Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family and friends! 

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on what we are grateful to have, to spend time with people who are important to us and a time to serve others.  We give thanks for those who work day in and day out to keep us safe and our country free – both at home and abroad.  We also remember to help those in need and not as fortunate.

May this holiday remind all of us of everything we have to be thankful for.

This Thanksgiving, please give thanks for the many service people in uniform who are serving our nation. There are two easy ways you can give thanks to our men and women serving in the military.  One is to send them an email message by visiting the AmericaSupportsYou website.   

Another more modern way is to send a text message from your cell phone.  During this week of Thanksgiving, let our troops know we're thinking about them through the Pentagon's America Supports You program.  You can send your message of thanks by texting to 89279. You will get a text message back and some people have received text messages from soldiers in the field!  More details can be seen by clicking here.

And by the way, if you get an email that suggests sending a Christmas card to a recovering solider, I checked it out before passing it along in my eNewsletter and discovered this is an “Urban Legend".  Any Christmas cards sent to anonymous recipients are discarded due to security concerns.  Please see the Urban Legends website for details.

My last eNewsletter was devoted entirely to the wild fires and included photos and observations from the command center at Qualcomm Stadium.  It listed many people and organizations that helped and deservedly earned a tremendous thank you.  As extensive as it was, there are more to be thanked. I want to add a few more names to that list so that they too can receive acknowledgment for helping others in a time of need:

Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT)
San Diego Medical Services Enterprise (SDMSE)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Dr. Cory Cole, DVM
Horizon Church
Dr. Marc Lewis & other chiropractors and massage therapists
Old Mission Beach Athletic Club (OMBAC)
San Diego Fire-Rescue Department
San Diego County Urban Corps
San Diego Police Department
San Diego State University Student Athletics’ Department

Learn about post-fire erosion control and practical fire prevention steps. Rick Halsey is the author of “Fire, Chaparral and Survival in Southern California” and Greg Rubin is a licensed landscape contractor with experience in post-fire erosion control.  They will speak at a free public meeting on Tuesday, November 27th in Balboa Park.  The meeting will take place from 5:30 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. in Room 101 of Casa del Prado.  There will be a question and answer session. For more information, visit the California Native Plant Society’s web site at www.cnpssd.org or send an email to info@cnpssd.org.

At the special council meeting, I thanked Mayor Jerry Sanders and his staff as well as the Development Services Department for their efforts, especially the Land Development Code team for their tremendous work and dedication on this. Although in the past we have heard criticism from angry neighbors who think that City staff is not doing enough to protect their quality of life, we are no longer hearing that criticism.  We heard praise and thanks for a job well done.

Over the last year we have been successful in many ways:

• Implemented a $1000 fine “Admin Citation program” to help deter noise disturbance violations from repeat offenders
• Got owners attention to the activities and behaviors or their student renters by hitting them in the pocket book with this program
• We are expanding this program City wide – first in the beach area
• We addressed physical development standards by changing the Land Development Code to limit number of bedrooms added on lots less then 10,000 sq ft
• Implemented increased parking restrictions in Single Family zone to require more parking on site

I want to thank the College Area Community Council and the Planning Commission for their recommendations to support the High Occupancy Permit. There were concerns about the cost of the annual permit, and I share their concern, but City Council voted to support cost recovery of this ordinance, so it would be inconsistent to request to lower the fee.  I also want to thank my City Council colleagues – especially Councilmember Kevin Faulconer who has been a leader in helping us combat mini-dorms. 

On Monday, the City Council approved the Residential High Occupancy Permit (RHOP) and sent back to the City Attorney the Rooming House Ordinance – another tool I strongly support but was not ready for prime-time Monday.  It should come back in January after the City Attorney’s office and Development services get together to address the many nuances that had both sides disagreeing over on Monday night.  My concern for not rushing is simple:  it does no good to adopt a law that will only be challenged and overturned by the courts.  The City lost a major case 15 years ago that attempted to control mini-dorms so it’s important to make sure any new laws are solid and defensible.

I remain concerned over San Diego State University student population to continue growing while they lack so severely in on-campus housing.  See this article from the Mission Times Courier that has more details.  I am very concerned when some have predicted California building permit numbers to be as low as 50,000 statewide next year compared to 225,000 at the peak and 100,000 last year.  We already have a housing deficit around the University for at least 5,000 students and with the California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees approving the expansion of SDSU, this problem will only get worse.  SDSU has not adequately addressed their housing obligation thus heightening the pressure for mini-dorms.  The University needs to work faster and harder to find and build affordable student housing ON CAMPUS. 

Kiwanis Christmas Tree Lot Opens Saturday –

The Kiwanis Christmas Tree Lot will open for business on Saturday November 24th on the corner of Glenroy and Zion in Allied Gardens.  (Across the street from the Benjamin Library).  This Christmas season will mark the seventeenth year of operation for the fund raising endeavor that provides the funding for the many community and youth service projects sponsored by the Grantville-Allied Gardens Kiwanis Club in our Navajo community. 

A large selection of Christmas trees will be available from 10 footers down to Charlie Browns.  Nobles, Douglas Firs, Grand Firs, Fraziers, Nordmans, and Scotch Pines will fill the lot to make selecting your tree an enjoyable experience.  Bring your camera and the kids to shoot some pictures while you are tree shopping.  Kiwanis volunteers try to make Christmas tree shopping fun for the Family.  We will even deliver your tree to your home or business for a donation of your choice.  Hours of operation are:  Monday to Friday, noon until 9 PM Saturdays and Sundays, 9 AM until 9 PM.  All net proceeds from sales are returned to the community.  Kiwanis elves work for free!!  Ho Ho Ho!! 

Reverse 911 - Register Your Cell Phone Too

City of San Diego residents can register their cellular phones to receive emergency alerts – such as an evacuation notice – from the city's Reverse 911 system. Go to www.sandiego.gov/ohs/reverse911/index.shtml. Residents will need to provide their cell phone number, home address and e-mail address.

The County of San Diego also offers an outstanding webpage on disaster preparedness.  You can visit that page here:  www.sdcounty.ca.gov/oes/ready/

You can sign up for the County’s Reverse 911 system by visiting this link.  I would suggest you register for both the City’s and the County’s system.

www.sdcounty.ca.gov/oes/ready/signup.html

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