This May Be Our Last Chance

Photo: Candace Suerstedt

This week marks the 38th Earth Day. It seems impossible that nearly four decades have passed since the first one in 1970. Though I had grown up reading Rachel Carson's Silent Spring , I don't think I realized the full significance of that first Earth Day. I do remember that a number of folks dismissed it as yet another "hippie commie" activity and even the news magazines were unsure of how to portray the event.

The Uppity Wisconsin recalled that Newsweek was bemused, and somewhat dismissive, calling Earth Day "a bizarre nationwide rain dance" and the nation's "biggest street festival since the Japanese surrendered in 1945." Time said the day "had aspects of a secular, almost pagan holiday..." Newsweek asked,  "whether the whole uprising represented a giant step forward for contaminated Earthmen or just a springtime skipalong."

At any rate, here we are 38 years later and the worst environmental predictions from those early years seem optimistic in relation to what has actually happened to our environment.

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When Will We Ever Learn?

Photo: Candace Suerstedt

When I heard this week that the Bush administration will use its authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations in order to complete the “Border Fence” by the end of 2008, I could hardly believe the idiotic arrogance, and complete disregard for due process.

Construction on the Great Wall between the United States and Mexico will go into overdrive so we (the taxpaying public) can watch $8 to $10 billion of our dollars get spent building a fence along select areas of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. This has to be one of the worst ideas the federal government has ever perpetrated.

Well, ok, at least one of the 100 worst… let's see, what other tragic moments in American history did our government tell us was “for our own good”, and, we, as a nation, were complicit in their actions.

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Having A Public Debate

As I write this, my partner in the unraveling of America's moral fabric is in Hillcrest inputting names into a database. He's spending part of his spring break to volunteer with Equality For All as they gear up to fight proposed initiatives that might make it on to the November ballot.

Among the 47 proposed initiatives currently in circulation are several that would attempt to limit marriage equality efforts, including one that would amend the state constitution to protect the "essence of marriage" and eliminate domestic partnerships.

Interesting to me that this comes up while the issue of the constitutionality of marriage equality is still pending before the California's Supreme Court, with the oral arguments having just been heard on March 4. Someone might want to wait and see how the court rules on what the constitution currently says before proposing to change the constitution. Regardless of their stance on the issue of marriage equality, someone might think that acting prematurely would be a complete and utter waste of taxpayers' money.

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Who Owns the Net?

Unfortunately, there is a very real threat that this could, in fact, happen.    

I just read an amazing book called Smart Mobs “The Next Social Revolution” by Howard Rheingold. Until two weeks ago, I would have described myself as “computer literate”. Now, after reading Rheingold, I feel as if I have been walking around with half a brain for the last two decades.

Rheingold describes the social, psychological, and philosophical transformations our culture is undergoing in this age of instant wireless access. Heck, I was just trying to stay current with my software and upgrade my computers as they became obsolete. 

Now it’s obvious that we are deep in this renaissance, and the prevailing question is: how do we, as human beings, experience it? It’s not enough just to realize that we have the technical capabilities; the most pressing concern is what we do with them, and what kind of society we will become.    

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One Down, Two To Go

California's role in the presidential primaries may be complete, and the surviving presidential candidates have moved on to fresher hunting grounds for voters as they attempt to secure their parties' nominations, but the 2008 election cycle is far from over: one down, two elections to go.

According to the California Secretary of State's Web site two initiatives have qualified for California's June election.

The two qualified initiatives, Propositions 98 and 99, would both amend California's constitution to change state and local government power to acquire property for private uses.  The issues are similar to those that would have been addressed by passage of Proposition 90 in 2006, an initiative that was defeated with 52.3 percent of the voters voting against amending the state constitution.

But government acquisition of private property, for whatever use, is in the news. The federal government is taking property to survey and build a border fence.  Downtown redevelopment is back in the limelight as San Diego and the Centre City Development Corportation, no strangers to using the power of eminent domain for private use, celebrate the restoration of the Balboa Theatre funded by downtown redevelopment tax dollars.  

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The Morning After the Democracy Party

Having been working at the polling station at Escondido's Pioneer Elementary School from 5:30 a.m. until we left to turn in our ballots at 9:30 p.m., I can attest that yesterday was certainly an Election Day. On the other hand, the exhaustion and soreness this morning all point to a highly successful Mardi Gras celebration.

Mind-numbing paper counts and the stickers, stickers, stickers attitude lead to morning-after effects very similar to the more traditional Mardi Gras activities.

