Monday,
October 16,
2006
Mission
Hills Nursery
(San Diego’s oldest) has been selling pumpkins since 1910, and they
have a great selection this fall starting at less than three bucks.
Neighborhood grocery stores and pumpkin patches around San Diego County are also overflowing
with orange orbs of all sizes. The time is right...don’t wait!
Kate Sessions who founded the
nursery almost one hundred years ago is also known as the Mother of
Balboa Park.
Sunday,
October 15,
2006
< Thanks to the Hillcrest Clean
T.E.A.M. for another successful workout! Our next one will be on
Sunday, November 4th. Only four clean-ups remain, please join us. At
the beginning of 2007 the Hillcrest Maintentance Assessment District
(MAD) will begin funding this neighborhood service, and our volunteer
efforts (now a year old) will no longer be needed. Whee!
Saturday,
October 14,
2006
Community activists, residents and developers gathered at Balboa Park’s Recital Hall on a rainy Saturday morning to attend a workshop sponsored by councilmembers Toni Atkins and Kevin Faulconer to discuss the Uptown Community Plan. The meeting was hosted by the SD City Planning and Community Investment Department (CPCI) and Uptown Planners. Over 100 in attendance explored land use and planning issues in Uptown as city staff collected input. The discussion included key issues of concern relevant to the outdated (1988) Uptown Community Plan and outlined the process for preparing for an update.
Many in attendance voiced support of an interim height ordinance proposal (also recommended by the Uptown Planners, the community planning group that advises the City on development matters in the area.) Since an update of the Uptown Community Plan is not imminent (it will take a two years after an OK), concerned citizens are requesting that the city pass an Interim Height Ordinance to put a ceiling on those projects that most exacerbate the problems (traffic congestion, chronic parking problems, lack of neighborhood park space, loss of historic buildings/resources and incompatibility of height, scale and character of the existing neighborhood), while working with the community and city to incorporate solutions in an updated plan. The information gathered at Saturday morning’s workshop will be compiled and presented at future meetings.
The Uptown Community Planning Area is bounded on the north by the steep hillsides of Mission Valley, on the east by Park Boulevard and Balboa Park, and on the west and south by Old San Diego and Interstate 5. The plan area has been divided into six sub-areas: Mission Hills, Middletown, Hillcrest, the Medical Complex, University Heights and Park West neighborhoods.
HillQuest Photo:
92103 resident and Uptown Planners boardmember Peggy Mazzella
Friday,
October 13,
2006
The Lily Pad Store Turns Two
Everyone is welcome to join in the second birthday celebration of Uptown’s best children’s store featuring storytime with Marge, face painting, balloons, music and cake. Saturday afternoon from 2-4:00. Check out The Lily Pad’s extensive selection of creative toys for kids. Halloween costumes, puppets, clothes and more! 3746 Sixth Avenue in Hillcrest (just south of Rite Aid).
See you there!
Thursday,
October 12,
2006
Saturday morning from 9am-noon in the Recital Hall (near the Auto museum) councilmembers Kevin Faulconer and Toni Atkins will host an open forum to take input on the current Uptown Community Plan. If we view the changes in height, density, housing unit buildout and population increase, the current and projected development in Uptown is dramatically different from that anticipated when the 1988 Uptown Community Plan was created. It has never been updated.
Impacts from continuing this path have not been analyzed. Development has exceeded the community plan in both height and density, creating unexpected impacts. Yet the public facilities planned 28 years ago have not been provided, so those assumptions about community character, transportation, and park, library and fire station facilities are no longer valid. An interim ordinance is needed to reign in unexpected development until an entire replanning effort can be completed. Please attend.
Wednesday,
October 11,
2006
— Hillcrest resident George
Wedemeyer in this week’s letters
to SD CityBeat
October 10,
2006
Toni explains her vote for 301 University to the HBA
An intense Hillcrest Association meeting was held last evening as Councilmember Toni Atkins was hit with unexpected (and heated) questions from the audience about the 301 University planned development. Toni shared a 20-minute report on a variety of topics, before the floor was open to questions. The mood immediately shifted when Hillcrest resident John Taylor asked her to please explain how she intended to move forward and regain community trust after her vote to support 301 vs. the 1,873 signatures submitted from residents rejecting the 148-ft condo project.
Outgoing HBA president, Robert Grinchuk (The Wine Lover) attempted to cut off the questions, but Toni maintained composure and responded by explaining her record of public service, the difficult issues she took into consideration and the overall community plan. She directed people to attend this Saturday morning’s Uptown Community Plan Issues Workshop (see below). Photo by Ken Sergi.
October 9,
2006
— Homeland Security’s Jack Hook
re: border agent corruption
