By Robert Davis, Point LomaThursday, Nov. 20, 2008 | In January 2009, two years will have passed since Mayor Jerry Sanders and his executive team proposed a $35 million dollar software system to bring the city into the 21st century. For our taxpayer dollars I believe we were promised a system that would bring the "abacus-like" accounting, logistics, personnel and assets computers systems together under one massive and very expensive master system. A side benefit of such a system could be timely reports, and transparency in a city where opaque budget processes, a past practice, might someday actually end. So since it's been two years, I believe it's time for a few questions about this project and OUR taxpayer dollars.
Where is the marvel of modern web-based software magic? What's happened to the $35 million? When will we see it? Or is this just another rat hole where the taxpayer's money disappears? How much has San Diego Data Processing, a corporation similar to CCDC and SEDC, spent on it? Or to put it a little more clearly ... Hey Jerry & Jay [Chief Operating Officer Goldstone]... where's the beef?
By Dale Peterson, San CarlosThursday, Nov. 20, 2008 | I went to the Benjamin Library (Allied Gardens) today. It is one of the seven libraries on Mayor Sanders' chopping block that is scheduled for "budget-saving" closure.
At the library, I observed the usual suspects of freeloading readers, students, and computer users. And, there happened to be a city work crew, painting. They were painting the walls of a facility that the mayor intends to board up and close. Why?
A few months ago, I attended a community meeting (at Benjamin) where proponents for a new city hall made a presentation. I asked the presenters how much public money had been spent (to date) on the study for a new city hall. The answer was "approximately $1 million." These are two examples of how public monies are being allocated. Who is running this city, AIG?
Some of the lessons at the Benjamin Library aren't found in the books.
By Victoria McIntyre, San DiegoWednesday, Nov. 18, 2008 | Wow! Wow! The New York Times! I am so proud of you all because you deserve the recognition. Those of us who found you early on, read you every day, email your articles to our friends, and have contributed in ways big and small to your endeavors will bask in your glory. Break out the champagne. This is something to celebrate. By Jeff Stinchcomb, La MesaTuesday, Nov. 18, 2008 | Bravo VOSD!
It's about time ALL of you got the credit and attention you deserve. A front-page story on the New York Times is a nice down payment on that. (I wonder why the Union Tribune never thought to mention you... hmmm.)
Believe it or not, your dedication to the craft of journalism is much appreciated here in San Diego County, too.
Keep up the great reporting. By Patrick Ahearn, Rancho BernardoTuesday, Nov. 18, 2008 | At last the rebirth of journalism takes a new form on the Internet. Free from corporate entanglements, I now will look to you for just the facts.
My business was "sucker punched" by misleading information in the press about the economy and a manipulated fuel market. Hopefully America will recover from its years of self-cannibalization.
As soon as I get a job and recover from bankruptcy I'll be a contributor.
I learned about your website on the New York Times, which I read daily. Keep up the good work. By Kathleen MacLeod, EncantoMonday, Nov. 17, 2008 | The mayor's approach to cost cutting serves the interests of professional disciplines but not necessarily the public. We can no longer afford a Cadillac service delivery model that requires highly-trained professionals (librarians, sworn police officers or recreation leaders, etc.) to provide direct/one-on-one service to the public.
Instead, professionals should be training and supervising a team of para-professionals and non-sworn staff to provide direct services at more than one site, be it at rec centers, libraries or directing traffic. I support Independent Budget Analyst Andrea Tevlin's recommendations to reduce service hours and require mandatory furloughs to keep our facilities open. However, instead of making non-union employees take pay cuts, I would convert professional positions to para-professional ones to force management to think outside of the box. By Sandra Lippe, University CityMonday, Nov. 17, 2008 | My community was blindsided by Mayor Jerry Sanders' disastrous decision to possibly close seven libraries and ten recreation centers. I was one of the peasants at City Council who spoke against closing the seven libraries as a means of saving money for the city. Closing those libraries is like punching a nail into a tire and seeing it deflate. A community needs its libraries and rec centers the way a tire needs air. In an unprecedented economic crisis, you keep the libraries and rec centers open for the peasants. Andrea Tevlin, the city's independent budget analyst, suggested cutting hours across the board.
Please explain why University City libraries will be closed for five years and La Jolla's library is open on Sundays? The North University City library, a beautiful gift to that community, might as well be 30 miles away instead of three when it comes to children accessing it from south U.C. Five schools surround our South U.C. library. If I didn't see and experience money for consultants, lawsuits, and whatever backroom City Hall chatter produces, I still wouldn't consider this solution. All of the community activists who spoke already save the city money by volunteering many hours in rec centers and libraries. Factor that in, Mr. Mayor, please.
