By Jo Marie Diamond, President and CEO
East County Economic Development Council (www.eastcountyedc.org)

January 24, 2012 (San Diego’s East County)--Where’s East County in the scenarios presented by the Greater San Diego Vision? Make your voice heard soon.

You may have seen the ads, heard the radio spots and received emails urging you to engage in the public choosing process for the Greater San Diego Vision initiative. You may have even visited the Public Choosing site and taken a tour of the scenarios for Land Use, Economic Development, Education, and Culture and Amenities.

What you haven’t seen or heard is any reference to the role of East County in these scenarios.

Workshop set for Feb. 3 in Lakeside

Co-Authored by Senator Joel Anderson, 36th District, Kathy Kassel, Executive Director, Lakeside Chamber of Commerce, and John Olsen – Executive Director, Santee Chamber of Commerce

January 17, 2012 (Lakeside)--Employers already struggling to survive in California’s difficult business climate can’t afford to take their eye off another lurking hazard: lawsuit abuse. 

 By Nadin Abbott

By Rikki Borkowski, Rancho Santa Fe

January 10, 2012 (San Diego) -- One in 16 children in the U.S. is suffering from food insecurity, the state of not being able to provide nutritious foods to you, oneself or family. This is a major problem all around the country, even in our own backyard. How can a country so advanced still be living in the 1950s in terms of food insecurity?

 by Scott Barnett & Richard Parker

By Sierra Severson

By Vince Wallgren

November 17, 2011 (La Mesa)--As the public education establishment’s quandary over shortfalls in funding reaches critical mass, the time may be ripe for introducing sweeping changes to the entire system. 

During a recent broadcast of the Ladona Harvey Show, a education establishment insider asserted (paraphrasing) that among the more important elements in revamping the education system is a higher degree of parent - teacher communication; and that parents must be more involved in the overall education experience.

A Major Win for all Californians:
What you need to know about the Elder Economic Planning Act of 2011

by Paul Downey, CEO & President, Senior Community Centers, San Diego

November 10, 2011 (San Diego)--We all aspire to age and with age we all hope to be able to provide ourselves with the basic needs to simply survive – home, food, health care, transportation, etc. However, this is not the case for all seniors. Many struggle to get by daily and though they may have saved in their youth, unforeseen circumstances can turn almost anyone’s lives upside down. 

By Drum Macomber, former El Cajon Citizen of the Year

November 9, 2011 (El Cajon) -- The city of El Cajon wants to be a "Charter City.”

Instead of abiding by the citizen protections provided by state and federal law, the “charter city” designation gives city councils total control over a host of municipal decisions.

 By Joel A. Harrison, PhD, MPH

November 8, 2011 (San Diego)--In an earlier Op Ed I pointed out that according to the U.S. Constitution, the Federal government has no legal right to impose criminal law on marijuana both grown and sold within the State of California (Reader's Editorial: Medical Marijuana and States Rights, October 25, 2011, http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/7674).

Wal-Mart’s assault on its employees’ health is symptomatic of what ails America

By Bonnie Price, PhD

October 29, 2011 (La Mesa)--What’s happening to our nation?  Why are thousands of demonstrators gathering in hundreds of parks and public places with signs and slogans proclaiming everything from, “I AM THE 99%!” to “They got bailed out; we got sold out!”

By Deanna Gullo, Secretary, Fair Trade San Diego

October 27, 2011 (La Mesa)--Even though the Tuesday October 11 vote before the La Mesa City Council did not result in the passage of a Fair Trade Town resolution, La Mesa Fair Trade and Fair Trade San Diego welcome this opportunity to further educate La Mesans and the larger San Diego community on what Fair Trade is as well as what it means it means to be a Fair Trade Town.

By Kit-Bacon Gressitt

October 24, 2011 (San Diego)--On October 17, a group of Cal State University San Marcos (CSUSM) students, faculty, staff and community members sent an unusual letter to CSUSM President Karen Haynes and the Cal State system board of trustees. The letter requested that Haynes and the trustees break their silence and take action to ameliorate the hostile educational and work environment created by The Koala, a private, for-profit hate tabloid distributed at CSUSM since January 2011, at San Diego State University since 2004/2005, and at UC San Diego since 1982.