www.SDNEWS.com Volume 14, Number 24
THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2009
San Diego Community Newspaper Group
Mayor trots out budget for review by districts District 1 meeting tonight at UC High BY SEBASTIAN RUIZ | VILLAGE NEWS
The San Diego City Council unanimously backed Mayor Jerry Sanders’ fiscal year 2010 budget proposal Tuesday, calling for 6 percent cuts in employee wages and reductions to their benefits and compensation. The fiscal plan, which Sanders unveiled Monday at City Hall and reinforced during a last-minute appearance at the Ocean Beach Branch Library on Tuesday, is expected to close half of an estimated $60 million budget gap with $30 million worth of concessions from the city’s five labor groups. The council voted 8-0 in favor of the plan during labor negotiation hearings Tuesday. Cutting hours or closing libraries and city recreation centers — a proposal that met stiff opposition from residents late last year — appears to be off the table this time. The mayor’s budget plan does keep about 150 positions vacant but does not include layoffs. “This is the year to protect city services and employees,” Sanders said on Monday. He said a 6 percent across-the-board reduction was “fair” to all employees.
Sanders and District 1 Councilwoman Sherri Lightner will host a budget town hall meeting this evening, April 16 at University City High School, 6949 Genesee Ave., from 6 to 7 p.m. District 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer will also join Sanders in a community budget town hall meeting Monday, April 20 at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center, 4726 Santa Monica Ave., from 6 to 7 p.m. Faulconer said the budget proposal acknowledges the need for “some serious restructuring” to employee salaries and benefits. “I think we’re asking all [city] employees to join in and make some of the sacrifices,” Faulconer said. “We need to make the tough decisions just like they’re making in the private sector.” The Deputy City Attorney’s Association, white-collar workers represented by the Municipal Employees Association and the International Association of Firefighters Local 145, came to an agreement with the mayor’s office to negotiate details of a 6 percent reduction. The San Diego Police Officers Association and blue-collar workers represented by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) SEE BUDGET, Page 4
MIRO IMAGE First-grader Casey Holden admires Joan Miro-influenced artwork created by his class at the Children's School's Great Artists Grand Finale event on April 2. Each class studies a noted artist and then creates artwork in that style VILLAGE NEWS | DON BALCH for the annual event.
La Jolla Half Marathon takes its mark The La Jolla Half Marathon and 5K return to the village Sunday, April 26 at 7:30 a.m. as the Cove is converted into a goal for hundreds of runners for the 28th
ation Center, said marathon coyear in their race to the tape. Although the half marathon is chair Trenton Bonner, president sold out, runners can still register of the La Jolla Kiwanis Club that for the 5K at the expo on SaturSEE MARK, Page 4 day, April 25 at La Jolla Recre-
Fly creates a buzz in the jazz world this spring BY BETH WOOD | VILLAGE NEWS
Even savvy jazz fans may be puzzled upon first hearing the beautifully sparse and melodic “Sky and Country,” the second record by the trio Fly. While detecting a musical difference, listeners may not at first pinpoint what specifically makes the combination of bassist Larry Grenadier, saxophonist Mark Turner and drummer Jeff Ballard stand out from more traditional groups. However, when Fly launches the 2009 Athenaeum Jazz at The Neurosciences Institute spring concert series this Saturday, the audience The jazz trio Fly (left) opens the Athenaeum’s Jazz at the Neurosciences spring concert series April 18.
will likely notice fewer exchanges of show-off solos and a more unified musicianship, with the trio members deeply in tune with each other, literally and figuratively. “It’s like tossing a ball around or having an intense conversation with more than one person,” said Ballard, describing the trio’s interaction. “It’s like a team riding in the Tour de France, each member taking turns taking the lead or offering total support to the one who is in front at the moment… this is not a sax-led trio; it is a collective trio, a pure democratic music group.” In 2004, Fly made a promising area debut in the Athenaeum Jazz at the Studio series in San Diego’s University Heights, around the time of its first album. Ballard and Grenadier
are also two-thirds of the acclaimed Brad Mehldau Trio and each have collaborated with Pat Metheny and Danilo Perez, among many others. Turner, now recovered from a postrecording power-saw accident last November that damaged his left hand, has garnered much praise over the years for making his tenor saxophone’s higher registers sound especially sweet and clean. He also has performed with pianist Mehldau, as well as guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, drummer Paul Motian and San Diego’s sax master, James Moody. Fly’s three versatile members have created a special dynamic, partly because they’ve been friends for years — Californians Grenadier and SEE BUZZ, Page 4