On June 15, the Chula Vista City Council postponed passing a resolution that would potentially affect anyone driving in the city of Chula Vista. After many residents expressed concern about the consequences of passing the …
June 16, 2010
Blog Entries
- When Governments Cut Spending, It's Citizens, not Bureaurats, Who Suffer
36 comments
- "New" SDNN Looks Like Old SDNN Lite
2 comments
- Angry Guy Talks Border Bombs
2 comments
- Senate Panel Wants Investigation of SEC "Revolving Door"
4 comments
- IS-700 National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction
- Cobbled Shorelines, Colorful Foliage, Magnolia, and Buckwheat
- Love, The Art of Apology, and The Grace of Acceptance.
28 comments
News & Stories
Crash Tax
Bridges to Bargains
The new east-west pedestrian bridge being constructed at the San Ysidro border crossing is rising rapidly from its formerly inchoate state. Since a pile-driver pounded piers into the ground a few months back, it’s been …
June 16, 2010
License Creep
For the past seven months, members of the Pacific Beach Planning Group have studied alcohol-related issues in Pacific Beach. On June 14, they presented their findings during a “special meeting.” Scott Chipman, chairman of the …
June 16, 2010
Lanai, Hawaii – Hiking the Munro Trail to Koloiki Ridge
The Munro Trail is a scenic, moderately challenging and sometimes wet hike through the Koele uplands on the island of Lana'i. On a recent visit, we hiked part of the Munro Trail to Koloiki Ridge, …
June 16, 2010
Down the drain
La Jolla investor, philanthropist, and charter school advocate R.B. “Buzz” Woolley came up with a disappointing loss last week when his chosen candidate for state superintendent of public instruction, Democratic state senator Gloria Romero, placed …
June 16, 2010
Foreign Sports Edition
I’m busy, you’re busy, nobody wants to rip a month out of a busy life watching foreign-made sports on American TV. I’m talking about World Cup soccer, known to American sports consumers as men-in-short-shorts-fetishizing-a-pockmarked-ball-while-prancing-about-in-what-could-have-been-a-perfectly-serviceable-NFL-stadium. Still, …
June 16, 2010
Cozy Mystery
I’ve passed Crown Bistro scores of times, always wondering about it: a little white building, well gardened and with an inviting front patio in front of a small white boutique hotel, it looks charming — …
June 16, 2010
Back to the '30s
Noel Coward’s elegant, daffy Private Lives begins where most comedies end. Two pairs of honeymooners take in the scenery at Deauville, France’s classiest seaside resort. While an orchestra plays below, they prepare for a fashionably …
June 16, 2010
The Liverish Liverpudlian
Faced with The A-Team and The Karate Kid, or going back to pick up the slighted Get Him to the Greek and Marmaduke, I did what any free-willed film fan would do: went to the …
June 16, 2010
Here's the Deal: El Camino
Wednesdays are jazz-jam night at Little Italy’s El Camino (formerly Airport Lounge), presented by legendary local trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos. Affable foot-tappers get loose over margaritas and sangria ($5) at tables inscribed with tarot archetypes. Girls, …
June 16, 2010
Original Wailers
In 1963, Jamaicans Neville O’Riley Livingston, Peter McIntosh, and Nesta Robert Marley — jacked on weed and American pop by the likes of Ray Charles and Fats Domino — formed a group of their own. …
June 16, 2010
A Box, and in It Your Picture
The four-piece rockabilly band Causing Problems was founded in 2000 by singer/guitarists Andy Killion and Branden Gerbracht. “We both picked up guitar after our old ska band broke up,” says Killion, who also plays clarinet …
June 16, 2010
Barbecue Heaven
Journeyman musician Michael Rennie has found a home in San Diego, in Normal Heights, where the Rio Peligroso singer-guitarist frequents his favorite neighborhood pub Rosie O’Grady’s and sates his beer munchies at Blind Lady Ale …
June 16, 2010
Hell's Dirty Bathroom
“I’m a disabled Navy vet with schizophrenia,” says Jonny B. Russell, who began playing guitar at age 14. “I’m currently taking the medication Abilify, and I’m doing well; I have been stabilized.” Beginning in 1987, …
June 16, 2010
A Guide to Small Claims Court
Thirty-Five Years AgoEven the most noble of persons will some time find himself in a petty fight, a small disagreement. And even the most noble of persons cannot always treat petty things as petty things; …
June 16, 2010
Odyssey of the Giant Eye
Jack Belyea’s truck company became world famous for hauling gargantuan objects. In 1930, he and his brothers transported a 110-foot, 115-ton kiln 26 miles, then lowered it down a 20-percent grade with winches. They moved …
June 16, 2010
Lipodiesel, Pipe Down!, Saltwater Healing
