2009 Year End Review

The buzz word for the first of the Year, 2009, was change. From an economic point of view, change was required the country could no longer travel down the road headed for a second economic depression. Change was inevitable and with the election of Barack Obama the first black President in American history change was underway. For the Hispanic community change was going to be a little more subtle throughout the year, joblessness, home foreclosures, scams, and immigration reform were common issues for the Hispanic community in 2009.
<figure id="attachment_3873" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3873" style="width: 336px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a class="highslide" onclick="return vz.expand(this)" href="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/03.Mar_.6.jpg">… loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3873 " title="03.Mar.6" src="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/03.Mar_.6.jpg&q…; alt="La Entrada invites the community into an urban/border/Latino/Mexican art project. By Vanessa K. Nevarez. In the middle of Barrio Logan’s re-development, near a traditional Mexican fruit stand, an auto mechanic shop, and in-between the cross section of Logan Avenue and Beardsley Street, there is an urban and culture-infused low income housing development called La Entrada or The Entrance. The Rooster being painted by WREC. Photograph by Geraldine Lozano" width="336" height="189" srcset="https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/03.Mar_… 480w, https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/03.Mar_… 300w" sizes="(max-width: 336px) 100vw, 336px"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3873" class="wp-caption-text">La Entrada invites the community into an urban/border/Latino/Mexican art project. By Vanessa K. Nevarez. In the middle of Barrio Logan’s re-development, near a traditional Mexican fruit stand, an auto mechanic shop, and in-between the cross section of Logan Avenue and Beardsley Street, there is an urban and culture-infused low income housing development called La Entrada or The Entrance. The Rooster being painted by WREC. Photograph by Geraldine Lozano</figcaption></figure>
With the New Year here, now is the time for our annual review of the stories that made the headlines in La Prensa San Diego and chronicled the changes throughout the year. These are the stories that paved the way that would create a better atmosphere in general, and as we prepare to usher in the New Year 2010.
January 2009 the country was caught up in the excitement of President elect Barack Obama and the inauguration that took place during the month. The excitement was palpable. Everyone was talking about the new administration, new hopes, and new dreams. For people of color this was to be an exciting day — the first time in history that a black man would be President providing inspiration for all.
For many in our ethnic communities it was important to be at the inauguration, many received invitations to attend and be a part of the any one hundred or so pre-events, post-events and official and unofficial balls. But for the millions it was just important to be there, to be a part of history. It indeed was an important day, for many people. For the black community and especially for the older folks, it was a day they had never dreamed as being possible, much less see in their lifetime. What a great day indeed!
For the Hispanic community it was a significant day. Barack Obama won the Presidential election with 68% of the Latino vote. The Hispanic community expected a return on their vote and on top of their list was immigration reform and a Hispanic appointed to a top Cabinet post. While immigration reform would have to wait, the appointment of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson as the next Secretary of State was much talked about and hoped for. Richardson, who dropped his support of Hillary Clinton for President in favor of Obama and was seen as an extremely important point in the election of Obama, the conventional thinking was that Richardson, and visa vie the Hispanic community, in return for their vote and support he would be appointed. The post went to Hillary Clinton.
The highest Cabinet Post to a Hispanic went to Colorado Senator Ken Salazar who was appointed Interior Secretary, a nice appointment for Salazar but the position is not considered a key appointment or a part of the inner circle of advisors.
<figure id="attachment_3875" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3875" style="width: 199px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a class="highslide" onclick="return vz.expand(this)" href="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/01.Jan_.30.jpg"… loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-3875" title="01.Jan.30" src="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/01.Jan_.30-199x…; alt="Gracia Molina de Pick represented San Diego’s Chicano community at the inauguration of President Barack Obama." width="199" height="300"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3875" class="wp-caption-text">Gracia Molina de Pick represented San Diego’s Chicano community at the inauguration of President Barack Obama.</figcaption></figure>
None the less the role the Hispanic community and the impact of their support did not go unnoticed. The effect of the Hispanic community had been felt and registered and throughout the year this impact would play be recognized.
While the Presidential inauguration provided Hispanics the opportunity to dream of a better future, the reality of the economic recession was still way heavy on the Hispanic community.
