Just got this from the City Attorney’s office, for those of you who are obsessed with—er, interested in all things Blackwater:

The City Attorney issued a legal opinion on Friday indicating that a series of building permits issued by the City of San Diego’s Development Services Department to a subsidiary of Blackwater Worldwide, a global security firm whose work in Iraq has fallen under criticism, were obtained improperly and a more rigorous permitting process should be completed. The City Attorney opined that a stop work order should be issued immediately and a more rigorous application process undertaken.

Southwest Law Enforcement Training Enterprises, a subsidiary of Blackwater Worldwide, obtained permits for tenant improvements to an existing warehouse in Otay Mesa the area of the City of San Diego. The permit applications specified that the building was to be used as a “training facility.” The original building was formerly used as a warehouse. One of the three applications filed by Southwest Law Enforcement stated that the proposed use of the building as “same (no change).”

As a result of the representations in the permit application the permits were issued under the DSD’s “ministerial” process, which meant no City Council or other discretionary approval was required.

More recent tenant improvement application submitted by Southwest Law Enforcement Training Enterprises was to construct an “indoor firing range.”

The legal opinion issued by the City Attorney’s Office also states that California Environmental Quality Act is also necessary in order to address the environmental impacts of a firing range

A friend of mine used to work at James Gang, the Ocean Beach-based screeenprinting company that’s become a landmark over the years. He loved it and described it as one of those dream jobs where you feel like you’re working for your own family.

The owner, Richard James, died last month. The Ocean Beach Business Association sent out the write-up below and organized a community mourning ceremony that’s happening this Sunday. Call the association for details:

Richard Donald James, 61, of Ocean Beach, passed from this world on Sunday night, April 27, 2008, surrounded by his family and friends. He was an artist, businessman, community activist, world-traveler and irreplaceable friend to many.

Rich was the smiling guy in the “Dolphinmobile,” his 1965 Chevy convertible featuring dolphins hand-painted by its owner. Locals would most likely see this OB auto-icon transporting Rich, his beloved dog Buddy, and Buddy’s doggy friends for their daily workout at Dog Beach.

Rich will most likely be remembered as the “Father of the Ocean Beach Christmas Tree and Parade,” an event that reflects the quirkiness, humor and tolerance of its founder and the community he called home for over 30 years.

Born in Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego on Dec. 16, 1946, Rich lived his childhood years in a modest two-bedroom East San Diego Redwood Village home. He was the second son of a Navy family of five brothers and one sister headed by a loving mother, Nila, and caring but stern father, Bill, a chief petty officer corpsman fresh from service in World War II in the Pacific.

In 1953, the James family spent two years in Adak, Alaska, a naval communications station in the Aleutian Islands. For the sailors based there, it was considered a hardship outpost. But to Rich and his brothers, it was a natural wonderland - a world apart from the chaparral cover canyons of San Diego.

The James family moved to Oakland in 1962. Rich was enrolled in Castlemont High School, one of the most crime-ridden high schools in the nation at the time. Instead of fearing his new surroundings, Rich reveled in its diversity. He excelled on the swimming team and was the only white member of a black high school fraternity.

Rich served in the U.S. Navy along with his brother, Ron, and his dad during the Vietnam War. After being honorably discharged, he enrolled in Chico State University where he graduated with a degree in graphic design. The artistic philosophy he learned there, that less is more, morphed into his life philosophy during the last dozen years.

In the early 1970s, Rich and his brothers settled into Ocean Beach. In 1980, they started the James Gang, a T-shirt screen-printing company that grew rapidly and soon expanded into a small chain of beach-apparel retail stores around San Diego and in Redding.

The James Gang became an active in the community where Rich and his brothers played significant roles in launching the annual Fourth of July Festival and the Ocean Beach Christmas Tree Festival and Parade.

