Disappointed In Frye
Editor:
As a voter living in San Diego’s 6th District, and as someone who has supported Donna Frye’s efforts on behalf of Surfrider Foundation before she won election to the San Diego City Council, I am greatly disappointed by her stubborn refusal to consider the great benefits of the SeaWorld expansion project for San Diego.
Instead, she voted against millions of dollars in tourist money that fuels our economy and provides real jobs. And worse, she continues to ignore the great work SeaWorld does on behalf of ocean conservation and saving injured animals by attacking SeaWorld’s intentions.
When she was an activist, perhaps it made sense for her to focus on single issues to the exclusion of facts, and it did capture media attention painting SeaWorld as some sort of heinous villain when she ran for office.
But, now that Frye is a council member, people in her district expect something more than mere venting of her personal views and an obsessive war against SeaWorld.
Fortunately, the rest of the council thought about the best interests of all San Diegans when they voted for the SeaWorld master plan. We can only hope that with such a resounding defeat on the SeaWorld project, Frye will start taking a more balanced approach and leave SeaWorld alone.
Kerrie Knight
San Diego
The Shine From BIO2001
Editor:
The massive media coverage of BIO2001 shows how critically important the biotechnology industry is both globally and locally. San Diego, the third largest center for bio-commerce in the nation, increasingly requires more technically trained personnel.
As president of San Diego City College, I am honored our Downtown campus was selected as host for the BIO 2001 Teachers Professional Development Program.
City College’s nationally recognized biotechnician education program prepares industry-trained personnel for entry-level research, development, production and manufacturing positions every semester. The college also serves as the Southwest Regional Bio-Link Center for the National Science Foundation (NSF). Additionally, this summer, City College will establish itself as the state’s Southern California BioTechnologies Center (SCBC).
Kudos deservedly go to our biotechnology community, our mayor and city services and our Downtown businesses for making San Diego shine so brightly.
Yet let’s not forget the substantive educational and training contribution offered by San Diego’s community colleges to help attract, retain and expand biotech companies in both the city and county of San Diego. For much of our population, no better technical career opportunity exists , at $11/credit , for entering high-skilled/high-paid jobs than through our local community colleges.
Terrence J. Burgess
San Diego
(Editor’s Note: Burgess is president of San Diego City College).
Don’t Blame Big Oil
Editor:
Editor Martin Hill is absolutely right about one thing , SUVs should not be blamed for higher gas prices.
It is completely inane to blame inanimate objects for anything that occurs as a result of human activity.
He is, however, wrong to assert that big oil companies are to blame. The buyers of SUVs are to blame for higher gas prices because it is they who are buying large quantities of gasoline to operate their SUVs, and he should know that when demand is increased and supply is not, prices must rise. That is one of the fundamental and inescapable laws of economics.
Secondly, it is really disheartening to see the San Diego Business Journal constantly haranguing the oil companies and energy producers for “price gouging” when all they are doing is charging the prices that the market will bear. Probably the Business Journal would be supporting the oil and power companies except that, since they are not headquartered here in San Diego, they present convenient scapegoats.
I expect the leftist press to engage in the bashing of good capitalists like those at Reliant and Exxon, but from the Business Journal I would expect solidarity with business interests and an understanding of the rationality of market mechanisms. When Adam Smith wrote about the “unseen hand of government” guiding the private sector, he did not mean the imposition of price caps.
Many people blame the environmentalists for high energy prices, but in the final analysis, the blame rests squarely with the voters. It is the California electorate that votes for the politicians who favor environmental preservation over low prices and abundant supply.
Would San Diegans support construction of a new oil refinery in the Penasquitos Lagoon if it meant substantially lower gas prices? Doubtful. The same is probably true throughout the state, whose energy crisis is entirely self-inflicted. In reality, there is no corporate conspiracy against consumers, but rather an unwillingness of voters to remember that energy rates and prices are influenced (usually increased) by counterproductive government controls on production and distribution. As Vice President Dick Cheney points out, “some people still don’t get it.”
Russell F.H. Gibbon
San Diego