The beginning of 2009 brought about political change to the local landscape along with new ideas for the community.
With the election of Bertha Lopez to the Sweetwater Union High School District this created an opening on the Chula Vista Elementary School Board where Douglas Luffborough III was appointed to serve with newly elected board member Russell Coronado on the school board.
Also newly elected to office was Marty Block representing the 79th Assembly District and with his election this jumped started the stalled talks about bringing a four year university to the South Bay, this would be an on-going conversation throughout the year.
A reoccurring theme played out during the year, brought about by the bad economy, was the large number of home foreclosures in the Hispanic community included headlines such as “The Grand Jury Indicts Ten Defendants in Widespread Home Foreclosure Rescue Scam: Ten people have been indicted by the Grand Jury on a huge real estate fraud scheme that stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from victims.” What made this headline and others like this particularly dishearten was that it was Hispanics scamming other Hispanics, in particular Spanish speaking Hispanics.
“Chained Immigrants Paraded By Arizona Sheriff. By Casey Sanchez. On February 3rd in Maricopa County, Ariz., more than 200 Latino immigrants were chained, dressed in prison stripes and forced to march down a public street from a county jail to a detainment camp in a desert industrial zone outside Phoenix.” With this story we were once again re-introduced to Sheriff Joe Arpaio the self described toughest sheriff showed his disdain for human rights. First noticed for his immigrant raids Arpaio, would make headlines all year long in defiance of the new federal direction regarding federal authority over the immigration issue.
The State of California with Governor Schwarzenegger providing little leadership finally passed a budget in February that was long overdue and it relied on the voters passing a new tax. It was a horrible budget slapped together by legislatures that were stuck in partisan politics. The effect of a state wide tax vote served as a disservice to the Chula Vista City Council which only a month earlier had decided to put their 1 cent tax increase on the June ballot.
The city of Chula Vista was in a budget crisis and in order to solve the looming $20 million dollar short fall decided the only course of action was to raise the taxes on the citizens of Chula Vista, led by Mayor Cheryl Cox, Councilpersons Rudy Ramirez and Pamela Bensoussan.
The unemployment numbers for Hispanics was at an all time high: · 57.1 percent: The increase in the number of unemployed Hispanic workers between December 2007 and January 2009. In January 2009, 2.1 million Hispanics were unemployed in the United States.
The dominate story out of Tijuana throughout the year was about the killings, the beheadings, street shootouts, the drug wars, kidnappings, and just about every gruesome form of torture imaginable. While it has been the philosophy of to try and provide a positive image of Tijuana and talk about it as a cosmopolitan city with its many layers, that all big cities possess. Yet the crime wave was too big and gruesome to ignore. Still we tried to find a different angle to look at this issue of and Mariana Martinez was able to do this with this story: “With collaboration and help from the community two dangerous criminals are now behind bars.” Even in this age of globalization, it is still rare that authorities from Mexico and the US work together in the search of binational justice; criminals have long known this and use it to cross country lines.
“But a new program established by law enforcement on both sides of the California/Baja California border seeks to reverse that, and the results have been fast, so fast in fact they might be a model to follow all along the border.”
Unfortunately there were few of these types of stories to report, but it did provide a glimpse into the scope and opportunities of two countries working together to solve a crime wave that affected us all. An article by Louis Nevaer exemplified the war on drugs affecting both sides of the border with “In War on Drugs, Mexico’s Success Is Our Misfortune. MERIDA, Mexico – Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s decision to move troops into drug trafficking hot spots is making it impossible for the cartels to continue to operate in Mexico on a “business as usual” basis — and their only alternative is to move into the United States.
“There lies the paradox of Mexico’s war on drugs: If Calderon wins, he will create a problem for his neighbor to the north.”
