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It’s not easy to get work done during a pandemic. Even for the fortunate who kept their pre-pandemic jobs, productivity has taken it on the chin in 2020. The same goes for those in the lawmaking business. In March, just days after the governor instructed all Californians to shelter in their homes, legislators left Sacramento to do exactly that — and they stayed away for two months. A second viral wave, plus more than half a dozen infections among lawmakers and their staff, prompted another ext

This is an independent opinion. Have one of your own? Email it to hoa@ivn.us In this unprecedented year, a global pandemic, deep recession and nationwide demonstrations have all reinforced the persistent, systemic racial inequities that continue to afflict our society. These unusually challenging times have accentuated significant racial disparities in economics, health care, housing, education and police violence. Numerous previously-uninvolved community members have begun to acknowledge a res

My father was a Jamaican immigrant, and I was raised in poverty by my single mother. My husband is Mexican and Puerto Rican — our family is proudly multiracial. We urge Californians to vote “no” on Proposition 16 in November. In June, amidst an unprecedented health crisis, the California Legislature proposed a dire change to our State Constitution: a repeal of Proposition 209, which passed in 1996 and prohibits California’s public sector, including universities, from discriminating against, or

The race to replace San Diego’s Mayor is a little different this year. For the first time in history, two Democrats are in the runoff for the City’s top executive position. Without a party label to highlight their differences, here’s what the local media has to say: Gloria’s Mixed Messages on Bry: ‘Too Progressive’ to GOP Voters; ‘Too Republican’ to Democratic Voters The OB Rag joined other media in covering the misleading ads sent by Todd Gloria's campaign telling Republicans that Barbara

Represent San Diego and Independent Voter Project announced this month it will host a free screening of the award-winning documentary, “UnRepresented.” The documentary by Daniel Falconer features accounts by democracy advocates, academics and government officials of the “corrupt dealings” they have witnessed. Organizers said the documentary also offers “ideas for fixing the system, offered by concerned citizens on both the left and the right.” “The corruption described in ‘UnRepresented’ isn’t

It was a simple phone conversation that attorney Kevin Shenkman believes may have been his calling: to ensure every neighborhood or community was properly represented in government. With about 20 election reform lawsuits under his belt, you could say Shenkman has more than answered the call. A high-profile Malibu attorney, Shenkman has litigated against municipalities across the Golden State following passage of the California Voting Rights Act in 2002, giving individuals the ability to sue if

This story was originally published by ProPublica. Monday morning, Sept. 28, California woke up sweaty, devastated, even shocked to find the state burning again. But if we’re honest, and to our great shame, no one was surprised. We’d seen this horror movie in this town. Three years ago, wildfire killed 25 people in Sonoma County. Now the Glass Fire was there, again, burning toward Santa Rosa. At 12:30 a.m., a string of seniors stood in line, many in pajamas, waiting to board an evacuation bus f

Last week TPR shared a new report from Embarcadero Institute disputing the accuracy of the state's methodology for calculating local housing needs. With the state moving to hold local governments accountable for meeting housing production goals and the report finding a 900,000 unit discrepancy, offered here is Embarcadero Institute's response to criticism received regarding the report's conclusions. Report author, Gab Layton, has a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering and currently serves on the advis

This is an independent opinion. Have one of your own? Email it to hoa@ivn.us. “Slam Diego” is a slogan we are seeing all around town as the Padres have set an MLB record for consecutive grand slam homeruns this season and just clinched a spot in the postseason for the first time since 2006. But, our hometown roster of Swingin’ Friars isn’t the only group swinging past the fences and sliding across home plate in East Village this year. Last week, the City of San Diego decided to enter into an e

Matthew Villongco stopped by the UCLA campus to see his friends on a Thursday night during his first year of community college. An airy lounge surrounded by a glass wall, packed to the brim with students, caught his eye — The Study. He’d imagined that people would be partying. Instead, he saw collaborative studying, an atmosphere filled with chatter, not students in their own headphone-induced bubbles. That’s the scene Villongco remembered when he was accepted to UCLA as a transfer student and