San Diego is My Home

08
Feb

Lake Wohlford

Author: HelenKay, Category: Emergency Situations, Environment, Neighborhoods

Because you don’t have enough to worry about with earthquakes, fires and landslides…

A new report says that the Lake Wohlford Dam could liquefy in a major earthquake.  It seems that a portion of the dam is made from sand and silt.  Two-thirds of the dam, to be exact.  This is not the best news for Escondido.  The city is looking at its option, which include building a new dam or strengthening the old one.

But don’t worry.  The folks in charge in Escondido insist the dam is safe.   They are trying to look at the worst-case scenarios and prepare.  In the meantime, all is well.

Kind of makes you wonder if this is what the San Diego folks told those homeowners on Mt. Soledad…right before a big sinkhole sent some houses sliding down the mountain…

02
Feb

New Orleans Comes To Town

Author: HelenKay, Category: Events & Happenings, Holiday Events, Neighborhoods

Just because we can’t celebrate a Chargers’ Super Bowl win this weekend - since they aren’t actually playing in the Super Bowl this year, just in case you missed that part  - doesn’t mean we can’t still celebrate.  As soon as you recover from your Super Bowl snack and beer related festivities on Sunday, get ready to party again.  It’s a different party with a different theme, but it’s still a party and that’s all that matters.  It’s the Annual Gaslamp Mardi Gras Party.

Strolling dancers, the Masquerade Parade, food, entertainment and Mardi Gras beads - how can you say no?

The party starts at 7:00 p.m. on February 5th (Tuesday) in Gaslamp. Check out the site for all of the details…and rest up.
  

01
Feb

It’s Money Time

Author: HelenKay, Category: City Council, Housing, Neighborhoods, Politics

A panel recently recommended raises for our Mayor and for the City Council members.  The proposal suggests increasing the Council members’ salaries from their current $75,386 level to $125,000 next year, and from $100,464 to $150,000 for the mayor.  More than likely this will not be approved.  Kind of a bad political move to increase their income while many in San Diego are losing their homes.

And speaking of that…you may be entitled to a temporary break in your real estate taxes.  The idea is to give relief to those who purchsed their homes during the housing boom and now find themselves sitting in a house that’s worth a lot less than it was last year.   In other words, this is a benefit for everyone who purchased a home during the last five years.  You fill out a form with the Assessor’s Office and you’ll find out if you qualify. 

Now, there are companies offering to check into this relief for you for a fee.  There’s no need to pay it.  Just fill out the form through the County.  There’s nothing to lose.  For more information, check here.

04
Jan

Booze in Balboa

Author: HelenKay, Category: Balboa Park, City Council, Neighborhoods, News

The first step is complete.  The Balboa Park Committee voted yesterday to support a partial alcohol ban for the Park.  Under the Board’s plan, the areas  and times in which people can drink in the Park will be restricted.  The Park and Recreation Board has to weigh in, then it’s up to the City Council to vote on the measure.  If the Council supports the Board, you’re going to have to start drinking in the Park at noon instead of 8:00 a.m. as you do now.  To paraphrase Board member Laurie Burgett’s comment on this issue:  this is not exactly a draconian measure.  After all, should you be getting drunk and stupid in the Park at 8:00 a.m.?  Uh, no.  Clearly that’s an afternoon activity.

17
Dec

A Downtown Casino

Author: HelenKay, Category: Casino, Environment, Neighborhoods

Plans push forward for a casino off Route 94 in Jamul.  While the proposed site is not actually in downtown San Diego, it is within about 20 miles.  That would make this the closest casino to the downtown area.  Caltrans has not approved a traffic light proposal or figured out if the plans are safe for pedestrians.  Despite that, the Jamul tribe has started construction on the driveway and is moving forward.

Not that the casino is a certainty even once the stoplight issue is resolved. There are complaints by former reservation residents relating to ancient artifacts, land grabs and the validity of the tribe.  A judge found the 50-member tribe to be legitmate and recognized it as such.  The Bureau of Indian Affairs agrees.  However, the battle over the casino continues, as do the arguments that the Jamul tribe should wait until it has all of the encessary approvals to begin any sort of construction.

So, don’t start saving your pennies to spend at this potential new casino.  It’s not happening yet.  The good news is that there are about six other casinos within 30 miles you can visit instead while the Jamul casino arguments continue.

10
Dec

Gwen Stefani Scholarship

Author: HelenKay, Category: All For Charity, Emergency Situations, Neighborhoods

Gwen Stefani is best known as a singer and tabloid favorite.  She’s also a clothing designer and has a perfume line.  Now, she can add charity donor to her list of titles. 

