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OPINION: San Diego Needs An Environmentalist Mayor To Avoid Becoming Los Angeles

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Colleen O'Connor

When did San Diego become so ugly? It’s a horrible question, but one that needs asking. How else might we stop the “Los Angelization” of our once beautiful “Camelot by the Bay?” Take a drive—any drive—or better still a walk or bike ride to see for yourself. It is not just the homeless—though the task of moving the tent cities and river bank and bridge encampments is part of the problem. Just last week, that became more obvious as the usually hidden homeless had to be hustled out of view for both the Padres home game and Rock ‘n Roll Marathon.

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In The Farthest Reaches Of North County, A Retired L.A. Anesthesiologist Is Growing Grapes

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby J. Harry Jones

Back in 2009, Rao R. Anne began buying land just below the northern slope of Palomar Mountain in northern San Diego County. The semi-retired Pasadena anesthesiologist was planning both his future and his return to a lifestyle he knew growing up as a boy on a vegetable farm in southern India. Anne’s Emerald Creek Winery now grows 120 acres of grapes on a 750-acre plot of land that bisects Temecula Creek west of state Route 79 about two miles from the Riverside County line.

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Larger Than Del Mar And Solana Beach Combined, The Ramona Grasslands Preserve Soon To Get Even Bigger

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby J. Harry Jones

The Ramona Grasslands Preserve, one of the lesser-known gems of San Diego County, is poised to get a bit larger. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday is expected to approve the purchase of a 123-acre parcel that will be added at the northern end of the preserve near the ridge line between Ramona and the San Pasqual Valley. The purchase will bring the total acreage of the preserve, with its panoramic vistas, to just over 3,600.

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North Park Business Suffers As City Fails To Fix Leak

/in , /by /San Diego Community News Groupby J.M. Garcia

When Carol Shamon noticed water from city pipes had leaked into the basement of her North Park neighborhood business, she thought the problem would be easily fixed: Call the city and file a report. Repairs would be made, problem solved. But after two years of municipal inaction, the water remains and Shamon, who is now suing the city of San Diego’s pipe contractor, worries the foundation of her 100-year-old building may be affected. “I contacted all the departments,” said Shamon, 61, owner of Shamon Freitas Agency at 3916 Oregon St. “Everyone individually has been nice but their hands are tied, they can’t do anything because they can’t coordinate with any other department and no one does anything.”

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OPINION: Wetlands Restoration On Mission Bay Is More Important Than Ever

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Jim Peugh

The last several years have seen a deluge of news about infrastructure in San Diego. Whether it’s the future of the stadium site in Mission Valley, the extension of the Blue Line trolley to UCSD, or the push among urbanists to revolutionize housing in our city, refining our development footprint has taken up a sizable volume of bandwidth in our civic conversation.

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County’s Wet, Weird May Was Wonderful Out On The Farm

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Robert Krier

It was wet, but it wasn’t San Diego’s wettest May. In fact, it didn’t crack the city’s top 10. It was cool, but many other Mays have been cooler, including last year. But May 2019 was certainly among the city’s all-time weirdest. And to San Diego County’s $1.77 billion agricultural industry, it was nothing short of wonderful. “We haven’t had a recent May where we’ve had something like this,” National Weather Service forecaster Miguel Miller said. “In the 20 years I’ve been here, I cannot think of another May that was inclement the entire month.”

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Two Agencies Want To Secede From The San Diego County Water Authority

/in , , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Water rates in San Diego are some of the highest in the country. So, two rural San Diego water agencies just came up with a novel way to save money: Buy water from Riverside County instead. Leaders of two water agencies that serve about 50,000 people in and around Fallbrook are fed up with rising costs at the San Diego County Water Authority. Local water agencies from across the region formed the Water Authority in 1944 to import water into the county from rivers hundreds of miles away. But, just in time for the Water Authority’s 75th anniversary, its future as the region’s main water supplier is in question.

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OPINION: Enjoy Our Agricultural Bounty

/in , /by /Village News (Fallbrook)by Marie Waldron

The northern San Diego County region plays a big part in making California the nation’s leading agricultural state. Locally grown crops that include avocados, citrus, strawberries, grapes and cut flowers have put San Diego in the top tier of the nation’s agricultural counties. According to the San Diego County Farm Bureau, San Diego is the 10th largest farm economy out of more than 3,000 counties nationwide.

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Naturalists Say Changing Water Levels At Lake Hodges Are Disrupting Nesting

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Ernie Cowan Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

A coalition of wildlife and conservation groups has contacted the City of San Diego with concerns about sudden changes in water levels at Lake Hodges that are destroying spring nesting sites for Western and Clark’s grebes. Lake Hodges is a city-owned water storage facility that has become a prime nesting location for the large aquatic birds. Spring nesting season attracts birders from all over to monitor and observe the courting, nesting and rearing of chicks. Grebes build their nests on partially submerged sticks and branches at water level. Brian Caldwell is a resident of Del Dios, a neighborhood adjacent to the lake and operator of Lake Hodges Photo Tours.

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California Native Garden Wins Helix’s 2019 Landscape Contest

/in , /by /Water News Network Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Matt and Lauren Kirkpatrick of La Mesa are this year’s winner of the Helix Water District’s ‘WaterSmart Landscape Contest,’ an annual competition recognizing outstanding water-wise residential landscapes based on overall attractiveness, design, efficient irrigation and appropriate plant selection and maintenance. Compared to the thirsty turf in the Kirkpatricks’ previous landscaping, the growing, colorful and entirely native new landscaping requires much less water and creates a place of inspiration and peace for these outdoor enthusiasts. Over the two-month billing period ending this April, the home used just 13 units of water, which is almost 40 percent less than the average water use of other Helix customers. One unit is 748 gallons.

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