The worst part of the day was putting this news junkie into a news blackout zone for most of Super Tuesday. The TV was turned off. There were no publications around that might politicize the environment. The occasional news update message to the Blackberry served as more of a tease than to satisfy any actual cravings for good, hard news, and small doses of KPBS coverage over the car radio while running errands on my breaks were all I had to keep from going into complete withdrawal. 

From my standpoint, Touchscreen Inspector for a precinct that only had one electronic ballot cast, the election went smooth.

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Whose Beach Is This Anyway?

One of the most contentious debates in Coronado is whether or not the city council has the right to build a permanent lifeguard facility on Coronado beach without voter approval.

Proposition A was initiated by an unincorporated association of property owners and Coronado residents who are asking voters to Vote Yes on Prop A which reads: "Shall the Land Use Plan of the City of Coronado Local Coastal Program be amended to require that prior to the construction or expansion of any permanent lifeguard facilities, restroom facilities, or bike paths on the Coronado Beach the City Council must first receive voter approval?"

Proposition B, initiated by the city, reads: "In the event that Proposition A shall be approved by a majority of the Voters of the City of Coronado, shall the construction of the Lifeguard Public Safety Service Building at Coronado Beach be approved?"

In other words, Prop B is an attempt to construct this particular structure even if Prop A is passed.  Confused?  Of course you are. As with most initiatives it is hard to know how to make sure you are actually voting the way you want to, because the wording is so convoluted, it would be easy to vote against your intended outcome.

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The Final Four, Commercials, and a Missing Initiative

So, we're in the Final Four! The Democrats are bringing out Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton; and the Republicans have John McCain and Mitt Romney up for nomination. Of course, it won't be until March that we find out the Libertarian candidate or July for the Green Party candidate, but for now we have at least four candidates.

And being in the top four, this seemed the perfect time for Mitt Romney to buy ads during the Super Bowl, which he did. I will admit, I was highly disappointed in the ad his campaign chose. Rather than state his stance, the chosen ad instead bashed on Clinton. Shame on you, Mr. Romney! On the flip side, Coca-Cola's political ad was an interesting and welcome addition! The premise was that with their soda, ANY group can get along.

If this is the case, then all Americans need to buy each member of the three branches of government a 12-pack of their favorite soda to share. It might work!

In South Bay, Chula Vista residents are voting on changing the position of city attorney to an elected position rather than the currently appointed position.

After months of fighting, over 20,000 signatures, and even the city suing itself to stop this initiative that the citizens are requesting, the initiative was supposed to be on this ballot. Instead, back on January 16th, the city postponed the vote until November's election. This, of course, has made a lot of folks even more upset.

Now, some may wonder why the citizens of Chula Vista have been fighting so long to be allowed to nominate, rather than appoint, a city attorney. The idea behind it is checks and balances. In theory, an elected attorney will not be indebted to those who appoint him or her to the office, and thus would work more for the city itself.

Personally, I think it’s also backlash after seeing what happened with San Diego's corruption, and an attempt to ensure that Chula Vista never has that kind of scandal drop into the laps of the city's residents.

Finally on a lighter note in Imperial Beach, I wanted to congratulate the city council for approving a new skate park, thus giving the youth in San Diego's South Bay another safe spot to play and keep healthy. Let's hope they get the remaining donations needed to build and complete the park.

-Steven Garrett is a professional food blogger who lives in Chula Vista.

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Little Vegas or America’s Finest City?

When I was growing up in Encanto, I remember seeing downtown San Diego - with its abandoned buildings and trash lined streets - and thinking, "Wow, this part of San Diego is as scary as being on the wrong part of Euclid, at the wrong time." (For those who will defend the law-abiding character of Euclid, remember this was the late '70s and early '80s I’m talking about. It was dang scary, okay.)

Later, I wasn't surprised to find out a little history about downtown, namely that it used to be a red light district, where hookers earned a living from sailors on shore leave; squatters looked for a good deal on property; and unscrupulous salesmen hooking up either transaction made out like bandits.

Going downtown today, I notice lots of people looking for those same things: sexy time (à là Borat), and prime property. Once redevelopment started to attract businesses downtown, the seedy and nefarious history was supplanted with another unstated goal: glamour.

San Diego got a whiff of the big city up north - Los Angeles - via our money-magnetizing Convention Center, surrounding hotels and tourist-friendly/locals-repellant bars (uh, Señor Frogs), and about five new bars, nightclubs, adults-only party hot spots opening every month with very VIP-sounding names from Deco’s to Aubergine - all with a few dozen honeys freezing outside waiting for you to pay their $10 cover charges.

It’s not my favorite scene.While San Diego’s businesses growth benefits the economy, in some ways downtown also stands for pricy over consumption. So, what’s my point?

You know, San Diego is not meant to be Vegas.

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