Restoring Neighborhood Services Must Include Investments in Public Safety

Carl DeMaioCarl DeMaio 2 Comments

It’s no secret that the last decade has forced all city departments to make cuts in order to balance our city budget.  In many cases the cuts did not impact core services – in fact they highlighted how bloated some city departments had become. But when it comes to our communities, the impacts of these service cuts can be clearly …

San Diego Unified is Poway By The Sea

Tony ManolatosTony Manolatos Leave a Comment

San Diego Politics & Media Mashup Cross-posted at FlashReport I want to highlight a story in Thursday’s U-T San Diego: “Tax Group to Oppose San Diego School Bonds” It’s worth your attention because it does a nice job of laying out a financial crisis similar to the one in Poway that has received national attention. In short, the San Diego Unified School District is Poway …

City Attorney Jan Goldsmith Endorses DeMaio for San Diego Mayor

Carl DeMaioCarl DeMaio 2 Comments

Former Judge and Assemblyman says DeMaio is “Willing to Roll up his Sleeves and Work with Others to Ensure the City is Properly Managed on a Day to Day Basis” With the fall campaign moving full-steam ahead, San Diego Mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio picked up an important, citywide endorsement today from San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith who touted DeMaio’s …

Do Sun Glasses “Sit on your Face”?

Jerome StocksJerome Stocks Leave a Comment

A recently placed, then fairly quickly removed, “SPY” sunglass company billboard in Encinitas caused some buzz this week. Some thought it was funny or clever, others not so much. The Outdoor Advertizing Company which owns the billboard claims to have received complaints, but my office did not. So, does this fall under the 1st Amendment, or is it prurient in …

Villaraigosa Presides over DNC Platform Trainwreck

Steve RiderSteve Rider Leave a Comment

If you’re like me, you haven’t been watching the DNC at all. However, I did come across some news and was surprised it hadn’t hit Rostra yet. Quite the controversy and is certain to make strong Isreal supporters think twice about their party affiliation. Former CA Republican Chair Ron Nehring summarizes it well, complete with video: From San Diego Republican …

Notes from The Republican Convention

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Guest Commentary by Randy Berholtz I attended my first Republican Convention in Tampa last week as part of the California delegation and I’d like to share my thoughts on the event. The positives for the event: First, the event was a bit like Disneyland for Conservative Republicans such as myself.  I saw many of our older Republican leaders like former …

Superior Court Budget Cuts Require a Judge with Experience in all Aspects of the Law

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Guest Commentary by Daniel Brainard The San Diego Superior Court announced in June that it will face historical budget cuts for the upcoming Fiscal Years. The tentative plan in place for FY 2012-13 will see the largest reduction and restructuring of services in the court’s history. This reduction will eliminate hundreds of positions including twenty-five courtroom clerks, seven staff attorneys, …

California Republican Party Statement on Dem Chair Burton Comparing GOP to Nazi Propagandist

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Press Release BURBANK — The California Republican Party today made the following statement regarding California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton’s comment in Charlotte this morning: “This is exactly the kind of desperate, deranged rhetoric the Democrats are going to employ in order to distract voters from their failed record over the past four years. While Republicans are offering voters real …

My first Republican National Convention

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Guest Commentary by Arkan Somo I was very excited when I received my invitation to attend the RNC 2012 in Tampa, Florida. On the way to Tampa I didn’t know exactly what to expect. Monday was cancelled due to the weather, which caused Tuesday to be an action packed day. Tens of thousands of loyal and faithful to the core …

Critical Mass and Mob Rule

B-DaddyB-Daddy 2 Comments

The news that a police officer was struck in the head by a screw driver yesterday, likely thrown by a bicyclist participating in Critical Mass, isn’t really surprising to me nor to many others. While the goals of the Critical Mass bike movement appear laudable, raising awareness of the unfriendly nature of the urban street environment to bicycles, the mob nature …

The state legislature’s pension “reform”

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Guest Commentary by Jan Goldsmith In adopting AB 340, the pension reform measure, rather than using San Diego’s Proposition B as a model for real reform, the Legislature and Governor seem to have used San Diego’s Proposition D as the model. That was the proposed sales tax increase accompanied by hollow promises of reform. The difference is that voters scrutinized …

The fake “private” HSR train from Victorville to Las Vegas

Richard Rider, Chairman, San Diego Tax FightersRichard Rider, Chairman, San Diego Tax Fighters 5 Comments

Here’s a SUPERB U-T op-ed on California HSR — especially the “outing” of the generally ignored “private” HSR boondoggle from Victorville to Las Vegas. The piece is authored by my friends at the REASON Foundation. I had not previously seen this expose’ of the Vegas HSR scheme. Turns out it’s a gigantic taxpayer loan subsidy. More crony capitalism. Subsidized HSR …

Final Day from RNC: Nehring on Eastwood and Rubio, Holloway analyzes the Romney bounce and shares her Occupy Tampa swag

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A pretty-much-says-it tweet from former State Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring last night: “If Clint Eastwood wants to talk to a chair, he gets to talk to a chair.” Also, Nehring writes on his blog, “Sen. Rubio’s powerful words about America, immigrants and why people come here”… To me, the most powerful words spoken at the Republican National Convention came …

Are they ignorant racists or do they want us to believe their lie?

Poway RogerPoway Roger 2 Comments

Critics smear GOP star Mia Love as an ‘Aunt Tom’… http://times247.com/articles/critics-smear-gop-star-aunt-tom-on-wikipedia When I see such ignorant comments as in the article linked above I get angry, but then as I start to calm down it dawns on me that those on the left making the comments are the real bigots … or they are trying to influence voters with another …

From the RNC: Wednesday Night’s Take, Single GOP Women becoming a Force?, Condi for Governor

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First, a tweet from comedian Dennis Miller after the VP nominee’s speech last night: “After Ryan’s speech, Biden’s sphincter is twitchier than a college kid who drank tap water in Mexico on spring break.” From Mike Cully, our Rostra guest correspondent, attending the Republican National Convention as part of the California delegation… RNC Convention Day 2: The theme of the …

Notes on Our Mexican Trade Tour

Carl DeMaioCarl DeMaio 1 Comment

This morning I began an extensive two-day trade tour to Mexico with fellow officials and business leaders. I have learned so much about the importance of strengthening our economic ties and cooperating as a region to improve the quality of life on both sides of the border. The San Diego-Tijuana border crossing is the busiest land border crossing in the …

They’re Back…Redevelopment Agencies Times Two

Diane HarkeyBoard of Equalization Member Diane Harkey Leave a Comment

This op-ed originally appeared in the Flashreport Redevelopment times two appears to be returning to California, less than a year after the program was dissolved by the Legislature at the direction of Governor Brown. After Redevelopment Agencies (RDAs) were disbanded, members of both parties, the education establishment, and property rights advocates applauded the action. But less than a year later, …