “safe” Republican like Congressman Darrell Issa’s numbers have tanked. You know it’s bad when the local Democratic Party sends out fundraising emails talking about unseating Brian Bilbray in the last election and saying Issa’s next.

A Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey of 650 voters in the 49th Congressional district taken October 15 & 16 shows Rep. Issa with a 49-43 disapproval margin (9% undecided).  For the first time ever, voters preferred a generic Democratic opponent in a theoretical match up, if only by 1%, well within the margin of error. And his constituents opposed the GOP’s “shut ‘er down” strategy by 62-32%.   [Read more…]

An Introduction to North Park’s Latest Celebrity– Meet Sunny Rey

by

Author – “Quotes and Poems of a Nobody”

By Judi Curry

Not too long ago, I had a chance meeting with Sunny. And it didn’t start out all that well.

Sunny is the sister of Ian Rey, the young man that worked at Henry’s for over 14 years and was let go because of a missing jacket. I had been talking to another store about the possibility of Ian working there, and Sunny misunderstood my intentions. She thought I wanted to do a story – like the other media – when, in fact, I wanted to introduce Ian to the owners of Baron’s Market, where he now works.

After talking to Sunny and straightening out the reason I wanted to talk to Ian, I found her to be an absolutely delightful person; a poetess in her own right; on the upward path of becoming an entity of her own, writing, reading her poetry, etc. to a wide audience in San Diego. To say that she has a following in San Diego and beyond is mild compared to who she is and what she is becoming.   [Read more…]

Progressive Politics in the Post-Filner Era; Getting Beyond “BlenderGate”

by

By Doug Porter

Rumors of the Filner’s imminent resignation swirled through the city yesterday like scraps of newsprint caught up in the wind eddies regularly whipping through San Diego’s downtown canyons.

Could IT be today? Would IT be this week? Was the City Attorney working out a deal?

Several dozen people gathered at mid-day to protest the possible return of Mayor Bob Filner to City Hall, chanting “Bob must go!” for the assembled press corps.  The minions of the mainstream media nodded their heads in approval.

The organizers of the recall movement weren’t taking the resignation rumors seriously.  Organizer and Republican activist Michael Pallamary told UT-San Diego, “There’s no reason to believe he will resign. It’s not in his DNA. You got people now turning their tune from resign to recall. There’s only recall. There’s no way he’s going to resign.”   [Read more…]

CicloSDias San Diego – From Golden Hill to City Heights and Back

by

Yesterday, Sunday, August 11th was CicloSDias in San Diego. Three friends and I – all on bikes – joined the celebrated 5.2 miles of open roads and streets just for bicycles and pedestrians, and we rode from Golden Hill, through North Park, over to City Heights – and back.

Weather was perfect, the streets were cleared of cars – except for the four that we counted along the way – and there was an enthusiastic turn-out for the event. Hundreds of San Diegans took part in the 6 hour free bike tour thr0ugh San Diego’s mid-city. Yes, hundreds – not the thousands that we wanted to see – came out. We wanted to see hordes on bikes – but were happy with what we saw and experienced.

Ever so often, there would be a few tents and the canopies of booths open to participants, some giving away gifts, others selling their bicycling-related products and services.
  [Read more…]

San Diego Zoo Targeted by NRA Activists

by

By Doug Porter

The National Rifle Association is continually expanding its activities on many different fronts, and the newest of these campaigns, HuntForTruth.Org, has listed the San Diego Zoo as one of the non-governmental organizations it plans to “expose.”

Joining the Zoo as targets of this group are the Peregrine Fund, the Ventana Wildlife Society, the California Condor Recovery Team, the Raptor Education Group, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.  All have urged the Environmental Protection Agency to ban hunters from using lead ammunition because of its effects on eagles, condors, swans and other birds.   [Read more…]

North Park Says Get Back, Jack!

by

By Doug Porter

Residents in North Park have called for a rally this afternoon at 5pm to protest the continuing denigration of their neighborhood by Gag-in-the-Bag, aka Jack in the Box, at 30th & Upas Streets.

After the company violated the terms of a construction permit for renovation of its fast food restaurant at the location, the Mayor’s office intervened and called upon the City Attorney to issue a stop work order.   [Read more…]

Blackfish: The Documentary Asking Questions SeaWorld Doesn’t Want You to Think About

by

By Doug Porter

By the time the documentary film Blackfish opens on Friday (Hillcrest/ Landmark Theatres) the SeaWorld public relations campaign should be reaching a crescendo. The way I look at it, any film that provokes this kind of backlash prior to its release is worth checking out.

The questions raised in the movie, which builds a narrative about the captivity of orcas (also known as killer whales) around the death in 2010 of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau, cut deeply into the wholesome public image that the mega chain of water /oceanariums /marine mammal parks seeks to promote.

While spokespeople with SeaWorld refused to cooperate in any way with Gabriela Cowperthwaite during filming, the resulting film is, by all accounts (including SeaWorld’s) a disturbing look at the living conditions of the nearly half of the world’s orcas in captivity owned by the company.   [Read more…]

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…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry