DISTRICT RECEIVES NATIONAL DIVERSITY AWARD
State’s only community college district to net 2014 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award September 17, 2014 (El Cajon) – The Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Tuesday received the 2014 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) award, a national honor recognizing colleges and universities for outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. It is the only community college district in the state and locally, joins San Diego State University; California State University, San Marcos; and Alliant International University in its recognition from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest diversity-focused publication in higher education. The district will be will be featured along with 82 other recipients across the nation in the magazine’s November 2014 issue. “With our diverse student and campus populations representing San Diego County’s rich mix of cultures and communities, our district places great importance in providing a welcoming environment to everyone,” Chancellor Cindy L. Miles said. “We are delighted that our efforts have been recognized with this welcome award.” The magazine selected the district based on its diversity and inclusion initiatives relating to gender, race, ethnicity, veterans, people with disabilities, and members of the LGBT community. Among other things, the district was recognized for its efforts to improve graduation rates among students from under-represented groups with services provided by both Grossmont and Cuyamaca colleges’ Extended Opportunity Programs and Services departments. EOPS is a program committed to community college access and retention for economically and educationally disadvantaged students. Other efforts include: The district’s implementation in 2013 of its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council Strategic Plan. The multifaceted plan was created to ensure an environment fostering cultural competence, equity and respect for all employees and students. The council and site committees have led the district’s efforts to look at diversity data, seeking ways to increase employee diversity and to make the campuses more welcoming to everyone. The designation of “Safe Space” areas for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, and establishing gender-neutral restrooms. Cuyamaca College’s Diversity Dialogues, a workshop series offered each semester focusing on diversity and social-justice topics. Students who attend three or more workshops receive a Diversity and Leadership certificate that can be used toward a similar certificate offered by SDSU. Grossmont College’s many diversity events sponsored by the campus’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee and groups such as the World Arts and Culture Committee. Past events include a showing and discussion about a documentary on hate groups, a Chinese cultural fair and more. The selection of the district in 2011 as one of eight institutions of higher education to participate in the American Council on Education’s At Home in the World initiative, a program to aid institutions in developing ways to promote diversity/multicultural education. “We “”We hope the HEED award serves as a way to honor those instituinstitutions of higher education that recognize the importance of diversdiversity and inclusion as part of their everyday campus culture,” said L said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity Magazine. For mMore information about Grossmont and Cuyamaca colleges and the districdistrict, go to www.gcccd.edu
FREE LATINO SHORTS SCREENING IN EAST COUNTY SEPT. 17
September 17, 2014 (Rancho San Diego)—On September 17th Cuyamaca College will screen a free curated compilation of the best short Latino films that played at this year’s festival as part of the celebrations for Latino Heritage Month. Short Cuts: A Celebration of Latino Film A collection of powerful short films from Mexico, South America, the US and beyond that explore a myriad of topic wholly relevant to the Latino experience. Despite their truncated running time, these films transcend all temporal limitations with graceful storytelling, unforgettable characters and curiosity, palatable only to the most ardent of cinephiles. The films in this program negate that erroneous sentiment as they reveal that experimentation does not breed ostracization, artistry does not evoke befuddlement and originality is the strongest tenement of cinema. SCREENING AT 7:30PM. Q&A with Norman Mackinnon director of SUSAN, and emerging film and TV actor David Fernandez (SONS OF ANARCHY, WEEDS, MYSTERY GIRLS) after the screening! Live music prior to screening! Post-screening reception & more! Date: September 17, 2014 Time: 7:30pm to 9:30pm Location: Digital Theater (B-101), Cuyamaca College, 900 Rancho San Diego, Parkway, El Cajon, CA 92109 FREE parking (Student Parking Lots 1, 2, 4 & 5) For more information, please call (619) 230-1938 or email Moises at moises@mediaartscenter.org.
