VOLUME 3 ISSUE 4


Feb. 18-Mar. 3, 2011 OLD TOWN • MISSION HILLS • HILLCREST ➤➤HOME P. 5 BANKERS HILL • UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS • NORTH PARK • SOUTH PARK • GOLDEN HILL • NORMAL HEIGHTS • KENSINGTON • TALMADGE


San Diego Diplomacy Council opens North Park headquarters


By Karen Vister | SDUN Reporter Lauren Ventura | SDUN Editor


Try using a little 'plant life' to spruce up your home and uplift your mood


➤➤ TRAVEL P. 9


Community leaders, residents and historians clash over a propsed plan to reclaim Plaza de Panama with a bypass bridge.


Courtesy SOHO Bridging controversy in Balboa By Dave Schwab | SDUN Reporter


Looking through their lens: Hillcrest locals visit the Italian Riviera


➤➤ DINING P. 11


Most agree adapting Balboa Park’s Plaza de Panama, west El Prado, Plaza de California and Esplanade for pedestrian rather than vehicular use would be desirable.


How to do that without sacrificing the Spanish colo-


nial architecture and historical heritage of San Diego’s flagship public park is where opinions diverge. Last year, civic leaders led by mayor Jerry Sanders


and Qualcomm founder Dr. Irwin Jacobs launched an effort to reclaim the Plaza de Panama and adjacent ar- eas for pedestrian use in time for the 2015 Centennial celebration of the Panama-California Exposition. That is to be accomplished via a plan known as the


Pigging out in Hillcrest with the Three Little Pigs


➤➤THEATRE P. 15


Ballboa Park Plaza de Panama, Circulation and Park- ing Structure Project, which proposes construction of


a bypass bridge. Under a schematic presented by Dr. Jacobs, cars en-


tering the park from the west would be diverted, once they’ve crossed the Laurel Street Bridge, to an elevat- ed roadway behind the Alcazar Garden, leading to the Alcazar parking lot. There, visitors could drop off pas- sengers, use valet parking or continue on to a two-story parking structure to be built behind the Organ Pavilion. “The plaza was designed as a grand ceremonial


see Bridge, page 20


Thorn Street Median Project now underway


By Karen Vister | SDUN Reporter Lauren Ventura | SDUN Editor


A presentation regarding the street median on Thorn


Take a trip down the Yellow Brick Road this weekend


Index


Briefs……………………3 Calendar…………………4 Opinion…………………6 Hoptown Girl…………14 Puzzles…………………17 Classifieds……………18


Contact Us Editorial/Letters


619-519-7775 ext 103 lauren@sduptownnews.com Advertising


619-519-7775 ext 108 miker@sduptownnews.com


Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.


Courtesy Todd Gloria's office Got mail?


Golden Hill’s only U.S. post office branch closes its doors today, once and for all


By Lauren Ventura SDUN Editor


About two years ago Uptown News re-


ported that Golden Hill’s George Washing- ton Post Office branch, located at 2692 C St., was on the U.S. Postal Services’ (USPS) chopping block for closure. Although it took some time to finally happen, today— Feb. 18—marks the day the community post office closes its doors, permanently. It’s no secret: The Postal Service has been plagued in recent years by millions of


Street occurred at the Altadena Neighborhood Commu- nity Meeting on Feb. 2 at McKinley Elementary, located at 3045 Felton Street. Re-installment of the median has been a top priority for the North Park-area neighborhood since 2000. Todd Gloria, District 3 Councilmember, presented


see Median, page 7


dollars of annual losses due to the stagnant U.S. economy. USPS reported that it ended its first quarter on Dec. 31 with a net loss of $329 million compared to a net loss of $297 million for the same period in fiscal year 2010. “Despite significant cost reductions and


efforts to grow revenue, current financial projections indicate that the Postal Service will have a cash shortfall and will have reached its statutory borrowing limit by the end of the fiscal year,” the USPS said in a recent press release. Citing a variety of reasons why that this


particular branch was closed, Eva Jackson, a communications program specialist for the USPS, said in a recent interview with Uptown News that it evaluates retail sales, customer traffic, P.O. Box usage, service


see Mail, page 20


The San Diego Diplomacy Council, a 32-year-old nonprofit that annually welcomes more than 500 interna- tional leaders to San Diego through the U.S. Department of State and other federal agencies, has moved into new offices at 3604 30th Street in North Park. (l to r) Enrique Meza, director of programs; Cath DeSte- fano, executive director; and Kristina Leano, program coordinator. (Photo by Mandy Simon)


The San Diego Diplomacy


Council (SDDC) has moved its headquarters to a historic home at 3604 30th Street bringing the eclec- tic neighborhood international fla- vor and a place to host visitors from all over the world. “North Park has an interna-


tional ambiance, openness, and energy that is the perfect compli- ment to our work. It is the ideal location to explain America to our visitors. They are often as- tonished to discover how similar Americans are to themselves and how our similarities outweigh our differences,” Cath DeStefano, ex- ecutive director, said. Recently, the council hosted a


13-person delegation of Afghani officials and welcomed a multi- country delegation of federal, state and local officials from South Asia. Last summer the council welcomed students from Iraq who spent three weeks in San Diego studying com- munity activism. “The students stayed in local


see Diplomacy, page 17


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24