Monday,
August 22
Yesterday was a busy day in Hillcrest....
as hundreds of friends and customers packed into India Princess Sunday afternoon for their grand opening celebration complete with a ribbon cutting, local news coverage, traditional attire, family and (of course) a tasty buffet table. Congratulations to Jesse and Ravi on your beautiful new addition to the neighborhood. Stop by India Princess at 3925 Fourth Avenue (between Washington and University)....their weekday lunch buffet with over 20 items is a great deal for only $8.95!
and...Making a Difference — one greyhound at a time. >>
Dogma Catma
owners, Carl Gustafson and Tim Oliver (the cute boys in the back with
the white t-shirts), opened their high-end pet boutique (at 142 University
Avenue) just west of the Hillcrest sign Sunday afternoon to the
Carlsbad-based Greyhound
Connection, an organization which helps find foster families for
the loveable retired racers. A great time was had by all!
and...
and...
<< Artist Shawn Peterson displayed
her original hand painted portraits Sunday at Ingrid and Keiko’s Lily
Pad...Hillcrest’s newest and most unique children’s store. The art show
will be up for over a month (until October 2) so stop by 3746 Sixth
Avenue and check it out. They’re also having a
back-to-school sale next weekend.
Sunday,
August 21
The (controversial) Flaming Skewer at 3896 Fifth Avenue will be back before the city’s Planning Commission on Thursday, September 1 seeking approval for a conditional use permit to sell hard liquor at their new restaurant in the heart of Hillcrest. The owner, Yusuf Arnitah, previously owned a package liquor store in the strip mall on the northeast corner of Sixth and University. Neighboring businesses and organizations are opposed to his request.
Saturday,
August 20
University Heights Community
Association completed
their summer concert season on Friday evening with San Diego’s favorite hometown gal, Sue Palmer, and her Motel Swing Orchestra. Several hundred fans picnicked under a full moon in Trolley Barn Park as music filled the neighborhood. Concert sponsor Realtor Tony Azar served pizza to an appreciative crowd who swayed to the beat and danced to the lively tunes.
their summer concert season on Friday evening with San Diego’s favorite hometown gal, Sue Palmer, and her Motel Swing Orchestra. Several hundred fans picnicked under a full moon in Trolley Barn Park as music filled the neighborhood. Concert sponsor Realtor Tony Azar served pizza to an appreciative crowd who swayed to the beat and danced to the lively tunes.
Friday,
August 19
A grand reopening party was held Thursday evening at the newly expanded Wells Fargo office at the corner of Vermont and Cleveland in the Uptown District. Branch Manager/Assistant Vice President Troy Dinet (fourth from left) introduced his new staff to the community as they showed off their new Hillcrest banking facility which has doubled in size. Business owners, bank customers and neighbors enjoyed the catered event and the networking opportunities.
Thursday,
August 18
Wednesday,
August 17
A new (scaled down) rendering of the proposed mixed-use building at 301 University Avenue (across from Peets Coffee/Kickers) was shared at a subcomittee meeting for the Uptown Planners on Monday evening with several neighborhood residents speaking up against the over-sized development. One member of the advisory group noted that “it could be Horton Plaza” and was not suited for village atmosphere of Hillcrest. The project will be reviewed by the full Uptown Planners group at 6pm on Tuesday, September 6 at the Joyce Beers Community Center. The public is encouraged to attend and join in the public discussion of the project.
< the center ground level arch is the current alley.
A House Divided Falls Divided (concerning meeting below) Buzz interview with two Pride Board members
I’m tired of all the infighting of late within the community. Honestly, are we that full of ourselves to believe that we can defeat foes such as Hartline without being united? How do we expect to obtain equal rights if we don’t even look upon each other as equals, but rather plan coups behind our own community members’ backs?
Now is the time to come together, to reconcile our differences that we all tout and to once again march under the same banner. The moment was never riper for the San Diego LGBT community to push for the elimination and suppression of (the negativity spread by) the James Hartlines of the world. We currently have an openly lesbian (interim) mayor of San Diego and an openly gay mayor of Chula Vista; PEOPLE... WE are in POWER! WE are IN CHARGE!
I am confident we can come together and resolve our issues; it is only a matter of time and humility. So, do what your mother used to make you do in church and offer peace to your neighbor. It is such a small and effortless gesture for all the good it will do for our community.
A
Concerned Community Member
GLT continues to slam the Pride board in this week’s editorial,
...and in his column Nicole says, “I do want to state here and now that I do not support those who are organizing a letter campaign to Pride sponsors or are working to start an alternative Pride. I believe we should still try and work on getting new board members, and make sure they are “independent.’” HQ note: An alternative Pride? Come on...work together, folks!
“We learned a lot in this process over the past month and many organizations are growing from this experience. It’s time that we all come together to focus on healing our community and focus our attention on the outside people that are attacking our community and want to see us discredited and fall apart. I am not about to sit by and let this happen, this is a critical time in our history and we need all of the support we can get, and we need the strength of the whole community working together.”
Tuesday,
August 16
Nearly 200 people gathered at the LGBT Center Monday night for a community meeting to discuss the level of confidence for the LGBT Pride Board. The gathering was a result of a perceived lack of action taken by the board when they learned that volunteers and staff were listed on the Megan’s Law website. Ashley Walker, ED for SD’s Human Relations Commission mediated the sometimes emotional discussion (attemped coup?) A straw poll taken by Walker reflected a strong continued support for the existing Pride Board who encouraged the community to attend their public meetings and to apply for the two open director seats.
Now is the time for the community to draw together and support San Diego’s LGBT Pride Board as they move forward.
An Open Letter (concerning meeting above)
A community-wide meeting regarding the Pride Board was held Monday night at The Center. Philip Princetta, Treasurer of San Diego Pride explained that once the Pride Board found out they had people from the Megan’s Law site as staff, they consulted with eight (8) government agencies including the local police and the FBI.
The FBI told the Pride Board that these people are not a threat to the public because their jobs are not in direct contact with the public. In fact, other citizens who spoke at the meeting pointed out that these people have already paid for their crime and one guy has a clean track record of 10 years volunteering at Pride. Another person commented that anyone can buy a ticket and enter the pride festival.
The Pride’s board only fault was listening to eight different government agencies and taking their advice. I certainly wouldn’t blame Pride for causing this mess. The source of the problem is James Hartline who now has publicly harassed these previous offenders on the Megan’s Law web site.
For those that don’t know, James Hartline was gay for 30 years, and he’s now an ex-gay, a Christian, he says God will heal him of AIDS, and he now hates the LGBT community. And he live in Hillcrest! I couldn’t make this up if I tried.
The LGBT community is much stronger than homophobic hate mongers, because we have to fight against their hatred, bigotry, intolerance, and fear on a daily basis. We’ve dealt with gay bashing before and we can handle it again, even if the gay bashing is under the false guise of public concern. The Megan’s Law site was not made public to create mass hysteria among the LGBT community.
It’s time to take care of the source of our problem, James Hartline. I hope the three guys, who got publicly harassed, will to go to the police and tell them a crime has been committed by James Hartline against them. The Megan’s Law Disclaimer clearly states that anyone who uses the web site to, “harass an offender…” “is subject to criminal prosecution and civil liability.”
It is time that lawsuits are brought against Hartline who illegally used the Megan’s Law web site to harass the LGBT community and who is trying to break our community apart.
Sincerely, Mike Hampson
Concerned Hillcrest Citizen
Concerned Hillcrest Citizen