POWERFUL STORM CELL SOCKS REGION
Photos, left, by Kathleen Hedberg: Storm cell swoops toward La Mesa By Miriam Raftery September 16, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – A powerful storm lashed East County early Tuesday afternoon, causing major damage before moving across San Diego later in the day. Thousands were left without power from at least 16 different outages in East County, SDG&E reported. Hardest hit areas included Rancho San Diego, Mt. Helix, La Mesa and Spring Valley. Helix Water Board member Kathleen Hedberg captured dramatic images of the stormcell swooping toward her La Mesa home– a downdraft from a thunderstorm that looked more like tornados seen in the Midwest than a typical southern California storm. Gusts of at least 50 miles per hour were reported, with coin-sized hailstones and sheets of rain pouring down. It was all a result of Hurricane Odile which struck the Baja coast at 125 miles an hour, ,still packing a wallop by the time it reached our region. The storm downed trees across the region, including one that struck a school bus and others uprooted at a shopping mall in Rancho San Diego. No injuries have been reported. “It was really wild,” said Hedberg, adding that high winds blew French doors open and knocked roofing tiles off her home. Driving on Mt. Helix, I was caught in the midst of the deluge. On Fuerte, tree branches and palm fronds were hurled into the air, whirling around my car. A large tree branch crashed down, narrowly missing my vehicle. Moments later on Grandview, a wall of water poured down, so much that it obscured visibility to zero, forcing me to pull over as water rushed past, momentarily flooding the roadway as a storm drain overflowed. I arrived home to find patio umbrellas toppled and tiki torches that had gone airborn (photo, right). Trashcans and pottery planters had tipped over and a wooden fence at our home sustained significant damage. Connie Lind, another Mt. Helix resident who lives on Tomiko Court, sent a photo of a 10-foot ladder that the wind blew into her pool. (photo, below left) “Our neighbor’s nine-foot lawn umbrella took off, flew over the house, and left the neighborhood!” she wrote in an e-mail to ECM. “Our neighbors found their umbrella in the top of a tree.“ In addition, Lind said, “A tree fell in front of my husband’s van when he drove over to Murdoch Elementary to pick up our granddaughter.” ECM reporter Leon Thompson saw a branch crash down next vehicle, dodging an obstacle course of debris as he drove through an unincoporated portion of Mt. Helix. A caller to KOGO radio reported seeing lightning strike a tree on El Cajon Boulevard. Shannon O’Dunn said the temperature spiked to 106 degrees at her La Mesa home near Harry Griffith Park, where she heard thunder and had gusts of wind she estimated at 40 miles per hour that knocked over large planters at her residence. Our Bookshelf host on KNSJ, Reina Menasche, lives in the Rancho San Diego area. She reports, “I have a tree on my house, and my power is out.” Power remains out in some portions of the county as SDG&E crews are working overtime to restore power. Rebecca Williamson, co-host of our Destination East County segment on our radio show, was in EL Cajon when the storm struck. She reports, “We were seeing trees bent over and just sheets of rain, literally. It felt like we were in the Wizard of Oz. It was so out of the ordinary that people were joking, `When do the houses and cows start flying by?’” But in some communities, the weather remained clear and calm. Ginny Burnight said she say only a handful of raindrops at her home in Crest. “Although my friends in Rancho San Diego were `Singin’ in the rain,’” she reflects, Crest residents had 105 degree heat with only “pretty white clouds and blue sky.”
CITY COUNCIL LIMITS ON PUBLIC COMMENT MAY BE ILLEGAL
By Miriam Raftery September 16, 2014 (San Diego)—San Diego’s City Council meets twice a week, but allows public comments on non-agenda only once a week, on Tuesdays. That may be illegal– violating requirements of the Ralph M. Brown Act for open government, says City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. The issue was raised in a lawsuit filed against the city by land-use lawyer Craig Sherman. The Times of San Diego reports that Goldsmith told the Council the matter needs to be investigated. The limit on public comments has been in effect since a 2001 legal opinion by then-City Attorney Casey Gwinn. But Gwinn says that opinion cited no legal authority, and that an investigation is needed to determine whether the rule can withstand a legal challenge. Council plans a closed-door session to discuss the matter. Meanwhile, a deal reached with Sherman will stop the lawsuit from proceding if Council agrees to all public comment on topics of the public’s choosing every day that the Council meets.
LA MESA PLANNING COMMISSION TO HEAR REVAMPED PARK STATION PLAN OCT. 1
September 25, 2014 (La Mesa) –The last hearing on a proposed high-rise development in La Mesa ended in a shocker, when an American Legion spokesman announced his organization was withdrawing its support as a co-applicant of the controversial Park Station at the Crossroads of La Mesa project. Now, Park Station’s backers have submitted a revised plan without the American Legion as a co-applicant. La Mesa’s Planning Commisson will hold a public hearing on the revised plan on Wednesday, October 1st in the City Council Chambers ( 8130 Allison Avenue, La Mesa). The hearing starts at 7 p.m., with doors open at 6:30 p.m. The revised plan has scaled down the number of residential units from 416 to 363 — or up to a 250-room hotel and 113 residential units. Height is unchanged.