Most of the Measures on this year’s San Diego City ballot are non-controversial. Measures E through I and Measure M were all placed on the ballot by the City Council and involve everything from a Charter amendment to reforming the process for removal of public officials to an increase in capacity for subsidized affordable housing.

The five measures that have attracted attention in this “year of the lengthy ballot,” are the Chargers’ Initiative (Measure C), the Citizens’ Tourism Initiative (Measure D), two Election Reform proposals (Measures K & L), and a Marijuana tax and regulation plan (Measure N).

Measures K and L sparked controversy at the City Council when proposed by the Independent Voter Project a (co publishers of IVN.us), the labor community and Alliance San Diego. Councilman Chris Cate objected to what he viewed as a rush to the ballot and both measures were qualified on one-vote margins.

Read the full article here. 

By Jean Guerrero

Nine months pregnant, 24-year-old Sandra Alexandre crossed rivers and climbed mountains, traveling through some of the most dangerous countries in the world.

She had one goal: to make it to the U.S.

"It's too difficult, I won't make it," Alexandre recalled telling her fiancé and travel companion, Volcy Dieumercy, somewhere between Colombia and Panama. "Volcy said, 'yes, yes you can make it, little by little, but you are going to make it. Be brave.'"

She did make it. But Dieumercy did not — at least not yet. Because of her pregnancy, Alexandre was allowed into the country before Dieumercy, bypassing long wait times at the ports of entry. Within hours, the U.S. announced it wastightening immigration restrictions on Haitians for the first time since the devastating 2010 earthquake.

Read the full story here. 

By Brian del Carmen 

What started as a civil debate about a city ballot measure that would require mandatory runoffs in contested city elections turned into a tense battle.

The four panelists who gathered at San Diego State University for Politifest on Saturday agreed on one thing: The current election process, which allows city candidates to win outright in June elections, needs to change.

There wasn’t much agreement beyond that, a reality that became particularly apparent when a labor leader who’s advocated for the ballot item known as Measure K joked he’d rather not sit beside a former state senator who also supports the measure. None of the the panelists could agree on method or reason behind the need for changes in the electoral procedures.

 Read the full story here. 

Since 2012 the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has helped thousands of youth here in San Diego better their lives by working legally, having bank accounts, and continuing their higher education. Latin American immigrants have fully taken advantage of this program, but Filipinos, the largest portion of the Asian population in San Diego, have not.

There's been a lack on headway in the Filipino community, so Alliance San Diego is pushing to inform and enroll more Filipinos into the DACA program.

Read more here.