Bilicki

Blackwater is still not feeling the love in San Diego:

San Diego officials will challenge Blackwater Worldwide’s permit for an indoor military training facility in South County, saying the public didn’t know about the plan.

“Residents deserve to know when a facility like this is approved – before it is approved,” San Diego City Council President Scott Peters said.

The North Carolina company received a permit in March for a training site in Otay Mesa, an industrial section of south San Diego, shortly after abandoning its controversial proposal to build a larger facility in Potrero in East County.

The city Development Services Department granted the permit without public hearings. The site was already permitted for a vocational school, and city staff members decided Blackwater’s training of Navy personnel qualified. The facility will have a shooting range, a simulated Navy ship and classrooms.

Brian Bonfiglio, a Blackwater vice president, said the opposition seems to originate from anti-war sentiment, not animosity toward the facility itself.

Let me stop right here and say that opposition more likely stems from the fact that Blackwater is seen as a bunch of murderous thugs who have made the military’s job in Iraq even harder and that Brian Bonfiglio is trying to wrap Blackwater in the flag. If you can’t sell your brand of patriotism in a conservative town like San Diego, you have serious problems.

Yesterday, Peters, San Diego Councilman Ben Hueso and Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, held a rally in Otay Mesa to oppose the permit. They were joined by about 30 community activists.

Mary Ussery of Coronado wore a “Stop Blackwater” T-shirt. She said military activity belongs on military bases, not private property.

“Although it’s not my backyard, it’s close enough,” Ussery said. “It’s still my country.”

Peters said Blackwater wasn’t upfront about its plans to operate out of a 61,600-square-foot building owned by Los Angeles company Hometex in a business park on Siempre Viva Road, just south of Brown Field.

“They filed for a permit under the name of a subcontractor as a deliberate dodge to keep our city and community in the dark,” Peters said.

Bonfiglio said, “We went through the same process that any other business does.”

Blackwater’s permit was obtained by Raven Development Group. Southwest Law Enforcement’s name is on the design plan that the city reviewed. Bonfiglio said the company has never sought to hide its affiliation with those businesses.

Peters said his office has requested the city’s permit documents. His staff is researching how to go about challenging the permit.

Blackwater officials in March abandoned the company’s plans to build an 824-acre training center in Potrero, a rural community about 40 miles east of downtown San Diego.

What concerns me about Blackwater in San Diego is that, twice now, they have attempted to locate themselves near the border.

A spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection denied there are any specific plans to work directly with Blackwater. And Blackwater officials say the complex would be used only for training active-duty military and law enforcement officials, work for which the company has contracted with the U.S. government.

But statements and lobbying activity by Blackwater officials, and the location for the new complex, strongly suggest plans to get involved in border security, with potential contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Moreover, Blackwater enjoys support from powerful Republican congressmen who advocate hard-line border policies, including calls for deploying private agents to beef up the ranks of the U.S. Border Patrol. Lawmakers supporting Blackwater include California Rep. and presidential candidate Duncan Hunter — who met last year with company officials seeking his advice on the proposal for Blackwater West — and Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, who is sponsoring a bill to allow private contractors such as Blackwater to help secure U.S. borders.

When questioned at a public hearing with the Potrero planning group on Sept. 13 about Blackwater West, Brian Bonfiglio, a Blackwater spokesman, said, "I don’t think there’s anyone in this room who wouldn’t like to see the border tightened up." Blackwater currently had no contracts to help with border security, Bonfiglio said, but he emphasized that "we would entertain any approach from our government to help secure either border, absolutely."

Oddly enough I haven’t heard of any plans to set up a Blackwater camp near Canada to keep the Great White Menace From the North from invading our country, killing our healthcare system, and converting us into hockey fans.