Connecting the dots to the People’s Ordinance

I was reading the Cafe on Voice of San Diego and Craig Benedetto was posting about the cost the City of San Diego incurs from the People’s Ordinance to collect the City’s trash without charging them a dime up front. He was saying it should no longer be free.

So, I started doing some research -

Not on topic: I thought it was interesting Craig represents Sunroad as their lobbyist before the City of San Diego and another 10 other lobbyists either have or do represent Sunroad in addition to Craig before the City of San Diego. Amazing how many of those lobbyist have given Sanders money too.

Back to topic. It would seem Mayor Jerry Sanders wants to bid this service out to the same people that dumped major money into his election. I don’t know that for a fact he has a deal with them, but it should be no different then the selling city property deal he gave away to his contributors. Also, at this point no trash hauler has registered yet with the City of San Diego. They have only wrtten Sanders campaign checks. Isn’t it stranged they dumped money into his election and the City doesn’t affect their company? Why would a business use its money for something so wastefeul. No pun was intended about the trash haulers. Also, it is funny I can’t find the contribution reports from San Diegans for City Hall Reform and who the “people” that supported the contracting out proposition last year, only the opposing side filed. Oh, Craig dumped money into the Mayor and the San Diegans for City Hall Reform, which is controlled by the Mayor too.

So, this is probably the test balloon by Sanders to see if he can outsource the trash haulers. Here is a phrase the Mayor is use to hearing, you’ve been caught, busted!

Lastly, a friend warned me about outsourcing trash and told me to look at the City of Imperial Beach. They have outsourced some of their city services, include trash and that portion of the city budget increases higher then the in-houses service costs every year when the companies “re-bid” the service. You can call it holding the city hostage, because the city can’t afford to bring the service back in house. The re-start up cost is too much after it is gone.

School Board Candidate

San Diego Unified School Board member Mitz Lee (R) is running for the City Council District 5 seat. That leaves her school board seat in District A vacant. Gone are the days when an open seat goes to a Republican by default here in San Diego. We have a well qualified, progressive candidate running for this seat.

Dr. John Lee Evans is a clinical psychologist in private practice. He works with children and families on educational issues, and he administers psychoeducational testing. He was an active parent volunteer in SD Unified’s schools when his children were growing up. He served on various committees (school site council, parents task force, and governance team),and he volunteered in the classrooms where his children attended.

John served in the Peace Corp in Honduras when he was younger. He worked with rural teachers. Dr. Evans also directed an educational enterprise that provided workshops, training, and language classes for teachers. As a community college instructor, he taught Psychology and ESL.

John is an advocate for progressive issues in San Diego. After picking John’s brain on numerous educational issues (including all the current hot topics), I am convinced that John will make a fine school board member. He will help bring consensus to our current school board.

Fairy Tales and Fables

The Labor Council staff always has a good laugh when we see the right-wing blogs make things up and post it as fact.

They recently ran a tidbit about our political director, Lorena Gonzalez’ plan to leave her position to run Marti Emerald’s District 7 City Council campaign. Today, we saw a South Bay media outlet run with this rumor, without contacting anyone at the Labor Council to verify its accuracy.

First, there is no truth to Lorena’s rumored departure. When I asked Lorena about this, she laughed so hard she nearly fell out of her chair. Second, as far as we have heard, Marti Emerald has yet to decided if she will run. Third, if she does decide to run, Marti isn’t a lock for a labor endorsement. We do have a process, with endorsement voted on by our membership.

The moral of the story: Don’t believe everything you read on right-wing blogs.

Saved by the Republicans?

So, next week – on Tuesday – the San Diego City Council will decide whether to sign an amicus brief in a California Supreme Court case to make same-sex marriage legal. The reports out of City Hall’s 10th floor are all over the place. One insider said only Toni Atkins is a sure vote. Others have indicated that they heard about commitments from Scott Peters, Donna Frye and – get this – Jim Madaffer! I haven’t heard anything about where Ben Hueso and Tony Young will end up on this. Conventional wisdom says Districts 4 and 8 are not big Marriage Equality areas, but I think both have enjoyed support from the GLBT community in the past. The most shocking thing I’ve heard is that Kevin Faulconer could be thing swing vote. Is it true? Might we actually achieve a victory in civil rights thanks to 2 Republican votes?

Even more interesting, how will this play in the Council races for next year. I can’t help but wonder how the various candidates would have voted if they were in office…