From Gay and Lesbian Times, March 26, 2009 http://www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=14290 The city will end 2009 with a small surplus of about $2 million. But out of a $3 billion budget, “that doesn’t give a lot of wiggle room, but it’s important to note that we are living within our means,” the District 3 councilmember said. GL Times states that Pension payments …
San Diego City Hall Needs Citizen Help to Achieve Fiscal Recovery
(This op-ed was originally posted on San Diego News Network this week) With falling tax revenue projections from our national economic downturn, and the ongoing turmoil of a structural deficit in our local government, the City of San Diego now faces an estimated $201 million budget shortfall for Fiscal Year 2011. Thankfully for taxpayers, reaction from elected officials to this …
Once again San Diego Unified School District is predicting $100 million deficit. Possible solutions.
Here are some very simple ways that they can save money and get more in line with other school districts in the county. 4th and 5th graders go to Old Town and Balboa Park for a week. They learn about old California and about the museums. Yes, they are great programs, but why is SDUSD the only district in the …
Rick Amato Show Honored at San Diego Press Club Journalism Awards
Congratulations to my friend and fellow radio talk show host Rick Amato for notching a BIG win at Tuesday night’s San Diego Press Club Journalism Awards. In his FIRST time ever entering this prestigious competition, Rick won first place in the Radio Interview category. The winning entry from “The Rick Amato Show Presented by The Washington Times” originally aired in …
Oversight Democrats Literally Change the Locks on the Doors
Frustrated by Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) attempts to force an up or down on issuing a subpoena for documents/records related to Countrywide’s VIP program and for releasing an embarrassing video of Committee Democrats avoiding the vote on Thursday, Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-NY) has retaliated against Committee Republicans by literally changing the locks. Politico: …
Sticks and Stones
Recently I had a conversation with one of my clients. He commented on all the mean spirited invective being spewed by conservatives about President Obama, saying that the Democrats “never” said such horrible things about President Bush. He’s not the first person I’ve heard assert this. Talk about selective memory. During an exclusive interview with CBS Radio reporter Peter Maer …
Republicans and Independents: Very Little Voice On Marti Emerald’s “Advisory Council”
When asked about her community “Advisory Council” (which was the following day found to be largely her political campaign donors) Councilwoman Marti Emerald stated that the reason for the group was that she wanted “something a little more independent”. Really, that sounds great. But with old Marti, the Devil is in the details, and it’s increasingly clear there is a …
DeMaio: Shelving Downtown Library Will Save $63M in General Fund
Councilmember Carl DeMaio released a memo today showing the major impact the new Downtown Library project will have on the city’s General Fund which faces a staggering $200 million deficit. Read the memo here. From the SDUT PolBlog: By shelving a new downtown library, the city could save as much as $63 million over the next five years, according to a fiscal analysis …
Term limits for the Board of Supervisors and NOT for SEIU?
Many of you might have heard that SEIU, the union that represents most of the County workers, has decided that there should be term limits for the County Board of Supervisors. I find that to be very amusing since SEIU doesn’t believe in term limits for their own elected officers. So, apparently, if you are an elected official and won’t …
Breaking… Rexford’s Husband Said to Threaten Neighbor with “Gun”
***Breaking News*** Whether or not you’ve been following the saga of Poway Councilwoman Betty Rexford, the documented harassment of her neighbors, and the resulting recall effort against her (here’s some background), the following breaking information from today really takes the cake. I am told that this morning Rexford and her husband Paul were sitting in their car at the end …
Voice of San Diego Needs to Follow Up on Councilwoman Emerald’s Interview
I went back this morning and re-read the Voice of San Diego. A number of Marti’s answers look… disingenuous… after Mr. Murphy’s last post. For example: “She said she cited the group in her endorsement of a new downtown library and City Hall because its support for the capital projects “surprised” her.” Given that either most or all of the …
3 different fire agencies for Julian?
We’re hearing about the merging of fire protection districts, but let’s focus on Julian, which has no plans to merge any of their THREE, yes, THREE fire agencies. You have the Julian/Cuyamaca Volunteer FD, which has a chief, and you have the CalFire station that has two, yes, TWO chiefs, One Cal Fire and one from the County’s fire authority …
So Most of Emerald’s Official Advisory Council Are Campaign Donors?
Rostra analysis shows 67 percent of Advisory Members are Donors Last night Marti Emerald took a short interview where she said she was “surprised” that her District 7 Advisory Council would support the massive taxpayer expenditures required for a new downtown library and city hall. Really? I’d be pretty surprised too, since every public poll I’ve seen says taxpayers hate …
Day 4: Emerald Reveals A List But Is It THE List
Under increasing pressure, Marti Emerald’s office released a list that they claim is their “Advisory Council”. The problem? There are some 34 names. The original press release clearly said there were 20 members of the council. This is an issue. One likely scenario is that team Emerald looked at the 20 list, saw that the list was not the kind …
Rexford had Access to Personal Fire Rig During Wildfires!
Despite the apparently true saga of Poway Councilwoman Betty Rexford’s use of city staff to go after her neighbors, have the mainstream media picked up on something way worse than that, her demands for a fire truck to be stationed at her house during the devastating wildfires? OHMY. Read a recent missive from the Recall Rexford effort, as well as Logan Jenkins’ …
Campaign Money in the 50th Congressional Seat
As entertaining as it is to read about Marti Emerald’s shenanigans down in the City of San Diego, up here in the north county we have another show down looming in the Bilbray Congressional seat. Here is the campaign warchest tally: Bilbray (R) – 430k cash on hand Busby (D) – 144k cash on hand (5k of debt) Roberts (D) …
Great Reader Post
I just logged in and read a great reader post on this Emerald Community Group issue. Great job, Thinking Man! Here is most of it, look it up below if you want the rest: Of course Marti has the right to create her own advisory groups to get the pulse of the community. In fact, she should create them so …
Mr. Murphy Gets Up Too Early For Me… More On Emerald
At drinks with my older, wiser politico last night I brought up the ongoing ‘Advisory Council’ issue that Councilmember Emerald is embroiled in and he laughed. His thoughts, paraphrased: “Emerald really stepped in it this time, in her district and in the public eye generally. She’s stuck – if she doesn’t come clean with the names, she’s going to take …
Whoops… Voice of San Diego Picks Up Emerald’s Stonewalling
Correction to my last post: looks like the Voice of San Diego picked up Marti’s Mysterious Advisory Council. So this reporter from the Voice calls over to the Emerald office with the simple request that Marti reveal the names and what answer does the reporter get: that Emerald’s office is consulting the City Attorney and won’t answer the question! Nah… …
Day 3: Who Are They Marti? We Aren’t Going Away
For the third day running, the office of San Diego City Councilwoman Marti Emerald has refused to announce who exactly is on an ‘advisory committee’ that allegedly met with Mayoral representatives and Marti on Saturday, and voted ‘overwhelmingly’ to support a new downtown library and city hall. This must be a very important group of people – after all the …
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