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Melee Over Managed Competition at Miramar Landfill
Good article Dorian! And great photo. Ahhh, Alex Roth, former trash-talker writer at the UT (and, of course, simultaneously a Sanders spokesman), was accused by many a U-T reader of smoking crack, so clueless and propagandistic were his reports. Glad Emerald is keeping up the tradition, though I doubt Emerald has much credibility on environmental issues.— July 13, 2011 2:34 p.m.
Backyard Chicken Movement Scratches Around Ocean Beach
Like!— July 13, 2011 1:41 p.m.
City Slick
Who cares? He has a fan club? And who will be in the free-tix seats? Jerry Sanders? Brian Bilbray? Duncan Hunter? Darrell Issa? Carl DeMaio? Bill Kolender and sidekick Dumanis? Toby Keith is a loser musically. And who could forget his wrapped-in-the-biggest-flag-possible support of GW Bush and the invasion of Iraq?— July 13, 2011 1:39 p.m.
North Park Maintenance Assessment Fails
The City owns 12 properties in NP, which added a weight of $12,906 for the NP "yes" vote (~3%). In contrast, the City cast a "yes" vote on 97 properties in the 2007 Golden Hill MAD ballot, weighting the vote by over 7%. The GH MAD passed by a percent; if the City hadn't voted yes, the MAD would've failed. The City was sued over the formation and lost. What happened in GH, and how it happened, violates the State constitution. A lot of chicanery was involved, including Ben Hueso allocating over $10,000 in CDBG money to be used to cover formation costs. In Golden Hill, by the time of the 2007 ballot, the former leader (Scott Kessler) of the nonprofit group that sought to obtain and control the assessments, in both 2000 and 2007, landed a City Planning job. Kessler, having tried but failed to form a GH MAD in 2000 with help of Marco Li Mandri, in 2006 found himself inside the City, and was able to introduce to the Council docket a resolution to form the GH MAD, bypassing all requirements of community outreach and petition support. With the help and glib propaganda of Ben Hueso and Toni Atkins, the GH MAD was rammed through. Only 17% of the GH property owners voted; only a few knew about it. The U-T suppressed all stories; there was no coverage in the NP News or any of the other propaganda mouthpieces for the BIDs/nonprofit Development Corporations. This North Park "overlay" assessment, on top of an existing assessment, but redirecting the new money to Studebaker's group to control, started out with former BID executive director Liz Studebaker pushing to get control of property owner assessments for her NP BID. From City documents: "In July 2010, North Park Main Street Association (NPMS), a non-profit corporation that administers the North Park Main Street Business Improvement District, approached the City about increasing service levels in the commercial core of North Park in addition to those services already provided by the existing North Park MAD. NPMS proposed an additional assessment [property based] within or near the commercial core to alleviate concerns of additional trash and security concerns as a result of North Park’s vibrant nightlife,..." From the March 2011 minutes of the existing NP MAD Community Advisory Committee, with "Liz Studebaker from North Park Main Street, joined by Main Street’s consultant, Steve Russell" (Russell is a former Atkins staffer and former director of the El Cajon BID): "Main Street is requesting the MAD pay $10,000 toward the cost of reballoting plus a loan of up to $10,000 for other costs associated with the effort. Gary Weber made a motion that the MAD authorize the expenditure of the $10,000 plus the loan of up to $10,000 (forgivable if the re-ballot fails)." NP property owners are out $20K of the current MAD assessment, for this effort in privatized taxation of property owners,... enforced support of businesses.— July 13, 2011 10:33 a.m.
North Park Clean and Safe: Good for Business, Bad for Residents?
