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Fees Are More Popular than Taxes
This seems to have more than a little to do with KESSLER v. CITY OF SAN DIEGO. Hopefully the hearing on December 10 will clarify the setting of a trial date.— December 6, 2010 9:08 p.m.
Fees Are More Popular than Taxes
It could have been Prop. 26. In any case, here's a link to Article XIIC of the hopefully amended California Constitution... http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Article_XII… There may be other applicable language, but I feel lazy enough not to look further...— December 6, 2010 8:59 p.m.
Channel 10 Airs Mayor's Deposition in Crime Case Tonight
CASE STATUS NOTE: A look at the case register of actions indicates that on December 10, a hearing will be held as to Defendant City of San Diego's demurrer that was filed back on November 5. Unless I am just plain wrong, the demurrer is an admission by City of San Diego that everything alleged by Kessler is true, except that none of it (in the eyes of the City Attorney) amounts to a cause for legal action. This to me is quite baffling, as the Court has already indicated that Plaintiff has shown enough evidence to hold a trial on the allegations contained in the complaint, of which previous pre-trial decisions of the Court have held to be a whistle-blower suit with all of that legal baggage for our esteemed City Attorney to deal with: http://media.sdreader.com/pdf/kessler-suit.pdf There should be a tentative decision posted on the demurrer by close of business, December 9.— December 6, 2010 4:29 p.m.
Meeting to Discuss Food Stamp Program in San Diego County
Count me as one who will never attempt to apply for any county assistance ever again. In fact, the County of San Diego's Health and Human Services Agency is the reason why I will never go back to any hospital except VA La Jolla for any purpose, including another heart attack, of which cardiologists at Sharp Chula Vista informed me to expect many more to come... if I don't die first.— December 6, 2010 4:03 p.m.
Trash Pickup in Peril in Rancho Bernardo
Interesting google search of sdreader.com site for "LiMandri" produces: http://media.sdreader.com/pdf/kessler-suit.pdf http://media.sdreader.com/pdf/kessler-sd-follow-u… LiMandri also figures heavily in articles and blog posts regarding the mayor's recent deposition in the KESSLER v. CITY OF SAN DIEGO matter... in fact, it's time for a blog post to catch everybody up on case status...— December 6, 2010 3:55 p.m.
SDG&E Gets CPUC Rejection of Minimal Third-Party Smart Meter Audit Standards
Our best check and balance to is to have informed citizens intervene once applications are filed by utilities with CPUC. Without intervening parties in opposition, CPUC tends to grant whatever it is that utilities request of it WITHOUT FORMAL OPPOSITION FROM OTHERS. A link to the CPUC Docket Card... http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/published/proceedings/doc… Others may have a lot of snide comments to make about Michael Aguirre regarding his tenure as City Attorney for San Diego, but he is becoming a force to be reckoned with before CPUC by intervening against more than a few hastily-prepared and relatively unsupported SDG&E rate hike proposals. Anyone who imagines otherwise probably also missed the announcements earlier this year of hundred$ of million$ in settlements paid out by SDG&E and Sempra Energy to the State of California (one of the settlements was finally reached for the 2000 Energy Crisis)... all after Aguirre intervened on behalf of Ruth Henricks against SDG&E wildfire insurance proposals to bill us for the damages. There are reasons for Fitch Ratings to have recently downgraded BOTH SDG&E and Sempra Energy equity and debt issues... while giving both firms a Negative Outlook advisory. http://www.streetinsider.com/New+Coverage/Fitch+R…— December 6, 2010 9:50 a.m.
Beggars in the University Heights Library
I usually get requests for cigarettes near where the downtown methadone heads used to hang out around 12th and C... after I quit smoking over a decade ago! If somebody asks me (unemployed disabled vet) for cash on the streets, I turn it into a job interview. After all, what are they going to do for me? And besides... if I'm getting hit up for change as broke as I am, then all that's happening there in that social transaction is just a total waste of time, so I might as well have some fun with it. Unionized homeless persons: I guess this is where unionization is heading, now that municipal employees are already there. There's a strong correlation here. The less free market output one produces, the greater the need for one to be in a non-skill, no-trade union. When one produces nothing worth selling at all, then one MUST belong to a union. Let's look at the folly of the rich: what to do when all that's left are index funds and hedges but no real economy, especially if there's that expected double dip in real estate next year? (See recent posts in SCAM DIEGO blog...) As to anyone still not working and ending one's name with the letters "esq": Get thee to the Law Library, do some original research and back it up, then sell it. If it's at all relevant to Other People's Problems, then there will be a market for it: find it. If you do research for somebody else's legal matter, you can at least fee-split with that plaintiff's attorney, something which I and anyone else trained as paralegals cannot. If this is beneath someone who can legitimately end one's name with "esq", then perhaps having too much personal pride is an issue.— December 6, 2010 8:49 a.m.
Bankruptcy — Good for San Diego
It makes sense that a city employee attacks Aguirre as Aguirre fights to keep SDG&E rates down for consumers. After all, the City of San Diego refuses to deal with raising the electricity franchise rate from its measly 3% of gross receipts. If it were more like 20%, the power lines would be underground already and we'd have a lot less to be worried about when it comes to utility-caused wildfires.— December 5, 2010 10:23 a.m.
Southwestern College Superintendent Raj Chopra Resigns
To the best of my knowledge, there are about 110 California community colleges, which are only part of the WASC junior college list for all western states... We can look at WASC acceptance of individual college accreditation self-studies in this manner: 1. No recommendations for improved compliance. This means that the campus aced it; there's nothing to do to be in better compliance with WASC accreditation standards. Gold Star! 2. WASC numbered recommendations to be met by the end of the current accreditation cycle. This means that some standards are not fully met, which is what most campuses hear back from WASC. The successful campus concentrates during the five-year accreditation cycle on meeting each of the specified recommendations and makes adjustments to campus administration to reflect those considered recommendations. Accreditation is automatically extended for the campus to address the enumerated recommendations. Silver Candle Stand. 3. WARNING. This means that previous recommendations from 5-10 years ago were not addressed in ways that brought the campus into WASC compliance, and a WARNING note gets appended to the full accreditation listing for the campus. Accreditation is automatically extended for the campus to address all remaining unmet enumerated recommendations. Brass Bathroom Fixture, with Tarnish. 4. PROBATION. This means that somebodies on campus have been asleep through WASC's recommendations from 10-15 years ago, WASC's warning in the last 3-5 years, and a failed WASC site inspection in the last 12 months. A PROBATION note is appended to the campus' full accreditation listing. TIME TO GET DAMN BUSY, as accreditation is extended ONE LAST TIME for no more than two years. At the end of probation, if ALL recommendations have not been met, then US Department of Education will insist that WASC terminate campus accreditation. NO PROBATION EXTENSION POSSIBLE; NO ACCREDITATION EXTENSION POSSIBLE. Lead Balloon containing Academic Kryptonite and an alarm clock. The fact that Chopra is out is a big black eye on any SWC attempt to get off of accreditation probation in an effective, timely manner; it speaks volumes about the competency of the SWCCD's governing board to manage the people's money as to community college education in Chula Vista. It's about the same as Lincoln firing Meade before finding Grant as the commanding general of the Union Army in the Civil War... except SWCCD lost some major electoral battles last month instead of winning at Gettysburg.— December 4, 2010 5:27 p.m.
Padres Trade Gonzalez, Say ESPN, U-T
Now if we can just turn Petco Park into a convertible NFL venue...— December 4, 2010 4:48 p.m.