Rich came up with the idea for the Christmas festival in 1976 when he was celebrating the success of the first Fireworks Festival at the Sunshine Saloon. He suggested a 20-foot community tree and tree-lighting ceremony. The more beer they consumed the taller the tree got, and by the end of the night the tree had to be at least 60 feet tall. That year, Rich found a wonderful 70-foot tree on Mount Shasta and he and his OB friends trucked it into OB with great fanfare. Rich was a social animal. He loved to gather with his friends on Newport Avenue. He would throw great parties, including a series of legendary “James Gang Get Down Hoe Downs” in Harbinson Canyon.

Living large took its toll on his health and he decided to change his lifestyle. Rich immersed himself in spiritual studies, painting and photography. He painted underwater seascape murals all over San Diego and worked with children to paint murals at their school and during the Fourth of July Festival. He often traveled to tropical destinations, including Jamaica, Costa Rica, Mexico and Thailand, where he loved the warm waters and free spirits who lived there. Rich had one enduring dream — a simple home in a tropical paradise. Just a few months ago, with the help of his father, that dream was made a reality when Rich purchased a small home near a beautiful beach in Costa Rica. Earlier this month, he spent a week fixing up the small home and swimming in the warm waters before falling ill and returning to San Diego. Despite heroic efforts by the caring staff of the Veterans Administration Hospital, Rich never recovered consciousness after surgery. He was surrounded by his loving family and friends when he left us. Rich is survived by his father, Bill, of Redding; brothers Ron James of Mt. Helix, Greg and Mike James of San Diego, Pat James of Ocean Beach and Kelly Jay of Redding.

Rich was one-of-a-kind in the best sense. He loved life and everyone he met. He had amazing warmth and generosity of spirit. His legacy to the community will be felt for generations to come.

We miss him very much but know he wouldn’t want us grieve. He would want us to celebrate his life by celebrating our own. He would grin and say, “I’m too blessed to be stressed,” and then sing a few words from his favorite Bob Marley song … “Every Little Thing’s Gonna Be Alright.”

A celebration of Richard’s life will be held in Ocean Beach in May. The details and photos of Rich and his art will be available at www.richjames.org.

Ocean Beach MainStreet Association · 1868 Bacon St., #A. · San Diego · CA · 92107 · 619-224-4906
OceanBeachSanDiego.com

]]> http://lastblogonearth.com/2008/05/16/the-mand-behind-james-gang/feed/ Kinz http://lastblogonearth.com/2008/05/16/gay-marriage-and-the-ballot-initiative/ http://lastblogonearth.com/2008/05/16/gay-marriage-and-the-ballot-initiative/#comments Fri, 16 May 2008 17:46:49 +0000 Eric Wolff http://sdcitybeat.wordpress.com/?p=1860

After the California State Supreme Court decided yesterday that the state had to allow same-sex marriages, opponents immediately filed their ballot proposal to amend the state constitution. But from my conversations with San Diegans yesterday and today, people seem very confused about the difference between an initiative that creates an amendment and an initiative that creates a law. So I called the California Secretary of State’s office to get it all straightened out.

First, understand that there is a big difference between an initiative that creates a new law and an initiative that amends the California constitution. If voters were o approve a law that limited the definition of marriage to one man and one woman, the court could overturn that law. That was what the court did yesterday: decide that a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

But an amendment to the state constitution limiting the definition of marriage would invalidate yesterday’s court decision. The only law higher than the state constitution is federal law—and, in particular, the U.S. Constitution. So if an amendment to the state constitution is passed, same-sex marriage will once again be forbidden, though civil unions would still be legal. The only way an amendment to the state constitution could be overturned is if the U.S. Supreme Court rules against it, or if Congress passed a law and the president signed it.

Procedurally, the main difference is in qualifying for the ballot. Getting a new law on the ballot requires the signatures of 5 percent of the number of people who voted in the last gubernatorial election, which right now would be about 433,000. Getting a constitutional amendment on the ballot requires 8 percent, which would be 694,000 signatures. The coalition that’s trying to get the anti-gay marriage initiative on the ballot for November says they have 1.1 million signatures. Even if a great many of them are invalidated upon review, the amendment is likely to qualify.

Once it’s on the ballot, the amendment, just like any other initiative, needs a simple majority of votes to become law. The last time Californians considered an anti-gay marriage measure, in 2000, some 60 percent of voters were against same-sex marriage.

