Carl DeMaio’s candidacy for Mayor of San Diego is exciting to me as a member of the Tea Party. (And no, there is no official membership, it is a matter of self identification.) He has taken aggressive stands to bring spending under control in San Diego, and gained my personal gratitude for his work against Proposition D. Further, by consolidating …
Help For Small Businesses in San Diego?
Lorie Zapf and Tony Young have released a Small Business Assistance Package designed to help small businesses cut through the red tape of city government and get the local economy growing. The effort is in part the result of an outreach effort by Zapf to small businesses. Some key provisions. 1. Code Compliance Amnesty 2. Small Business Liaison / Code …
Fixing California – A Reform Agenda
The Economist has a special report this week on the state of Democracy in California, and it is not good. For the last few years, I haven’t agreed with the magazines editorial positions on a growing number of issues, but they are still first rate journalists and point out some important facts. But before we get to the article, they …
Victory for Justice in National City
IJ Client Carlos Barragan Jr. at the CYAC gym in National City. The Institute for Justice has obtained a victory in the long running dispute between National City and the Community Youth Athletic Center, which was designated as blighted in order to allow seizure of the gym by the city so that an influential developer can build luxury condos. Dean …
Filling the Obama Gap on Immigration Reform
President Obama discussing immigration reform in June 2009, Official White House Photo by Pete Souza. In a clear signal that Obama will demagogue any issue to help his re-election chances, we read this from the U-T. President Barack Obama told about 70 national leaders in a private meeting Tuesday that immigration reform is still one of his priorities despite the …
California Republicans and Demography
California’s Republicans have gotten the negative notice of The Economist, no small feat, considering that the magazine covers the world and only runs eight or so articles on the whole of the United States in a week. Titled Dead, or just resting? the main thrust is that California Republicans are so deeply unpopular with Hispanics and Asians who are an …
Applause for Mayor Sanders
I have been a harsh critic of Mayor Sanders at times. But I need to give credit where it is due; he worked with purveyors of competing reform plans to come up with a single ballot measure. This increases the odds that a measure will pass, because there will be a unified reform effort. Yesterday’s U-T has the news: The …
Self-Congratulations? Among California Republicans?
Yesterday, Jim Sills congratulated Tony Krvaric on his election to the Vice Chairmanship of the California Republican party. I do not dispute that San Diego will have more influence in the state party as a result, but I take exception to the self-congratulatory description of the 2010 election results in San Diego. Many of the touted successes were officially non-partisan. …
San Diego Watchdogging
Dave Maass, at CityBeat, gets in on the local watchdog action with his report of how County Supervisor Ron Roberts and Carlsbad City Councilwoman Ann Kulchin treat the San Diego Service Authority for Freeway Emergencies (SAFE) like their own personal slush fund. (My words, not Dave’s). The fund was established in the 1990s to build out and maintain the system …
Opposing Putting Tax Increases on the California Ballot
Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to combine tax increases with some spending reductions appears to be popular: A Field Poll released this week showed that 61 percent of voters, including 56 percent of Republicans, want the state to have a special election on the budget. Fifty-eight percent of voters say they would favor extending the temporary taxes. This poses a difficult …
Math Meets Political Power
Math is winning, what a surprise. (This is a recurring theme at The Scratching Post.) Today’s U-T headline about the California budget dilemma is a case in point: Democrats Confronted with the Limits of Power In last November’s election, voters removed the requirement for a two-thirds majority to pass California’s budget. Democrats control both legislative houses and the governor’s mansion, …
Round Up of News You Might Have Missed
Even if your attention wasn’t diverted by Charlie Sheen this week, there were a number of items you might have missed in this week’s news. California budget driven by court orders A little known fact in the debate over California’s $27 billion budget shortfall is the role the judiciary has played in adding to the problem. The U-T had a …
Some Reminders About the Wisconsin Debate
To clarify a few points on the debate in Wisconsin. Collective Bargaining is not a “right.” If it was, federal workers would have the right, they do not. Collective Bargaining is not a “right.” If it was, then all state employees in the U.S. would have the right, they do not. Collective Bargaining is not a “right.” Nowhere is it …
Wisconsin Update – Gallup Poll, Local Coalition Presser
As I feared, the initial reaction to the specific issue of restricting collective bargaining for public employees is not favorable, according to Gallup, with 61% opposed. This, despite an earlier Rasmussen poll that shows support for Governor Walker’s overall approach. HotAir points out that Gallup has not released the details of this poll, so it is hard to analyze the …
My Newest Hero
. . . after Mutnodjmet is Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, pictured at left in a photo from his successful gubernatorial campaign. He has taken aim at the public employee unions in his state, and outrage has ensued. If only Jerry Brown would follow suit.Walker has taken the sensible stance that public employee unions should have limited bargaining rights and should …
That Shiny New City Hall – The Financial Analysis
In a previous post on the folly of building a new City Hall, sdrostra.com commenter Phil Rath called me out on the issue of the return on investment of the new building. He linked to a Financial Analysis by the Center City Development Corporation, Implementing Downtown’s Redevelopment on Behalf of the City of San Diego [their tag line] and chides …
Renaming the Coronado Bay Bridge for Reagan – UPDATE
UPDATE Thor’s assistant points out in the comments that the initial effort at renaming the bridge was announced here on San Diego Rostra by Rostra blogger Vince Vasquez. Seemed only appropriate to give him credit in the body of the article. /update. Well, officially, the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge. There is an effort underway to rename the bridge after former …
Local GOP Turpitude
As much as I loathe the California Democratic party, I have not been impressed of late with its Republican opposition. Temple of Mut has the goods on the latest move by the county GOP, and quite the move it was. Tony Krvaric appears to be the quintessential self-serving ethically challenged businessman type that often gives the Republican party a bad …
Jerry Brown’s State of the Budget Speech
Despite calling his address the State of the State, Jerry Brown’s speech was really first, foremost and only about the looming budget deficit. It is unlikely to be papered over one more time, but who knows politicians are such good liars. I missed the speech, but am reading from the transcript. The governor makes some good points. My plan to …
San Diego City Hall – Reading the Tea Leaves
Two articles in today’s U-T point to the growing realization by the City Council that the issues of fiscal responsibility raised by the Tea Party are the new reality. Item 1. The council appears poised to rescind the big box economic analysis law in the face of Walmart’s successful petition drive. Key swing vote, Tony Young, council President is quoted …
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