<figure id="attachment_3878" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3878" style="width: 225px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a class="highslide" onclick="return vz.expand(this)" href="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/02.Feb_.27.jpg"… loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-3878" title="02.Feb.27" src="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/02.Feb_.27-225x…; alt="Bioscience to help the border and the world. By Mariana Martínez Esténs. Doctor Alexei Fedorovish Licea Navarro works surrounded by sharks and sea snails, hoping to reveal their secrets and turn them into powerful treatments to cure diabetes, tuberculosis, breast cancer, as well as arthritis, drug overdose or possible biochemical terrorist attacks." width="225" height="300" srcset="https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/02.Feb_… 225w, https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/02.Feb_… 300w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3878" class="wp-caption-text">Bioscience to help the border and the world. By Mariana Martínez Esténs. Doctor Alexei Fedorovish Licea Navarro works surrounded by sharks and sea snails, hoping to reveal their secrets and turn them into powerful treatments to cure diabetes, tuberculosis, breast cancer, as well as arthritis, drug overdose or possible biochemical terrorist attacks.</figcaption></figure>
Yet another example: “House panel asks DHS for solutions to U.S.-Mexican border violence. By Diana Murray Watts. WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security has not been able to handle the violence stemming from drug cartels in Mexico, members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security told four high-level agency officials Tuesday.”
Bea Estrada, president of the South Bay LULAC passed away in March. We honored her in an editorial, describing her as a true hero – making personal sacrifices other less fortunate community members. Bea Estrada will be missed.
The Hispanic community continues to grow and their impact on American society was addressed in this article by Leslie Cranford, “Hispanic Immigration: Facts versus Fallacies, Clarifying America’s Opportunity. Three Rawls College of Business professionals address the booming Hispanic population in the U.S. and its economic, political and social impacts.
“As the Hispanic population in the United States booms, fallacies surrounding the economic and social impact of Hispanics on America thrive. Two Texas Tech University professors and an alumnus argue that there are opportunities within the challenges that many people do not see.”
For years the discussion that surrounded the US/Mexico border focused on enforcement, a border fence, and the drug war. With a new administration and a new Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano visited the San Diego/Tijuana border in April to announce a stimulus plan for the border that included 4400 million dollar investment in the ports of entry. The San Diego/Tijuana border entry is scheduled to be modernized in the coming years to facilitate transborder trade.
A part of the Bush Administration immigration plan was to build a 700 mile fence along the US/Mexico border, at a cost of $1 million per mile, community organizations in San Diego, including ‘Border Encuentra’ and the ‘Border Angels’ fight to keep Friendship Park open. In the end to the fence when up, these groups may have lost this war, but they could be well on the way of winning the war as sentiment toward the fence is changing and the full com-pletion of the fence is in jeopardy and funding for the project is drying up. We hate to tell the politicians we told you so, but we did tell you that this fence would be just as ineffective as past versions, as Janet Napolitano stated, “that building a 50-foot fence would simply spur invention of a 51-foot ladder.”
Easter week usually means big business for tourist destinations South of the border, but this year you combine a lousy economy and the violence in Mexico and tourist travel is down by as much as 20%. Later in the year when H1N1 flue strikes with reports that the flu originated in Mexico is yet another blow to the tourism industry.
In April President Obama made his trip to Mexico to visit Mexican President Calderón. Before his election one of the shortcomings in Obama’s resume was his lack of experience in dealing with Mexico or the other Latin American countries. This was his first trip and while it was received with much fanfare little substance came from the meeting, nor was much expected.
<figure id="attachment_3879" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3879" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a class="highslide" onclick="return vz.expand(this)" href="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/07.July_.10b.jp… loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3879" title="07.July.10b" src="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/07.July_.10b.jp…; alt="Un valor juvenil de la TV en español. Por Pablo Jaime Sáinz. Susana Rivera Torres. La meta de Susana Rivera Torres era ingresar a la televisión en español para ayudar a mejorar la calidad de vida de los latinos en San Diego." width="300" height="193"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3879" class="wp-caption-text">Un valor juvenil de la TV en español. Por Pablo Jaime Sáinz. Susana Rivera Torres. La meta de Susana Rivera Torres era ingresar a la televisión en español para ayudar a mejorar la calidad de vida de los latinos en San Diego.</figcaption></figure>
In May what was called the swine flu had the world on high alert. Locally schools were closed as they tried to figure on how to deal with this fast spreading disease. The flu had claimed 150 lives in Mexico and one toddler in Texas. The US was unprepared for the virus and had no vaccine to combat the virus. Cruises ships and airlines had stopped traveling to Mexico and the tourism industry had dried up. In the meantime little had changed at the border crossing.