Stefani recently set up the After-the-Fires Scholarship for high school seniors and college students who lost their homes as a result of the October wildfires.   She funded the scholarships through The San Diego Foundation with a $166,000 donation from her October concert in San Diego.  Who will get the scholarhsips and for how much has not been determined.  For more information, including deadlines, visit The San Diego Foundation.

14
Nov

San Diego Housing

Author: HelenKay, Category: Neighborhoods, News

Unless you’re living in a box and haven’t seen a newspaper, the television news or all of the “for sale” signs in your neighborhood during the last 12 months, you know something is happening in the housing market…something very bad.  There is a lot of talk of doom and foreclosure.  Houses are sitting on the market and not selling.  Lenders are in trouble due to some of the ridiculous loans made over the last few years.  People are losing their houses.  If you;re lucky enough to still have a home, you almost hate to leave it in the morning.

Local real estate agents are saying the end is not yet in sight.  Median prices for resale houses (ie, not new ones) dropped from$535,000 in Oct. ‘06 to $515,000 in Oct. ‘07.  Bad news, right?  Well, yeah, but we’re talking about half a million dollars for a 900 square foot box with a view of an alley.  One could argue the housing costs here still hover in the ridiculously insane range.    The median income in San Diego is something like $100,000.  Note how the housing costs are more than 5x that income level.  Unless people are going without water and have figured out a way to also eat their homes, it’s hard to imagine how that monthly mortgage could get paid.

So, what’s the upside?  Unless you’re a buyer with a crystal clean credit record and a wad of cash balled in your tight little fist there likely isn’t one.  At least not yet.  But, predictions are that things will turn around in 2009.  It’s part of the inevitable cycle.  At least we hope so.

16
Oct

No Place Like Home

Author: HelenKay, Category: Housing, Neighborhoods, Politics, SDSU

The housing battle between students and residents continues in the area around SDSU.  Mini dorms - those fabulous living arrangements where too many students try to live in a too small place - have long been a touchy issue.  This year is no different.

The problem usually arises when a neighborhood home in a residential area is rented out to students.  A two-bedroom house becomes a home for ten as every available inch of inside space, sometimes including the family room,  is used for beds.  The result being noise, partying and parking problems.    

Enter a developer who wants to turn a heap of rubble on El Cajon into a multi-level dorm with retail on the ground floors.  The developer has made this work in university areas across the country.  The developer argues that with this new dorm there will be ample parking, residential staff and the eyesore will be gone.  Students say they need to live somewhere and it’s not their fault SDSU does not have enough living space.   Some also point out that living next to SDSU you should expect to see students everywhere.  Area residents sense a bait-and-switch coming where the developer promises an okay situation and, instead,  leaves behind a bunch of college party animals, no parking and bad retail.

So, what’s the answer?  No idea.  But, if you care about this issue and live near SDSU you may want to check out the Rolando Community Council Meeting tonight at 7:00pm at the Methodist Church (4855 Seminole Drive).

05
Oct

Water Issues

Author: HelenKay, Category: Environment, Neighborhoods

San Diego is bordered by ocean on one side and desert on the other.  Being a beach community of sorts, water usually is considered a good thing.  Not this week.   In addition to the landslide/road collapse/sinkhole in La Jolla, there’s a huge problem with broken water pipes in Pacific Beach.  The combination resulted in closed roads and heated tempers.  And something even worse…lawsuits.

Yep.  Didn’t take long.  Lawyers are lining up to blame the La Jolla mess on the city, leaking pipes and other problems (other than the homeowners’ decisions to build there).  With the cost of mudslide insurance - and, really, who knew there was such a thing - being ridiculously high, many folks in the La Jolla destruction zone likely don’t have it.  Lawsuits might be the only way to recoup money.  Sure, that doesn’t resolve the issue of this neighborhood being built on a known geologically catastrophe, but it does gives us all something about which to argue.

03
Oct

Landslide

Author: HelenKay, Category: Environment, Neighborhoods

A portion of Soledad Mountain Road in La Jolla buckled this morning around 9 a.m.  It’s being called a landslide, a sinkhole and a bunch of other things.  The bottom line is the road collapsed, houses have been destroyed, additional houses are in danger and the area has been evacuated.

Apparently gas leaks had been reported in the area over the last few weeks.  The area has been on an informal watch list for this sort of activity.  Trucks have been diverted from the area for some time in order to keep the ground shaking to a minimum.  The only good news might be that the folks living there had some inkling of impending trouble.  As if that helps somehow…

Geologists and others are on the scene.  The Red Cross is on the way.  Everyone is working to figure out if the buckling and slipping has stopped since more than 15 houses are in the downhill path of the slide.  Once everything stabilizes, crews can get in there and we’ll have more news.