Several factors could create different results this time. Democrats, who are traditionally friendlier to gay-rights issues than Republicans, voted in record numbers in March’s presidential primary. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was not yet in office in 2000, will not be supporting a constitutional amendment, and he may even work against it. And, frankly, it’s eight years later. Homosexuality has simply become more of a commonplace part of American culture. Massachusetts has allowed gay marriage for four years now. Also, it seems that people are far more worried about the price of gas than they are about whether two women are in a civil union or if they’re married.

WHO: The San Diego Derby Dolls are an all-female, hybrid and banked flat track, quad-skating rock ‘n’ roll legaue founded in 2003. Athletic and alluring, the Derby Dolls strive to be the fastest, most fearless ladies outfitted in fishnets. The Dolls are coached by Bonnie “D” Stroir Beck and currently bout at Skateworld.

WHAT: Double Header Bouts against Rocky Mountain Rollergirls and A.Z.R.D.!

WHEN: Saturday, May 17, 2008 @ 6 pm (Doors open @ 5pm)
Bout One: 6pm
Bout Two: 7pm

WHERE: Skateworld in Linda Vista
6907 Linda Vista Road

WHY: Show off our new All Star team, featuring two teams from other cities! www.derbydolls.com

The San Diego Derby Dolls continue to thrill fans of the fastest growing sport in the nation by hosting Prison City and Team Awesome for two action packed bouts in one night! Bout one will feature San Diego’s own Hard Corps against Prison City. Bout two will pit the national All-Stars, Team Awesome against the S.D. Derby Dolls’ All-Stars in what is sure to be an hour full of nail-biting suspense!

I thought that you and CityBeat’s Last Blog on Earth readers might be interested in learning about the Allan Kaprow Happening that’s going on at MCASD Downtown this Saturday, May 17.

Starting at Noon at MCASD Downtown, local artists and university students will be re-staging Kaprow’s Giveaway (first staged in 1969). They will be placing dishes on street corners throughout downtown San Diego near MCASD’s Jacobs Building and 1001 Kettner locations, photographing them, and then returning to the sites the next day to photograph them again.

You can view photos from last Saturday’s re-staging of Allan Kaprow’s Happening, Pose (1969), which took place Saturday afternoon near MCASD Downtown.

http://www.moca.org/kaprow/index.php/2008/05/12/documentation-of-pose-by-mcasd/

The re-invention of Kaprow’s Happenings are in conjunction with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), Los Angeles exhibition Allan Kaprow–Art as Life.

We let the downtown development people rename the area around Petco Park the “East Village” without batting an eye.   It’s a cool name, I suppose, but the area still has a lot of catching up to do before it even comes close to comparing to its Manhattan counterpart.

A good step in the coolification of the East Village is the new farmers market that’s kicking off this Saturday, May 17, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. between Market and G streets on Eight Avenue. Put on by the San Diego Black Historical Society, the market will be a welcomed addition to a ‘hood that, as of now, is still a bit lacking in the interesting-things-to-do-and-see department.

Hey friends, hope you can come down to Winston’s Drunk Poet’s this Monday. I’ll be opening up for Andrew Foster Altschul with some new pieces of my own. There will probably be some drinking before, during and after the reading so come on down shriner!

Break out the Champagne, folks! From the AP:

The California Supreme Court has overturned a ban on gay marriage, paving the way for California to become the second state where gay and lesbian residents can marry.

The food event that I’ve been hoping for but fearing more than a little is coming this July, when a Beard Papa opens in Plaza Bonita. Who is Beard Papa? This pipe-smoking, bearded grandpa looks harmless enough, but he is a pastry-pusher and his cracktastic cream puffs are the devil’s dessert. When I last vacationed in a city with a Beard Papa outpost, I ate one every single day, to my delight and dismay. The puffs have an airy two-layer shell, the inner pastry is tender like eclair dough and the outer shell is as crisp and light as perfect pie crust. The custard filling is a just slightly thickened creme brulee, flecked with vanilla beans and not to sweet. There’s also coffee and green tea-flavored fillings. Sweet tooths, be warned.

After three years on hiatus, actress, fashion designer and, above all, comedian Margaret Cho is back on tour. Cho is queen of the raunchy kind of humor that makes you so uncomfortable you have no choice but to giggle and wiggle around in your seat. She’s a middle-aged women, for Christ’s Sake, you’ll be thinking, how can she be saying these nasty things?

Dubbed the “Beautiful” tour, the last thing you can expect from this political-minded, bisexual, race-in-your-face funny girl is talk about things that are cute. She may go off on a tangent about puppies and where she likes to kiss them, but aside form that, she’ll be dishing on the ridiculousness of women’s issues with their own bodies, how Hollywood seems to hate Asians and other such socially critical conjectures that’ll make you laugh, but think a little, too. Just a little, and we promise it won’t hurt.

Since Cho is coming to San Diego’s Viejas Concerts in Park at 8 p.m. Friday, and Saturday May 16 and 17, she decided to let us have one of our bushy-tailed interns, Amanda Schoepflin, send her an e-mail Q&A. So here it is. Nice and unedited and raw, which is how we roll when it comes to the CityBeat blog:

Amanda Schoepflin: After reading your bio, it all comes together as to where you came from—San Francisco being one of the freest minded creative centers of the U.S. Do you feel as if growing up there held any influence on the way you developed your interest in comedy?

Margaret Cho: I think growing up in SF had a huge impact on my world-view. It made me much more progressive politically and more interested and compassionate towards different and diverse communities. There was also a huge comedy scene there when I was growing up and I couldn’t wait to jump into it. I love San Francisco.

AS: How do you play a role in the LGBT community? Have you always been active? I found your website loveisloveislove.com; tell me about all you do there.

MC: I have been active within the LGBT community for many years. When I started doing comedy I did a lot of AIDS fund-raising, and then played many gay clubs and have worked within the queer community since. I wanted loveisloveislove.com to be about gay marriage, to share our stories with each other, to talk about the importance of it—the goal was to make it happen.

AS: Petitions against gay marriage are popping up everywhere in the U.S. California’s deadline for signatures was this month. Do you believe the legislative efforts are mostly based on personal beliefs instead of the fairness?

MC: It is ridiculous. People want to hold onto their homophobia so bad, they want it written into the law
books and constitutions. I don’t get it.

AS: What are you opinions on gay couples’ hopes for building families?

MC: That this must happen.

AS: What is one way for the LGBT community to stand stern against the denial of homosexual marriages?

MC: By sharing our experiences, by voicing our opinions, by making sure we are heard.

AS: Generally San Diego upholds is free-minded when it comes to tolerance and acceptance, including local teen centers, GSA’s and LGBT organizations in several high schools. How would you encourage people to spread the peace?

MC: It is about telling our stories, in any way possible. When you can speak about an issue personally, it is inevitable that people will be forced to understand you. If ignorance is fought with love and truth, love and truth will prevail.

AS: What would you say to the younger generation about being comfortable in their own skin, regardless of their sexual preference?

MC: That they are perfect and beautiful.

AS: Do you believe that the younger generation will stand a better chance for acceptance as members of the LGBT community compared to the earlier generations?

MC: I am always inspired by younger people. They have gay-straight alliances in high schools now! It blows my mind. The kids today are so cool!

AS: Was it ever a problem for you growing up, finding acceptance from your peers or family? I heard one of your stands-ups on YouTube, where your mom is calling about you being gay. How’d you deal?

MC: My parents are very accepting. They were the first people to tell me that gay people were no different than straight people. They put me into the care of many gays and lesbians when I was a kid because they thought it would be the perfect ‘charm school’. My father believed gay men knew more about art, literature, music - he wanted me to learn from them and I did!

AS: How do you feel about your current tour? It’s been three years and now you’re back on stage, how does it feel being back on the road?

MC: The show is called Beautiful for a number of reasons—but one is because it is the raunchiest show I have ever done, and I think at my age that is just beautiful. I love this show. I am very proud of it—but the road is exhausting!

