EAST COUNTY MAGAZINE ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH VIEJAS FIRE DEPT. TO SPONSOR FREE WILDFIRE & EMERGENCY ALERT SERVICE
Printer-friendly version August 13, 2009 (San Diego’s East County) –East County Magazine (www.eastcountymagazine.org) and Viejas Fire Department announce a partnership to improve wildfire and emergency notification for all San Diego County residents. “We are pleased to partner with the East County Magazine on the wildfire alerts,” said Viejas Fire Chief Don Butz (photo). “Viejas tribal members have worked on the front lines of fire protection for many generations, and helping to provide these wildfire alerts once again demonstrates the tribe’s continued commitment to protecting the safety of area residents, both on the reservation and off. We look forward to working with East County Magazine to increase the visibility and effectiveness of the Viejas Wildfire Alerts and create another valuable public safety resource for communities throughout San Diego County.” Click here to sign up for free wildfire alerts and East County news. East County Magazine editor and founder Miriam Raftery observed, “East County Magazine is pleased and proud to welcome the Viejas Fire Department as title sponsor of our wildfire and emergency alert service. The Viejas tribe has a long, strong history of firefighting in our region and a proven dedication to keeping people safe not only in their own community, but throughout San Diego County. In addition to creating Viejas Fire Department several years ago, Viejas has generously provided fire protection to neighboring communities, donated funds for purchase of fire trucks and fire stations, and hosted an interagency training program for all firefighting entities in our region.” Having the backing and resources of Viejas will enable East County Magazine to strengthen its existing emergency alert service’s reporting capabilities, expand a network of participating emergency responders, and increase outreach to the community about this free and potentially life-saving public service, Raftery added. A special new logo has been unveiled, which will be added to the wildfire alerts and homepage in the near future. About East County Magazine and the wildfire/emergency alert service East County Magazine is an independent community online media outlet published by the nonprofit 501c3 Heartland Coalition. East County Magazine has had over 5 million hits to our website since launching in September 2008. The regional publication covers news, views and events east of I-15. Wildfire and emergency alerts cover regional emergencies throughout San Diego County and can reach people via e-mail even when phone lines or cell phone towers have burned down. Subscriptions to East County Magazine’s wildfire/emergency alerts and weekly e-newsletter are free. To sign up, visit www.eastcountymagazine.org and click the “subscribe” link at the top of the website; all that’s required is your name and e-mail address . About The Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians The Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians is a sovereign Nation whose people have inhabited the San Diego County area for thousands of years. The 1,600 acre Viejas Indian Reservation is located near Alpine, California, approximately 35 miles east of San Diego. Viejas Enterprises operates the tribe’s business entities, including the Viejas Casino ~ Viejas Outlet Center ~ Viejas Entertainment & Production~ Three Fires LLC and Four Fires LLC, two partnerships that have developed hotels in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento, California~ Borrego Springs Bank~ three radio stations and two RV parks. For more information, visit http://www.viejasbandofkumeyaay.org. To sign up for our free wildfire/emergency alert service and free weekly e-newsletters, click here. Printer-friendly version
YMCA RISES IN EAST COUNTY; PUBLIC INVITED TO “TILT UP” RISING MONDAY AUG. 17
Printer-friendly version McGRATH FAMILY YMCA GETS ONE STEP CLOSER TO OPENING DOORS TO THE COMMUNITY Rancho San Diego (Aug. 13). –After much anticipation, the McGrath Family YMCA’s expansive concrete walls will be lifted towards the sky, giving the community a visual of what’s to come; A 35,000 sq. ft. full-service YMCA facility in Rancho San Diego. A Tilt-Up event that must be seen to be believed is scheduled for Monday, August 17, 2009 from 7:30am to 11:30am at 12012 Campo Road, Rancho San Diego. The East County Family YMCA, volunteers, and supporters, would like to invite residents to join them to witness this exciting and long-awaited occasion. The McGrath Family YMCA will meet the health, social and recreational needs of the under-served areas of Rancho San Diego, El Cajon, Jamul, Spring Valley and Casa de Oro. Construction on the new facility adjacent to the current McGrath Family Sports Complex is expected to be completed in early 2010. The $5 million pledge from The McGrath Family Foundation, Sycuan Resort & Casino, and the Dallas Pugh Foundation has put the non-profit East County Family YMCA at more than 80-percent of the financing needed for the capital campaign to construct the new branch. What makes the new McGrath Family YMCA so special is that it will expand the existing sports complex to include a 35,000 sq.ft. full-service YMCA facility that will include, but is not limited to: the Sycuan Wellness/Fitness Center, the Dallas Pugh Gymnasium, Multi-Purpose and Conference rooms, a Youth and Teen Development Center and multiple Group Exercise Studios. There will also be a Member Lounge and Child Watch services while members work-out. “We want the entire community to know we are coming and to start getting excited for their new local YMCA,” said Steve Rowe, Executive Director/Vice President, East County Family YMCA. “At the YMCA we are all about building and supporting communities. Our new facility in Rancho San Diego branch brings more resources and opportunities to kids, teens, adults and seniors of this community. We are very grateful to our donors, local businesses, volunteers, elected officials and the community at-large for making this dream a reality.” A non-profit organization, the East County Family YMCA operates the John A. Davis Family YMCA in La Mesa and the Cameron Family YMCA in Santee, as well as the new McGrath Family YMCA in Rancho San Diego. For more information on the new McGrath Family YMCA, please call Executive/Vice President, Steve Rowe at 619-464-1323 or visit www.eastcounty.ymca.org. Printer-friendly version
DIVE-IN MOVIE: SHARK TAIL!
