Well I guess that explains why the La Mesa store hasn’t been restocked since Christmas! (It’s one of the ones that’s closing)
Sports Authority will close 19 stores in California as part of its bankruptcy proceedings.
Source: Sports Authority to close 19 stores in California; liquidation sales are underway
This summer, we Californians will be voting on a proposition that prevents the state from stealing land through eminent domain, Prop 98.
The San Diego Union-Tribune has an article today that says our Governator opposes Prop 98:
SACRAMENTO – Citing fears that passage could stymie important water development and other public works projects, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday he opposes a ballot measure that would greatly restrict the ability of government to seize private property.
[…]
Schwarzenegger joins a growing list of influential figures to oppose Proposition 98, including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, and former Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican.
Arnie is in some pretty good company there. One of our senators, a Democrat in name only, who never met a campaign contribution she didn’t like. And Pete Wilson, Mr. Wishy-Washy himself, is against it. At the moment, anyway. Pretty much every other fan of big government also opposes it.
The real purpose of Prop 98 is to prevent the state from stealing people’s homes and selling them to developers. Also, Prop 98 prevents family farms and opens spaces from being stolen by the state so they can sell the natural resources. As you might guess, I’m in favor of it. Naturally, the opponents have come up with a watered-down version, Prop 99. BallotPedia.org has a fairly nice comparison of the two propositions.
Prop 98 is really about big-box stores; city and state governments want the ability to steal enough urban and suburban land to be able to build new Wal*Marts. Of course, they can’t say that– no one wants ten acres of Wal*Mart next door– so they’re making the argument that football will never come back to LA unless they can steal enough land to build a football stadium.
The other lovely thing they’ve done is put this on the June ballot. This is a common trick in California: if you want very low voter turnout for something, put it on the June ballot the summer before a major “real” election. That way the uncommitted voters will ignore it among the noise of the larger election.
It’s a good thing we have so many other good reasons to live here, because our political system in this state is awful.
Just a brief note for my family and friends: we’re all fine, and both my house and Sara’s house are both safe as of this moment. We’re all ready to evacuate if the situation changes. Should it become necessary, our plan is to head down to my boat in Mission Bay. We can all sleep aboard Simone for a few days if we have to. That won’t be fun, but not much of the current crisis is, and it beats the alternatives.
Sara’s school is not in a threatened area, but they shut it down and sent the kids home yesterday afternoon. They’re all home today. Pretty much everybody who doesn’t have to be somewhere is staying home today, just waiting it out.
My lab was evac’ed yesterday during the day. As of last night, it was still there but the fire was close. I haven’t heard anything since then… but I haven’t seen the smoking ruins on the TV news and the I.T. infrastructure is still up, both of which are good things. I work remotely and nothing here has been affected, except for a brief power outage last night.
It’s pretty surreal. For those of us who haven’t been evacuated, the whole atmosphere is almost exactly like it is before and during a monster east-coast snowstorm. Here where I live (in a semi-rural area of the county, east of the city of San Diego) the air is relatively clear with just a bit of smoke. It’s clear, dry, and hot, with barely a breath of wind at the moment. (“No wind” is the best possible news; unfortunately, it’s not true everywhere in the area.)
Please don’t try to call our cell phones; they’re all on the chargers in case we have to bail out quickly, the cell network is being badly strained from all the traffic, and some of the infrastructure has been destroyed by the fires. If we do have to evacuate, we’ll update Sue as to the situation.
My local paper’s website has started allowing users to comment anonymously on stories. Yeah, that’s just the clever, edgy thing to improve their flagging circulation. As evidence I give you today’s story on the grocery workers’ contract talks. The story itself is fine, but scroll down to the comments.
Hey, U-T! get a clue: I don’t read the paper to get silly, bigoted comments from mouth-breathers who think the way to add emphasis to their words is to add a whole bunch of exclamation points!!1!11!!!!! Yeah, nothing says “rational discourse” like run-on sentences in all caps saying that what we need is more and bigger Wal-Marts. I’d accuse them of being poorly thought out, but thinking is obviously a skill they haven’t learned.
Repeat photo 5x.
It only works on the Sopranos: (from the San Diego Union-Tribune) (the link will likely expire in a day or two)
Severed legs found this weekend in rural East County are believed to be from a slaying victim whose head, torso and hand were discovered in late February, San Diego police said.
[…]
A local resident found the first leg Saturday afternoon in the unincorporated area about 20 miles east of San Diego. Police discovered the second leg several yards away shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday.
The other body parts were discovered in San Diego. Hawes’ torso was found Feb. 26 in a tributary of the Otay River near Hollister Street. A day later, his head was found by the side of southbound Interstate 5 near 28th Street, and one of his hands was found three miles away on the side of state Route 163.
The only part still missing is the other hand.
Here’s a fine example of one: Santee Trolley Square. All I want to know is: 1) is there a Target there; 2) what men’s apparel stores might be there. Do you think you can find that out from their web site? It appears not.
Okay, the thief is a “transient” (pretty much the Union Tribune code word for “crackhead”) but still, how stupid can you get?
The pickup was stolen from Pacific Beach Drive in San Diego earlier in the day, El Cajon police Lt. Tim Henton said.
The truck’s owner called a cell phone he left in it and a man answered, saying he would sell the vehicle back to him for $600, police said.
The victim then contacted El Cajon police and a plan was made to meet with the thief later that evening.
I really wonder how the crackhead expected this to end well.
If you’ve ever been to NYC, you might have noticed hundreds (perhaps thousands) of bicycles that appear to be abandoned, securely locked to street signs, utility poles, and whatnot. Someone has started a photolog of abandoned bicycles of New York.
For my fellow residents of La Mesa/Spring Valley CA, I point you towards some updates on the SR 94/125 project. Note the interactive map. Alas, it’s still not clear as to whether there will be an on-ramp to the 125-N from Spring St.