Pam Slater-Price

Republican Third District San Diego County Supervisor Pam Slater-Price has endorsed Democrat Dave Roberts in the contest to replace her. Slater-Price chose Roberts over three Republicans who are seeking the seat in November.

Slater-Price is quoted as saying “I strongly believe we should not let party labels get in the way of choosing the best person for the job,” according to North County Times.

Roberts was endorsed by EDC at the February 18 meeting.

Read coverage in North County Times.
Read coverage in U-T San Diego.  
Read commentary from Logan Jenkins in U-T San Diego.

3/16 UPDATE: The ACLU has asked Escondido to release documents related to police checkpoints and towing programs.

Read coverage in North County Times.  
Read the ACLU statement.  
Read commentary from Edward Sifuentes in North County Times.  

3/15 UPDATE: Checkpoint critics say an internal audit by the city is not credible enough and ask for an audit by “an outside agency with meaningful independence.”

Read coverage in North County Times. 
Read an editorial in North County Times.  

3/14 UPDATE: The finance department of the City of Escondido will conduct a review of towing fees in response to the ACLU report mentioned below.

Read coverage in U-T San Diego.

ORIGINAL POST: Results have been released of an extensive review of Escondido’s police checkpoints, vehicle towing, and the relationship between the police and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office of the federal government. The study was conducted by John Carlos Frey, a documentary film maker working with the San Diego chapter of the ACLU.

The story finds that while the state, which funds the checkpoints under the guise of preventing drunk driving, prohibits use of the checkpoints to make money, Escondido “has been profiting immensely” from the process.

Links to coverage after the jump…

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Carmen Miranda

EDC member and veteran community activist Carmen Miranda has  returned to campaigning for election to the Escondido City Council.

“I have been meeting many groups and community leaders and I have decided that I will keep running,” she wrote in an email. In early February, Miranda told friends she was dropping out of the race.

She has been walking precincts and registering voters in the central sections of Escondido, targeting neighborhoods in the new central “area” defined by recently approved school district boundaries.

Miranda says she is refreshing her website (www.carmenmirandanow.com) and the campaign can be reached at 760-884-3818.

Miranda sought election in 2006 and 2010, attracting 4,624 votes in the most recent effort. She has been a tireless opponent of police checkpoints and an equally tireless advocate for Latino residents whose lives have been disrupted by various aspects of immigration enforcement.

It must have been quite an evening. The second public workshop about the proposed update to Escondido’s General Plan, held Tuesday, March 6, reportedly turned into a shouting match. It was bad enough that City Planner Jay Petrek was unable to complete a presentation about the proposed changes to the plan, which guides city land use and building for the next decade.

The dozen or so vocal opponents complained about the plan reflecting external, even global, influences. They feared that more dense development at the core of the city might cause services to be cut to the outlying areas. They protested an emphasis on bike lanes and mass transit at the expense of cars and criticized environmental elements of the plan.

Read coverage in North County Times.
Read an editorial in North County Times.

The message from two elected officials with experience on city councils elected from districts was clear — Escondido and its residents will benefit from a change to district elections.

Congressman Bob Filner, who served several terms on the San Diego City Council before and after that city changed to district council elections, and Paula Lantz, a Pomona council member who was in the first group elected after that city switched to district elections, agreed that the change had made their city government better. They made their remarks to the February 18 EDC meeting.

While Escondido Mayor Sam Abed and several other members of the current council say district elections would divide the city, both Filner and Lantz said that was not the case in their cities. “The theory that you (as a council member) are only going to look at your own neighborhood is absurd,” said Filner. “The whole argument about it being divisive is a crock,” said Lantz.

Read coverage in North County Times. 

See videos of the presentations on the EDC YouTube Channel.

The first of two workshops on the proposed Update to the Escondido General Plan provided the first clear indication of what aspects of the plan will require voter approval under the provisions of Proposition S. The Growth Management and Neighborhood Protection Act was passed by nearly 60 percent of city voters in 1998.

City Planner Jay Petrek and other city staff members present emphasized several times that the provisions of Proposition S will remain in effect in the General Plan Update (GPU). In response to pointed questions from the small group attending, they said land use changes requested after passage of the Update would continue to require voter approval as before.

City staff members also said that failure of any or all of the GPU elements requiring voter approval would not kill the entire plan. “We will still have a new general plan,” said Petrek, “just without those parts.” He noted that more than 90 percent of city land use designations remain unchanged under the update.

Continue reading…

The state convention of the California Democratic Party opens in San Diego Friday, February 10 and continues through Sunday, February 12 at the San Diego Convention Center. Several EDC members will attend as delegates and will file reports from the event.

Special guests at the convention include former White House advisor Van Jones, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and Sen. Al Franken. Delegates will finalize the Party’s platform for 2012 and will make endorsements. A variety of caucuses will meet to discuss their special concerns and issues.

Hottest speech of the convention…

See other videos on the Convention website.

Media coverage after the jump.  Continue reading…

Francine Busby

Francine Busby, well-known to EDC members and local Democrats as a party activist, has announced her candidacy for leadership of the San Diego County Democratic Party.

Busby ran several times for Congress in the 50th District against Republican Brian Bilbray, served as North Area chair, coordinated fundraising events, filled various volunteer positions and has been a convention delegate.

She would replace Jess Durfee, who has served as chair for the last eight years and is credited with increasing Democratic voter registration, building a get-out-the-vote program, and developing a fund raising base for strong and consistent financing of County Party operations. Durfee has asked to retire at the end of the current term.

The County Party Chair is elected by the Central Committee in January of 2013 for a term of two years.