Here's something you might be interested in.
I took my freak flag to the streets last night to show my support for Stephen with a flashing el-wire sign that said "Whitburn" along with another flashing sign that said "Yes We Can". (I am bummed that the "A" in "CAN" ran out of batteries, but I think people got the point). I made them with foam core, a glue gun, and some el wire that I ordered from China for a dollar a foot. I sat down with my soldering iron, wire strippers, and power inverters and built the whole thing myself.
Why? Because I love Stephen. I didn't know him before he ran this race, but after doing my due diligence I was more than ready to get behind him. And after talking with him many times, I was so impressed by his sincerity and his honesty and his desire to make the community something that we all could be proud of, that I was totally ready to get my game face on and go to battle for this guy.
Yeah, Stephen did have to put his life savings on the line (and it is an absolute shame that due to election finance rules, this is the ONLY way a decent person CAN get into office) for this race so that he could say "no" to developer money. That may sound insane to alot of people including the media, but that is how much he cares. If he loaned his campaign $98,000 and he gave his campaign $97,214--Do the math. It means, he is willing to do the job for free. And I know it is hard for some people like Camp Gloria to believe that anyone could care that much, but he does.
This raises the bar for all of us in the community. If Stephen is willing to do this, then we all need to step up and show how much we care. I, for one, am so excited at the idea of having someone like Stephen, that will be working for the people, not the developers, after 8 long years of absolutely NOTHING from Toni Atkins, that I am excited to break out my hot glue gun and my Burning Man skills and start gluing some flashing el wire signs.
Whitburn can't throw money around the way the Gloria Camp does and park a truck in the middle of the "No on 8" rally with a giant 10 foot sign that must have cost hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars. But, I don't see people in the Gloria Camp that care that much about what their candidate stands for. All I ever hear is that Gloria is a native and worked for Susan Davis and therefore is entitled to this election. I see dispassionate people standing on street corners with Gloria signs looking like they cant wait until their shift ends.
I want to know: where and who are these people that love Todd Gloria so much? What kind of people are they?
Are they people that have stood up to developers? If so, name names.
The people who love Stephen are people that have been fighting irresponsible development for years. Many are the very people that spearheaded the fights, like the fight against 301 University, OLP, the Mills Act destruction by the mayor, neighborhood demolition notification. They are people that have quit their jobs and are working full-time to help someone that they really believe in. They are people standing on street corners with a big smile on their face, a huge sign, and a bullhorn saying "Vote for Stephen".
All you have to do to see what Stephen stands for is to look at what he has already done:
From his GLT interview: "I took a strong stand against the proposed Kensington Terrace project; again, because more than 1,000 residents in those neighborhoods voiced grave concerns about the scale of the project, the amount of traffic it would generate, concerns about potentially historic homes that would be destroyed, and the precedent it would set for future developments along Adams Avenue. I was the only one of the two District 3 candidates to stand with the neighborhood on that issue. "
Yeah, he was the ONLY one to stand against that.
Who are your supporters Todd? I see your campaign has left its biggest endorsement off the list: The Building Industry Association. You are at the top of their Voter Guide. Are you ashamed of it? They are the self-proclaimed LARGEST organized group in San Diego. I mean this is a HUGE endorsement Todd.
Look at this straight from the home page of their website:
"We represent the 1,300 member firms and their 140,000 employees who earn their livelihood in the residential and commercial building/development industries."
Todd that is the support of 140,000 employees of the development industry. Surely that trumps all the other endorsements combined. Don't you want to brag that this many people are counting on you?
And then this: "BIA lobbies against excess government regulation and policies that make it harder or more expensive to build in the region. We also advance positive legislative solutions built around the private sector expertise of our members."
Excessive government: like neighborhood demolition notification, like interim height ordinances, like a living wage for employees. But that's surely not why they are endorsing you Todd. "BIA's member benefit programs and services have been developed to ensure your continued growth and success."
http://www.biasandiego.org/inside/who.php
What exactly does continued "growth and success mean"? The BIA continues to say that San Diego is out of land and their only hope for growth is tearing down old single family neighborhoods like South Park and bringing in the sort of tacky track midrise multi-family units that have just dessimated Hillcrest along 4th and 5th Avenue.
Todd, really, why do they love you so much?
It looks like there are ALOT more people that love you than Stephen--but they are working for the BIA.
I hate to break it to you Todd, but I don't think its real love. I think they might be using you to get what they want. And in the end you are only going to get hurt.
These sort of dysfunctional relationships never end well. Sure they are great at first: the gifts, the money, the praise, the giant purple signs, but in the end you always end up disgraced, out on a street corner feeling cheap and wondering where you left your dignity and self respect with a long future of trials, indictments and jail time to look forward to. Think Cunningham, Nancy Graham, Dick Murphy.
Maybe there aren't 140,000 of us (because there arent that many people in our district) but there are alot of us that love Stephen. And Stephen loves us back. He loves his district and he is passionate about how he can really change things without the handcuffs of developer money.
This is HUGE and nearly unprecedented (except for Donna Frye who we also love). Imagine someone in office that could really vote for us and not have to answer behind closed doors to the people who financed his campaign. Imagine a council person that could support who they want for council president and not the person the unions told them they had to vote for, a person that could look at the community with a straight face and say I will vote for you. This is what we have with Stephen and this is real love.