Printer-friendly version August 13, 2009 (San Diego) — Bring your rafts for the pool or beach chairs for the deck, then head on over to the Allied Gardens Pool for a "dive-in" movie this Saturday night, August 14th. Showtime for a viewing of Shark Tail starts at 7:45 p.m. To view a trailer of Shark Tail, a Dreamworks movie suitable for family viewing, click here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/dreamworks/shark_tale/trailer/. The Allied Gardens Pool is located at 6707 Glenroy St, San Diego 92120, across from the Allied Gardens RecreationCenter. Cost is normal pool fees: $4 for adults, $2 for children and seniors. Snacks and drinks will be available for purchase. Printer-friendly version
UCAN TAKES SUNRISE TO HIGH COURT FOR SUNSETTING
Printer-friendly version August 14, 2009 — The Utility Consumers Action Network has filed two petitions with appellate courts seeking to halt construction of Sunrise Powerlink, Sempra Energy’s high-voltage power line project slated for East County. The first was an appeal to the 4th District Court of Appeal. In it, UCAN urges the court to remand the case back to the PUC, arguing that it failed to do three critical things in its review of the SDG&E application: 1. Comply with Public Utilities Code Sec. 1002.3 which requires the Commission to evaluate cost-effective and feasible alternatives to a utility proposal. The appeal details how the PUC avoided evaluation of UCAN’s two alternatives and claims the public agency “cooked the books in order to make one other alternative seem more costly than Sunrise.” 2. Adhere to its own rules forbidding introduction of unevaluated material facts upon which it relied to make its decision. UCAN recounts numerous ways in which the Commission decision “relies upon hearsay and post-hearing data that was never subject to analysis.” 3. Require SDG&E to prove Sunrise’s cost-effective with clear and convincing evidence. The PUC imposed a much less rigorous burden of proof upon SDG&E. On the same day, August 12, UCAN teamed up with the Center for Biological Diversity to file an appeal at the California Supreme Court challenging the Public Utilities Commission’s violations of the California Environmental Quality Act in its approval of the Sunrise. The Petition argues that the Sunrise power line could result in millions of additional tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year through additional fossil-fuel-based energy production. Because the PUC refused to require the line to actually carry renewable energy, the petition requests that the Court send the power-line approval back to the drawing board. “The PUC’s failure to ensure that the Sunrise line will carry a single kilowatt of renewable energy violates California law and is particularly troubling because the commission sold the line to the public on the premise that it would bring clean energy to the San Diego region,” UCAN’s petition states. “Yet when pressed on this point, it changed its tune and refused to require the line to carry any clean energy at all.” Under the California Environmental Quality Act, the state must consider mitigation measures to lessen the harm from the project, yet the utilities commission refused to include any measures to ensure that the line carries even a percentage of energy from renewable energy projects instead of dirty, fossil-fuel power. The petition exposes, for the first time, that rather than the 44 significant environmental impacts that were referenced in the November 2008 PUC decision, there were actually 100 significant impacts caused by the approved route — few of which were ever analyzed or offset. To view the UCAN appeals and petitions, see: http://www.ucan.org/%5Bvocab-raw%5D/ucan_takes_sunrise_high_courts_sunsetting UCANAppellatePetition for Writ.pdf http://www.ucan.org/files/UCANAppellatePetition%20for%20Writ.pdf SupremeCtPetition.pdf http://www.ucan.org/files/SupremeCtPetition.pdf SDG&E has argued that the Sunrise Powerlink is necessary to fulfill our region’s future energy needs. To view SDG&E’s arguments in favor of the project, visit www.sunrisepowerlink.com. Printer-friendly version
WHAT’S NEW — & OLD! HISTORIC WALKING TOUR STARTS IN LA MESA THIS WEEKEND