By Susan Medak, TalmadgeFriday, Nov. 14, 2008 | These legal proceedings are more a nail in our community's coffin than in Mike's. Our beloved city of San Diego is facing bankruptcy. Could all our public facilities be sold off to the highest bidder to pay for exponential pension debt?
By Lee Schoenbart, HillcrestThursday, Nov. 13, 2008 | These "No on 8" demonstrations are fine, however, in order for the time and energy expended to be measured as truly successful, these marches, rallies and other events need to take place outside the comfort zone of Hillcrest, Bankers Hill, North Park and Balboa Park.
The events need to be held in the black and hispanic neighborhoods where the "Yes on 8" vote was very high such as Chicano Park, Logan Heights, National City, San Ysidro, etc.
These events also need to take place where the white "Yes on 8" vote was extremely strong including Poway, Coronado, Vista and Spring Valley.
Until the "No on 8" protest organizers have the intestinal fortitude to get out of their comfort zones, then they're just preaching to the proverbial choir. By Les Birdsall, Pacific BeachTuesday, Nov. 11, 2008 | San Diego Unified school board member John de Beck made a common mistake in assessing the cause of student under-performance on standardized tests at San Diego's newly constructed Lincoln High School. He said the problem was low "student motivation."
What Mr. de Beck should know, but apparently doesn't, is that very few of the students, less than 5 percent, entered the school proficient in the basic skills, concepts, background knowledge, and application capabilities -- in reading, writing, critical thinking, literature, science, mathematics and history -- required to meet the performance standards set forth for them.
The instruction these students encounter from kindergarten to grade 8, and, subsequently, in grades 9 through 12, is not designed to develop skills to proficiency. Although students possess the intellectual capability to achieve mastery, 90 percent graduate high school without doing so. This happens, primarily, because the K-12 program fails to teach many essential skills and seldom provides students with the instructional time and practice required to achieve full proficiency in established standards.
Underachievement usually begins in the earliest grades and continues, unabated for most students, through high school. This does produce low motivation. How many adults could engage, daily, in unsuccessful activities without eventually suffering low motivation? Still, it is a secondary cause. Engage these students in well designed, stimulating, successful learning activities -- that develop skills, knowledge and application capabilities to proficiency -- and they will thrive.
The performance challenge facing schools is systemic, but society is not yet prepared to undertake the radical redesign required to achieve universal student proficiency, the nation's performance goal. During this period of national and world recession we should be mindful that if the United States is to remain a leading, prosperous economic force our children, all our children, must be successfully educated. By Susan Mournian, Bay ParkTuesday, Nov. 11, 2008 | Watching the City Council appoint members to the Unified Port of San Diego's board calls into question the characters of elected officials. Many boards and commissions remain outdated because the mayor did not view these appointments as critical.
Tomorrow the same august body of "deciders" will seal the fate of two parks and a library in Bay Park.
The mayor is asking all to "feel the pain" of his budget cuts. However, three core community facilities within a 3-mile area is more like putting this area in the ICU.
Tecolote Park serves over 500 youth league baseball families. The center staff is critical to making the fields safe and the park run smoothly. Without staff the homeless problem at this park can only increase.
As a long term member of the Tecolote Recreation Council, I can attest to our generosity in sponsoring and volunteering well-loved community events -- Family Day, Lunch with Santa, and the Spring Egg Hunt. We made sure these events were usually free so children and parents of all economic means could participate.
Now our efforts and those of other volunteers in other parks are being threatened by the mayor. It is worth noting that this same mayor recently created a position (director of special projects) for former San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Gerry Braun, which pays $140,000 per year. I guess he is worth more to the mayor than families. By Frances O'Neill Zimmerman, La JollaMonday, Nov. 10, 2008 | The San Diego Education Association has spent a lot of money to elect politically ambitious novice John Lee Evans in place of devoted, big-picture incumbent school board member Mitz Lee. SDEA has achieved a labor-indebted majority on the Board of Education, just as it enters into contentious contract negotiations for its teacher members during grim budget times. Maybe that majority will provide our teachers some financial security -- but maybe it won't. When there's no money, there's no money; and personnel is always the largest expense of any school system. Furthermore, this newly configured labor-friendly board majority may exhibit such tunnel vision governance that it will fuel criticism and renewed opposition from those enemies of public schools, teachers' unions and elected boards of education who always welcome opportunities to discredit and dismantle the fragile status quo.
Personally, I hope SDEA President Camille Zombro, Superintendent Terry Grier and the five-member elected Board of Education will understand that they share a paramount common responsibility: to provide the best possible public education for San Diego children.
They will have their work cut out in the coming lean year, and the community will miss Mitz Lee. By Anne Farrell, Del MarMonday, Nov. 10, 2008 | In response to the item about the county's community enhancement and project funds, I want to speak up for the enormous value these grants are to the citizens of our San Diego County. The grants for a variety of worthy nonprofit organizations are used to provide cultural education programs that are otherwise not available in our schools. They also help promote San Diego County to tourists, thus expanding the resources available to everyone for government services.
