PHOTO BY DEANDRE EMANUEL ARROYO


6 San Diego Reader April 6, 2017


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NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS By Reader stringers LA JOLLA


Calle de Cielo neighbors want to block beach parking Surprise to developers More than 50 La Jollans — including former U.S. Congresswoman and frequent Demo- crat appointee Lynn Schenk — got their first look at plans to put eight houses on the last big lot uphill from La Jolla Shores on March 29, and they made a suggestion that surprised its developer: put a gate across the entrance. “We hadn’t thought of it,” said architect


Paul Benton, who led the presentation. “We can certainly look at it.” The gate will keep beachgoers from


parking on the fire lane that leads into the development, Schenk said. “They don’t pay attention to the no-parking signs anyway,” she said.


involved in an accident in Mission Valley that left his green 1996 Honda crashed and undrivable. Mr. T. was not able to view the damage because he was transported to the emergency room via ambulance for his inju- ries. Mr. T. had been living in that car and kept all of his possessions in it. The other car that was involved in the accident, a Jeep, was occu- pied by a young couple who said they witnessed Mr. T.’s car being towed away from the acci- dent by Advan- tage Towing as their Jeep was towed by the same company. The SDPD did


not make a police report on the acci- dent because they said they did not think anyone was injured. Finally, after Mr. T. called detective


Consolidating area planning groups into


larger regional groups was one of many pro- posals offered by San Diego city council- man Scott Sherman in the council’s hunt for ways to develop more housing. The list of 27 ideas was assembled by Sherman and councilmember David Alvarez, and floated at the council’s Smart Growth and Land Use Committee at the end of January. Gov. Jerry Brown took aim at commu-


nity planning groups in his 2016 proposal to streamline development, ostensibly to build more affordable housing. The plan was ultimately rejected by environmental and labor groups as well as planning groups. As it stands, neighborhoods are affected


by plans and developments on their borders — for example, the effects of a development in Mission Valley on the south side of Friars Road when the Linda Vista boundaries are the north side of Friars. Bicycling and affordable housing advo-


Mr. T. told to “go on with your life”


Andrew Spears around June 2, 2016, Spears reported that Mr. T.’s car was sold to a parts store in Chula Vista. His belongings were gone, and “go on with your life” was Spears’s advice. On March 21, the City of San Diego


“50% of buyers bulldoze and build their dream home.”


A single sprawling house is now sited


on the 4.4-acre lot; it will be torn down to put four houses uphill on the east side and four more on the downhill west side of the fire lane that runs north-south through the middle. The road will be an extension of Calle de Cielo and will dead-end at the south in a small roundabout, Benton said. Residents bemoaned the coming con-


struction noise — and planning committee chairman Tony Crisafi chided them. “At least 50 percent of the houses in the neigh- borhood, the buyers come in and bulldoze and build their dream home,” Crisafi said. MARTY GRAHAM


MISSION VALLEY Advantage Towing loses homeless man case Wrecked car found with his possessions in it On March 21, at the small claims court at 330 W. Broadway, Mr. T., a homeless, thin 80-year-old, was number six on the list. Commissioner Peter Doft presided as judge that day. On November 21, 2015, Mr. T. was


representative and manager of Advantage Towing were there. Neither brought wit- nesses. Mr. T. had the police report that said Advantage Towing said they did not have the car when the police called them. The judge said that something was not right when no detailed accident report was writ- ten. When the judge asked Advantage Tow- ing to give him his belongings, there was silence. The judge awarded $2500 to Mr. T. plus court costs.


GLORIA CIPRIAN


LINDA VISTA Butt out, Clairemont Bicycling, affordable housing advocates hate local planning groups Linda Vista should have a neighborhood voice in planning how the neighborhood is developed and maintained, the neigh- borhood’s planning group voted unani- mously on March 27. “I have a lot of respect for the Claire-


mont planning group and the other planning groups — they’re citizens like us who are investing in their community,” said How- ard Wayne, a planning group member and former California assemblyman. “But we are the people best positioned to know what’s best for Linda Vista, as they are best posi- tioned to know what’s best for Clairemont.”


cates have been angered by planning groups’ actions on their issues and have begun to campaign against the groups. Other single- issue groups have begun offering training and encouragement to supporters to get them onto local planning groups. Jim Baross, a longstanding member and chairman of the Normal Heights Community Planning Group, said of the planning group system: “it ain’t broke.”


MARTY GRAHAM BALBOA PARK


Lightsaber fighters at foun- tain worry about Disney “I’ll strike a deal with them.” “I feel that if I ask Lucasfilm or Walt Dis- ney [Company] for permission [to use the lightsaber word in the company name],” said Nick Murico, “that might be my Achil- les heel.” When the sun set on March 25, light- saber-wielding warriors battled one another at the Bea Evenson fountain at Balboa Park. Each competitor tried to slash his/her way


“Joggers, pedestrians, children going to middle school, dog owners.”


Every day that she works at home, Niveen Farmer hears the screeching brakes of cars nearly crashing at the entrance to her Car- mel Valley condo complex. Her home in the Sunstream complex — 259 townhomes built in the 1980s — is close to the main street into the complex, Caminito Mira del Mar, which empties out onto Carmel View. From where High Bluff Drive ends, Car-


mel View serves as an eastbound conduit for a number of complexes packed into the area, and its 3/8-mile approach to her complex from the west is a long curving downhill road where drivers tend to exceed the 35 mph speed limit. “Going out of Sunstream it’s white


“The other lightsaber groups do it for the love of Star Wars.”


through the brackets, to try to win the Underground Lightsaber Fighters Gold Cup. Organizing and judging the lightsaber competition is the fun part for Murico, an East County resident, but he faces a lot more potential battles than other “combat sport” organizers. “You see, the words ‘lightsaber’ and ‘Jedi’ are copyrighted,” said Murico, “that is the


knuckles,” she said. In the morning, east- bound drivers on Carmel View also have the sun in their faces. About 90 other residents — Sunstream


has 259 homes — signed a petition for a stop sign at the heavily used intersection. It was the last chance to get stop signs, since the city traffic engineers rejected the neighbor- hood’s request based on their traffic studies. Caminito Mira del Mar — the subdivi-


sion’s exit — has a stop sign and poor vis- ibility. The cross street, Carmel View, has continued on page 8


problem, and if [Lucasfilm or the Walt Dis- ney Co.] come and try to shut me down with a cease-and-desist, I think I will be ready.” Lucasfilm and the Walt Disney Co. are


both known to go after those that commit copyright infringement on their brands. This includes other lightsaber-based businesses. Murico is already thinking ahead and


has backup names that he cannot reveal. He has other options, too. “I’ll strike a deal with them,” he said,


“give them a cut and not fight it out with them like the other companies. If that does not work, I’ll hopefully be absorbed by them.” “The other lightsaber groups do it for


the love of Star Wars,” Murico said. “My tournament entries consist of many warriors that come from martial arts and fencing backgrounds. Me, personally, I’m from both sides; I even have a Star Wars tattoo.”


MIKE MADRIAGA CARMEL VALLY


Stop screeching brakes on Carmel View Townhomes funnel into eastbound conduit


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