Printer-friendly version By Miriam Raftery August 13, 2009 (La Mesa) – This Friday, Saturday and Sunday, join a historical free walking tour through downtown La Mesa and learn about our region’s colorful past. The tour will include a professional impersonator portraying Mary Porter, a famous La Mesa resident of the era, as well as music and costumed tour guides. “We will reveal La Mesa’s hidden past of being involved in movie making and many forms of entertainment along with discussing how La Mesa developed and what it was like to live here in the early 1900s,” said Karissa Valencia, a Helix Charter High school graduate this year and incoming freshman at the University of San Diego. Valencia, who will lead the tour, designed the program as part of her effort to achieve a Gold Award in Girl Scouts (the equivalent of an Eagle Scout Award for Boy Scouts). Tours begin a the Railroad Museum on Nebo Drive and continue up to 4th street and back, for a total of under half a mile. Tour dates and times are: Friday, August 14, 5-8pm Saturday and Sunday, August 15 and 16: 10am Printer-friendly version
ARMED ROBBERY AT WELLS FARGO BANK KIOSK IN LA MESA
Printer-friendly version August 13, 2009 (La Mesa) — At 3:20 p.m., a lone suspect entered the Ralph’s Grocery Store, located at 8800 Grossmont Boulevard in La Mesa, and approached a teller at the Wells Fargo Bank kiosk. The suspect drew a large frame, semi-automatic pistol from his front waistband, slammed the gun on the counter, and demanded cash from the teller. The lone suspect fled the store on foot with an undetermined amount of cash. The suspect was last seen running west behind the Toy’s-R-Us by a witness. The suspect is described as a light-skinned black male, mid 30’s to early 40’s, 5’11" tall, with a muscular build and deep voice. He was wearing a dark floppy hat, sunglasses, a maroon/blue/white vertically striped shirt, blue jeans, and athletic shoes. If you have any information on this case, please call the La Mesa Police Department at (619) 667-1400. You may also call Crime Stoppers’ anonymous toll-free tip line (888) 580-TIPS (or www.sdcrimestoppers.com). You can remain anonymous, and be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest in this case. Printer-friendly version
LA MESA VOTES FOR CONDITIONAL APPROVAL OF SDG&E POWER SHUT-OFF PLAN; MAYOR, COUNCILMEMBERS BLAST COUNTY ON FIRE PROTECTION
Printer-friendly version 2 CONFLICTING RECOMMENDATIONS MADE TO CPUC by Miriam Raftery August 13, 2009 (La Mesa)—“We are here because the County has not done a damn thing to protect the people in the backcountry,” La Mesa Mayor Art Madrid said at a La Mesa City Council meeting on Tuesday. Council voted 4 to 1 to draft a letter supporting its Fire Chief in calling for the California Public Utilities Commission to approve San Diego Gas & Electric’s controversial proposal to shut off power when five key conditions for fire risk exist. Councilman David Allen, a firefighter (photo), also criticized the County for having no fire department. “Eighteen districts fight fires for the County of San Diego,” he said, adding that one day earlier, the County sent those districts a letter asking for even more resources. “They’re providing approval of developments in the backcountry without services, while we continue to provide the fire protection,” he said. “It’s time they provide and pay for services.” An SDG&E spokesman testified that shutting off power is necessary to prevent castrophic fires. He also revealed that a PUC commissioner has recommended approval of the shut-off, provided SDG&E consults with CAL-Fire and other officials. However an administrative law judge has issued a conflicting opinion, recommending that the shut-off plan be denied outright. Several La Mesa Council members expressed concern over SDG&E’s efforts to amend Rule 14, which would exempt the utility from liability for deaths, injuries or damage caused by shutting off power during dry, windy conditions. The vast majority of wildfires have been caused by sources other than power lines, but SDG&E lines have been blamed for causing some of the most devastating fires in state history. Council voted to recommend the shut-off plan, but oppose SDG&E’s efforts to evade liability. The County Fire Chief’s association, which has 53 members, voted 13 to 7 to support the measure, with the majority of members absent or not voting. “I agree with Chief Augie Ghio and the fire chiefs that something needs to be done,” said La Mesa Fire Chief David Burk. “It’s very costly to extinguish those fires. Prevention is less costly than suppression.” Councilman Ernest Ewin, who voted to support the shut-off plan, spoke with East County Magazine following the meeting. "As one who remembers the Laguna Fire, the rapid spread of the Cedar Fire, I am concerned about how quickly we can and do deploy assets to fight the fires that start away from the incorporated areas," he said. "For me, it is supporting the fire fighting professionals-getting politics out of the way." Councilwoman Ruth Sterling voted against the measure. “It’s the