Cynara and Chuy Velazquez have canceled the ‘Meet and Greet’ that was scheduled for October 20 at their home in Ocean Beach. GO Team Volunteers are invited to meet David Alvarez at the fundraiser this Sunday Oct 13 in Point Loma.
Mayor Bob Filner’s story is a mix of extremes: professional and social triumph combined with self- admitted personal failure. Considering the nature of the accusations, Filner’s personal problems will more than likely overshadow any success he has achieved politically, thereby bringing his political career to an end. In recent days, the Republican Party has attempted to capitalize on this disturbing and pathetic story. On 2 August 2013, the online site for “The Hill” quoted a joint statement by five official Republican committees as follows: “Democrats hypocrisy is appalling, and with their silence, they are sanctioning the actions of Bob Filner and Anthony Weiner and numerous others who have assaulted, harassed, and preyed on women.” Such a criticism is clearly an opportunistic attack by the Republican Party, who is still recovering from the trouncing it received during the 2012 election. This trouncing was due in no small part to its anti-abortion and anti-contraception stances. Despite its self-serving motivation, however, the Republican Party has actually raised a valid question as to why the Democratic Party has allowed …
What is in our best interests? With the debate raging around us, it’s hard to figure out a logical position on this civic mess the Mayor is in. Two high profile progressive activists – whom I personally have very high regard for and who have very high regard for each other – sat down virtually last week to express very different points of view, which generally represent the range of views of the women in their very tight group of progressive activists. Anne H. As a member of several women’s organizations, I along with many other women have agonized over the issue of whether or not to urge Mayor Bob Filner to resign. On the one hand, he has supported and promoted women’s issues and civil rights for the past 50 years. His voting record in the U.S. House of Representatives has consistently been 100% in support of legislation important to women and children. During the past seven months, Mayor Filner has encouraged a closer relationship with Mexico, established pedestrians’ rights in Balboa Park’s …
Join CPI in supporting Mayor Filner’s call for an end to poverty wages at downtown hotels. Please add your voice by writing a short note on why you think our hotels should provide a decent living for their employees and city officials should say NO to poverty wages. One or two sentences will do. (See below for facts you may want to reference.) Use this form and CPI will send your letter to KPBS, San Diego City Beat, Voice of San Diego, San Diego Free Press and the UNION Tribune. Need facts for your letter? Try these: San Diego’s hotel owners are threatening to sue the city to get $1 billion over the next four decades, but many don’t pay their employees enough to live on. Tourism is an $8 billion industry in San Diego, yet it pays a median of $24,400 a year for fulltime work. [Details available in our Poverty Report]. A single adult needs to make about $28,000 to live self-sufficiently in San Diego County – or double that to support a family. [Read more in our …
Mayor Filner is standing up for the citizens of San Diego against the special interests of the hotels. The hotels plan to collect tax monies over the next 40 years and use it for their own benefit. These are tax monies that should be used for critical infrastructure and other needs of our city. The hotel tax hearing addressing this issue is scheduled for 2:00 PM on Monday, February 25, 2013. The hearing will be held in the City Council chambers on the 12th floor of City Hall at 202 “C” Street. Three (3) hours of parking are available at nearby Horton Plaza with parking validation (requires spending $10). Since taxes are intended to be levied by governments to benefit the citizens of the community, private companies levying taxes for their own benefit sets a dangerous precedent. As Jim Miller writes in a must read San Diego Free Press article addressing the hoteliers “you’re not running America’s Finest Tourist Plantation anymore. If you are going to get $30 million in public funds to promote your …
Dear Mayor Filner: I supported your campaign as a volunteer and was confident that you would continue to fight for our citizens rather than be bought out by corporate interests. Unlike so many elected officials you are keeping your campaign promise of working to create a better San Diego that benefits all the citizens rather than a just handful of powerful special interests. Vera Moldt reads her message of support in front of the San Diego City Council Thank you for one of your first courageous acts – standing firm against the hotel special interests. I’m not an attorney, but even as a layman, I question the legality of tax monies being collected and administered by and for the benefit of private corporations. Aside from the legality, such a provision seems clearly to be unethical as well as inequitable considering the critical infrastructure and other needs of our city. What is also telling is that this sweetheart deal extends for 40 years – a timeframe over which even more critical and now unforeseen needs may …
