Protests Planned as Police Explain Gaslamp Death

Protests Planned as Police Explain Gaslamp Death Posted: 22 Oct 2015 10:37 AM PDT By Doug Porter  As of this morning, police in the United States have killed 927 people this year. Number 925 on the Guardian’s list was Lamontez Jones, age 39, who died at Sixth and F Streets in San Diego’s Gaslamp District. He was, according to activists with United Against Police Terror (UAPTSD), the ninth person killed by law enforcement in San Diego this year. Media reports say Jones was shot by two motorcycle officers when he pulled a gun replica on them as they chased him through downtown San Diego Tuesday afternoon. The body cams worn by the policemen were not activated before or during the encounter. Department procedure is to turn them on prior to arriving on the scene. Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman defended the officers failure to activate the cameras at a press conference, saying officer- and public- safety concerns are more important than use of the devices.   [Read more...]

shared from San Diego Free Press Poor Mayor Faulconer Posted: 22 Oct 2015 07:16 AM PDT By Norma Damashek It's enough to make you cringe, the way they toy with our mayor – those brawny Chargers/ Rams/ Raiders sports team owners, our insatiable hotel magnates, those downtown real estate purveyors, our Chamber of Commerce henchmen.  So many entitled guys diddling with our small-time politicians just for the fun of it, passing the time until they clinch their publicly-subsidized, taxpayer-financed killer deals. But our mayor is a goodnatured sport.  He wears his what-me-worry grin even when he's left flapping in the breeze, flailing like wet underwear strung up on the clothesline to dry.  One minute limp and aimless.  The next minute puffed up and billowing like a hot-air facsimile of a political contender hoping to score in big-boy Republican Party politics. If presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is right about our country’s soul being captured by  mega-rich plutocrats bent on controlling the nation's politics and economy, these megalomaniacs must have done their internships in San Diego.   [Read more...]

Wonder Where San Diego’s Redevelopment Money Went? Posted: 22 Oct 2015 07:04 AM PDT ...Not to address homelessness By Jeeni Criscenzo/ Part one of a series Since the statewide dissolution of redevelopment agencies in 2011 Katheryn Rhodes, a local advocate for homeless people, has been speaking up at City Council meetings about the millions of dollars that could be used to address homelessness that the City is letting slip away. You’d think that someone suggesting that there is money available for a problem that is starved for adequate funding, would get an eager audience. Problem is, no one seemed to understand the reams of spreadsheets and data the soft-spoken Rhodes provided to support her claims. At a recent event, I told City Councilmember Gloria that I believe Rhodes claims have merit, but I’m at a loss how to explain it. He sighed, admitting no one seems to be able to figure it out. That’s actually progress because for the past five years eye-rolling has been the usual response to Rhodes’ requests to consider her findings. Reasonably smart people, myself included, assumed that since theycouldn’t make sense of the myriad of acronyms, encumbrances and legal requirements Rhodes offered to support her claims, that she is either a financial savant or a flake. No one likes to admit that something is too complex for them to comprehend.  [Read more...]

South Bay’s Future Greenbelt: An Interview with San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox Posted: 22 Oct 2015 06:45 AM PDT By Barbara Zaragoza / Part Three of Four The big new items that Supervisor Cox shared with me during his interview were three visions for the South Bay's future: A "barrio to barrio" bike path, which will link the Virginia Avenue Pedestrian entrance at the border (due to open in 2016) to the Bayshore Bikeway; The Bayshore Bikeway completion within the next 5 years. This will become the major artery through the South Bay, linking North and South, East and West, to the Pacific Ocean to Otay Ranch. It will also link into the California Coastal Trail that spans up to the Oregon border; The Sweetwater Reservoir will eventually have a completed loop for hikers, bikers and, most importantly, equestrians.   [Read more...]

Geothermal: The Other California Renewable Posted: 22 Oct 2015 06:40 AM PDT By Peg Mitchell / SanDiego350 Burning less coal, oil and gas is not only something we must do, but something we can do. Nature gives us a variety of renewable energy sources, and the technology to tap into them is getting better all the time. Climate change makes the news often for a variety of reasons, from the multiple impacts we have been witnessing locally -- drought, record-breaking temperatures, mudslides, fires -- to the President’s issuance of the “Clean Power Plan” to the Pope’s encyclical. But ultimately climate change discussions must focus on economically viable solutions. We are fortunate to live in a state that has ample natural non-fossil-fuel resources to provide electricity for our citizens. Not only do we have an abundance of sun to power solar generation, but we have a reliable steady-state resource right in our backyard: the Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area in the Imperial Valley. The geothermal fields near the Salton Sea are the hottest, most prolific resource in the U.S.   [Read more...]

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