Many nonprofit groups like the YMCA and Boys and Girls Clubs have benefited greatly from program and capital support provided by the Board of Supervisors, as have the wonderful arts and cultural groups throughout the county that help make San Diego such a special place to live. As a taxpaying citizen of the county, I very much hope that the board continues these two grant programs. In the overall scheme of the county budget, they are modest; but the services and programs they provide reach literally hundreds of thousands of people each year, and deserve to continue. By Lynn Swanson, La MesaMonday, Nov. 10, 2008|So it is confirmed -- there is a God in heaven.
By Lynne Kennedy, Mission HillsMonday, Nov. 10, 2008 | Regarding your article "Slush Funds Run Dry," I would like to state emphatically that a suspension of community enhancement funds to arts and cultural institutions would be a devastating blow to school children and families in the San Diego area, particularly in these lean times. The museums and arts organizations provide a wealth of educational and cultural resources to the community. Their support for schools, as well as for after-school, adult, young adult and senior programs, is unparalleled anywhere in the region.
Science and art museums, zoos and performing and visual arts facilities fill in the gaps that classroom teachers and parents badly want and need. I urge the county supervisors to reconsider and continue to fund arts and culture.
Lynne Kennedy is the deputy executive director for the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park. By Steve Epstien, Chiang Mai, ThailandMonday, Nov. 10, 2008 | As a person who has known former school board candidate Xeng Yang for two decades, I vouch for his heartfelt concern for the issues of students and teachers in our schools. This is his agenda. He is not planning a future in politics. This man is truly dedicated to improving our schools. There is no cynical ploy or hidden agenda.
Our district would have been well served by his election. By Charles Pratt, University CitySunday, Nov. 9, 2008 | Sherri Lightner won the District 1 City Council seat in large part because she and her dedicated volunteers who share her politics, including labor, did a lot of hard work in the community. Although many pundits seem to have a top-down view of power based on a "great man" view of history, I think they should read more writers like Howard Zinn and the late Studs Terkel to understand how the people make their own history and shape their own leaders, not the reverse.
By Virginia Graham, University CityThursday, Nov. 6, 2008 | I commend the budget cuts, Mayor Sanders, but how about spreading the $2,000,000 reduction in the library budget evenly over all libraries? We can cut hours and staff at all 33 branches to achieve the cost savings, and still preserve the assets that our libraries are to our communities. By Brien O'Meara, TierrasantaThursday, Nov. 6, 2008|Could someone explain to me how the removal of "200 fire rings" around Mission Bay saves the city any money? Is this just another example of a bureaucrat in the parks department trying to cut any service to the people in an attempt to get "screams," "calls" from disgruntled tax papers to demand more money to the parks department? After a drive around Mission Bay any given morning, and seeing the multitude of city workers standing, sitting, doing nothing in city vehicles, I suggest the parks department could be reduced by at least 10 percent with no change in services. This of course assumes the remaining city workers actually work during their hours of "labor." By Daniel J. Smiechowski, Bay HoWednesday, Nov. 5, 2008 | Regarding the defeat of former city attorney Mike Aguirre: The French playwright Molière could not have written a more tragic comedy. I believe that Mike Aguirre had a political death wish of sorts, somewhat akin to the masochism of a triathlete. That is, he relished confrontation and its concomitant effect of emotional pain. Strangely, I see much of myself in Iron Mike.
Some folks thrive on an against-the-grain philosophy, predicating and validating their so-called antisocial behavior on a Mother Teresa complex, and perhaps erroneously comparing themselves to past historical figures. Despite his personal comportment, I believe Aguirre always had the best interests of the disenfranchised at heart. I can say all of this with certainty because I am the same person.
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A little recognition.
Friday, November 21 -- 4:03 pm
It doesn't look like the mayor has the City Council votes to shut down libraries and rec centers.
Friday, November 21 -- 2:02 pm
The first day a store opens, shoplifters have a field day.
Friday, November 21 -- 11:43 am
SURVIVAL IN SAN DIEGO
Retail and construction sectors lose a combined 10,000 jobs over the year in San Diego County.
Friday, November 21 -- 5:43 pm
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Time to pony up.
Thursday, November 20 -- 7:20 pm
CAFÉ SAN DIEGO
Follow up to your responses and questions.
Thursday, November 20 -- 7:07 pm
COMMENTARY: SLOP
It's not looking like he did.
Friday, November 21 -- 4:50 pm
COMMENTARY: RICH TOSCANO
Home sales have exploded in low-priced areas of San Diego even as they decline in pricier neighborhoods.
Thursday, November 20 -- 11:13 pm
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Letters may be edited for length -- we prefer they not be longer than 350 words. And they may be edited for style and libelous content.