2ND ANNUAL CHRISTMAS IN JAMUL CRAFT SHOW NOV. 17
November 9, 2012 (Jamul) – The 2nd Annual Christmas in Jamul craft show is November 17, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Reno’s Pub & Grub, 14019 Campo Road, Jamul. The craft show features Christmas themed crafts and more by local craftsmen. Santa will be on hand for photo opportunities. The craft show will take place on the patio. Hot dogs and cheeseburgers will be available for purchase at $2 and $3 respectively.
BLOCK WINS STATE SENATE RACE OVER PLESCIA
By Miriam Raftery November 9, 2012 (San Diego)—In an election where voters overwhelmingly showed support for public education, education champion and Assemblyman Marty Block easily won his race to take a seat representing the 39th State Senate district. With 100% of precincts counted and only absentees remaining, Block has captured 57.4% of the vote, while ex-Assemblyman George Plescia got 42.57%. Chairman of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, Block previously served as a professor and assistant dean at San Diego State University. Read ECM’s interview with Block during the election here: http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/11507 . In the Legislature, he has fought to make higher education more accessible and affordable for students. Block had backing from teachers and other educators, as well as firefighters, nurses, law enforcement and the Sierra Club. His opponent drew fire for airing deceptive ads during the campaign. But the tactic appears to have backfired. Block’s race was one of several viewed as key to enabling Democrats to win a supermajority of two-thirds in the State Senate. Democrats also won a two-thirds majority in the Assembly—enough to pass budgets and enact legislation unilaterally that have long been opposed by the minority party. “I think we can finally break the stalemate we’ve had for all these years in Sacramento,” Block told the North County Times in a post-election interview. Block’s former Assembly seat will be filled by Dr. Shirley Weber, also a career educator. A San Diego State professor and former head of the San Diego Unified School Board, Weber becomes the first African-American elected by San Diegans to serve in the California Legislature. Voters also enacted Proposition 30, the Governor’s measure to secure funding for K-12 and higher education, by a substantial margin.
WINTER STORM AND HIGH WIND WARNINGS ISSUED
November 9, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) – Wind gusts up to 65 mph and heavy snowfall in San Diego’s mountains are forecast for tonight through Saturday, with snow falling to the 4,000 foot level tonight in areas including Cuyamaca, Mount Laguna and Ranchita. Up to a foot of snow may fall on higher elevations, with 3 to 6 inches above 4,500 feet. In valley and desert areas, rainfall and gusty winds are forecast as well by the National Weather Service in San Diego. Travel on mountain and desert roads may be hazardous in these conditions, with blowing snow and sand. If you must travel, carry chains for your vehicle as well as a flashlight, extra food, water and clothing. This weather could be deadly for unprepared campers or hikers, the National Weather Service warns. Be prepared for power outages! Sign up to follow ViejasAlerts on Twitter to receive alerts on your mobile device, and also subscribe free to our e-mail alerts at www.EastCountyMagazine.org on the top right side of our homepage and also get a free weekly copy of East County Magazine. We recommend all of these, since you don’t know what communications forms will be working in a major regional emergency.
POLITICAL WRANGLING: BIGGERS WINNERS AND LOSERS—WHO WEREN’T ON THE BALLOT
By Buck Shott November 9, 2012 (San Diego) –Some of the biggest winners and losers in this election weren’t candidates—though they’ll clearly be feeling the impacts of the election outcomes. So who in town needs crying towels, and who should be popping champagne? From our region’s not-so-influential media mogul to techie geeks who proved social media can help defeat special interests, here are our picks for the biggest post-election winners and losers: THE LOSERS: Doug “Papa” Manchester is surely the biggest loser in San Diego. He spent millions to buy San Diego’s biggest newspaper (U-T San Diego) to use as his personal propaganda tool for promoting candidates and causes that he backs. He even wrapped the front page in glowing editorials for Carl DeMaio and Mitt Romney– invoking criticisms for violating every ethical standard in journalism—only to see both lose. Bad