«#Republican offcl in 1 of most #conservative prts of #SanDiego metro area→abandoning party 2 join #Democrats

Per #SanDiegoUnionTribune, "#ElCajon Councilmember #GaryKendrick announced Mon he left Party & registerd as membr of #DemocraticParty, citing deep concern ovr rcnt #ImmigrationEnforcement." Kendrick "was 1 of longest-serving Republicans in municipal office in #SD County b4 making decision 2 switch parties," & has servd for 24 yrs since 1st being elected in 2002»

https://www.rawstory.com/party-switch/#

Opinion: San Diego needs all city libraries to be open seven days a week – San Diego Union-Tribune

Editor’s Note: Reposted with pleasure. I retired in 2016 from SDPL, 15 years of service to the community in various roles: Training Librarian, Government Documents, Librarian II in Science & Technology. Read please and support your Library. It’s Vital for Growth, for Education, for all the People we serve. –DrWeb

Opinion, Commentary

Opinion: San Diego needs all city libraries to be open seven days a week

By Patrick Stewart, Patrick is the CEO of the Library Foundation SD and lives in Clairemont.

PUBLISHED: February 3, 2026 at 6:00 AM PST

In his 2026 State of the City address, Mayor Todd Gloria outlined proposals and priorities for the city in the coming year. However, he notably left out the San Diego Public Library when discussing building, transforming and investing in our city.

The mayor proposed funding the city based on who we are today and how we’re moving forward tomorrow, not funding it based on where we were 30 years ago — and I agree! Sadly, the San Diego Public Library is funded too closely, in relation to the city’s general fund, to the level it was funded nearly three decades ago.

As the city demonstrates its priorities through budget allocations, I urge our leaders to recognize the San Diego Public Library as the cornerstone of public services it truly is. Libraries have long served as more than just places to borrow books.

The San Diego Public Library stands as the region’s largest provider of free cultural programming and serves as a hub for workforce development, lifelong learning, early literacy, civic engagement, and social justice. From a parent whose child relies on the Homework Center at their local library to the entrepreneur learning how to write a business plan, our libraries provide essential services that help San Diegans connect and access key resources.

Inspired and guided by community voices, the Library Foundation SD remains committed to advocating for a 37/7 system, in which all 37 library branches are open seven days a week and reflect the programming needs of our world-class city.

Each year the San Diego Public Library is visited nearly 7 million times, making the library department one of the most widely used services in the city.

San Diegans deserve and have called for a full-time library department. Just last year, thanks to thousands of voices in our community, a crucial budget adjustment was secured that restored Monday hours at 17 library locations. This partial restoration exemplifies the power of collective advocacy, and demonstrates what we can achieve when the community rallies behind the Library Department.

Being open every day of the week ensures that libraries remain important community spaces that close educational gaps, support digital equity and promote workforce readiness. Every day that one of our branches is closed, students, job seekers, families and neighbors who depend on their public library miss out on valuable opportunities.

The annual cost of restoring seven-day service across all branches is less than 0.5% of the city’s general fund — a modest investment that benefits half of all San Diego households.

Now is not the time to cut spending on spaces and services that empower residents and foster connected communities.

Throughout our 37 branches, librarians identify community needs and address problems with programming. Services offered across our branches — ranging from youth academic preparedness to workforce development, technology access, and cultural enrichment — strengthen the fabric of our communities.

If further citywide budget cuts are on the horizon, our library system’s ability to serve the community with essential programs and services will be severely threatened. After last year’s struggles, any additional reductions would have catastrophic consequences for the library’s programming capabilities.

Last year, San Diegans made it clear: “This is unacceptable.” We understand that budgeting is a challenge, but we also have a set of priorities to support, including keeping libraries open 37/7 — every location, seven days a week.

I invite all supporters of the freedom to read and the future of our city to contact your elected officials and let them know you support your library. Find your representative at sandiego.gov/contact.

Get involved in supporting public libraries by signing up for our advocacy newsletter at http://libraryfoundationsd.org/.

Patrick is the CEO of the Library Foundation SD and lives in Clairemont.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Opinion: San Diego needs all city libraries to be open seven days a week – San Diego Union-Tribune

The Dec 12 print edition of the #SanDiegoUnionTribune contained a full page of placeholder (greeked or "Lorem Ipsum") text.

This is not The Onion.

https://www.sandiegoville.com/2025/12/san-diego-union-tribune-full-page.html#google_vignette

#journalism #newspapers #SanDiego

San Diego Public Library cuts slash Monday hours, prompt ‘great reshuffling’ of librarians citywide – San Diego Union-Tribune

News, Politics

San Diego Public Library cuts slash Monday hours, prompt ‘great reshuffling’ of librarians citywide

The shorter hours are also forcing branches to quickly reschedule activities like author talks, photography exhibits and youth storytelling times — and let patrons know about those changes on the fly.

By David Garrick | [email protected] | The San Diego Union-Tribune

PUBLISHED: September 4, 2025 at 9:02 AM PDT

Budget cuts are about to bring big changes to San Diego’s 37 neighborhood library branches — including shorter hours, shuffled staff and rescheduled activities.

Cuts approved by the mayor and City Council in June will wipe out Monday hours at 20 branches starting Sept. 15., leaving only 17 branches open on Mondays.

