Inland Empire Progressive

With no Democrat in the race for the 31st Congressional District, it has been very quiet here in the Inland Empire. Besides a couple of endorsements, this race has been largely uneventful.  While all the Inland Empire candidates have the energy and stamina of a tortoise. Mr. Dutton has been pretty lethargic.  Maybe it’s all that hard work of being California Senate Minority leader that’s kept him from running a more spirited campaign. I don’t know, but what I do know is that candidates who don’t take their races seriously tend to lose. And lose big.

Everyone agrees that Unions in the 21st Century are faltering, the question is what do we on the Left do to help unions adapt to this new reality. The majority of Labor is now concentrated in government services and is helping to fuel conservative hostility against it.  A cognitive dissonance in the ranks of some labor unions (police, fire, corrections, and some construction trades) tend to be more conservative and vote against their own economic interests. In addition, these factors also come into play as I see them in my work place: Pensions tied to Wall Street. A double edged sword. Shareholder activism can be used to drum up reforms on Wall Street because our pensions (PERS, STRS, etc.) are tied to Wall Street. However, performance suffers and preparations must be made if this route is chosen. Health Care Mismanagement. I see this a lot in my union, the Teamsters. Management pays off the Business Agent, who is also a trustee in the management of rank and file medical benefi...

This is Route 20 in Fontana. Somebody must have had a grudge against politicians in the city.

The cutting of police is inevitable since they make up approx. 75% of San Bernardino’s operating budget. What we have to do to preserve and protect our community is to come up with solutions that can safeguard residents and protect property. Increasing neighborhood watch groups. Vallejo did it and so can we. They went from 10 groups with 60 people to 302 groups with 2,552 members. Engaging our residents to look out for one another is critical to not only look after people and  property but are the building blocks to civic engagement.   Deputizing citizens. With an unemployment rate of 15%, it is hard to imagine that we cannot hire more San Bernardino residents to do the job at minimal expense. These citizens chosen can go through a screening process to ensure they are physically and mentally fit to provide basic police services. Increased automation. Surveillance cameras, mobile apps, GIS mapping, and even aerial drones. We can leverage technology to provide targeting of...

  Personal Arms Race 30 dead in San Bernardino. The Aurora, Colorado massacre. A congresswoman and several others shot dead. Gun rights groups have won, but with no solution to mitigate random acts of gun violence. No major legislation will be passed now or in the future. Politicians are scared and as the body count stacks up Americans will shrug with indifference. However, I think the blowback will come in the form of a personal arms escalation. It won’t be long before gangs will have enough armament to form small paramilitary groups. I fear they will supplant the rule of law. Violence is the force from which all force is derived.  I call on Rep. Miller and State Sen. Dutton to denounce gun violence and stem the flow of arms into gangs and other groups. San Bernardino’s poverty, lack of opportunity, and  low educational skills make it ripe for violence due to guns and gangs. We are not Rancho Cucamonga or Redlands. Gun violence here is real and will probably get w...

I am a Principled Progressive. What I strive to achieve in society is to inspire understanding that there is something out there greater than ourselves. Through fame, fortune, or glory I believe that we as Progressives always strive to remain humble. Through money, power, and respect we give back and pay forward our good fortune. I see this as 100% opposite as the philosophy of our conservative counterparts, who internalize the principle of selfishness to the point where they cannot see beyond themselves. This is playing out now in the 21st Century American politics. A confluence of events has laid waste to the bi-partisan myth and has return us to our norms. Failed and/or inadequate elites, institutions, and rules have pushed both sides to the extreme. In addition, communication  technology has rapidly unified and polarized the two factions of American society. We may want bi-partisanship, but we govern in principle. I believe a principled compromise can be achieved to ensure ...

San Bernardino, apathy is not the answer. For too long, we have not had an effective community coalition in place to deal with any civic problems that may arise in our community. Our city council is dysfunctional. Our mayor is weak. Our city attorney is unethical.  Our public safety and civil servants are overpaid, demographically unrepresentative, and uncaring to the needs of our populace. However, we also need to lay the blame on ourselves. Only 8% of our residents vote in city elections. We might think local voting is not important and of minor consequence, but this bankruptcy has shown that we need to pay attention to the officials we elect and what policies they are pursuing.  We can no longer afford to sit idly by and allow our elected officials to deal with the situation effectively. As this process unfolds we must be vigilant against powerful interests outside of the city, chiefly police and fire, but also outside residents that making their profits off our city res...

The financial crisis. The Libor scandal. Regulatory capture. When will Congress stand up to the banks? There have been no major arrests or serious congressional investigations into the wide spread corruption in the financial sector. Rep. Gary Miller can easily criticize the Treasury Secretary. However, can he bring himself to be critical of the banks. The banks play casino with our PERS, Social Security, and our 401Ks, privatizing the profits while socializing the losses. As a ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, Mr. Miller has sat idle while the world largest banks suck our investments dry. In fact he protects these entities as job creators. He calls for the full repeal of Frank-Dodd, while replacing it with nothing. Doing nothing is what got us into this mess in the first place, by allowing a culture of corruption to breed on Wall Street. We have a crisis of confidence in capitalism because the financial system itself is corrupt to the core. Banks have robbed us of...

After reading over the budget stabilization plan, I think we should pursue these 3 policies: Generate a serious small business marketing plan in conjunction with the San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce. The Primary Focus should be on targeting San Bernardino’s largest employers: CSUSB, San Manuel, Community Hospital. Secondary Focus on: SBVC, Omnitrans, Saint Bernadine’s, SBUSD. We need an All Hands on Deck approach that is comprehensive to include every business and encompasses every Ward. Maximize Land Use. Productive use of land parcels with specific focus on Tax Exempt Properties, Personal (Unsec) properties, Vacant Properties. These land use categories represent over 10,000 pieces of land that are under productive. Further Consolidation. Combine design engineering, public works, refuse, and building inspection departments to create the Infrastructure Services Department.

  My concerns with Rep. Miller and State Sen. Dutton are that they will seek to sell the most valuable asset of the Inland Empire to outside interests. That asset is land. Orange County and Los Angeles developers are currently buying and salivating over the prospects of turning our county into a mega bedroom community. Do we have the water to support more cookie cutter housing projects? While the housing industry will create short-term jobs, in the long run these jobs are not the best in pay or skill sets unless you are a developer that is.