If you are a member of the media, please contact:
Susan Duerksen, Communications Director
Email: Susan [at] onlineCPI [dot] org
Phone: (619) 584-5744 ext. 64
Xavier Leonard, Communications Specialist
Email: Xavier [at] onlineCPI [dot] org
Phone: (619) 584-5744 ext. 29
The real cost of Wall Street’s reckless practices
By Pascale Joassart-Marcelli | Published in San Diego Union-Tribune | 11/6/11
As “Occupy Wall Street” protests continue in San Diego and other cities across the nation, it is important to bear in mind the real costs of Wall Street’s recklessness on our communities. Almost 50,000 homes have been foreclosed in the city of San Diego since the start of the mortgage financial crisis in 2008. And…
Keep Miramar Landfill Under Public Control
By Clare Crawford | Published in voice of sandiego.org | 9/23/11
The first proclaimed success in San Diego’s “managed competition” program has stumbled right out of the gate. The handling of the relatively simple publishing department contract should raise red flags as City Council prepares to vote Monday on putting Miramar Landfill out to bid. As other cities and states have learned, contracting out complicated vital services requires…
Opinion: Difference Between CEO and Worker Pay is Unconscionable
By Corinne Wilson | Published in voice of sandiego.org | 9/6/11
The Institute for Policy Studies in Washington recently released its 18th annual survey of executive compensation, aptly titled “Executive Excess.” The report shows that 2009′s unconscionable 263-to-1 ratio between CEO pay and average worker pay in the U.S. grew to 325-to-1 last year. Companies generally are doing well. Their executives are doing extremely well. But the…
Despite new and unresolved issues, Mirama Landfill outsourcing proceeds
By Susan Duerksen | Published in OB Rag | 7/13/11
Despite overwhelming public opposition to the risky and costly privatization of Miramar Landfill, the San Diego City Council’s Rules committee today voted 3-2 to send the controversial plan on to the full council. A council vote is expected July 25 or 26 on the Mayor’s program to outsource operations at the city’s only public landfill,…
Taking San Diego for a ride, again
By Clare Crawford | Published in San Diego Union-Tribune | 6/21/11
The city of San Diego has never mastered the art of managing contracts. Debris haulers contracted by the city overcharged victims of the 2007 wildfires. Computer system consultants ran millions over budget and months behind schedule. Recently, a private ambulance company took advantage of lax oversight to shortchange the city by an estimated $18 million….
Walmart vs. San Diego City Council: A Call for Initiative Reform
By Corrine Wilson | Published in VoiceofSanDiego.org | 2/1/11
The real problem behind the current Walmart vs. San Diego City Council story is that of a subversion of democracy by a ballot initiative process that badly needs reform. The process is no longer a “citizens’ initiative” but rather a process by which corporations with deep pockets can pay to collect signatures with little or…
Adverse Effect Here, Adverse Effect There, Adverse Effects Everywhere!
By Murtaza Baxamusa | Published in VoiceofSanDiego.org | 12/1/10
I am quite amazed by the hullabaloo over the need for a report to justify that approval of superstores in the city will indeed bring economic value to San Diegans. The origin of this nonsense comes from the city’s Independent Budget Analyst (IBA), which hypothesized that the findings of a development permit “may constitute a…
Socrates and Superstores
By Murtaza Baxamusa | Published in VoiceofSanDiego.org | 11/2/10
Update: The San Diego City Council passed this ordinance on a five-three vote. San Diego is often identified as a “City of Villages.” It derives its character from local business districts and diverse neighbors tied together through a filigree of natural resources. Our beaches, canyons, deserts and mountains encase our identity, and we loathe being…
Be Wary of the ‘Cap Thing’
By Murtaza Baxamusa | Published in VoiceofSanDiego.org | 10/13/10
There were very few people in this town that were paying attention to the “cap” thing downtown when it came up earlier this year. I was one of them, a policy wonk that cared about plans filled with esoteric planning jargon, who has been following this for a decade. I have been skeptical about the…
Bush Economic Team (and Voodoo Economics) Is Back
By Donald Cohen | Published in The Huffington Post | 10/9/10
Gregory Mankiw, Chairman between 2003 and 2005 of George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors, is back. On Dec. 31, the Bush tax cuts will expire unless Congress acts. President Obama wants to extend the cuts for middle class families but let the tax on the wealthy revert to pre-2003 levels. Mankiw along with congressional…
