Wednesday - Quick Hits

CCDC president gets pay raise, but loses out on bonus. UT

City Council moves closer to requiring RVs and trailers to have permit to park overnight on city streets. UT

County moves closer to long overdue countywide fire service. UT

The first of seven workshop on Sunrise Power link held last night. UT

New magnet high school opening in Vista may be delayed due to budget crisis. UT

O.C. Board of Supervisors vote to pursue lawsuit to cut sheriff deputies pensions. UT

County home prices fell by 13.4% in 2007, second highest drop in nation. NCTimes VOSD

Monday - Quick Hits

Steve Francis to make it official, that he is running for mayor tomorrow. VOSD

Still no news on new Superintendent of San Diego Unified, Board will meet again on Thursday. VOSD

National City agrees to increase the pay to consulting firm that is working on new land-use plan for city. UT

D.A. Bonnie Dumanis joins other D.A.s from around country in amicus brief on behalf of D.C. handgun ban. UT

"America's Sheriff" Mike Corona is retiring to focus on his corruption case. UT

OC Residents to Drink Treated Sewage

This morning's LA Times has an article regarding the Orange County Water District's $490 million sewage filtration treatment facility that is awaiting final approval from state health officials before it goes online later this month. The facility will purify effluent from a neighboring treatment plant, and then pump it into the groundwater basin that the county's 2.3 million residents draw their water from.[Link]

When the plant is fully operational, it will be able to reclaim 130 million gallons of water that would other wise be release into the ocean.

Officials say the final product is as clean as distilled water and so pure that lime has to be added to it to keep it from leaching minerals out of concrete pipes, thus weakening them.[Link]

It is nice to see that the folks up in the O.C. are willing to invest in the proven technology to augment our dwindling water supplies. Mayor Sanders could learn a thing or two from the folks up in the O.C.

Supporters of OC Toll Road Dealt Major Blow

Congresswoman Susan Davis, has inserted a "rider" in the upcoming defense authorization bill. The rider "would require the Foothill/South Toll Road project to adhere to state environmental laws."[Link] This requirement would mean that the project would have to obtain a permit from the state Coastal Commission. In September, the commission issued a report that recommended the project be denied a permit.[Link]

Davis' rider has passed the last of the procedural hurdles and is now part of the full defense authorization bill that is head to the full House for consideration probably next week. The rider effectively reverses another rider from 2000 "by three Republican Congressmen – Duncan Hunter, Darrell Issa and Ken Calvert – who used the same mechanism to specifically exempt the toll road project from state and federal environmental laws."[Link]

Props go out to the Congresswoman for taking this important step in trying to save Trestles.

Prominent OC Republican headed to prison for Sex Crimes

Very interesting events just up the I-5 in Orange County. On Tuesday, Jeffrey Ray Nielsen a prominent OC Republican with close ties to Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and OC Republican Chairman Scott Baugh pleaded guilty to "two felonies: committing lewd acts on a 12-year-old Virginia boy and 14-year-old Orange County boy."[Link]

Nielsen, who is the son of former Fountain Valley Mayor Ben Nielsen, went to Washington in 1994 to work as an aide for Congress Rohrabacher.

During this period, Nielsen befriended a seventh-grade Virginia boy he met as a church youth counselor. For years, Nielsen engaged in sexual conduct with the boy (including in public), tried to convince the boy he was homosexual, and wrote a series of love letters to the boy after he moved back to California to enter USC law school.[Link]

Upon his return to California to attend law school, Nielsen went to work for Orange County Republican Assemblyman Scott Baugh.

He socialized with Baugh. He derided liberals with Baugh. When Baugh left Sacramento and negotiated a job with the powerhouse law firm of Manatt Phelps
& Phillips in 2001, he convinced the firm to hire Nielsen with him. It was during this time that Nielsen found a Westminster high-school freshman in an online gay chat room. Prosecutors say Nielsen repeatedly picked the boy up from school for sex. . . . The boy shared his experiences with a classmate, who promptly told school counselors.

