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Boxholder Rancho Santa Fe CA 92067
SECTION B
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Volume 31 Number 39
New GM, Chef ready to enhance Inn at RSF
Providing The Ranch with Three Decades of Quality Journalism
Toast of the Town
MacMitchell takes over as general manager, Allison as executive chef BY KATHY DAY Gordon MacMitchell has spent the past five weeks getting the lay of the land at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe and in the surrounding community. That’s because, as the new general manager, he’ll be the man on the spot as the renovation of guest rooms gets under way and as they prepare a new look and menu for the restaurant under Todd Allison, who starts next week as executive chef after two years at Anthology. They’ll replace Kerman Beriker, the general manager for the past eight years, and his son, John, who was the executive chef. “JMI (the new owners) has great plans, none of which will intrude on the historic nature of the property,” MacMitchell said. “They want to give it its luster back.” With 33 years in the hotel industry, MacMitchell worked previously with Benchmark Hospitality International, which is managing The Inn for JMI Realty. The firm, owned by Padres owners John Moores and Rancho Santa Fe resident John Kratzer, acquired the 21-acre property earlier this year with Siguler Guff & Co. MacMitchell was previously associated with JMI when he ran the Omni Hotel adjacent to Petco Park and, most recently, was genSee INN, page 18
Above, Tim Fox, Beth Nelson and Catherine Fox attend the annual Toast of the Town celebration on June 7 at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe. A highlight of the celebration was the School Student Art Auction, which included the work of Victoria Williams, right. The event was sponsored by the RSF Education Foundation. See page 12.
PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID RSF, CA PERMIT 1980
June 14, 2012
RSF School board OKs purchase of iPads, desktop computers BY KATHY DAY Rancho Santa Fe School District trustees on June 7 heard about the state of their budget and enrollment for the coming school year and then signed off on a plan to purchase iPads, new desktop computers and accessories that will cost the district more than $377,000. Although the district, like others throughout the state, still faces uncertainties about the final numbers, Superintendent Lindy Delaney said, “It’s a blessing that the expenses for technology, which are a serious expansion, will come out of state money and bond funds.” Because of that, she added, the district can still maintain a healthy reserve despite an anticipated decline in property tax income and not knowing how potential ballot measures will alter state funding formulas. Two competing measures are likely to make the ballot, al-
though the qualifying deadline is not until June 28. Assistant Superintendent Cindy Schaub, who worked with technology director Ben Holbert on the proposal, presented an overview of how the district plans to implement the new technology program that will enable every middleschool student to have an iPad and will put six iPads in each K-6 classroom, as well as 10 for special education students. The expenditures also cover accessories and updated iMacs for K-6 classrooms, where they are applying a “thirds” plan – at any given time one-third of the students can be on iPads, one third on desktops and one third working in small groups or individual assignments. The iPads aren’t intended to be “babysitters,” Schaub said, but rather a way to increase student See SCHOOL, page 24
PHOTOS: JON CLARK
RSF Association board authorizes funding for Osuna adobe renovations BY JOE TASH The RSF Association board approved spending $55,000 on renovations and construction plans for the Osuna adobe at its meeting on Thursday, June 7, but some board members questioned whether all of the expenditures are necessary right now. The board considered the expenditures on two separate votes: in the first, the panel unanimously approved spending $23,595 to remove concrete stucco from the exterior walls of the historic adobe and replace it with adobe plaster, which would then be white-washed. According to a staff report, the work is needed to protect the building and improve its appearance. However, the board was not unanimous on a proposal to spend $31,405 on construction documents for planned renovations to the adobe. While the proposal was approved with directors Jack Queen, Dick Doughty, Larry Spitcaufsky and Eamon Callahan voting in favor of the expenditure, directors Anne Feighner, Roxana Foxx and Ann Boon did not support it. Among the concerns expressed by board
members was whether the Association should spend money on construction plans before the funding for the renovation work has been secured. Before the board’s discussion and vote, the entire group took a field trip to the adobe site, where Ron McMahon, chairman of the Association’s Osuna Committee, gave a presentation about planned improvements to the property. “This adobe really represents the core of the history of the Ranch from the 1830s,” McMahon told the board during his presentation at the adobe on Thursday. The Association purchased the 27-acre Osuna Ranch property at 16332 Via de Santa Fe for $12 million in 2006, with the goals of preserving the historic adobe ranch house that dates back to 1831, and to preserve open space within the Covenant, said Pete Smith, AssociaSee OSUNA, page 24
The RSF Association board and officials gather at the entrance to the adobe during a field trip at the June 7 board meeting. PHOTO: JOE TASH