“Bersin starts second stint on the border with a new agenda” By Mariana Martínez. Alan Bersin a familiar figure to San Diego residents, first serving as the border czar in 1995-98, bringing a much tougher attitude to the job, then transforming into the supertindent of for the San Diego Unified School District, where he realized little success, to become Governor Schwarzenegger’s education secretary, which led to his position as a board member of the San Diego Airport Authority, finally came full circle with his appointment by Janet Napolitano to his current position as her representative on the border with Homeland Security.
In May we were greeted with the news that with President Obama’s first opportunity to fill a seat on the US Supreme Court that high on his list was Sonia Sotomayor, a Puerto Rican. The Hispanic community rallied around Sotomayor as she began the tedious process of first being selected and then having to manage her way through all the trials and tribulations of being the first female Hispanic to be nominated for the Supreme Court.
“Sgt. Peralta Deserves Medal of Honor, By Congressman Bob Filner. On November 15, 2004, Sergeant Rafael Peralta, a 25 year old Marine from Chula Vista California, lost his life while on patrol in Fallujah, Iraq. Many Americans have heard the heroic story of Sgt. Peralta. In almost everyone’s eyes Sgt Peralta deserved the Medal of Honor that was except for the Secretary of the Navy. Despite being recommended for the honor, the Secretary of the Navy instead chose to award the Navy Cross. This infuriated many including Congressman Bob Filner who represents the district that Peralta and his family lived in. Despite the protest the Medal of Honor was not forthcoming.
In May we recognized the many graduates who were preparing to move on the next phase in the life, be it higher education or moving on into the ranks of being gainfully employed. In both cases for the Hispanic students there were big problems facing them. For those students who were about to seek employment there would be few opportunities. And for Hispanic students the education system was failing them as drop out rates for Hispanics continued to climb.
Vince Vasquez addresses this issue in his commentary, “Examining the South Bay’s Latino Dropout Crisis.” Education administrators at the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) are now taking the limelight for achieving what new preliminary state statistics indicate is a dramatic cut in the number of high school dropouts. Though this is good news for many district parents, it belies a growing “Latino achievement gap” that, if not closed, will sink efforts to share our region’s economic prosperity. …
<figure id="attachment_3880" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3880" style="width: 188px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a class="highslide" onclick="return vz.expand(this)" href="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/02.Feb_.13.jpg"… loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-3880" title="02.Feb.13" src="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/02.Feb_.13-188x…; alt="Chicano boxer, leader recognized: Junior Robles’ legacy honored by San Diego Hall of Champions. By Pablo Jaime Sáinz. Those who knew him, agree that Junior Robles had two passions in life: Boxing, and helping youth improve their lives through boxing." width="188" height="300"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3880" class="wp-caption-text">Chicano boxer, leader recognized: Junior Robles’ legacy honored by San Diego Hall of Champions. By Pablo Jaime Sáinz. Those who knew him, agree that Junior Robles had two passions in life: Boxing, and helping youth improve their lives through boxing.</figcaption></figure>
“Of the 25 high school districts in San Diego County that reported to the state, nearly half (12) saw a year-to-year rise in overall student drop outs. However, aggregating all high district school dropout data results in an overall county dropout tally of 6,126, which is six students more than the previous school year. Without further examination, this figure would suggest that little has changed substantively in drop out trends, but a closer looks reveals that local Latino teens are falling further behind in the race to Graduation Day.
“State data indicates that the number of Hispanic high school dropouts in San Diego County actually increased by 156 between 2006-07 and 2007-08, becoming one of only two ethnic groups to have a year-to-year rate increase (African Americans saw a small rate increase of 12 students).”
In May the Chicano community lost two prominent activists: Charlie Samarron, one time chairman of the American G.I. Forum, the Chicano Federation and many other community organizations and causes. The other Chicano leader to leave us in May was Human Rights Pioneer Roberto Martinez, former director of the US-Mexico Border Program of the American Friends Service Committee.