investment—now let’s hope he’ll cut his losses and sell out to someone who actually cares about journalistic integrity. SDG&E and its shareholders must be having some nervous moments now that Bob Filner has been elected mayor. After all, he’s vowed to form a local energy cooperative to compete against SDG&E, giving us all the option to buy power from a rival that buys the bulk of its energy from rooftop solar produced locally. Just imagine, no more paying our utility bills to a corporation that caused our region’s worst wildfires and had the gall to ask ratepayers to pay for them! I for one can’t wait to see Filner pull the plug on SDG&E. The Chargers will need to come up with a new strategy to meet their goals, since Mayor-elect Filner has said he doesn’t think taxpayers should foot the bill for a new football stadium. Special interests: It’s getting tough to buy voters in California. An anti-consumer ballot initiative bankrolled by Mercury Insurance went down for the second election in a row (though Monsanto did manage to kill a food-labeling initiative by a modest margin). Locally, a La Mesa Council candidate backed by a last-minute $37,000 mailer funded by out-of-state realtors finished dead last. THE WINNERS: Students in public schools were on voters’ A list. Now that Prop 30 has passed, restoring a large portion of funds slashed from education budgets, California State University promptly reduced tuitions. Across the state, districts may now start hiring back teachers and reducing class sizes, as well as restoring courses and programs that fell to the budget axe. Social media played a role in local and national races. Thanks to the power of YouTube videos and Facebook, a grassroots group called Much Better Choices ran professional-caliber Swift-boat style ads targeting Congressman Brian Bilbray, all on a shoestring budget. Indiscreet Facebook posts by losing judicial candidate Jim Miller drew broad media attention. Even national candidates learned that you can’t escape your past online–Mitt Romney dissed disaster relief back in the primary—only to see his comments roar through cyberspace after Hurricane Sandy left voters across the East Coast eager to receive some of that “immoral” federal aid. Labor unions flexed their muscle to defeat Prop 32, which sought to quash the power of unions. The unions responded by getting out the force in force—also electing pro-labor candidates across San Diego. “When are they going to learn not to mess with the unions?” quipped a beaming Lorena Gonzalez, top boss at the San Diego Imperial-Counties Labor Council. Alpine families stand to finally get the new high school promised in two bond measures that voters approved. Amid a Grand Jury probe into alleged misappropriation of bond monies, one incumbent on the Grossmont Union High School Board got ousted, replaced by Jim Stieringer, who says he will support a new Alpine High School– at last.
EL CAJON HOSTS CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION: FREE FESTIVITIES FOR COMMUNITY ON MONDAY, NOV. 12
November 9, 2012 (El Cajon)–On November 12, the City of El Cajon will celebrate 100 years as a city. Free festivities at this community celebration will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in downtown El Cajon on Rea Ave. and East Main St. between Magnolia and Claydelle Avenues. The area will be closed to traffic. This once-in-a-century event will feature opening and closing ceremonies,including a Salute to our Veterans with Congressman Duncan D. Hunter leading off the tribute. See Centennial and historical displays, two stages with community and musical entertainment, a marketplace, vintage cars for each decade, NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson’s #48 show car, and a reunion of stock car racers from the days of the Cajon Speedway! Kids can enjoy a petting zoo, crafts, pony rides, cowboy boot camp, climbing wall and more. A one-of a kind Centennial Taylor guitar will be given away at 5 p.m. to one lucky person that completes a Centennial passport and submits their name at the Taylor Guitar both. If you have historical family photos of growing up in El Cajon, and/or fun stories to share, please share them on our Centennial website. For more information please visit www.elcajon100.com. Special note: If you know of someone turning the age of 100 during 2012, email celebrate@elcajon100.com, or call (619) 441-1737. Register to receive updates on the festivities, to be a volunteer, supporting sponsor, or to share your memories and/or photos of growing up in El Cajon by visiting http://www.elcajon100.com.
