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Two Brokers Disciplined
Good to know that some San Diegans are held accountable, and fined. I wonder how many brokers engage in this type of fraud and don't get caught. Do you know how the FIRA goes about finding this type of activity?— February 16, 2012 8:25 p.m.
Happy Birthday, La Mesa...What’s Wrong?
La Mesans -A cautionary tale. Look carefully at this investigation and report on the miserably failed PBID in El Cajon: http://www.ci.el-cajon.ca.us/misc/Forms/Blue%20Ri… Several very familiar names in this document (New City America, Scott Barnett)...and the overall conclusion of the Blue Ribbon Commission was that the PBID assessments imposed since 2007 should be suspended, effectively putting $500,000/year back into the bank accounts of the business owners.— February 11, 2012 11:17 p.m.
Texas-Based Non-Profit Joins Fight To Keep Mt. Soledad Cross
Agree, the memorial is important, but the cross is wrong and exclusionary. Not to mention an ugly concoction of cinder blocks. The so-called nonprofit Liberty Institute (ein 751403169) changed their name from Free Market Foundation to LI in 2009. They haven't filed the required IRS forms since then. Guess that's one of the liberties they think they should have. They still retain the Free Market url: www.freemarket.org A Dallas Morning News article gives some background on LI's aggressive filing of "activist" lawsuits: http://tinyurl.com/84fbhps— February 10, 2012 1:12 p.m.
Jacobs Balboa Park Consultant Paid Lobbyist $40,000
Wow. I can think of quite a few people who would have loved to huddle with LoMedico, Laing, and Braun and advocate for another approach. And they'd have done it for free. A city run by lobbyists, and a city where city staffers routinely become lobbyists after working from the inside. *Paradise plundered - 2005-2012* is Sanders' legacy.— February 9, 2012 11:46 a.m.
Lawyer for Duke's Wife Disbarred
Ha! But not really a joke. As Vlad Kogan pointed out in "Paradise Plundered," SD government officials' dishonesty doesn't seem to wreck their local political careers or deter local voters. That said, I just can't see Fletcher, DeMaio, or Dumanis being elected, because each has some type of history of secret, special-constituency-serving, or self-serving deals. We so need a reprieve from incoming officials with that baggage.— February 7, 2012 8:48 a.m.
Buyouts Didn’t Help U-T and Petco
Don, "women entering the workforce"... It was such a great thing in my family and in my neighborhood when my mom went to work in 1960, when my youngest sib started kindergarten. I personally loved it, from 5th grade on, because I got a blessed hour to myself after school, no mom-boss breathing down my throat. It gave us enough spare money that I could join Girl Scouts and my sibs joined Brownies and Cub Scouts (yeah, those things come with fees). I could afford the school field trips and events, we got to take our first family summer vacation (to Disneyland from Texas in the station wagon on Rte 66) when I was 14, and most of all, my mom was happy for a change. Her status among her church ladies and in the suburban hood went up, as a "working gal," and my dad loved it too. For any family that "mom working" ended up net negative, I'd say there were other unresolved negatives that nothing would help mend.— February 5, 2012 11:06 a.m.
Buyouts Didn’t Help U-T and Petco
Quaintly women's lib,"much to the detriment of marriage as an institution, child rearing, neighborhood cohesiveness, and a whole lot of other social features that once were valued." What??? Really, uh, jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh. How old are you?— February 5, 2012 10:54 a.m.
Donna Frye muses on San Diego strong mayor and district elections
Great interview, Joe. We have always admired your reportorial skill. Donna, thanks for your service and your diligence, and now for your observations and insights. I would add one thing: we HAVE learned to read the contracts and understand the terms, but that hasn't protected us. It hasn't been unusual in the past 20 years to have our mayors and our city attorneys, among other things, conveniently "interpret" existing contract clauses to favor those who have the power, or to overlook noncompliance, or to introduce Muni Code changes to do end runs around inconvenient state laws. The most recent manuever involves the Convention Center Financing District, Jan Goldsmith saying, "There is nothing wrong with testing the boundaries of the law if that is what the client wants to do." Really? Who pays for the test (the test being a "validation" lawsuit, which asks a Superior Court judge to give consent to testing the boundary of the law)? Who is the client? Goldsmith basically summarized by saying that if no one sues the City when it tests legal boundaries, then OK! That's the same as the saying, "if a bear...in the woods, and no one sees it, did it really ...?" It is very, very discouraging. The less powerful people's only resort is almost always a lawsuit, an overwhelming burden.— February 3, 2012 3:57 p.m.
Emails Show Snapdragon Deal Left Key Financial Official in the Dark
Wow. Great reporting, Matt. If only people working for the taxpayers applied as much energy and expressed as much joy in doing the job of really making the city work and run well for the citizens, as they do in pulling off creative end runs around regulations that get in the way of their deals and favors for their friends and donors. Cupcakes! Sprinkles! I'd like to give them all a permanent vacation.— February 1, 2012 10:16 p.m.
Fletcher Officeholder Fund Backed by Reynolds Tobacco
Ayn Rand is soooo high school/college freshman...really. No doubt many young Ocuppiers are fans. The Gen Next Rand fans have really jumped on the Fletcher train. Most seem more driven to latch onto him because of personal economics, rather than political ideology - the Gen Next college grad crowd of tweeting Facebook-living marketeers cum redevelopers, new urbanizers, and out-of-work architects looking for a way to get out from under the debts they've incurred in pursuit of the lifestyle they know they deserve.— February 1, 2012 10:12 a.m.