November 15, 2013
On the Internet at www.MissionValleyNews.com
Volume VII – Number 11
CITY COOKS UP RULES FOR FOOD TRUCKS By Jeremy Ogul Mission Valley News
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ity rules for food trucks on private property began to take shape at an Oct. 23 hearing of the City Council’s Land Use & Housing Committee. City staff have proposed regulating the food trucks’ proximity to restaurants, limiting their
hours of operation and a creating a permit system for both property owners and food truck operators. “This is just the beginning of a process,” said senior planner Amanda Lee. With direction from committee members, city staff will reach out to stakeholders to See FOOD TRUCKS page 8
AVOIDING THE LOS ANGELES CHARGERS Talk resumes for a new stadium downtown By Jeremy Ogul Mission Valley News
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ust in time for this year’s mayoral election, the San Diego Chargers have once again begun talking up the idea of a new stadium in Downtown’s East Village. Mark Fabiani, the team’s liaison on the stadium issue, pitched the idea of a stadium that could double as a convention meeting space last month as an alternative to the planned expansion of the San Diego Convention Center. But what’s so bad about Qualcomm Stadium? Sure, it’s old. Sure, the brutalist architecture is a bit unsightly. And sure, some of the television monitors could be replaced. But it still works, right?
The San Diego Chargers are again asking the city for a new stadium that would be better equipped with all the bells and whistles.
It does work, said Stadium manager Mike McSweeney in a recent interview. It just doesn’t do everything the Chargers want it to do.
The biggest problem with Qualcomm Stadium is the lack of certain design elements and luxury amenities that have beSee CHARGERS page 9
Community saves Mission Valley Post Office By Jeremy Ogul Mission Valley News
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ission Valley residents learned Nov. 1 that their only post office will not close as originally planned. San Diego Postmaster Ken Sna vely announced via postcard to local residents that the U.S. Postal Service had canceled its plan to close the post office located within the Westfield Mission Valley mall. Members of the Mission Valley Planning Group opposed the plan, which would have sent Mission Valley residents to the Linda Vista post office. Aside from the drive and the traffic, planning group members said the Linda Vista facility was already overcrowded, and renovating it to add new mailboxes would cost the Postal Service $56,000. Demand for the post office in Mission Valley will only go up as a result of future residential growth in the Civita development and Hazard Center expansion, said Josh Weiselberg, a See POST OFFICE page 4
COMMENTARY
Circling in on Mission Valley’s mess
Weeds covering up popular tourist area in Mission Valley.
By Mission Valley Staff Mission Valley News
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ozens of hotels line San Diego’s Hotel Circle, a 2.7mile loop of road on prime real estate in Mission Valley. It is tourist central, with enough
beds for thousands of the city’s guests. Since summer, however, those guests have been treated to a view of the ragged, overgrown weeds and trash lining the street where it parallels Interstate 8. It’s not exactly the city’s best
Cleanup crews finally clearing the mess along the roads.
side to be showing off to tourists. The hotels, motels and other businesses along the circle largely keep their properties well-manicured, but the public agencies that control the land between the street and Interstate 8 have a more relaxed
maintenance schedule. Every hotel manager we reached declined to comment for this story. One of them said he did not want to upset his hotel’s relationship with the city by See Mess page 15