And those cuts, which come shortly after Sunday hours were eliminated at 14 branches on July 1, are prompting key staff to jump from branch to branch in what city officials are calling “the Great Reshuffling.”

The shorter hours are also forcing branches to quickly reschedule activities like author talks, photography exhibits and youth storytelling times — and let patrons know about those changes on the fly.

Local library supporters say the changes are disappointing and possibly could have been handled better.

“This was all very sudden for everybody,” said Pat Wilson, president of the Friends of the San Diego Public Library. “A lot of the staff are moving around. It’s kind of disruptive.”

City officials say the shorter hours are needed to help close a budget deficit of more than $300 million. The shorter hours are expected to save $5.1 million in the ongoing fiscal year, which projects to roughly $7 million in a full fiscal year.

They are part of roughly $100 million in cuts enacted in this year’s budget. Mayor Todd Gloria and the council closed the remainder of the deficit with about $150 million in new revenues from parking and fees, and by canceling $64 million in scheduled reserve contributions.

The reshuffling is the result of complex labor union rules regarding seniority and the desire of many workers to avoid working Saturdays, which are now part of the required five-day work week of Tuesday-through-Saturday at branches that will have no Monday hours.

Many branch managers, youth librarians and other key full-time staff are shifting to branches where Monday hours will continue so they can avoid working Saturdays.

And many of those moves are bumping less-tenured employees to other branches, starting the cycle again and bumping other employees with even less seniority.

The process is essentially complete for full-time workers, but it has just begun for part-time workers and is expected to continue for them through Tuesday.

The labor union that represents the affected workers, the Municipal Employees Association, says this is a better outcome than a previous proposal by the mayor to shut all branches every Sunday and Monday.

That proposal would have included nearly three dozen layoffs and would have left a big hole in the mostly lower-income communities where branches will still have Monday service.

“We are focused on promoting fairness in scheduling, but it is just a fact that changing days and hours of operation in the library system is incredibly complicated and disruptive for all,” said Mike Zucchet, MEA general manager. “It is also important to note that this is happening in part because the city restored some Monday hours, maintaining critical services and saving dozens of jobs from layoffs, which are clearly good things.”

A city spokesperson said the complex process is necessary.

“With 573 active employees in the San Diego Public Library system, the city remains committed to providing a fair process and supportive work environment for everyone,” said the spokesperson, Jennifer McBride.

She said the “schedule selection process” was collaboratively developed by the city and MEA with a goal of ensuring that branches remain open and accessible to the communities they serve.

Wilson, the leader of the Friends group, said staff turnover is normal and expected, but this is different because it’s so much turnover happening all at once.

“We’ll muddle through and make the best of it,” she said. “As angry as some people are, I kind of want to put out a ray of sunshine.”

Continue/Read Original Article Here: San Diego Public Library cuts slash Monday hours, prompt ‘great reshuffling’ of librarians citywide – San Diego Union-Tribune

#2025 #America #Books #BranchLibraries #BudgetCuts #CityOfSanDiego #Education #History #Librarians #Libraries #Library #MondayHours #Politics #Reading #SanDiego #SanDiegoPublicLibrary #SanDiegoUnionTribune #ShiftingLibrarians #ShiftingStaff #UnitedStates

What the data say about who ICE is arresting in San Diego – San Diego Union-Tribune

What the data say about who ICE is arresting in San Diego
More than half of the arrests locally by ICE’s San Diego field office this year were of people with no criminal record

By Alexandra Mendoza | [email protected] | The San Diego Union-Tribune and Kristen Taketa | [email protected] | The San Diego Union-Tribune
UPDATED: July 7, 2025 at 5:29 PM PDT

In the first six months of the Trump administration’s push for mass deportations, more than half of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in San Diego and Imperial counties were of individuals with no pending criminal charges or previous criminal convictions, according to data from the federal agency obtained by the Deportation Data Project.

The data, which the project obtained via public records requests, helps show how President Donald Trump has carried out his crackdown on illegal immigration and provides a snapshot of who ICE has arrested in the region — during the initial months of enforcement as well as a more recent ramp-up marked by community pushback and videos of public arrests that go viral.

So far this year, ICE’s San Diego field office, which encompasses San Diego and Imperial counties, has made nearly twice as many arrests as it did last year — mostly of Mexican nationals, according to the data.

From January to early June, ICE’s San Diego field office made 1,042 arrests, compared to 602 last year and 191 in 2023. The project’s data goes through June 10, and only documents administrative immigration arrests made by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, or ERO, the agency’s main arm that enforces immigration policy.

The figures show that so far this year, about 53% of administrative ICE arrests locally have been of people with no criminal charges or convictions, 33% were of people with criminal convictions, while about 15% were of people who faced pending criminal charges. That’s a notable difference from last year, when 74% of arrests locally involved individuals with a criminal conviction or charges pending.

Read more: What the data say about who ICE is arresting in San Diego – San Diego Union-TribuneWhat the data say about who ICE is arresting in San Diego

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/07/06/what-the-data-say-about-who-ice-is-arresting-in-san-diego/

#2025 #America #DonaldTrump #Health #History #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #Politics #Resistance #SanDiego #SanDiegoUnionTribune #Science #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates