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Celebrating Our 19th Year!
VOLUME 27 NUMBER 25
Del Mar Highlands Town Center upgrade near completion
JUNE 23, 2011
Graduation 2011
BY KAREN BILLING STAFF WRITER More than 30 Pacific Highlands Ranch residents showed up to a community meeting on June 21 to discuss the incident last week when a serial streaker was caught in their neighborhood. The meeting was put together by the community’s very active Neighborhood Watch with District 1 Council member Sherri Lightner in attendance, as well as members of the San Diego Police Department’s Northwestern Division, including Captain Albert Guaderrama, Lieutenant Todd Jarvis and Sergeant Jeff Sterling. Both Jarvis and Sterling were involved in the June 16 pursuit of the suspect. “After last week’s incident we thought it was critical to get the San Diego Police Department as well as Council member Sherri Lightner involved and come in to talk to us to ease the tension,” said Aaron Johnson, who heads up his community’s Neighborhood Watch. “The tension has died down from last week but we have a lot of unanswered questions.” Most of the community’s questions revolved around why the 19-year-old suspect was caught and then released, one man saying the suspect was treated with kid gloves, with deference given to his parents.
•N ew luxury theater set to open in late July BY KAREN BILLING STAFF WRITER The Del Mar Highlands Town Center remodel project is entering the home stretch. The re-imagining is nearly complete and the center is 98 percent leased. “We’re very excited for the San Diego community to experience the new Del Mar Highlands Town Center,” said Elizabeth Schreiber, general manager. “We anticipate that the caliber of new restaurants and the opening of San Diego’s first luxury movie theatre will help the center become the new ‘it spot’ for dining and entertainment in North County.” By July 15, the barricades will come down by the plaza and people will be able to walk through the upper and lower plazas and use the new escalator. Tenants will open up around the plazas through September, when there will be a big grand re-opening celebration on Sept. 9 and Sept. 10. The new movie theater, Cinepolis Luxury Cinemas, is set to open in late July. The center had renewed its lease with UltraStar with a new luxury theater concept but last November, UltraStar told them new buyers wanted to buy their lease and take over their renovation plan. Not only is Cinepolis taking over the plan but they even “stepped up the luxury level,” Schreiber said.
See HIGHLANDS, page 6
Community meeting held to discuss serial streaker case
See STREAKER, page 6
Youth voice opposition to removal of permanent neighborhood basketball hoop Torrey Pines High School and Canyon Crest Academy students bid a fond farewell to their high school years at graduation ceremonies held June 17. (Top) TPHS Senior Class Council: Rachel Gerard, Emily Chu, Allie Paul, Elika Dizechi, Kaylee Mikuteit, Victor Pontis; (Bottom) CCA graduates Guy Giubilato, Samantha Kenyon, Alyeska Juarez. For more, see pages B2, B10 and B12. Photos/Jon Clark
BY KAREN BILLING STAFF WRITER A group of basketballloving kids brought some drama to the Torrey Hills Master Association meeting last week when they voiced opposition to the removal of a permanent basketball hoop that had been in their neighborhood cul-de-sac for seven years. The group of youngsters, led by 13-year-old Estefano Martinez, came bearing signs that read messages such as “Let kids be kids”; “We want to play outside”; and “A basketball hoop=new friendships.” The permanent hoop is against the CC&R’s (Covenants, Conditions and Re-
strictions) for the neighborhood—the rules allow a temporary hoop in the street but only if it is taken in at night. The hoop at the end of a cul-de-sac in Estefano’s St. Augustine neighborhood is too heavy to take in nightly so it was taken down two weeks ago. “It should remain because it brings the whole neighborhood together,” said Estefano. “It keeps kids from causing trouble and it’s healthier than staying inside playing video games.” To support his cause, Estefano and his brother Lorenzo went door to door talking to neighbors about
See HOOP, page 6