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Paradise Plundered tells San Diego story
Can't wait to read it. Vlad Kogan also authored an important study on one of San Diego's favorite mechanisms to give public money to private groups via "special assessments": http://polisci2.ucsd.edu/vkogan/research/special.…— September 7, 2011 12:29 p.m.
Coronado: Where the Living Is Easy
Pretty amazing, given that the entire island is a legally blighted Redevelopment Zone.— September 6, 2011 7:54 p.m.
Food Trucks Moving Closer to Oceanside
Ignore - this is only a CAPTCHA test.— September 6, 2011 7:18 p.m.
Wealthy San Diegans Back Charter School Politics
Finally, charter school failure to comply is being punished. There are many ways that charter schools fail to comply. The Aug 15 & 22 2011 issue of The New Yorker has an interesting article on Michelle Bachmann, including her participation in founding a charter school in Stillwater, MN. Bachmann and her followers feel that public schools exist only to indoctrinate children with anti-biblical dogma. Bachmann is a follower and student of Steven Wilkins (the Civil War was a "theological war" and slavery was a benevolent solution to caring for pagan Africans who couldn't care for themselves until they found god), David A. Noebel (a John Bircher homophobe who warns against America's greatest evil, the "secular humanist worldview"), and John Eidsmoe, whom Bachmann encountered when she attended law school at Oral Roberts University. Eidsmoe authored "Christianity and the Constitution," and Bachmann is proud of Eidsmoe's influence, openly advocating that American life should be "permeated with a distinctively Christian flavoring." To set up the New Heights School charter, a publicly funded school, Bachmann and fellow boardmembers had to sign an agreement with the Stillwater School District, per Minnesota regulations for publicly funded schools, mandating that all charter school activities would be nonsectarian. From the beginning, board minutes record evangelical, god-oriented plans for the curriculum and blatant violations of the nonsectarian agreement. Parents complained of classroom creationism teachings. Within 6 months, Bachmann and her friend, the school's CEO and evangelical activist, Dennis Meyer, resigned, under threat of charter revocation, and the school eliminated all religious elements from the curriculum.— August 19, 2011 11:17 a.m.
Starbucks, the new street corner
A Venti iced coffee from Starbucks costs a bit more than $0.12 per ounce. Starbucks iced coffee is 1200% more expensive than making it yourself at home. I have plenty of money and a good job, but I have never routinely thrown away money to that extent. You can easily sip away over a $1000/year on a coffee/day. Why not put that money into a savings account and watch it grow?— August 7, 2011 12:29 p.m.
"Dallas' Most Evil Genius" Funds La Jolla Super PAC
Looking at the Schuman Group's client list (which includes Susan Golding and Jan Goldsmith), we can hope that Schuman's past clients' runs for President are indicators of Perry's future. Senator Phil Gramm, Gramm for President Jack Kemp for President http://schumangroup.com/clients.html http://schumangroup.com/about_us.html— August 3, 2011 8:03 a.m.
Downtown Residents Want Their Refund
To the twisted mix of Kessler, SCI, Economic Development, and assessments, and lawsuits involving all of them, also add Marco Li Mandri and his use of SCI for raking in dough for his Little Italy gang. Here's one document to show that arrangement: http://www.littleitalysd.com/boardminutes/200903.…— July 25, 2011 3:31 p.m.
Downtown Residents Want Their Refund
Forgot to mention: It was SCI, operating under their alternate name, Shilts Consultants, run by Bliss and partner van Steyn, that did the flawed Engineer's Report for the Santa Clara Open Space Authority's assessment on Silicon Valley taxpayers, to pay for acquiring land. That assessment was challenged and was overturned by the California State Supreme Court in a landmark ruling that declared the assessments invalid. The ruling put to rest the notion that local authorities could impose assessments that did not confer "special benefit" to each and every property directly and obviously proportional to the assessment amount. Saying in a Engineer's Report that the assessment is proportional doesn't make it so, though that's what San Diego has decided is legally adequate to add to their phony reports. The City lost the Golden Hill MAD lawsuit exactly over the special-benefit/proportionality issue. That hasn't stopped them from appealing, and meanwhile they keep taking the assessments, which they will be forced to settle eventually. They've taken ~$500,000/year from property owners in one of the poorest areas in San Diego, Golden Hill, since 2007. Even worse, the City embarked on the same illegal course recently in North Park, attempting an "overlay" MAD. The City is lucky the North Parkers voted it down, because they would have had yet another lawsuit to lose. One other twist: The Golden Hill MAD involved SCI, which the City is now suing, and SCI was brought into the mix by Ojeda's former boss at Economic Development, Scott Kessler, who is now suing the City for firing him.— July 25, 2011 3:22 p.m.
Downtown Residents Want Their Refund
More SCI sloppy work, for lots of money. http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_17982100?IADID=Sear… 05/03/2011 05:18:35 PM PDT "The East Contra Costa Fire District's effort to remain solvent with the help of a property assessment stalled this week when directors scuttled a report needed to bring the matter before voters. Director Steve Barr noted that the computations in the consultants' report were difficult to understand, and colleague Erick Stonebarger along with an audience member questioned whether the firm had accurately calculated the distance between certain homes and the nearest fire station. Director Jim Frazier was unsettled when the fire district's attorney noted that the benefit assessment could encounter legal challenges. ...SCI Consulting Group presented the document,...The district signed a $100,000 contract with SCI Consulting..."— July 25, 2011 2:45 p.m.
Backyard Chickens
Nope, grew up around chickens. Watched their necks get wrung or chopped, heard their clucks, and smelled their poop. Presently, there are chickens in South Park, somewhere, blocks from me. Every morning they cluck in the distance, for hours. Not too bad, but they are not next door, either! They do peck each other to death. Seen it. Read it (ABC of Poultry Raising). It happens. That said, I love me some chickens! To misquote Dave van Ronk: "Chickens are nice with corn, butter, and rice" And might I add, the chicken movement definitely collides with the current Urban Infill/Companion Unit Code Change movement by the City. No room in the old 100-by-50-foot single-family-zoned lot for both a second (rental) unit AND some imprisoned chickens. Hmmm, I think I'll vote for chickens: they don't have cars to park where there is no parking and don't add to the transient-resident-aspect of life in the hood. AND, you can wring their necks if you get really exasperated!— July 13, 2011 6:36 p.m.