Saturn Diego: Dick gets it right.

Yesterday morning, beleaguered San Diego mayor Dick Murphy announced he will resign effective July 15. Murphy's resignation comes only five months after he claimed victory in a hotly contested three-way mayoral race; Murphy actually garnered fewer votes than write-in candidate Donna Frye. It also comes as San Diego teeters on the brink of bankruptcy and several councilmembers face legal investigation - including Deputy Mayor Michael Zucchet, who is in line to assume duties of acting mayor in the event a special election is held to replace the mayor after July 15.

Marc Penfield's Horoscopes of the Western Hemisphere gives the chart for the city of San Diego as July 16, 1769 at 8:52 am (he uses Porphry house system and PST). The chart below shows San Diego's wheel with the city's planets on the inner wheel, and transits for Murphy's resignation on the outer wheel. Dig it: San Diego is having a Saturn return, and the April 8 solar eclipse squared the city's Sun and Saturn. True to Saturn's symbolism, the city's leaders are under increasing pressure to answer for the decisions that have led the city to the brink of financial ruin.

Murphy was an unpopular mayor who would like to be remembered for getting a second baseball stadium built, rather than for overseeing a council that systematically underfunded the city employees' pension fund. By stepping aside now, he at least honors Saturn's command that we step up to the plate, take responsibility, and do what's right.