Entire Pro-Blackwater Slate Loses Election in San Diego--Big Win for Grassroots

By Terry Williams

Today's big terryfaceplace news is that the election to recall most of the members of the Potrero Planning Group was yesterday, and the entire "pro-Blackwater" slate has been replaced by an overwhelming margin. Excellent news. Not only is this a statement against Blackwater, but a stand against elected officials who've been nothing but arrogant at every turn.

I'm not going to go over all the details because much has been written on the subject already today, but this makes me very happy.

For more words, check out: Juls at Kos and Calitics, and Todd at MyDD.

I just love this for three reasons. First, it's in large part a public NO vote against Blackwater establishing a base of operations in Potrero. It doesn't belong there. Where does it belong? I dunno. But I know it does not belong in Potrero. It's wrong for the area, and the people don't want it. Just go away, Blackwater.

Second, it's a vote against elected officials who had complete disregard for the wishes of a large part of their community. They were dismissive, arrogant and condescending to the people they were supposed to be representing. If anyone ever deserved to be recalled, it was those five members of the Potrero Planning Board. I do hope the San Diego Board of Supervisors is more attentive to the wishes of the locals when it comes their turn to cast their votes on the Blackwater project.

Third, this is a great victory for grassroots political activists. :-) That always makes me happy. The community put a lot of hard work into this through petitioning, GOTV efforts, and good old fashioned door knocking. It does my heart good. I'm a sucker for that democracy stuff.

On a related note, Courage Campaign has a brand spankin' new Block Blackwater site, where they've posted the following video of Potrero resident and new PPG member Carl Meyer, who's talking about his reasons for wanting to Block Blackwater. They will be providing updates and information about what you can do to be a part of the "Block Blackwater" movement.

Oh! And while I'm on the subject, remember waaaaay back last week when I posted about Blackwater's participation in the halftime show at the SDSU/BYU game? Well. If you want to see it for yourself, watch the Armed Forces Bowl Game between Cal State Berkeley and the Air Force Academy on New Years Eve. The parachute team is scheduled to participate in the "salute to the armed forces" themed entertainment. It'll be on ESPN. I'm just sayin'.

Terry Williams is a San Diego writer and activist who writes at Terryfaceplace, "Confessions of a Reluctant Activist."

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