Hillcrest Town Council Tuesday
All neighborhood residents are encouraged to attend the March meeting of the HTC tomorrow evening from 6:30-8pm at the Joyce Beers Community Center (Vermont Street north of Cleveland). For over two years the group has been led by a steering committee. The Hillcrest Town Council recently ratified bylaws, and the first board of directors will be elected at the March 10th meeting. Nominees (made at the February meeting) are Tim Gahagan, John Taylor, Nancy Moors, Nick Hubbard, Juli Peters-Hyde, Ann Garwood, Mike Rutherford and Jose Letayf. Five of these eight neighbors will be elected tomorrow night. Residents in the Greater Hillcrest area who want to vote must attend ths meeting and bring proof of residency (your driver’s license or a utility bill). Cookies and coffee will be served. Everyone is welcome to become involved and speak up to make our neighborhood even better.
Also on Tuesday’s agenda — (1) Chair of the Neighborhood Improvement Committee (Tim Gahagan) will give a report on the last community clean-up and introduce a representative from the LGBT Center who will speak about the Nightmare on Normal Street (2) Nick Norvel from Congresswoman Susan Davis’ office will report on How will the Obama Stimulus Plan affect San Diego? (3) George Wedemeyer, HTC member will give a presentation on Hospital Complex Pedestrian Improvement.
Spring ahead Sunday at 2am
Don’t forget to turn your clocks forward an hour when you go to bed tonight. It’s that time of year to lose an hour so we may enjoy all those wonderfully long spring and summer evenings....and also a good time to check the battery in your smoke alarm.
On the last day of January a comfy ale house opened inside a 1920s brick building at 3416 Adams Avenue in Normal Heights. The Blind Lady’s owners have no problem with their sight (it was formerly a window blind store). The partnership consists of
locals, including writer Clea Hantman (at left
with daughter Tuesday) and beer guru/Brew Master Lee Chase. The Blind
Lady Ale House serves great hand-crafted organic salads, pizza
with fresh-made mozzarella, local veggies and sustainably produced
meats, wine — and even better ale. (Try the homemade version.) Their
aim is for a family-friendly food spot, with a finely curated line-up
tasty craft brews, plus house-made root-beer floats made featuring ice
cream from their Adams Avenue neighbors at Mariposa Ice
Cream. Check it out and enjoy! 
Neighborhood scoop...
Cafe Eleven has expanded hours to include opening at 7am daily with specialty coffees and pastries at David’s Coffee located in the patio area of the restaurant at 1440 University Avenue. In addition, owners David Owen (left) and Bob Weycker have added lunch to their menu. Try the Chicken Parisian or tasty lamb sandwich with a side salad/fries and free wi-fi.
Marching Forth on the 4th
Several
hundred people gathered in front of the Hall of Justice this afternoon
to hear Mayor Jerry Sanders as he joined activists in speaking out to support marriage equality.
“When one group starts taking away rights from another group, it can happen to any group. Proposition 8 puts all minority groups at risk,” explained the mayor. Other speakers included community activist Stephen Whitburn and former Councilmember Toni Atkins. At dusk a candlelight vigil followed as the growing crowd marched toward Horton Plaza with gay and straight opponents to the November passage of Prop. 8 chanting in front of the US Grant Hotel (above) before circling both sides of Broadway. Tomorrow morning the California Supreme Court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of the controversal measure which eliminated the right for same-sex couples to marry in our state.
District 3 City Councilman Todd Gloria’s motion to support the appeal for the Academy of Our Lady of Peace expansion helped to save three historic homes in the BeHi (Between University & Normal Heights) neighborhood. Great thanks to councilmembers Gloria, Frye, Lightner, Young & Emerald. (Hueso, Faulconer & DeMaio voted against) Surprisingly, Carl DeMaio voted to support the school after he tried desperately for another continuance in asking OLP agree to accepting historic architect David Marshall for their adaptive re-use, but they declined.
The council did grant a conditional use permit for the school to keep their enrollment at 750. Today’s vote was continued from January 26th.
City Council changes some rules...
Today’s meeting may have gotten off to a rocky start, but the Council voted almost entirely in unison as it made or moved forward on a series of procedural changes today. Unfortunately, the idea to make it easier for council members to place an item on their agenda (from 4 to 3) was rejected on a 5-3 vote.
An open letter
from a neighbor: Tomorrow afternoon the City Council will finally hear discussion on the Council reform efforts promoted by senior Councilmember Donna Frye in collaboration with freshman Councilmember Carl DeMaio. Our Councilmember, Todd Gloria, and District Two Councilmember Kevin Faulconer (who represents Mission Hills and Park West/Bankers Hill) did not support Donna’s effort to docket these reforms through the Rules Committee, so they need to hear from us at the hearing, by e-mail and/or telephone.
Please contact Todd and the rest of the Council and let them know you support Item 200, including directing the City Attorney’s office to draft additional changes to the Permanent Rules of Council. These changes will bring greater openness, effectiveness and independence to our City Council.
The reforms are also neighborhood and community oriented, in that, if Donna is successful, the Council will be meeting more in the evenings and some more in our neighborhoods, when more working San Diegans can attend and participate in our Council’s legislative process. With more neighborhood and community-oriented legislating, perhaps the previous Council would not have approved the 301 University project in Hillcrest and the over-size Kensington Terrace project in Kensington. Perhaps the proposed affordable housing development on Florida Street in North Park would not have suffered from such controversy.
Let the Council know you oppose efforts to water-down the keeping of written transcripts of Closed Session meetings. This was an important initiative of Councilmember Frye and former Councilmember Toni Atkins and we should not back-track on this. If you have other ideas about how to suggest the Council make its efforts more open and accessible, bring them to this meeting! Please contact your Councilmember in favor of Item 200 or join us on Monday afternoon beginning at 2pm in the City Hall downtown, 12th floor, 202 C Street. Thanks! (Tune in Cox TV, Channel 24)
