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Impacts of climate change top the list
The future top story and issue that dwarfs all others, including any facing San Diego, is the existence of life on Earth.
Climate change, caused undeniably by human activities, is eliminating animal and plant species that evolution took millions of years to create. Gone, in the blink of an eye of Earth’s history. After careful long-term natural genetic successes, we have destroyed numerous foundations of the food chain.
Although we are beginning to see the adverse impacts on civilizations, unfortunately until we are directly and personally impacted, too many people will defer hoped-for solutions to the next generations. But while global warming raises ocean and bay levels, flooding expensive coastal real estate (including in San Diego County), and accentuates weather extremes, the issues mentioned by other authors will likely be front and center.
Short-term and long-term, the status and survival of humankind should supersede all local issues and, unfortunately, and without minimizing their importance, even international issues such as wars, autocracies, genocides, droughts, famines, economic disparities and immigration.
Hope and prayers, and human egotism, will not overcome continuing destruction of the necessary elements of our life in San Diego or on Earth. Let us stop bickering and work together on everyone’s survival for the sake of the next generations.
Clifford Weiler, Mission Hills
The top stories for 2023 that are on my wish list include:
1. I wish we would pay attention to the data regarding hate crimes.
According to the latest hate crime statistics, there is still a large discrepancy in the perception that hate crimes for religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and gender (35.2 percent) are more prevalent than the hate crimes for race/ancestry (64.8 percent). This is just not so. My deepest wish is for our community to recognize the facts that African Americans are involved in almost twice as many hate crimes as other groups, and this needs to stop. Not only does the information need to be presented fairly, but the actual crimes need to stop.
2. I wish we would pay attention to the data regarding homeless Black people versus other ethnicities.
We must monitor very closely how our unsheltered or homeless population is treated. Not everyone who is homeless is mentally ill or a victim of some form of addiction. We must pay very close attention to how our Black citizens are being treated as evidenced by the recent Regional Task Force on Homelessness report on Addressing Homelessness Among Black San Diegans.
The data show that 34 percent of San Diego’s homeless population is Black. So, what if funds are specifically directed towards them so that they can at least be leveled-up to standard? Then they can have a chance to excel to their own greatness.
3. I wish we would pay attention to the data regarding unfair discipline in our schools towards Black students.
It is not enough for our local school districts to curb suspension rates with skewed data reports. We need to figure out why Black students are getting suspended and what we can do differently to get better results. We keep doing the same thing over and over, and, consequently, we get the same discouraging results. Hopefully, the newly appointed Black superintendent for the San Diego Unified School District will recognize these questions and find viable solutions that will drastically reduce the suspensions for Black students.
This is the year that enough is enough. As a community, we cannot afford to sit still and see what happens. We must act on what we know is wrong and work together to make it right. We have data to show that the playing field is far from level in our Black communities.
So my questions for this new year include: If you were Black, would you want to be treated “less than” in every area of your life? How long would you allow other cultures to excel with support while you sat on the sidelines stagnant? What did the Black communities ever do to deserve such unethical treatment?
There is no better time than now to make the necessary changes to move our people forward and allow them the opportunity to excel beyond their dreams.
Francine Maxwell, chair of Black Men and Women United
Most pressing issue is still homelessness
The single most pressing issue that is with us today, and will most likely be with us for the foreseeable future, is homelessness. We see homeless people living on the sidewalks everywhere. But they are just the tip of the iceberg.
Homelessness is an economic issue that touches many aspects of life today. People who are students are reportedly living in their cars in order to continue their studies. Low-wage earners live day to day in fear of a cataclysmic family issue that will cost them their homes. A single disaster could claim the homes of many people in our community.
The cost of housing is enough to cause some families to teeter into homelessness. Seniors who did not or could not save enough money to retire and to obtain health care and have no family to support them fall into homelessness. And this list does not cover people who continue to struggle with the law and struggle with a harmful addiction. And we all struggle with the heavy guilt of not providing sufficient post-service support for our veterans.
Well-worn idioms and admonitions don’t help to solve this problem of homelessness. To say that “there go the lazy” is, at least, inaccurate. Pointing fingers and blaming only our political leaders has not been helpful. For myriad reasons, some people have difficulty gaining positive traction to provide a life for themselves and for their families. And we forget that the near collapse of our financial systems in 2008 hurt millions of people who lost their single most import real asset: their homes. We forget that the actual end of the Depression didn’t really end until the end of World War II. That means it took 17 years to improve life in the United States. So maybe we have two years left to get things on a better footing.
And we need to remember the COVID-19 pandemic really hurt the economy besides so much loss of life. What the last two years have revealed to us is how close our country came to full collapse and chaos generated by digital networks that lied to all of us. We move forward by knowing that even how people are employed today makes a difference. Many people work at home. We move forward by keeping control of our government by not allowing huge corporate interests to determine our future. Our vote is what separates us from the rest of the world. But we need to participate by, at least, voting. Homelessness is our issue. Handling this will determine the quality of life of the current generation and of our children. Of course, the list of other issues is lengthy. But home is central to who we are as a nation.
John H. Borja, Chula Vista
San Diego in trouble unless change occurs
As we look forward to a new year, it gives us the impetus to reflect on the past. The top story for the new year may have some basis from the past history of the city of San Diego. Have we learned from our mistakes of the past to not repeat them in the future? I don’t think so.
In my 84 years, most of which have been spent in San Diego, I have seen a lot of good things occurring in our city, but some things that I hope will not be repeated.
In the 1970s, Mayor Frank Curran was caught up in the Yellow Cab scandal. In the 1980s and 2005, mayors Roger Hedgecock and Dick Murphy were involved in financial issues. The year 2013 brought us Bob Filner. In the latest, and by far the most costly example, mayors Kevin Faulconer and Todd Gloria, along with City Council members, were the seed for what has grown into a huge and continuing debacle. The taxpayers are now paying $32,000 a day, yes that is every 24 hours, with a projected total cost of $348 million for a building that is unusable in its present condition.
In 1931, the city charter called for a manager-council form of governance. This form of governance had an appointed manager who was responsible for the day-to-day operation of the city. If things went wrong, managers could be held accountable and fired and someone else hired to take their place.
In 2004, voters approved a change to a mayor-council (“strong mayor”) form of government and in 2010, this change was made permanent by the voters. This meant that if governing went wrong, you had to wait until the next election to replace the culprit. If the culprit was a career employee, they almost always keep their job and eventually would collect a nice pension, but the city manager had final responsibility.
The current City Council is made up with all one-party members. This is not good, no matter what party holds 100 percent of the seats. There needs to be checks and balances. The voters created this situation, so that the citizens have to live with it, good or bad.
I believe it is time to reevaluate our method of governing the city and consider a ballot measure to return to a city manager who can be held responsible and accountable. I believe that if it does not occur, the headline in 2023 will be “City of San Diego files for bankruptcy.” Hopefully, something changes before this occurs and someone steps up to do what is necessary for the change to be placed on a future ballot so the citizens of San Diego can decide.
Bill Shannon, Mission Hills
Padres World Series win is on the horizon
You heard it here first. Here are some of the top stories of 2023 and beyond.
Neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump will contend for the White House in the 2024 election. Biden will withdraw, citing concerns about his age and health. Beset by ongoing legal problems, and after poor results in early primaries, Trump, too, will quit, disgusted by what he will claim to be a United States that “no longer wants to be great.”
As Russian casualties mount and the Russian economy hits rock bottom, widespread protests will sweep across Russia, threatening to end Vladimir Putin’s reign. However, the war with Ukraine will drag on.
San Diego will pioneer a program that might be called “Transitional Villages.” This program will use land sitting idle as sites for housing homeless people. Medical care, job training and access to other services will also be provided in these villages.
Israel will suffer condemnation from the international community as Benjamin Netanyahu’s new coalition government expands West Bank settlements and restricts the rights of LGBTQ individuals.
To the surprise of no one, Congress will, again, fail to enact desperately needed immigration reform, even as the humanitarian crisis at the border worsens.
After decades of wishing and hoping, the San Diego Padres will win the World Series, beating the New York Yankees in six games.
Rick Keenan, San Carlos
Some of these things may actually happen
After extensive research and detailed analysis, these are my predictions for the top stories of 2023.
The Padres will win the National League pennant. But lose the World Series in a rematch with the New York Yankees.
This is a no-brainer prediction; wildfires will be particularly destructive this year in San Diego County with heat, wind and plenty of dry brush.
The housing market will continue to cool due to high interest rates. However, pickleball courts will be built at a record pace.
The expensive California High Speed Rail will slowly fade from taxpayers’ memories like the tiny Scottish village of Brigadoon in the musical of the same name.
Gavin Newson will hold a record number of press conferences to remind people he has no plans to run for president.
The Jan. 6 report will become the third-most popular government document that everyone claims they have read and become a hit series on Netflix. In need of a job, Liz Cheney will portray herself in the series.
In a related story, Ron DeSantis will magically rouse Republican senators and representatives from their fugue states so they remember there was indeed an insurrection at the capitol.
A former United States president will be arrested for insurrection and start a crypto exchange to raise money for legal expenses.
A crypto exchange started by a former American president will be raided by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the FBI and 21 state attorneys general.
Stunning the world, Russia will make New Year’s resolutions to be a “nice guy” and stop invading countries and trolling elections. China will make the same resolution on Jan. 22 (my birthday, coincidentally).
Also coincidentally, the president will announce, while vacationing in Hawaii, that the United States would never invade another country and take it over.
We will become obsessed with some quasi-celebrity for doing something stupid then posting it on social media.
In entertainment news, Rudy Giuliani, to avoid jail and being disbarred, will be sentenced to appear in Borat 3.
In science news, scientists will be shocked when the James Webb space telescope finds no evidence of extraterrestrial life.
In medical news, people will be immunized for COVID-19 variants, flu and other contagious diseases at a record pace. Doctors will be pleased but also want people to wear a mask over their pie holes indoors.
And last but not least, in a surprising turnaround, the Supreme Court will affirm rights of individual citizens over those of states and political and special interests.
Mike Stewart, Spring Valley
I’m eager to see what your reporters report
The top stories I expect to see in San Diego and beyond in 2023 include the following:
The war in Ukraine will continue as Russia sacrifices young men conscripted from remote regions of the country and rains down a continual torrent of destruction on men, women and children. Maybe the forces that be will let the United Nations step forward to mediate a peace in the disputed region.
Military assault-type weapons will be used by disturbed persons to kill more innocent men, women and children. Maybe enough people will come to their senses to realize that the conditional phrase in the Second Amendment should be used to restrict the ownership and use of such weapons to a “well regulated” militia.
More young men will be damaged by injuries sustained on a football field because the sport is inherently dangerous the way it is played and regulated today. Maybe someone will redesign the helmets now used as battering rams and institute rules that will encourage and reward agility instead of brutality.
San Diego will continue to have the highest electric utility bills in the continental U.S. because we have rewarded SDG&E with another 20 years of exclusive use of our public right of way to continue to build a 20th century energy system that it controls. Maybe someone will bring forward a measure to establish a credible community owned and operated nonprofit electric utility that will take advantage of the ability for San Diego to power itself with 21st century technology of solar and storage systems arranged as community microgrids on every appropriate rooftop and parking lot in the city.
Public funds will continue to be expended on grandiose schemes to “redevelop” San Diego’s Downtown at the expense of the some 50 other communities in the city of San Diego, while the neighborhoods in those communities will have more and more density inappropriately located under the guise of addressing our Climate Action Plan goals and providing more affordable housing. Maybe someone will be able to convince the mayor and City Council members that they actually need to empower and engage their constituents with properly supported area planning committees with a diversity of members who are elected by their neighbors to represent what they want in their communities.
Thank goodness we have a newspaper that can — and I hope will — continue to bring these issues to our attention through investments in watchdog and investigative journalists who will shine a light on where special interests are getting the resources and how they are using those resources to create a future that benefits them at our expense. This would ensure that those who seek an alternative future that will benefit our communities, our nation and the planet are heard and encouraged to step forward.