Lastly, on May 31 Daniel L. Muñoz, founder and publisher of La Prensa San Diego passed away. He was 81 years old.
The men’s US soccer was a summer highlight: “U.S. Men’s Soccer Advances to First-Ever Finals. In one of the greatest matches in U.S. Soccer history, the U.S. got goals by Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey to stun No. 1-ranked Spain 2-0 and advance to the finals of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa. The U.S. Men’s National Team will face Brazil in their first ever final in a FIFA tournament on Sunday, June 28 in Johannesburg.”
A year after Mexican President Calderón had order troops into the war on drugs it is being deemed as a failure as the Mexican people want the troops removed from their cities as human rights complaints continue to mount. The war on drugs from both sides of the border is coming under harsh criticism as there appears to be little headway being made in this ongoing war that is costing the US billions of dollars with nothing to show for it.
California State legislatures are at it again. After the special tax, which was the key element of the last budget passed merely 5 months ago, failed on election day, State legislatures were back at the drawing board trying to come up with a new budget after Gov. Schwarzenegger called a special session to deal with budget short fall. The State legislatures dragged their feet on this budget, compounded with the national economic crises, had the state on the brink of collapse. For the first time history the State Controller had to issue IOUs, while the Governor raided city coffers and was laying off hundreds of workers. It was a tough summer to say the least.
Education got hit the hardest during the State budget crunch, no sector went unscathed. This is going to be an ongoing issue for the rest of the year. Education was getting their funding cut, tuitions were on the rise, and classes were being cut while class sizes were increasing throughout the K-12 system. This would eventually lead to protest, disgruntled educators, as Union leadership fought to save jobs.
There was one bit of good news in the South Bay, reporter Pablo Sainz was able to report that South Bay schools districts, Chula Vista Elementary District and the Sweetwater Union High School District, did not lay-off one school teacher.
“What’s on your Facebook? The realities of social media and sexting messages among teens. By Pablo Jaime Sáinz. Earlier this year 16-year-old Kiera Murphy visited her soccer teammate’s My Space page and read some inappropriate comments on her younger friend’s status description.
“Kiera, a senior at Hilltop High School in Chula Vista, said that her friend was writing provocative, sexually-charged words about herself. Kiera knew she had to do something.” Social activism was the key point in this story. Kiera took it upon herself to become involved in an issue she felt was important to her and the students she came in contact with.
<figure id="attachment_3882" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3882" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a class="highslide" onclick="return vz.expand(this)" href="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/04.April_.3.jpg… loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-3882" title="04.April.3" src="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/04.April_.3-300…; alt="Protest and vigil at community college in North County: Palomar College students celebrate Cesar Chavez following their own legacy to fight for the Dream Act. By America Barcelo-Feldman. SAN MARCOS — With a 24 hour fast, a quiet protest, and an all night vigil, Palomar College students commemorated and honored the farm workers’ leader Cesar Chavez." width="300" height="123"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3882" class="wp-caption-text">Protest and vigil at community college in North County: Palomar College students celebrate Cesar Chavez following their own legacy to fight for the Dream Act. By America Barcelo-Feldman. SAN MARCOS — With a 24 hour fast, a quiet protest, and an all night vigil, Palomar College students commemorated and honored the farm workers’ leader Cesar Chavez.</figcaption></figure>
The South County Economic Development Council (South County EDC) celebrated 20 years of serving southern San Diego County, at the same time that it commemorates the region’s achievements in the last two decades as the South Bay region has grown over the years, highlighted by the growth along the border/Otay Mesa and the development in Chula Vista.
In the meantime North County continues to grow and mature as the Hispanic community in that region becomes more involved with their community, this is highlighted by the new association – Guatemalan Association of San Diego.
“Our mission is to promote our culture so all Guatemalans who live in San Diego and far from our country can remember our traditions and customs, while at the same time unite us and to support each other continuing to improve lives”, Edwin Villela, president of the new association said.
In August Mexico decriminalizes the personal use of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs. The drug war is so big that the Mexican government can no longer deal with the minor infractions of drug use, their focus is on the big guys. All this means for border cities like San Diego is that now a trip means easier access to drugs with out fear of getting busted.
