Featured
By Shawn VanDiver | Guest Editorial
[Editor’s note: This op-ed first appeared online in the Voice of San Diego on May 23.]
It’s no secret that San Diego, and nearly all of California, is in the midst of a housing affordability crisis. It’s also no secret that San Diego has seen an influx in the number of folks experiencing homelessness. I don’t know anyone who enjoys seeing these folks living in squalor on the streets — and yet seemingly every reasonable solution encounters resistance. Read More
By William E. Kelly | Guest Editorial
The inadequacy of social safety nets intended to protect a burgeoning population of older adults is a political, cultural and moral hot potato. Read More
By Frank Sabatini Jr. | Restaurant Review
In an age when you can out-bro your fellow bros by broadcasting your love for certain burgers, along comes a chainlet founded in Portland, Oregon that has yet to register on the radar of cool 30-somethings. Teens and fresh-faced college students, however, appear captivated. Read More
By Dianne Jacob |Dianne’s Corner
Taxpayer alert: San Diego County has unveiled a new tool aimed at boosting transparency and public feedback on how it spends money. Read More
By Tina Rynberg and Jeff Benesch | La Mesa-Foothills Democratic Club
We’d like to invite you to join our club’s annual salute to Independence Day, democracy, progressive idealism, and those heroes that choose public service to advance the principles that really make America great. Read More
By Frank Sabatini Jr. | Restaurant Review
A hexagonal aquarium in the reception area coupled with an interior color scheme of teal and salmon bisque are your first clues that Szechuan Mandarin dates back to when CNN first launched and when Michael Jackson’s “Rock with You” hit the Billboard charts. Read More
By Jennifer Morrissey
Monuments
In late May, Mission Trails Regional Park (MTRP) staff and volunteers installed a new monument sign at the park’s South Fortuna Summit. This is the first of four new monument signs to be installed in the coming months, with the others to be placed at the summits of Kwaay Paay, Pyles, and North Fortuna. Cowles Mountain has had a summit marker for many years. With the completion of these monument installations, all of the peaks in the 5-Peak Challenge will be represented. Since the kick off of the 5-Peak Challenge in November 2015, more than 8,000 hikers have participated, received a certificate, a lapel pin, and discount coupons from REI and Adventure-16. To learn more about the 5-Peak Challenge, visit mtrp.org. Even if you’ve completed the challenge, lace up the hiking boots and come see the new monument at South Fortuna! Read More
By Elizabeth Gillingham | Patrick Henry High School News
Swim and Dive Team making waves
PHHS Swim Team had a great season under the leadership of Coach Charlie Equals and Coach Hector Sanchez. This dynamic duo helped produce great team and individual results taking a few all the way to the State CIF competition! Read More
By Patricia Simpson
Lichenology is fascinating. It is easy to dismiss that green stuff on the trees or on the rocks, but one only needs to start looking a little harder to realize there is great diversity in the unique life form we call lichen. This observation of the month is of one of the small lichens that grow on the ground in Mission Trails: Mealy Pixie Cup Lichen. (iNaturalist page: bit.ly/2swf9xe.) Read More
By David D. Cooksy
[Note: This is the second of a four-part “how to” series. In future issues, look for “How to eat a dragonfly” and “How to eat a crawdad.”]
This series is a photographic record of the big birds of Mission Trails capturing, securing, and consuming a meal. In this installment, a great blue heron (ardea herodias) eats a very sizable catfish. Read More
Jeff Clemetson | Editor Read More
By Sue Hotz
It’s summertime-fun-time
Bring on the vacation, sunscreen, and fun! Join your neighbors at the Lake Murray MusicFest & Fireworks on the Fourth of July for music, dancing, games, picnicking, or just relaxing with a great book. Read More
By Kathryn Johnson
We now have a full-time clerk on board who comes to us from the Serra Mesa Library. Dave began working at San Diego Public Library (SDPL) in May of 2010 as a volunteer at the Serra Mesa-Kearny Mesa Branch. In December 2014, he was hired as an hourly library aide and worked at the Point Loma Hervey Branch until November 2015 when he was promoted to half-time library clerk at the Serra Mesa branch. His most recent promotion came in April 2018 and he is now the full-time clerk at Allied Gardens/Benjamin Branch. Read More
By Shain Haug
The May 22 Allied Gardens-Grantville Community Council (AGGCC) Town Hall Meeting was devoted to the question of the development of the stadium property. Read More
By Leslie Nelson
As the weather heats up, plants begin to thrive. It’s time for tomatoes and zucchini and summer flowers. It’s a great time to get the kids out in the garden for some fun projects. Read More
By Jay Wilson
It has been a quiet month in Del Cerro. There has not been an update from The Peoples Church and their goal to build a church where the ColRich housing development was initially to be constructed. Read More
By Mickey Zeichick
The next meeting of the San Carlos Area Council (SCAC) will be Wednesday, Sept. 5, at 6:30 p.m. in the San Carlos Branch Library, 7265 Jackson Drive. We will be meeting monthly and please note the new time. Read More
No empty storefronts
Re: “Riverdale Shopping Center might see changes” [Volume 24, Issue 4, or bit.ly/2HFCI1j
So, the rents in Riverdale are “well below current market,” but Mr. Becker hopes to retain the long-time tenants and hopes to continue the record of this shopping center’s loyalty and prosperity? Here’s my prediction: He’ll raise the rent, those tenants who have been there for years will move out, spots will sit empty like most other small shopping centers in San Diego, the shopping center will no longer be profitable, and Mr. Becker will sell it. We don’t need another Starbucks when there is one a block to the east — and we don’t need more empty storefronts. Read More
By Shain Haug | Allied Gardens Grantville Community Council
The largest parcel of the city’s real estate that remains for development is the SDCCU Stadium and the surrounding parking lot. The Allied Gardens Grantville Community Council (AGGCC) town hall meeting on Tuesday, May 22, at 6:30 p.m. at the Benjamin Library (Zion Avenue and Glenroy Street) will offer an analysis of the competing proposals for development of the property. Read More
PHHS wins first place
Congratulations to Patrick Henry High School (PHHS), who was named the first-place winner in the high school category of the 2017-18 EDCO Recycling Challenge. PHHS waste reduction and increased recycling resulted in a 28.56 percent waste diversion rate, garnering Henry the top district honor and a $1,250 prize award. Read More
By Mickey Zeichick | San Carlos Area Council News
The next meeting of the San Carlos Area Council (SCAC) will be Wednesday, Sept. 5 at 6:30 p.m. at the San Carlos Branch Library, 7265 Jackson Drive — our guest speaker to be determined. Read More
Jennifer Morrissey | Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation
Calling all artists
The Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation (MTRPF) offers the opportunity for visual artists to display their work at the Mission Trails Regional Park Visitor & Interpretive Center. The exhibitions are limited to wall-hung, two- and three-dimensional works, and can showcase one artist as well as small or large groups. Two exhibitions are organized each year that combine the work of artists wishing to exhibit, but who are not part of a formal group and who do not wish for a solo exhibition. Read More
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