ASSESSING THE OBAMA VICTORY AS WELL AS OUTCOMES IN CALIFORNIA AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY
November 8, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) – In startling contrast to numerous national polls that had predicted a near-tie in the presidential race, President Barack Obama won a sweeping victory. Obama captured 303 electoral votes, Romney 206, winning not only Democratic strongholds, but also nearly all swing states. According to CNN, the President also trounced Romney in the popular vote by more than a million vote margin. Similarly, Democrats gained power in Sacramento and San Diego, taking control of the Council and Mayor’s office with wins looking increasingly likely to oust Congressman Bilbray and seat a Democrat on the all-Republican Board of Supervisors. What lessons can be learned from the outcomes? Learning from the presidential race The victory reflects, in large part, America’s changing demographics. Romney support came predominantly from whites, but 28% of voters are now non-white—and Obama won 80% of their votes, Pew Research Center reports. Minorities currently make up 37% of the U.S. population but are projected to become the majority by 2050. Yet the Republican platform largely failed to address the needs and concerns of this growing and increasingly politically active constituency on issues ranging from equality to immigration to the Dream Act. Thus the GOP lost heavily with Hispanics, even though many are Catholics more allied with Republican values on core social issues. Second, the GOP’s stanches and rhetoric on women’s issues gave Obama a strong showing with women, enticing even many moderate voters to vote against not only Romney, but a Republican Party in which rhetoric has grown increasingly hostile to women. Talk of “legitimate rape”, banning abortion even when a woman’s life is at stake, opposing the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay for Women Act and blocking birth control access for women no doubt led many women to cast their ballots for Democrats not only in the presidential race, but Congressional and state Legislative districts as well. Voters across the country also appear to have taken a stand against extremism. Tea Party candidates took a thumping in key Senate races; Romney’s win in the primary over more extreme Republican contenders may also be seen as a rejection of the party’s radical right wing. Fourth, Romney’s repeated flip-flops on issues ranging from healthcare to disaster relief to global warming and women’s rights left some voters wondering just what he really stands for; is he the seemingly moderate Governor of Massachusetts who implemented healthcare reforms, then repudiated them? Or the candidate who tacked far to the right to win the Republican primary, then tried to distance himself from his own words in the general election? Many voters may have opted to cast their votes for clarity and consistency over what appeared to be pandering for votes. While Obama pledged equal opportunities and tax fairness for all including rolling back Bush-era tax cuts on the wealthy, Romney increasingly became perceived as an elitist and worse, uncaring. The former Bain Capital executive personified the 1% and the powers behind the financial collapse. His remarks calling disaster aid “immoral” weren’t exactly compassionate conservatism. Even his business leadership skills-arguably his greatest strength, lost luster when he couldn’t define just what programs he would cut to fund his proposed tax cuts for the wealthy and when his company’s record of outsourcing jobs overseas came to light. Maybe next time Republicans should run a business leader with a track record of bringing jobs back from overseas–not taking away American workers’ jobs. How the vote broke down Obama captured swing states Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio , Virginia, and Wisconsin; one battleground state, Florida, remains too close to call. He also triumphed in the northeast and on the west coast. Romney fared better in southern states, Texas, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas, Kansas and Nebraska. Challenges ahead in a divided Congress Republicans maintained a majority, albeit smaller, in the House of Representatives. While Democrats control the Senate, Republicans still have enough members to muster a filibuster to block passage of bills or presidential appointments. Democrats should not take the sweep to mean that Americans don’t care about such conservative values as reducing the debt and fiscal responsibility. Republicans will still play a key role on such matters and more. Lessons for Republicans For Republicans, one challenge lies in whether or not to continue to obstruct the administration’s proposals on issues ranging from jobs to immigration reforms. There are risks both ways. Clearly the GOP’s stated policy of making defeat of President Obama its number one goal – essentially attempting to doom his policies to failure by failing to enact them—didn’t work out so well in Tuesday’s election. Working across the aisle to allow some of the President’s policies to become law is an alternative strategy that could allow Republicans to claim a partial victory if those policies prove successful at, say, creating jobs and putting the economy back on track, or wooing back disenchanted Latino voters. On the day after the election, Republicans made overtures to begin discussions to reduce the federal debt and prevent a tip over a “fiscal cliff” from occurring January 1. Democrats have sought to do so by letting the Bush-era tax cuts expire, a move Republicans have opposed; the GOP has instead preferred to slash social programs and more. “For the purposes of forging a bipartisan agreement that begins to solve the problem, we’re willing to accept new revenue under the right conditions,” House Speaker John Boehner stated on Wednesday. But he clarified that his idea of new revenues comes not from taxes, but rather “as a byproduct of growing our economy, energized by a simpler, cleaner, fairer tax code, with fewer loopholes and lower rates for all;” Boehner also insisted that Congress must not “continue to duck the matter of entitlements” such as Social Security and Medicare. If Republicans continue down a path of partisan gridlock, insisting only on `compromise’ by Democrats who received a substantial mandate from voters, the party risks a backlash from voters in the next election. Sweeps in California and San Diego Such a backlash