I took my freak flag to the streets last night to show my support for Stephen with a flashing el-wire sign that said "Whitburn" along with another flashing sign that said "Yes We Can". (I am bummed that the "A" in "CAN" ran out of batteries, but I think people got the point). I made them with foam core, a glue gun, and some el wire that I ordered from China for a dollar a foot. I sat down with my soldering iron, wire strippers, and power inverters and built the whole thing myself.
Why? Because I love Stephen. I didn't know him before he ran this race, but after doing my due diligence I was more than ready to get behind him. And after talking with him many times, I was so impressed by his sincerity and his honesty and his desire to make the community something that we all could be proud of, that I was totally ready to get my game face on and go to battle for this guy.
Yeah, Stephen did have to put his life savings on the line (and it is an absolute shame that due to election finance rules, this is the ONLY way a decent person CAN get into office) for this race so that he could say "no" to developer money. That may sound insane to alot of people including the media, but that is how much he cares. If he loaned his campaign $98,000 and he gave his campaign $97,214--Do the math. It means, he is willing to do the job for free. And I know it is hard for some people like Camp Gloria to believe that anyone could care that much, but he does.
This raises the bar for all of us in the community. If Stephen is willing to do this, then we all need to step up and show how much we care. I, for one, am so excited at the idea of having someone like Stephen, that will be working for the people, not the developers, after 8 long years of absolutely NOTHING from Toni Atkins, that I am excited to break out my hot glue gun and my Burning Man skills and start gluing some flashing el wire signs.
Whitburn can't throw money around the way the Gloria Camp does and park a truck in the middle of the "No on 8" rally with a giant 10 foot sign that must have cost hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars. But, I don't see people in the Gloria Camp that care that much about what their candidate stands for. All I ever hear is that Gloria is a native and worked for Susan Davis and therefore is entitled to this election. I see dispassionate people standing on street corners with Gloria signs looking like they cant wait until their shift ends.
I want to know: where and who are these people that love Todd Gloria so much? What kind of people are they?
Are they people that have stood up to developers? If so, name names.
The people who love Stephen are people that have been fighting irresponsible development for years. Many are the very people that spearheaded the fights, like the fight against 301 University, OLP, the Mills Act destruction by the mayor, neighborhood demolition notification. They are people that have quit their jobs and are working full-time to help someone that they really believe in. They are people standing on street corners with a big smile on their face, a huge sign, and a bullhorn saying "Vote for Stephen".
All you have to do to see what Stephen stands for is to look at what he has already done:
From his GLT interview: "I took a strong stand against the proposed Kensington Terrace project; again, because more than 1,000 residents in those neighborhoods voiced grave concerns about the scale of the project, the amount of traffic it would generate, concerns about potentially historic homes that would be destroyed, and the precedent it would set for future developments along Adams Avenue. I was the only one of the two District 3 candidates to stand with the neighborhood on that issue. "
Yeah, he was the ONLY one to stand against that.
Who are your supporters Todd? I see your campaign has left its biggest endorsement off the list: The Building Industry Association. You are at the top of their Voter Guide. Are you ashamed of it? They are the self-proclaimed LARGEST organized group in San Diego. I mean this is a HUGE endorsement Todd.
Look at this straight from the home page of their website:
"We represent the 1,300 member firms and their 140,000 employees who earn their livelihood in the residential and commercial building/development industries."
Todd that is the support of 140,000 employees of the development industry. Surely that trumps all the other endorsements combined. Don't you want to brag that this many people are counting on you?
And then this: "BIA lobbies against excess government regulation and policies that make it harder or more expensive to build in the region. We also advance positive legislative solutions built around the private sector expertise of our members."
Excessive government: like neighborhood demolition notification, like interim height ordinances, like a living wage for employees. But that's surely not why they are endorsing you Todd. "BIA's member benefit programs and services have been developed to ensure your continued growth and success."
http://www.biasandiego.org/inside/who.php
What exactly does continued "growth and success mean"? The BIA continues to say that San Diego is out of land and their only hope for growth is tearing down old single family neighborhoods like South Park and bringing in the sort of tacky track midrise multi-family units that have just dessimated Hillcrest along 4th and 5th Avenue.
Todd, really, why do they love you so much?
It looks like there are ALOT more people that love you than Stephen--but they are working for the BIA.
I hate to break it to you Todd, but I don't think its real love. I think they might be using you to get what they want. And in the end you are only going to get hurt.
These sort of dysfunctional relationships never end well. Sure they are great at first: the gifts, the money, the praise, the giant purple signs, but in the end you always end up disgraced, out on a street corner feeling cheap and wondering where you left your dignity and self respect with a long future of trials, indictments and jail time to look forward to. Think Cunningham, Nancy Graham, Dick Murphy.
Maybe there aren't 140,000 of us (because there arent that many people in our district) but there are alot of us that love Stephen. And Stephen loves us back. He loves his district and he is passionate about how he can really change things without the handcuffs of developer money.
This is HUGE and nearly unprecedented (except for Donna Frye who we also love). Imagine someone in office that could really vote for us and not have to answer behind closed doors to the people who financed his campaign. Imagine a council person that could support who they want for council president and not the person the unions told them they had to vote for, a person that could look at the community with a straight face and say I will vote for you. This is what we have with Stephen and this is real love.