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For In-coming SEDC president: Having your interview printed in the paper may not be a good thing...
Response to #2: As for how this happened, I am going to go out on a limb and say it is because we don't vet our appointed leaders very well, including their ties to political movers and development shakers who may have something to gain in the selection of non-profit corporate development agency heads. Even farther out on a limb, I'll say that I remember a time when in a 2-parent household, one worked and the other had time for civic involvement in something needing volunteers, like the PTA, or a scout troop, or some thing that kept at least somebody with at least a high school civics education in the household involved in the community. Now, it takes both parents working like dogs to gas up the car, get to their separate jobs, and pay off the mortgage, subprime or not. Volunteerism and community involvement in a single parent home? You can figure that one out. In any case, when we're too busy to keep an eye on our political leaders, funny things start happening... and maybe go on for a decade and a half. This is so far out at the edge of the last leaf that I know somebody is going to take a shot... if you've ever attended ANY local California legislative body meeting, you'll notice such a thing called a "consent calendar" or some such device, where multiple items for approval WITHOUT PUBLIC DISCUSSION are all approved on a single vote... which means nobody sitting behind the big raised table in front of the public can ever be found "responsible" for a vote that was never taken on shifting money from one account to another, or approving a "routine" contract for a connected insider... or awarding a president with an off-budget bonus. Maybe you can understand why I like Don Bauder's blogs... (or why I don't even bother trying to figure out the byzantine system of accounting systems at the San Diego Community College District or any other local government unit.)— August 13, 2008 12:34 p.m.
For In-coming SEDC president: Having your interview printed in the paper may not be a good thing...
Response to #1: Apparently the SEDC board believes she deserves 90 days to put her office right (like it hasn't happened in the last 15 years) and a nice going-away bonus... Word is that the FBI is looking at CCDC. Can an FBI investigation of SEDC be far behind?— August 13, 2008 12:06 p.m.
U-T Continues To Overstate Its Circulation Publicly, but a Potential Buyer Won't Be Fooled
Regarding the Reader's role in focusing outrage: Unless I really self-destructed during my high school civics class, I thought the idea of newspapers publishing "to comfort the afflicted and afflict the confortable" was to get We The People motivated into making the changes our communities need to be better places. Lately, I don't expect much from government anymore because government generally doesn't pay much attention to people who can't dish up millions in contributions or millions of voters on Election Day. Unless it is Tax Day and we've just signed a check, government bureaucrats really don't want to hear from us. If there is anything I see as empowering We The People in our own communities, it is the examples of my East County and North County neighbors who in the last wildfire complex said screw the evacuations and protected their own homes because government had no resources to do the job. In the last year or so, I have become a big booster of getting others to learn about Comprehensive Emergency Management, the FEMA Emergency Management Institute independent study certifications in dozens of courses, and preparing our own neighborhoods for emergencies that our local governments have proven unable or incompetent to handle, no matter how much they raise disaster-protection taxes on parcel owners. If you are a US citizen, then taking any online IS course at FEMA EMI is free. It's also a good way to become an informed stakeholder as a private citizen, providing feedback to your local emergency planning commission on how it will spend your tax dollars. Remember: FEMA says most county-level officials aren't that well informed about emergency planning due to turnover and lack of previous exposure to emergency planning activities. If there is anyplace that we can have an impact on government decisions and expenditures, it should be here in the matters of public safety and emergency response... anad being able to take care of one's home in a disaster can be a plus...— August 12, 2008 2:24 p.m.
Electrifying
I am wondering if Sempra Energy will be shouldering the load from SDG&E in front of the CPUC, especially if SDG&E were to be sanctioned as not exactly being truthful in its representations before the CPUC regarding the Sunrise Powerlink. Perhaps these things are related?— August 12, 2008 1:26 p.m.
What is the sound of one SEDC shredder shredding?
Response to #1: LOL... ... and to think I was convinced that the only things produced by SEDC were just glossy multi-colored postcards telling us what a bang-up job they were doing every three months or so...— August 12, 2008 12:08 p.m.
Biogen Idec, Elan Report Tysabri Brain Disease Cases; Stocks Plunge in After-Hour Trading
As recently as 2005, the previous "voluntary suspension" of Tysabri seemed to call the entire class of drugs into question. It is interesting to note that only a year later, the FDA allowed a restricted distribution of the drug. There is a web page entitled "Natalizumab (marketed as Tysabri) Information" at http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/natalizumab… The downside moves for both companies seem justified on a drug meant to be used "as monotherapy, because we don't know enough about how its use with other immune modifying drugs could impact risk", http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01380.…— August 1, 2008 11:30 a.m.
The Question on Nancy Graham: Why Was She Hired in the First Place?
It seems more than coincidental that CCDC and SEDC have turnover in the top posts only days from each other... I received a comment on it all being a Madaffer power grab for a soft landing after being termed out... then saw a Pat Flannery blog on how one year as the head of a redevelopment agency would really pad Madaffer's future retirement. How close are things to really unravelling upstairs in this town?— July 30, 2008 5:33 p.m.
Recalling Tony Young?
Response to #1: Anything political will always have layers and layers of stories, some real, some not so real. Also, politicians are by nature either opportunistic or voted out of office... Regardless of what the "real" story is, there is some real truth in the fact that SEDC apparently reported two different sets of accounting numbers to to different political jurisdictions, the city that approved SEDC's budget as written, and the state that received some different set of "real" numbers. As someone who once had a job giving the "smell test" to bankruptcy petitions that looked somewhat "cooked", all I can say is that ALL of the red flags went up anytime any business owner had two sets of books to show. The fact that a public agency such as SEDC had two sets of books to show seems almost like some sort of treason. Buying an accounting professor a cup of coffee might be a good way to start a conversation on people in executive positions and professional responsibility... I don't see us as losers. Victims maybe, even marginal survivors, but not necessarily losers.— July 30, 2008 3:26 p.m.
SDGE Should Push Rooftop Solar Program, Says City Attorney, Noting Utility's Lagging Response to State Clean Energy Mandates
One problem I had with the 16-acre Encanto Gas Holder site decommissioning in 2000-01 was that the former public utility site would not be used as a solar energy farm, especially as it was right next to the all-electric San Diego Trolley Orange Line. Right now, the 77 or so homes planned for the site are on hold. There's too much going on with a Prop. 65 lawsuit and a second federal environmental crimes trial pending over the site. (I admit to being a lawsuit plaintiff... and a federal crime victim.) Eventually, I would like to see the site become a solar energy resource for the local power grid. At least that's what I'd do with it if I owned it.— July 30, 2008 2:30 p.m.