By Mickey Zeichick
Our next San Carlos Area Council (SCAC) meeting will be Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015 at 6 p.m. in the San Carlos Branch Library, 7265 Jackson Drive. Our scheduled speaker is Mr. Kevin Beiser from the San Diego Unified School District Board of Education. He will discuss: “Putting Kids First.”
As a recently re-elected school board member, Mr. Beiser is working to reduce central office costs in order to preserve lower class sizes and enrichment programs for our children such as art, music, magnet schools and gifted and talented education (GATE). He is passionate about implementing research-based reforms that have helped turn around underperforming schools.
November’s guest speaker was David Akin from the San Diego Water Department. Mr. Akin’s topic was right on point discussing water conservation and the new watering restrictions. San Diego residents have only three assigned days a week (this applies to all types of systems):
Residences with odd-numbered addresses: Water only on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Residences with even-numbered addresses: Water only on Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays.
Apartments, condominiums and businesses: Water only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Between Nov.1 – May 31, water between 4 p.m. – 10 a.m. for only seven minutes. Between June 1 – Oct. 31, water between 6 p.m. – 10 a.m. for only 10 minutes.
Time limits apply to standard sprinkler systems, but not to water-efficient devices, including drip and micro-irrigation systems and stream rotor sprinklers. However, you can water with a hose at any time, as long as no run-off occurs.
Navajo Community Planners, Incorporated: The next NCPI meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m., Dec. 15, at the Zion Avenue Community Church in Allied Gardens. For a copy of the upcoming agenda, or minutes of past meetings, visit navajoplanners.org. These items are available three days before a scheduled meeting.
San Carlos Community Garden: Enjoy a stroll or bring your lunch, or just come and sit in a serene setting to sort out chaos from calm, visit the SCCG.
This is one of our newest treasures. The San Carlos Area Council approved renewal of the rental of their assigned garden plot for another year. If you’re interested in organic gardening or renting a plot for your personal garden, please visit sancarloscommunitygarden.com.
Cowles Mountain Hikers and Residents: At its Nov. 5 bi-monthly meeting, SCAC had the following item on the agenda: Should the SCAC directors recommend to the NCPI Board regarding all, or most, of the following in an effort to ease ongoing parking problems at the Cowles Mountain Trailhead at Golfcrest Drive and Navajo Road. The item proposed the following:
(1) Removal of red curbing and subsequent re-striping to create an additional 17 parallel parking spaces on Golfcrest Drive near Navajo Road.
(2) Encouraging the use of the San Carlos Library lower parking lot on weekends only. Mission Trails Regional Park will consider adding signs informing hikers about this added parking location, which will have 30 spaces that are normally unused while the library is closed.
(3) Add additional red curbing around homes on Melotte, Birchcreek and Golfcrest (including the cul-de-sacs).
After hearing from residents and directors, the SCAC voted unanimously to keep the red curbing in place on Golfcrest Drive near Navajo Road rather than remove the red curb and re-striping of Golfcrest Drive. The recommendation was transmitted to the Navajo Community Planners, Inc. Board, per their request that the SCAC hold a hearing on this issue
Grantville-Allied Gardens Kiwanis Christmas Tree Lot: All proceeds go directly back into the community. You might ask, “How?” Please check out their website: alliedgardenskiwanis.org
Service clubs: Do you want to make a difference? Have an hour or two available a week? Have some limitations but still want to help others? Then why not check out any of the various service clubs in your area.
To media representatives, they are soup clubs. To young professionals, they may represent a chance to get ahead. To local charities, they are a source of funds. But groups such as the Rotary, Kiwanis, Optimists, Soroptimists, Elks, Freemasons, and Lions clubs, are a reflection of changes within the middle class. Service clubs play a crucial role in helping people adapt to corporate development and community change. The groups emerged at a time when service was becoming both a middle-class and a business ideal. As voluntary associations, they represented a shift in organizing rationale, from fraternalism to service.
The clubs and their ideology of service are still welcome as a unifying force when we are beset by economic and population pressures. They are agents for change that can help alter community traditions and help place local practices in line with national trends. Though they suffered during the turbulent 1960s, these clubs continue building international organizations and now claim memberships in the millions.
The notion of community service is not new (e.g. The freemasons are an ancient fraternity that has, in effect, served as the standard by which all other fraternities strive to rise to). Their recorded history goes back 400 years but they have existed for much longer.
To find out what is happening in our San Carlos neighborhood, go to nextdoor.com. For crime stats, visit SanDiego.gov, click on “Police Department” and then “Crime Statistics.” You can choose the area for reports of any and all crimes in your neighborhood.
If you have a matter to discuss, please call me at 619-461-6032 or email [email protected]. If you wish to be put on the “Interested Persons List,” contact John Pilch at [email protected], with a cc to me.
Thank you for your interest in our community. We hope to see you at future meetings.
—Mickey Zeichick is president of the San Carlos Area Council.