lifeline,” she said of electrical communications that provide emergency information including evacuation notices. “It would be a horrible mistake to discontinue electricity in times when it is most needed.” Citizens of La Mesa and backcountry communities testified against the measure. “Water districts will require 39 generators to assure critical pump systems will work, but SDG&E is only providing six,” said Kristen Kjaero of La Mesa. Kjaero displayed charts indicating that during the 2007 fires, 515,000 people were evacuated through reverse 911 calls and 211 San Diego answered 109,000 calls. In addition, 10 million visits were registered to www.sdcountyemergency.com. Without power, people could not use the Internet and plug-in phones would not work. East County Magazine editor Miriam Raftery testified that ECM’s emergency e-mail alert service would not reach up to 60,000 people in the blacked-out areas. Raftery, who has covered wildfires in the backcountry for over 25 years, said having power on saves lives, citing the example of ECM publisher Mark Hanson, who spoke with a 911 operator in the middle of the night and helped alert neighbors when fire jumped across a lake in a Lakeside canyon. Milton Cyphert, cofounder of the East County Community Action Coalition, called the SDG&E proposal a “Trojan horse plan” designed to protect SDG&E from liability. “You say you fight fires for us in the backcountry,” he noted. “Once we have no warning that fire is coming, you can shift that job to going and collecting the bodies.” Leon Thompson of Santee, business manager for East County Magazine, said during the last fires, his terminally-ill wife relied on oxygen and could not breathe if power was shut off. “We live in a condo. We can’t open our garage doors from the outside if there’s no power,” he said, asking how he could have evacuated or taken his wife to a hospital without access to a car. Councilmembers and the Mayor blasted County Supervisors for failing to use Proposition 172 funds to improve fire protection. Prop 172 was sold to the voters with ads pushing the need for protection against wildfires. But in San Diego County, all funds from the measure were allocated to law enforcement instead. Burk said some progress has been made to improve fire protection, notably two rotary source aircraft with night-flying capabilities. But the Mayor and three Councilmembers believe far more should be done—and hope their votes will send a strong message to County Supervisors that stronger fire protection is needed for the San Diego County’s fire-prone backcountry regions. Madrid concluded, “Doing nothing is not an option.” Printer-friendly version
SANTEE TOWN HALL MEETING ON CABLE SKI PARK SPARKS HEATED DEBATE
Printer-friendly version August 13, 2009 (Santee) — The Santee City Council held a town hall meeting on Wednesday, August 12th to discuss a proposed cable ski park at Santee Lakes. During the four-and-a-half hour session, Padre Dam officials said after six years of study, they have concluded that environmental impacts such as noise and traffic would be minimal. The overflow crowd included several Santee residents and numerous wakeboarders and coastal wakeboard shop owners speaking in favor of the measure, as well as many are residents who voice concerns that the project would negatively impact their quality of life. (For details on the proposal, see our previous story at http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/?q=node/1640.) Nineteen community members spoke against the measure, including 18 Santee homeowners. Mayor Voepel voiced concern over traffic and parking, as well as plans for a restaurant to serve hard alcohol nightly until 11 p.m. “The deal breaker would be if Sudweeks Development does not change their contract with Padre Dam to exclude hard alcohol from the restaurant and serve only beer & wine,” said Santee resident Julie Naggar, who opposes the cable ski and wakeboarding facility, noting that Sudweeks may balk at losing revenues from hard liquor sales. The Mayor also requested that the restaurant & pro shop be moved to the North side of Lake One instead the West end to lessen noise & minimize view obstructions. “If Sudweeks cannnot comply to these changes, then it may get voted down,” Naggar said. She added, “We are not done campaigning against this. We handed out over a thousand flyers in the neighborhood prior to the meeting last night.” In addition, opponents plan to start a petition drive to “show the Mayor & Councilmembers at the next meetingt the community is truly against this,” she revealed, adding, “They just don’t seem to be listening.” Printer-friendly version