Consider this: most local businesses do not own the property in which they do business; they lease. Their landlord may be a local investment company or may be a bank or entity paid by a family trust in Arkansas or Utah or who-knows-where. Most out-of-area property owner entities will never vote on this issue. Along with the mandatory City vote of "Yes" (it's a local Code) for all City-owned properties, and the rigged, anti-democratic structure of the "weighted" vote, the passage of the assessment on property owners is a given. If a local business does own the property it exists in, as does True North (I think), they will vote "yes." It makes perfect sense for that type of property owner+business owner to do what is necessary to obtain a larger pool of funds than they alone prefer to ante up, to secure, promote, and maintain their business. After all, the old days, when a business/property owner took responsibility for sweeping their own sidewalk and promoting their own business, to LOCALS ONLY, is over! Businesses such as True North need outsiders, and that means promotion. For the rest of the small, local-oriented business, the payment of the assessment, by them or their landlord, means cutting into the bottom line or raising of the rent. For the rest of us, it's the shaft.— July 10, 2011 6:17 p.m.
North Park Clean and Safe: Good for Business, Bad for Residents?
I find it amazing that no one has commented on this. That tells me a lot about the hopelessness of the citizens and property owners of San Diego, up against a relentlessly unscrupulous local government. Sanders and Goldstone are more than any of us can fend off with lawsuits and the truth. North Park property owners: get used to funding the local business owners' needs. You'll pick up the tab for their promotion and security. You'll pay for cleaning and sweeping the sidewalks in front of their stores. You'll pay for plants in planters in front of their stores and for workers to water and maintain those, and for banners and ads promoting the influx of outsiders and for curbside benches and ash trays for business customers. You'll pay for administrative costs such as cell phones and insurance and computers and paper and toner and ink. And much, much more. What you'll get in return is tons of propaganda, all of which you will pay for. Enjoy!— July 9, 2011 5:47 p.m.
End of the Trail
Jerry, Thanks for all of the beauty you've given us, ....here, there and everywhere.— July 8, 2011 8:05 a.m.
4 Egregious Examples of Redevelopment Fraud and Abuse in San Diego
Good work. Every time I go to Coronado I think about how the whole rich island is a redevelopment zone. There are more examples of the huge redevelopment scam and how it is played to benefit developers and architects and consultants and realtors, of course, throughout our county and all over the state. Locally, Grantville really got screwed. And you won't believe what happened in Los Angeles. Read: www.GrantvilleActionGroup.com http://www.laweekly.com/2011-06-30/news/los-angel…— July 6, 2011 8:33 a.m.
Sanders Pushes Car-Free Zone in Balboa Park
Sanders blatantly ran for mayor as a George Bush clone, saying, just like Bush, "I'll run San Diego like a business." The VoSD and U-T and the ruling developers and investors loved it and ate it up. Sanders was falsely presented as a CEO, CFO, etc., based on a phony position given him by his banker buddy, Tom C. Stickel, founder of Coronado First Bank and Virtual Capital of California, LLC. Stickel and friends installed Sanders in Virtual Capital as an officer. How perfect is the name "Virtual"? Virtual indeed, the company never really existed or made any money. Sanders is a fraud and has screwed everyone who ever needed an honest, nonvirtual leader.— July 6, 2011 8:21 a.m.
Brian’s Farmers' Market
Thank you, too. You support your husband so sweetly. Thing is, FMs, the GH FM especially, are exactly what you say, social events. And as far as supporting "local" farmers, that's a real stretch. Most of the vendors are gypsy businesses from here and there around the county, moving from one FM to another, but they are def not farmers. GH has mostly vendors selling prepared high-fat, high-calorie expensive way-cool fast food snacks (fried spam sandwiches! oh yaaay! bleh!), expensive flavored salts and olive oils (like you see for sale to tourists in the shops at Old Town),dog products, crocheted wearables, etc. Brian is not being truthful when he tries to present the GH FM as a great place for WIC clients. Precisely, Brian says WIC clients get "fresh fruits and vegetables at a lower cost than going into the grocery store." It aint so. WIC clients ought not be spending their precious resources on $4/lb brussels sprouts or $9/dozen eggs. And if they are, someone in the government needs to look into it.— July 5, 2011 7:52 a.m.