Matthew: If we can run our cars on recycled oil from french fries and stuff like that, why can’t we use recycled fat sucked out of people’s guts? Or maybe we already do. How about …
June 16, 2010
Chops and sushi
Democratic assemblywoman Lori Saldaña, who quit her challenge to county supervisor Ron Roberts early in the race, has transferred cash she raised for that campaign into a new committee aimed at a 39th District state …
June 16, 2010
European Soul
Evona Wascinski is a bassist with deep roots in the local trad-jazz scene. She has at various times backed or worked with first-call locals such as Gilbert Castellanos, Mikan Zlatkovitch, and Sue Palmer at area …
June 16, 2010
Wasteland Weekend
“Mad Max fan events have been occurring in Australia and Japan since the movies were first released, beginning in the late ’70s,” says Jim Howard of Wasteland Weekend, the apocalypse-themed festival he’s helping to organize. …
June 16, 2010
The Greatest Little Show on Earth
Thursday 17Ready for some heavy mellow? L.A. recording artist Jim Putnam resets with a new crew of Radar Bros. for this year’s Merge Records crit hit The Illustrated Garden. Crawled up to Spaceland in March …
June 16, 2010
In-Line Skating Venues
Joining joggers, walkers, and cyclists on local recreational pathways are a certain number of recreational skaters, especially those using fast, sleek, in-line skates. Smooth, paved footpaths, bike paths and sidewalks, plus a few traffic-free roads …
June 16, 2010
Way Late
“I spent almost 20 years as a dancer,” says Alyssa Jacey, whose high point as a hoofer was her 2003 appearance at Super Bowl XXXVII. “But then, in 2004, I started doing karaoke, mainly as …
June 16, 2010
Watson Twins
Chandra and Leigh Watson are best known for singing backup on Jenny Lewis’s 2006 solo album Rabbit Fur Coat. Lewis — the singer of Rilo Kiley and an indie-rock pinup — got all the attention, …
June 16, 2010
Dulce et Decorum Est
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. …
June 16, 2010
Suburban Dream
Towered cities please us then,/ And the busy hum of men. — John Milton The flags marked the transition from one kingdom to the next. I knew the meaning of all the colors and symbols …
June 16, 2010
Elusive Salvation
I was once told by the editor who enlisted me into these pages to “write everything as if it is the last chance you’ll have to write anything at all.” This isn’t always possible, of …
June 16, 2010
San Diego Gay and Lesbian News, against Gay and Lesbian Times
A bitter media war is raging in San Diego’s gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender community. The battle pits San Diego Gay and Lesbian News, an online operation that is less than a year old, against Gay and Lesbian Times, …
June 16, 2010
Colorado asks General Atomics to clean up uranium mess
General Atomics, the San Diego manufacturer of the Predator attack drone, has recently come under fire in Colorado, where its wholly owned company the Cotter Corporation operates a uranium mill. The facility produces yellowcake, a …
June 16, 2010
Army sergeant comes back to San Diego from Afghanistan
The emergency room of the Naval Medical Center San Diego was buzzing. Veterans of all ages waited their turn to be seen. In the corner, San Diego native Sergeant Tom O’Brian grimaced in pain. The …
June 16, 2010
Before Today
Ariel Pink's audience has been growing over the last several albums of shambolic, four-track pop zaniness, to the point that Before Today's release was met with feverish fanfare (and a feature in the L.A. Times). …
June 16, 2010
Champ
The sophomore effort from Canadian quartet Tokyo Police Club feels like a visit home after leaving for college. The album navigates the discovery that everything you once knew, though still there, will never be the …
June 16, 2010
Red Dissolving Rays of Light
The third album from San Diego garage-rockers the Loons is their first on L.A.-based cult label Bomp! Opening with a ’60s-style R&B stomper, “Between Grey Slates,” they take us on a trip to the terraced …
June 16, 2010
They’ve Come for the Machines
June 12 was the deadline for students to move out of UCSD’s on-campus dorms. The next day — with most of the student housing empty — there were at least two reported incidents of people …
June 16, 2010
Corporate Cut
At 10:00 a.m. on June 15, at the entrance into Ocean Beach, a ten-man crew with a heavy-duty generator and a hovercraft-looking device began to cordon off a tall Mexican fan palm tree with yellow …
June 16, 2010
Two Fires...Hmmm...
“It was an accident,” said Rebecca, a representative of Ocean View Villas, following a dumpster fire outside the hotel’s offices on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. “We’re doing some internal investigating. It’s definitely some internal housekeeping issue. …
June 16, 2010