Jay Powell, Normal Heights
Opinion resources
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Donald Trump must finally face justice
What should be one of 2023 Top Stories? “DOJ indicts ex-president Trump for instigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.” I will leave it up to the lawyers to specify the exact charges, but presumably they will be close to what the Jan. 6 Commission referred. I am not sure if it will happen but certainly should.
The commission conducted thousands of interviews and collected millions of documents during their 18-month investigation, leading them to make the case that Donald Trump was the central figure in the attempted coup. Of course Trump gets his day in court to defend himself, and that would be the purpose of the indictment — to give him that opportunity in a court of law, removing any accusations of partisanship that remain. He can tell his side of the story to the American people. The body of evidence pointing to his culpability at this point appears overwhelming to this writer, but I would welcome his rebuttal — it would be “must-see TV.” Without an indictment this festering sore will continue to infect our democracy, making us appear weak to our global non-democratic adversaries.
There is nothing more foundational to our form of government than belief in our system of laws, and safe and fair elections, both of which seem to be under attack. Any attempt to obstruct and overthrow the government is at the top of the list. It is not a stretch to say that this kind of activity comes from the playbook of authoritarian strongmen.
Trump and his cronies must stand trial for their role in the January 6 insurrection to clear their names or be convicted and sentenced. If left unsettled, our country will continue to descend into a barely functional partisan mishmash that is both envied and pitied around the world. Plus the remnants of Trump’s “army” will be encouraged to try again, now fore-armed with knowledge about how to be more effective.
The U.S. democracy may not survive a second attempt.
Bill Loeber, Del Cerro
The war in Ukraine is more important than people know
The battle for Ukraine will be the most important story of 2023. Not just for Ukraine. Not just for Europe. But the whole world.
Russian president Vladimir Putin is not giving up his effort to bring Ukraine back to the Russian empire.
Unfortunately, if he is successful he will not stop there. He wants to bring back the glory of the Russian empire by recapturing all or part of Ukraine, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, and Georgia.
Currently we are in the winter season where ground warfare becomes very difficult. The war in the air, or rather the battle of drones, missiles and artillery, will continue with the reconnaissance satellites and drones which make target selection and delivery much easier
However, the only way to actually win a war is to take and hold the ground. This can only be done by ground troops. And now in this winter season, Putin is no doubt rapidly drafting and training the million or so troops necessary to capture Ukraine.
Putin has until spring, when the weather and ground conditions, will allow rapid deployment of troops and equipment.
Comparisons to the WW2 Battle of Kursk is appropriate since Kursk, Russia, is only about 300 miles from Kyev. That battle in July, 1943, involved almost one million “Soviet” troops. The battle was to stop the German army invasion of Russia. The, then Soviet Army, eventually prevailed over the Germans but suffered over 175,000 casualties.
The point here, Putin has time on his side to re-arm and train thousands before favorable weather. Can Ukraine adequately prepare?
Ukraine’s response will require assistance from the United States and other countries which Putin may target if he prevails in Ukraine. We learned from the experience of WW2, that unless the aggressor is stopped early it will be very difficult and costly in treasure and lives to undo the bad done by failure to recognize the danger and act.
Another lesson of WW2 is there will be factions that oppose any direct engagement with Russia. There was “America First” who with numerous U.S. politicians and religious leaders actually supported Hitler and his Nazis.
Currently we are sending defensive weapons to Ukraine but denying weapons which could directly cause damage in Russia. In addition, the mood of our country may change to less support for Ukraine. Certain members of congress are already starting to be less supportive. However, our arms industry is making a lot of money by supplying arms and material. Which of course will influence politicians.
The threat of much wider war is real. Ukraine, NATO and her allies must defeat the coming Russian onslaught. It may not be the same embarrassment Putin suffered in his under prepared attempt to overwhelm Ukraine and bring the country back under the Putin/Russian Communist government rule.
Preventing a world war is the most important story of 2023.
Ron Carrico, Mission Hills
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