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Volume 31 Number 20
Providing The Ranch with Three Decades of Quality Journalism
PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID RSF, CA PERMIT 1980
Feb. 2, 2012
High school district considers bond measure this week BY MARSHA SUTTON The San Dieguito Union High School District will consider contracts related to placing a general obligation bond on an upcoming ballot, at the district’s Feb. 2 board meeting. Three items will be presented to SDUHSD trustees Thursday night. All recommended contracts were selected from published Requests for Proposals. The first item is to award a contract to the Dolinka Group of Irvine for financial advisory services. Dolinka was selected out of seven candidates. The board report states that the district is recommending that the board approve Dolinka “to provide financial advisory services related to placing the GO bond measure on the June 5, 2012 or November 6, 2012 ballot.” This is Phase 1. If the GO bond is approved by voters, Dolinka will then provide “financial advisory services regarding the issuance of the bonds” from “the period January 20, 2012 until completion of bond authorizations.” This is Phase 2. The fee would be $20,000 for Phase 1 and $65,000 for Phase 2. Funding for this is listed as “campaign donations and future bond issues.” See DISTRICT, page 22
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY — The Village Church Preschool, formerly known as the Village Nursery School, celebrated its golden anniversary with a birthday bash Jan. 29 in the courtyard of the Village Community Presbyterian Church. (Above) Appreciation bouquets were given to those who helped to put on the event. See page 14 for more. Photo/Jon Clark
Flower Hill Promenade upgrade project on schedule RSF residents help organize ‘Passing the Torch of Success’ event BY JOE TASH A $25 million expansion and renovation of the Flower Hill Promenade shopping center on Via De La Valle is moving forward on schedule, and a new Whole Foods market and other businesses could be open by the end of the year. The mall on Via De La Valle, just east of Interstate 5, will be expanded from its existing 112,000 square feet to 173,000 square feet with the addition of new retail and office space and a four-level parking garage at the west end of the property. An Ultra Star cinema was demolished to make way for the new buildings. The center is within the city limits of San Diego, although it is advertised as “Del Mar’s premier shopping experience” on its website. In December, the final legal hurdle to the project was eliminated, when San Diego Superior Court Judge Ronald Prager rejected a lawsuit filed by a citizens group, said attorney Robin Madaffer, who represents Protea Properties, the owner of the shopping center. The lawsuit, filed by Citizens Against Flower Hill’s Excessive Expansion, had challenged the project on environmental grounds. Robert Vicino, a spokesman for the group, See FLOWER HILL, page 22
BY JOE TASH A group of successful, prominent Iranian-Americans took to the stage of UCSD’s Mandeville Auditorium Jan. 29 in an event designed to motivate youth and showcase the accomplishments of the IranianAmerican immigrant community. “Every good thing you do makes all of us look good, there’s nothing too small,” said Firoozah Dumas, a humorist and author of “Funny in Farsi,” urging the young people in the audience to be involved in community service. “You have to invest in excellence. You have to work hard,” said Vali Nasr, a professor of international
politics at Tufts University, author and former senior advisor to the Obama Administration on issues related to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The event, called “Passing the Torch of Success,” was organized by the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans,” or PAAIA, and has been held in cities around the country in recent years. Sunday’s soldout event, which drew an audience of about 800 people, marked its debut in San Diego. Jamile Palizban of Rancho Santa Fe, an event organizer, said one goal of the forum was “to empower our young Iranian kids and to See RESIDENTS, page 22
(L-R) hosts Maz Jobrani and Shally Zomorodi interview Vali Nasr, professor of international politics and diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (the photo on the big screen is of Nasr). Photo/Joe Tash