AS: How’s working close with Liam Sullivan? I’ve also seen you and Liam in The Dresden Doll’s “Shores of California” music video. Were you friends before, or was it the comedy that brought you together?

MC: Liam is amazing and so much fun. This is the second show we have done together. The first was the sensuous woman, which we toured with and then did off Broadway last year. I introduced Liam to the Dresden Dolls. We are all going to do the Dresden Dolls show in la later in May.

********

Speaking of Liam Sullivan, our intern got talked into doing a Q&A with the guy by the scheming PR peeps behind the Margaret Cho machine. It’s a good thing she did, though, because it turned out pretty interesting:

AS: Liam Sullivan: comedian, actor, and bringing the “betch” out of us all. What really got YouTubers addicted was more than Shoes; it was the charisma of the character of which you’ve created, Kelly, with her bleached wig and bright lipstick and awkwardly fitting sense of style. Becoming a YouTube sensation seems more than easy for you with your hilarious videos. Was it a surprise for you when “Shoes” became the winner of the 2007 People’s Choice Award for “Favorite User-Generated Video” by YouTube?

LS: It was a surprise, definitely. I never thought this would go so far.

AS: You’ve become an internet celeb as well as made several appearances in the mainstream scene. You’ve done gigs for TV shows: 8 Simple Rules, Gilmore Girls, Alias, and in the movie The Convent and starred for two shows A Liam Show and I Hate My 30’s. Do you prefer touring over doing TV projects?

LS: I prefer actually making my own videos. I love performing live, but it’s very gratifying to have a vision for something and shoot it myself. I seem to do best in that arena.

AS: Did you expect your fame to grow as much as it had through the internet? I mean c’mon, “Shoes” is on iTunes, has been on the top-10 spot of iTunes Comedy. You’ve done a lot of comedy and theater in Boston and L.A. What is it that you love about your job?

LS: I love making people laugh. It’s kind of addicting.

AS: Where did the character Kelly—the blond headed with the take-no-shit-from-anyone attitude—come from? After reading a couple blogs, its apparent that word is spreading that Kelly’s supposed to be your inner self, your alter ego?

LS: Kelly is my inner teenage girl. I didn’t know I had one, until one day when I was playing around with my voice, as I am wont to do on occasion. I said, “Shut up, betch!” and Kelly was born. I like her because she is very strong-willed, she makes up her own vocabulary (betch, deck, shetbag), and she doesn’t let anyone or anything stand in her way.

AS: How’s touring with Margaret Cho? Do you find it a lot different getting up in front of a crowd of people and doing your thing, compared to TV recordings for shows?

LS: Touring with Margaret Cho has been a delight. She is a true professional, and she’s taught me a lot. People seem to know who I am when I walk out on stage, so that helps me get over my nerves of being out there.

AS: How long are you expecting this tour with Cho to be? Got any secret projects you’ve been working on?

LS: We’ve got about six more shows, and after that, I don’t know. I am working on something for Aunt Susan, Kelly’s aunt…probably a video or two and a whole album of her funny folk songs. I’ve got a new Kelly video coming out on May 27th.

AS: Is there anything you’d like to say about the tour? Is it generating a lot of support for the LGBT community?

LS: I didn’t even know what LGBT stood for before I did the Kelly character. I’m still not sure. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender? I’ve been very lucky that I’ve found an audience that digs what I do, and I appreciate every laugh I get.

In 1919, San Diego gave 15 acres of land at the bayfront end of Broadway to the Navy. The Navy used it for a long time, until the Pentagon decided in 2005 that the land was no longer needed and threatened to take it away. To avoid losing it, the Navy, in accordance with a 1992 agreement with the city, invited a developer to build a new Navy headquarters on part of the land in exchange for development rights to the rest of the property. In 2006, Doug Manchester signed a 99-year lease to be just that developer, and he’s been struggling mightily to begin construction on a set of office and hotel buildings ever since.

