Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!

Proponents want to build a garbage dump, next to tribal land of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, near the San Luis Rey river watershed (which provides many a community their drinking water) and the San Diego County Water Authority aqueducts that provide San Diego with drinking water, all in a geologically unstable area.  This is a very bad idea.  The County of San Diego is holding a meeting in Fallbrook on February 23.  Opponents are expected to once again let our leaders know what a terrible idea this is and how this dump is not needed.    

Recycle Your Politicians, Send Them On A Trip.

Previously posted in Planet Johnny, November 2010, reprinted for your consideration.

After a heated electoral campaign that filled your mailbox with literature every single day for the last few months, what to do with the pile?  Well if you haven't recycled it you can use it as packing material as you see I've done below.  This ad surrounds my iPhone 3g box which sold on eBay.  That's right, somebody in West Palm Beach, Florida, bought my phone box, not the phone, the box!  I don't like buying shipping boxes or other packing materials, to me it's a waste of money and resources when we have so many things that pass through our lives that we can use for these purposes.  I can't help but be tickled that Jerry Brown is going to Florida as part of an eBay (Meg Whitman's former company) transaction.  You too can use the campaign literature in a similar fashion.  Do ask the recipients (if they are family and they know what a greenie you are, they will understand) to recycle the materials upon receipt.  You'll help save the planet in the process and send your pols travelling!  

Jerry Brown literature, repurposed heads to West Palm Beach, Florida.

http://polls.linkedin.com/vote/121706/akjhu

The First Amendment Project has an excellent guide to the California Public Records Act (in PDF format) that easily spells out how to go about making such a request and what is and isn't covered under the act.  Check it out and go out and shake the foundations of your local government.    

Two important hearings are coming up for the Tule Wind Energy Project which promises to bring enough renewable energy to San Diego County to power 60,000 homes.  One meeting is this week and one meeting is the next: the first is a California Public Utilities Commission hearing while the second is a Bureau of Land Management meeting.  

January 26, 2011 
Jacumba Highland Center 
44681 Old Highway 80 
Jacumba, CA 91934 
7:00 PM 

February 2, 2011 
Boulevard Volunteer Fire Department 
39223 Highway 94 
Boulevard, CA 91905 
7:00 PM 

Here's a short video of some messages of support for this project.

http://www.youtube.com/e/hCuTcaT9Os0
 

 

Today December 16, is Day without a (Disposable) Bag.  The original "Day without a Bag" was begun by iconic eco-group Heal the Bay  started this the fourth Thursday of December in Los Angeles in 2007.  Thus, this year is the fourth annual giveaway of free reusable shopping bags.  This year San Diego County is participating big time and merchants and environmental groups will be giving away thousands of reusable shopping bags for free.  Certain stores will also have other promotions.  I added the parenthetical in the title because some folks don't get that it isn't that they don't want you to use any bags.  Use your reusable bags or get a free one!

Bag giveaway location:  San Diego County  | Los Angeles County (and beyond)

 

There are two important meetings in San Diego in the next two days.  The first has to do with the expansion of the San Diego Convention Center while the second has to do with the Regional Transportation Plan for San Diego County for 2050.  

Regarding the San Diego Convention Center expansion, the Port of San Diego is holding a public scoping meeting where the public can comment on the environmental impacts of the project.  The meeting is tonight at 6:00 PM in Room 33 of the Convention Center.  This is the first step in the environmental review of the project as the Port will next produce a draft Environmental Impact Report (see a "Notice of Preparation" here in PDF form).  The port is accepting comments via mail to San Diego Unified Port District, Land Use Planning Department, 3165 Pacific Highway, San Diego, CA 92101 or you can e-mail your comments to lnishihi@portofsandiego.org.  The second meeting has to do with transportation for entire San Diego County.  

The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) Board of Directors is going to consider and possibly adopt the Regional Transportation Plan for 2050.  Regional transit advocates see this plan as being too heavy on freeways with not enough emphasis on public transit despite the emergence of a so called "Hybrid" plan that is supposed to emphasize more public transit.  The fireworks begin at 9:00 AM at the SANDAG Board Room, 401 B Street in Downtown, San Diego.      

Do you know the way to San Jose?  This has nothing to do with the Dionne Warwick ditty but rather the fact that the San Jose City Council today voted 10-1 to ban single use shopping bags, joining an increasing number of California cities.  Retailers will be charging 10 cents for paper bags starting in 2012 and that cost goes up to 25 cents in 2013.  Pretty soon that statewide legislation they defeated will have looked good to the American Chemistry Council and their allies.   

The best thing to do with SANDAG’s Caltrans proposal to widen the I-5.  Use it for wrapping paper.