US priorities come into question when in August a good Samaritan group is convicted of “knowingly littering” and sentenced to 300 hours of community service. The littering was placing plastic water bottles out in the desert so that humans wouldn’t die of thirst crossing the desert?
Park View Little League’s All-Star team is on their way to the Little League World Series. This group of spunky boys would go to become World Series champs and unit the San Diego and the City of Chula Vista into fervor of support and recognition for this boys with parades, celebrations, and appearances. Nothing like this has ever happened in chula Vista. It was an exciting month for all.
San Ysidro is 100 years old and the community plans has a year long celebration which is highlighted in August with a community parade and later in the month a gala dinner celebration, the Abrazo 2009 gala organized by Casa Familiar.
Sonia Sotomayor is confirmed as the 111th justice of the Supreme Court, making her the first Hispanic and third female justice, reshaping the highest court in the land.
Lou Dobbs had been the anti-immigrant face on CNN for the extreme right, continues to come under fire from Hispanic groups. Dobbs well know for his anti-immigrant bashing, lies and half truths, sticking with his stories even when confronted with the truth. Hispanics across the country say Ya Basta! They organize and become actively become involved by making their voices heard in the most effective way possible – boycotting CNN/Lou Dobbs’ advertisers. The movement against Dobbs works, Dobbs steps down from his position at CNN.
<figure id="attachment_3883" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3883" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a class="highslide" onclick="return vz.expand(this)" href="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/05.May_.29.jpg"… loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-3883" title="05.May.29" src="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/05.May_.29-300x…; alt="Young heroes recognized. By Pablo Jaime Sáinz. When 10-year-old Desthenie (pronounced Destiny) Espinoza came home from school on April 14, she found her grandmother, Guadalupe Santillan, unconscious and barely breathing." width="300" height="200" srcset="https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/05.May_… 300w, https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/05.May_… 555w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3883" class="wp-caption-text">Young heroes recognized. By Pablo Jaime Sáinz. When 10-year-old Desthenie (pronounced Destiny) Espinoza came home from school on April 14, she found her grandmother, Guadalupe Santillan, unconscious and barely breathing.</figcaption></figure>
All that is left of the tuna canneries in Barrio Logan are a few run down depleted buildings that you would not recognize, but these were the work place of thousands of Hispanic that spurred the growth and development of the community. After years of planning and developing a park, art work is unveiled, by artists Valerie Salatino, Nancy and Sheela Moran, at Parque del Sol that pays tribute to the workers and the tuna industry.
The Logan Heights Family Health Center in the heart of Barrio Logan has long been a mainstay in the community providing health services. Founded in 1970 as a part of the Chicano movement and after 10 years of planning and raising funds, the health center unveils and newly renovated center that has been expanded and modernized.
ACORN was under attack from Republican forces for improperly filling out voter registration forms. To compound their problems a conservative film documentary film maker catches on tape ACORN workers helping a pimp and a prostitute avoid paying taxes. Serious allegations, we agree, that need to be addressed, but the Right wing segment sees this as an opportunity to destroy this group. ACORN has a long history of service and defense of working with minority communities.
The City of San Diego comes out with a report on how well they are doing using minority contractors and it turns out not very well, Hispanics received less than 1% of the contract dollars spent by the city. The sad part this was more than what was spent with black contractors. Then again this was not so surprising, ever since the dismantling of affirmative action 10 years earlier, these numbers have been consistently bad, in fact these are the best numbers in 10 years, pathetic.
It was a late Tuesday afternoon, the border crossing was as busy as usual when three vans rushed through the gates with the vans filled with immigrants. Naturally with all the traffic and barriers the vans didn’t get far with border patrol agents quickly surrounding the vans on foot. Then all hell broke loose. Two of the vans started backing up and the agents started shooting their guns, not only putting the lives of those sitting in the back of the vans in danger, but the surrounding cars and passengers. What were the agents thinking? The vans were stuck in traffic and could not travel at high speed, how much danger could they be in? And the disregard for life, did the crime justify the shooting of their weapons indiscriminately? These are the questions asked after this wild, wild, west shoot out.
