www.SDNEWS.com Volume 24, Number 15
THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2009
San Diego Community Newspaper Group
City hikes fees, may curtail police duties Mayor takes case to OB constituents BY SEBASTIAN RUIZ | THE BEACON
OB gets its green on Revelers descended on Ocean Beach on Saturday for the inaugural Global Rock Festival — a carbon-neutral event promoting environmental awareness and protection. The day was filled with beach cleanups, food, musical entertainment and frivolity. COURTESY PHOTOS BY JIM GRANT (TOP) AND JOE EWING (LEFT AND BELOW)
The City Council approved about $4 million in fee increases this week to help close an estimated $60 million budget shortfall the city faces in the coming year. District 2 Councilmember Kevin Faulconer joined colleagues April 20 in eliminating $1,000 in city service discounts for nonprofit groups that host special events like the Ocean Beach holiday parade. At the same time, the City Council raised the cost private companies pay for extra police officers during those special events, hiking the cost from $75 to $96 per hour. The decision to raise specialevent staff fees saves the city an estimated $500,000, according to city officials. The council approved a slate of fee increases running the gamut of city services, including a $50 increase in business fees, a small increase in dump fees, late fees for library books and an added $1.06 to pay for parking tickets online, according to city documents. Most of the fee increases will become effective July 1. The council also approved a $5 fee increase to maintain a newspaper rack per year effective in January.
Mayor Jerry Sanders outlined his fiscal year 2010 financial plan to residents during a forum Monday at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center. PHOTO BY PAUL HANSEN I THE BEACON
At the moment the council was voting downtown to raise fees, Mayor Jerry Sanders presented his budget plan to about 20 residents at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center. Fee increases affect special events like the Ocean Beach holSEE BUDGET, Page 4
Creek to Bay event poised for another clean sweep BY JOSEPH GREENBERG | THE BEACON
Everyone knows cigarettes are bad for your health. But people seem less aware or less remorseful about scarring the environment with their left-over, tarstained filters. Those tiny butts add up and get swept along with other debris into streams and watersheds and eventually make their way to the ocean. “The cigarette butts continue to be an extremely pervasive litter problem, and people do not know how big an impact they can have,” said I Love A Clean San Diego (ILACSD) outreach director Morgan Justice-Black. Justice-Black is hoping for a vol-
Surf Report SATURDAY
Hi: 10:20 a.m. 9:41 p.m. Low: 4:04 a.m. 3:24 p.m. Size: 5-8 ft. Wind: 16-20 mph
SUNDAY
Hi: 11:11 a.m. 10:18 p.m. Low: 4:49 a.m. 3:56 p.m. Size: 4-7 ft. Wind: 12-18 mph
unteer force 5,000 strong that will band together and blanket the entire county in the seventh annual Creek to Bay Cleanup that takes place Saturday, April 25 from 9 a.m. to noon. She also hopes that the message of loving a clean San Diego will spread through the volunteers and community members alike to cause a snowball effect in fighting pollution. “To me pollution knows no boundaries, which is why we cover such a huge area. We have cleanup sites from Oceanside to San Ysidro, from Mission Beach and as far east as El Cajon,” Justice-Black said. There are approximately 60
cleanup sites throughout those regions, and the event this year is poised to crack the 1 million pound mark of debris picked up and properly disposed. The widespread volunteering event could not come at a more poignant time in the current economic atmosphere of fund siphoning and budget cuts. “You read in the paper every day how infrastructure is being cut, the amount of [garbage] cans at the beach are being reduced along with funding for cleaning and maintenance,” Justice-Black said. “It is important that volunteers take matters into their own SEE CLEANUP, Page 8
Volunteers scour Ocean Beach during a recent Creek to Bay Cleanup, sponsored by I Love a Clean San Diego. This year’s event takes place Saturday. COURTESY PHOTO
A thing of beauty
Canine hero gets his due
It’s the end of an era
The 2009 Point Loma Garden Walk will showcase scenic landscapes, gardens and homes along Sunset Cliffs. 3
Cabrillo, a Portuguese water dog from Point Loma, plays a key role in alerting his owner that a house fire is raging just doors away. 7
Carroll B. Land, who has served as the athletic director of Point Loma Nazarene for over four decades, will step down. 11