When police arrested Nielsen, a prominent GOP activist at the time, The Orange County Register failed to tell its readers. In fact, the paper—some of whose staffers enjoy cozy relationships with local GOP leaders, including Rohrabacher and Baugh—waited more than three years to mention Nielsen’s arrest. Worse, while Nielsen awaited trial for molesting the Westminster boy, the Register’s Richard Chang helped to bolster the accused pedophile’s reputation in the community. In an article, Chang didn’t mention the charges, but rather praised Nielsen for volunteering to help homeless puppies from the Katrina disaster in New Orleans.[Link]

It is interesting to note that much like the Orange County Register, both the Flash Report and Red County have failed to make mention of this story.

Wednesday - Quick Hits

Another Sanders adviser heading for the door. How many are left? UT

City approves density ordinance. But where are those extra units going to be built? And what about the extra infrastructure? UT

With destruction of vegetation in wildfires, concern now focused on soil erosion. UT

Classic NIMBYism, Del Mar doesn't want train tunnel. UT

Sanders presents his Charter changes to council. Can you say power grab? VOSD

More on "America's Sheriff," now to take 60-day paid leave of absence as he fight corruption charges. LATimes

Former Irvine CEO of Great Park project had history of embezzling and cocaine use known as far back as 1989. LATimes

Monday - Quick Hits

Chargers gunning for two sites in CV for future stadium. UT

Thomas Jefferson law school plans move to East Village by 2010. UT

Evacuation numbers overhype by media. What a suprise! VOSD

Wal-Mart pulls the plug on Supercenter in Garden Grove. LATimes

My favorite! "America's Sheriff" to be arrained on corruption charges today. NCTimes

Thursday - Quick Hits

The Perta/Nunez lets stay in Sacremento longer ballot measure now below 50%. UT

Republican family values: OC Sheriff, his wife, and his alleged mistress face federal judge on corruption charges. LATimes

City of Vista places a moratorium on bargain stores, but does nothing about impending Super Wal-Mart. UT

Condo-Nazis complain about unpaid dues as foreclosures continue to rise. UT

A pair of ex-Chula Vista officials will receive smaller pensions. UT

Tuesday - Quick Hits

Something useful for the City Attorney to investigate: Rentals in fire areas skyrocketing. UT, VOSD

Trying to improve its awful imagine, Blackwater lends support to Potero residents in a cynical attempt to influence the upcoming Recall vote in December. UT

Thousands march south of the border to protest surge in crime. UT

Despite the mayor's efforts to oppose the plan, city council approves plan to move forward with water recycling. VOSD

Hand caught in the cookie jar, OC Sheriff indicted on federal corruption charges. LATimes

Another Blow to The Proposed O.C. Toll Roll

The onslaught of bad news for the proposed 241 toll road extension through San Onofre State Park continues. This afternoon the California Parks Foundation released a poll they commissioned of Orange County residents. According to the findings from the poll, a majority of O.C. residents favor toll roads, however, 66% of them don't favor the construction of the toll road extension across San Onofre State Park.[Link] This news comes just days after the release of a report from the California Coastal Commission claiming that the proposed toll road "would cause widespread violations of state environmental laws by threatening endangered species, marring natural resources and compromising recreational opportunities." [Link] It will be interesting to see what new P.R. attempts the advocates of the toll road try now.

Cross posted to Calitics

When Talking-the-Talk is not enough

Most people are familiar with the ongoing struggle among the employees at Children’s Hospital to form a union. I wanted to share this article from last week’s OC Weekly about the efforts of health-care workers trying to form a union at the Sisters of St. Joseph hospital in Orange. What I found intriguing was that Sisters of Joseph have a long Social Justice tradition:

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange trace their roots back to 17th-century France; the order is well-known for a solid record of commitment to the poor. They’ve marched with Cesar Chavez and supported janitors’ and garment workers’ union-organization efforts. They opened their first hospital in Eureka in 1920 after the big flu epidemic of 1918, giving birth to a health-care system that is now 14 hospitals strong and served just more than 2 million patients last year.

According to the article, “[t]he St. Joseph Health System says it endorses its employees’ rights to unionize,” however, it has poor track record on allowing its own employees to actually unionize. The entire article is very interesting read on the difficulties faced by workers when they try to organize, even if they work for an organization that has a history of Social Justice.