In October the issue of education funding, tuition, and college enrollment had reached the boiling point. San Diego State University was curtailing their enrollment for undergraduate students by 40,000 in the next two years, this means that students who were once promised guaranteed admission would not be able to enroll and for students in the North county they to would be left out. This was deemed unacceptable by the students and the community, student protest and community meetings were called for but little changed. SDSU and all other institutions were caught between a rock and hard place.
2010 means it is time to count everybody in the United States and the Census bureau is getting ready to start. In the meantime immigration activist are using the census count as an opportunity to press President Obama on the immigration reform. Immigrant activist are calling for a boycott of the census until the President addresses the issue of immigration. The thinking being, why bother to be counted if immigrants don’t benefit and there is no immigration reform. The counter argument to this is if you’re not counted means less money for the services that meet the immigrant community’s needs.
The H1N1 virus has many in the community worried. In South San Diego a young child dies from the virus. Compounding the problem is the lack of vaccines for the community. Daily reports come out from the Health Services and stories fill the paper about proper health care, hand washers become omnipresent and more and more people are going around with face mask.
In a bit of a twist on the war with drugs it turns out that a lot of the guns that the cartels are using and killing people with are coming from the US. Apparently the laws in the US make it convenient for the gangs to come north and buy all the weapons they need at the various gun shows. Mexico steps up their border inspections of cars going south which is new, usually it had been a mere wave through.
<figure id="attachment_3886" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3886" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a class="highslide" onclick="return vz.expand(this)" href="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/04.April_.24.jp… loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-3886" title="04.April.24" src="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/04.April_.24-30…; alt="“Barrier breakers” dominate media awards: Southwestern College’s “The Sun” is a journalism boot-camp for Latino students. By Pablo Jaime Sáinz. Sun staff is all smiles after earning their ninth consecutive Pacesetter and General Excellence awards. Photo by Edgard Aguilar." width="300" height="187" srcset="https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/04.Apri… 300w, https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/04.Apri… 594w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3886" class="wp-caption-text">“Barrier breakers” dominate media awards: Southwestern College’s “The Sun” is a journalism boot-camp for Latino students. By Pablo Jaime Sáinz. Sun staff is all smiles after earning their ninth consecutive Pacesetter and General Excellence awards. Photo by Edgard Aguilar.</figcaption></figure>
Southwestern Community College with Raj Chopra as their superintendent has done a commendable job up to this point in October. The Board and Superintendent has had to make some tough choices and navigate through a mired of problems, all the while trying to maintain the same level of services. With all the changes and budget cuts it is understandable that many in the college community are upset, but the college board and the Superintendent crossed the line when, after a student protest, a college dean went to the homes of three professors and put them on paid leave. It is one thing to have a difference of opinion and heated debate about the differences, but it is a completely different matter when the administration uses the power of authority to interject fear and intimidation into the matter. The Chula Vista community in general now became even more engaged in the issue at SWC – freedom of speech.
In November everything seems to be coming to a head. Southwestern College is besieged with protest over their actions, community meetings, and finally a public discussion on Free Speech. During the holidays the heat is off a bit, but we expect things to get interesting in the New Year. Vaccines for the H1NI flu are now readily available for all. Lou Dobbs is out and a new attitude toward immigration is starting to take shape to the dismay of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpario. California has a budget for now, and the country is working to improve the health care system. And best of all the economy is starting to crawl back a bit from the deeps of the recession.
But not all is good. Chula Vista City Councilman Steve Castaneda is, once again, coming under attack unfairly. It has all the markings of the good old by system at work. After talking about immigration reform all year long Rep. Luis Gonzalez brings forth a bill dealing with just issue and has broad support, yet without the President supporting the bill nor Democratic leader, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on board this bill in dead on arrival. The drug wars continue and innocent people are being killed. The President commits 40,000 more troops to the war in Afghanistan, meaning that there will be no end to the fighting any time soon. The cost of tuition continues to rise, meaning that low income students will be effectively priced out of a higher education.
But not to conclude the year end review on a sour note, the last piece of good news is that the San Diego Chargers are in the playoffs and we are hoping that on the evening of February 7, 2010 we can call the Chargers, Super Bowl champs.