Comments by Fred_Williams | San Diego Reader

Fred Williams

Amount Moores Group Is Offering to Peregrine Victims is $55 Million; Originally, Plaintiffs Wanted Over a Billion

Not only has Moores escaped all punishment for his crimes, he has been richly rewarded. He has sole use of the publicly financed ballpark, where he can charge $8 for near-beer, and the sky's the limit on ticket prices. This is on top of the ballpark bonds WE ALL pay for, sports fans or not. His development company, embroiled in scandals from the beginning, has helped transform our city skyline from stunning to shameful. Look at those cookie cutter condos and hotels he owns or developed. The massively troubled ballpark village is an expensive publicly subsidized eyesore, and both companies selected by the tinted CCDC to redevelop the civic center are connected to Moores as well. He's hired a long list of former elected and appointed officials to do his bidding, Jack McGrory, Tom Sheppard, and Steve Peace prominent among his harem of political prostitutes. Now he's got his eyes set on the airport. His fat greedy fingers grasp at everything not nailed down, and his porky handouts to democrats and republicans are notorious. Moores, having defrauded not only Peregrine investors but also the City of San Diego, watches it all from his carribean hideaway, tucking away his assets in convenient locations while negotiating his divorce settlement. There's a great book and made for television movie just waiting to see what happens next in this saga of greed and corruption. Hubris: The John Moores Story
— August 29, 2008 8:29 a.m.

Union-Tribune's New Buyout Program Suggests the Company May Be Bought Out Soon, and May Be in Cash Flow Squeeze

Don, I think this is great news for San Diego. Consider your own case. When you left the UT, you brought your extraordinary skill, knowledge, and experience over to the Reader. Back when I quoted your work in the UT, few people knew of you. Today it's very different, and I run into well-informed voters talking about Bauder's column in the Reader all over town. The truly talented writers at the UT have nothing to fear. They'll land on their feet, learn new skills, and end up better off than when they were under the capricious command of "Happy Days" Captain Copley. I hope VOSD, CityBeat, and the Reader all recruit good reporters escaping the UT, leaving the deadwood to continue to stink up the pages of the soon to be forgotten establishment rag.
— August 29, 2008 8:10 a.m.

San Diego Single Family Home Prices Have Now Plunged 30 Percent from Their 2005 Peak

Must read article at www.reason.com http://www.reason.com/news/show/128336.html Official policy and structures that led to the current situation, rather than economic cycles. Instead of changing these policies and structures, the Treasury is shoring them up. A recipe for making a bad problem worse... Best, Fred
— August 29, 2008 7:55 a.m.

Jack in the Box, Rubio’s, Charlotte Russe, WD-40, and Callaway Golf face a double whammy:

How to eat fish tacos without driving: Take the trolley to the border. Five dollars for a day pass. Walk across, and avoid the taxi touts entirely. The private bus lines at Plaza Viva include ABC. A one way ticket costs around ten bucks. The bus is comfortable enough to nap on the way, or you can enjoy the beautiful coastal scenery. It drops you off within walking distance to the fish market in Ensenada, where you can eat some of the finest fish tacos in the world. Okay, sure it takes you all day, and the long line crossing back is a test of patience, but for those of us who take our fish tacos seriously, there's no better option. :-)
— August 28, 2008 8:55 a.m.

From Trashy to Classy

Ideally, constructive ideas for the improvement of the community ought to come from the oversight or advisory board composed of representatives of the community. Here in San Diego the opposite seems to happen. The paid staff, often at the behest of private interests who can afford to lobby them, scheme up a proposal and only then tell the community "here's what we're gonna do". Being "nice" people, the boards are then reduced to meekly nodding their heads and going along with the "professionals". It would be refreshing to see this reversed. The duplication or replacement of city services through community funding is emphatically NOT the purpose of these assessment districts. They exist to provide services and amenities above and beyond the standard. We need a full accounting and formal audit of where these dollars are spent. It may be that paying a quarter million dollars for the trash pickup, weed abatement, and graffitti paint-over is standard. But it seems expensive to me, especially when we consider that the youth involved are probably not particularly well paid. Does picking up trash build character and self-esteem? Is it required for academic success? I'm not sure this is true. Rather, such work might be seen as demeaning or "working for chump change" and actually deter some of those who most need academic assistance from participating in the program. Further, when the fee for these services was paid, did Urban Corps explicitly devote a large amount of that quarter million dollars to training, academic assistance, school supplies, and other support for the young scholars? How much of that quarter million went to staff salaries, administration, and other overhead? The oversight board ought to have that information available to them in advance of approving such contracts. Better, they ought to see competing plans for what to do with the assessed money. Would that same quarter million be better spent elsewhere? Could spending $25k on recruiting and rewarding citizen clean up volunteers accomplish the same job, thereby freeing funding for other worthy projects? These discussions are often avoided in San Diego, and I'm glad we are all now paying attention to the situation. I applaud the involvement of the community, and encourage more participation by residents in making San Diego a better place.
— August 28, 2008 8:42 a.m.

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