Amid a series of legal challenges to the project, the California Coastal Commission, a government body charged under the Coastal Act with ensuring public access to all of California’s shoreline, stepped in to announce that it wanted to assess the project. Manchester sued, arguing that the Commission had no jurisdiction over the Federal land. On April 30, a judge ruled that he was right.

Manchester’s attorney spelled out the implications of the decision in two quotes he gave to the San Diego Business Journal:

“It impacts the entire coastline — every single project that the Coastal Commission is reviewing on land that’s owned by the federal government,” said Steve Strauss, a partner at Cooley Godward Kronish’s San Diego law office and legal counsel for Manchester. “This is a big deal for Coastal. This has a huge impact on them, and no one has challenged their jurisdiction in the tidelands before.”

And then:

“This ruling held that property that’s in the tidelands, normally subject to Coastal Commission jurisdiction and permitting, is (exempt) if it’s owned by the federal government even if there is private development on the federal site,” Strauss said.

Those broad implications launched Assemblymember Lori Saldaña on a new mission: Close the loophole that allowed private developers to build whatever they wanted on the bayfront, if it was on federal land. She introduced a bill that required the federal government to get state approval before it transferred any tideland to a private developer. Saldaña spokesman Joe Kocurek told me the State Lands Commission would be entrusted to evaluate whether any such project was consistent with the California Tidelands Trust. He also said that Saldaña believes military uses are consistent with that trust.

The bill passed the Assembly 43-29 in a party-line vote today. Saldaña is optimistic the bill will pass the Democrat-controlled Senate, but she has not yet spoken to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to get his reaction. A spokesperson for Schwarzenegger said he typically does not take a position on bills until they reach his desk for possible signature.

More fun and games at City Council tonight.

The issue was contract negotiations between the Mayor’s office and three employee unions: the Municipal Employees Union (MEA, the white collars), Local 127 (the blue collars) and the Deputy City Attorneys Association. There was a dispute between the unions and the Mayor’s office on how the parties would proceed in the case of a negotiations impasse and, it seems, whether there was an impasse in the first place. I’m not completely clear on the ins, the outs and the what-have-yous, but the unions were alleging that Mayor Jerry Sanders changed the rules of the game mid-stream and attempted to impose a different contract than the unions were expecting, although it seems the most recent imposition included concessions on a new employee pension system.

What’s interesting in all this is who sided with whom.

City Attorney Mike Aguirre, who’s been at odds with Sanders and his people for nearly two years now, backed Sanders, going so far as to commend him for doing the right thing for the city of San Diego. Aguirre said it was within Sanders’ authority to impose the contract he was trying to impose. Councilmember Jim Madaffer, who can’t stand Aguirre, made the motion on the mayor’s contract offer, and after the vote, Aguirre approached Madaffer and shook his hand. The council’s three Republicans (Madaffer, Kevin Faulconer and Brian Maienschein) voted for the offer, along with Democrat Donna Frye, who for the last couple of years has taken a hard line on the union pay raises.

Council President Scott Peters, who has won the local Labor Council’s endorsement in his bid for city attorney, voted against the mayor’s offer, agreeing with the unions’ claim that the rules had been changed inappropriately. He was joined by Democrats Ben Hueso (who made some remarks in support of the blue-collar workers), Tony Young and Toni Atkins. As Peters was trying to state his position, Aguirre chimed in that Peters was acting solely on political ground, and Peters turned Aguirre’s microphone off.

So, the vote ended in a 4-4 tie, and so Sanders’ last offer failed to pass. That means, I think, that the parties will head back to the table. Unless Aguirre and Sanders hold hands and refuse to take a seat.

To sum up: Frye and the unions—farther apart. Aguirre and the unions—farther apart. Aguirre and Peters—farther apart. Frye and Sanders—closer together. Aguirre and Sanders—closer together. Aguirre and Madaffer—closer together. Peters and the unions—closer together. Peters and Sanders—trouble in paradise? It’ll be interesting to watch if Peters somehow wins the city attorney race and is faced with having to support or battle the unions in future disputes with Sanders, should he fend off Steve Francis’ bizarre challenge.