LET THE HOLIDAY SEASON BEGIN! SANTEE TREE LIGHTING CEREMONY NOV. 16
November 9, 2012 (Santee) –Ushering in the holiday season, Santee Trolley Square will be transformed into a cheerful village where carolers dressed in period costumes sing traditional holiday songs, kids can skate on synthetic ice, or pose for photos with Santa Claus while the whole family enjoys live music, food and horse-drawn carriage rides. It’s all part of the city of Santee’s annual tree-lighting ceremony, a free family event to usher in the holiday season on Friday, November 16 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. There will be booths to browse and treats to nibble, including tasty samples from Daphne’s California Greek, Eccentric International Chefs Bakery & Deli. Pure Flo Water Co. will provide hot coco and coffee. There will be plenty of activities for kids. Craft stations will be set up where children can decorate cookies, make their own ornaments and personalized elf hats. The Bayou Brothers, who play a mix of zydeco with a holiday twist, will perform at the amphitheater. The Holiday lighting celebration is focused around the lighting of a 20-foot artificial tree, which is done at the end of a brief ceremony hosted by community leaders. At the same instant the tree is lighted, entry monuments at four major intersections will come aglow with decorative lights. Horse-drawn carriage rides will be available for $1 per person, except for children 3 years or younger, who may ride for free on a lap of an adult. For a $3 fee, children 5 years and older, as well as adults, can glide on ice skates across a 2,400 square-foot synthetic rink. Children will be able to confide their wish lists to Santa. Professional photos with the jolly guy will be available for $10. The title sponsor for the event is Waste Management. Other sponsors include California Coast Credit Union, Santee Trolley Square, Daphne’s California Greek, Fireworks America, and Metropolitan Transit System. More Info: http://www.ci.santee.ca.us Location Details Santee Trolley Square 9884 Mission Gorge Road Santee
CONGRESSWOMAN SUSAN DAVIS WINS REELECTION; NEW DISTRICT INCLUDES MUCH OF EAST COUNTY
By Nadin Abbott November 9, 2012 (San Diego)—Democratic Congresswoman Susan Davis has won reelection, beating Republican challenger Nick Popaditch by a solid 60.42% to 39.58% margin. With redistricting, Davis now represents areas as far east as El Cajon. For Popaditch, a military veteran, this was his second defeat at the polls; in 2010 he ran unsuccessfully against Congressman Bob Filner. Outside Golden Hall (Election Central) on Election Night, Davis told ECM that she is going back to Washington where Republicans still hold a majority in the House of Representatives, albeit by a slimmer margin. Since Tea Party conservatives took power in 2010, the GOP has largely obstructed the Obama administration’s legislative agenda and even threatened to default on the nation’s debt rather than compromise on tax and budget issues. Davis told ECM that following sweeping wins for Democrats in an election that saw several prominent Tea Party members ousted from Congress, she is “opeful that her Republican colleagues “will come back and act like grown ups” to address the nation’s issues in a bipartisan fashion. She added that now is the time to stop “resisting any effort to compromise. We have to move on.” To learn more about Congresswoman Davis, read our recent in-depth interview with her on issues ranging from jobs to veterans at http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/11553 . To view a map of the district, see http://www.co.san-diego.ca.us/voters/Eng/maps/CongressionalSDCountyMap.jpg.
DWELL HOME TOURS EXPLORE AMERICA’S FINEST CITY NOV. 10 – 11
November 9, 2012 (San Diego) — Fans of modern design are invited to explore some of the most notable modern residences in San Diego this fall when the Dwell Home Tours (www.dwellhometours.com) come to America’s Finest City for the first time. The San Diego Tours take place on November 10 and 11 showcasing ten amazing modern homes through the East County, North County and Central San Diego areas ranging from stunning new constructions to brilliant renovations. “We’re thrilled to expand the Dwell Home Tours to San Diego this year,” said Dwell Media President, Michela O’Connor Abrams. “San Diego has such a rich heritage when it comes to modern architecture and we’re excited to show ten breathtaking homes that are both a testament to San Diego’s history as well as a glimpse at its future.” On Saturday, guests are invited to tour five homes in the North County area, including homes by Public Architecture and Planning, The Brown Studio, Brett Farrow Architect, Inc., and Sebastian Mariscal Studio. Whether constructed from reclaimed timber from the San Diego wildfires like the Modern Cardiff Residence, or built to be “a house of introspection” with constantly changing light and shadows like the Phoenix House, each of the homes tells a compelling narrative. On Sunday, Dwell Home Tour ticket holders are invited to view five homes in the East County and Central San Diego areas, including homes by Taal Safdie of Safdie Rabines Architects, John Mock,Bill Bocken Architecture and Interior Design, Nakhshab Development and Design, and McGeough LaFrance Architects. Casa Diagonal rises dramatically above the Pacific while the Mission Hill Treehouse is a 1970s gem reawakened by a restructuring that honors its perch high above the fray. The tour includes a stunning home in La Mesa, known as the Chavez house. Tickets can be purchased online at www.dwellhometours.com/buy-tickets. Purchase a 2-day pass and receive 1 free ticket to the Meet the Architects reception on Friday, November 9th. Single day passes are also available. A portion of all ticket proceeds will benefit Dwell Home Tours non-profit partner, Architecture for Humanity (www.architectureforhumanity.org/), and its mission.