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Letters to the Editor: No Public Funding for Poverty Wages
By CPI Supporters | 2/22/13
We asked our email contacts if public funding should go to hotels that pay poverty wages. Overnight, more than 59 people answered our call. Here are some of the highlights: Dear Editor: From Suzanne Rogers in San Diego, 92102: Hotels in San Diego make money and do so in part because they pay very low…
The High Costs of Blindly Cutting Budgets
By Corinne Wilson | Published in Voice of San Diego | 2/5/13
What good is city government? We all rely on city services for the necessary basics that support our daily lives. Ideally, everything runs so smoothly we barely notice all the work that goes into keeping our city clean, safe and functional. But when those services stall or fall short, the disruptions get our attention and…
Cut Through Election Noise: Prop. Z Averts Catastrophe
By Susan Duerksen | Published in Voice of San Diego | 11/5/12
For 12 years — using a combination of up-to-date technology and old-fashioned attention from smart teachers — the San Diego Unified School District has been preparing my daughter for a productive life in the 21st century. All kids need and deserve an education like this, not just for their own good but for all of…
Open the Competition: Insourcing Is the New Outsourcing
By Clare Crawford | Published in U-T San Diego | 7/25/12
Four times, the city of San Diego has pitted city workers against private companies in a competition for the continued responsibility to provide an essential city service. All four times, the city workers have proved that they – as U-T San Diego put it last week – “provide taxpayers with the best bang for their…
Ordinance targets foreclosure blight
By Gabriela Castellaños | Published in San Diego Union-Tribune | 4/5/12
We applaud [San Diego] City Attorney Jan Goldsmith for his plans to hire a foreclosure and loan-modification scams investigator (Business, March 24). This is one way to protect families and our neighborhoods from the terrible impact of the foreclosure crisis and may indicate that the city of San Diego is starting to address this crisis….
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….
