Allied Gardens resident named United Way chief development officer

United Way of San Diego announced in August that Valin Brown, who lives in the Allied Gardens neighborhood, will be its new senior vice president and chief development officer. Other new staff changes at United Way include Michele Predko of Spring Valley, who was hired as director of marketing and brand strategy, and Katie Saywer, who was promoted to director of philanthropy.

Brown — who served as CEO for the Carlsbad Educational Foundation for seven years and previously worked with United Way in Colorado and Tennessee — will lead United Way’s development efforts to support its work tackling the complex social issues impacting children and families in San Diego County. With a long history of working with nonprofits dedicated to child education initiatives, Brown has extensive experience that will contribute to United Way’s efforts, including the City Heights Partnership for Children, as well as United Way’s Project 25 and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) programs.
“Having prior United Way experience, Valin has a deep understanding of our role in the community and our vision for the future,” said Kevin Crawford, United Way president and CEO. “Valin and Michele’s extensive experience in nonprofit leadership will play a key role in advancing the organization’s goals.”

Bill requires student vote on success fees

On Sept. 8, the California State Legislature passed legislation to Gov. Jerry Brown that would require a student vote on “student success fees” imposed in the California State University and University of California systems.

AB 1000, authored by Assemblymember Shirley N. Weber (D-San Diego), would also require university administration to undertake a process that informs students of the uses, impacts and costs of proposed fees or fee increases, limits fee proposals to once an academic year and require an annual report to the legislature on the fees.

Mandatory student success fees are used for a diversity of university projects, including building projects and supplementing the budgets of athletic programs. But students have begun to stage protests, complaining that the success fees have become excessive, especially with sharp increases in tuition over the last few years.

“Our public university systems are usually the best and most affordable option for low-income students to whom these fees can become a significant financial burden,” said Weber, a former CSU faculty member and department chair. “This bill attempts to strike the appropriate balance between a campus’ ability to propose student success fees and the need to provide financial stability for students.”

AB 1000 has unanimous bipartisan support in both houses of the legislature. The governor has until Oct. 11 to sign the bill.

San Diego goes for Google Fiber

On Sept.10, Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer announced that Google Fiber will begin working with the city of San Diego to explore the possibility of building a brand-new, high-speed broadband network in the city.

“Information is power, and the more we connect San Diego to superfast Internet, the stronger our neighborhoods and economy will be,” Mayor Faulconer said in a press release. “We don’t just want modern infrastructure — we also want it smarter, faster and more accessible to San Diego families and businesses. This is part of an ongoing effort to lay the foundation for our local economy and community to compete and thrive in the 21st century. It’s how we make sure San Diego continues to lead in the areas of science, technology and innovation.”

Google has already begun working with the city of San Diego to explore what it would take to build a fiber optic network capable of delivering gigabit speeds.

Today’s average American broadband speed is 11.9 megabits per second. In contrast, gigabit internet services can offer up to 1,000 megabits per second – or up to 40 times faster than basic broadband.

Over the course of the coming months, Google will begin compiling a detailed study of local factors that might affect construction plans. Simultaneously, city staff will begin meetings with Google to discuss what it would take to plan and prepare the city for a fiber project of this scale. This includes reviewing the permit process and mapping the location of existing infrastructure like utility poles and gas, water and electricity lines.

If the project can move forward, Google Fiber will begin designing the network, street by street. The network follows a “hub and spoke” design where the city would be encircled with a ring of fiber cables that branch off into neighborhoods, homes and businesses. Then comes construction, which includes stringing and laying thousands of miles of state-of-the-art fiber optic cable, followed a gradual roll-out of service to the city.

Google Fiber Internet and TV service is currently available in Kansas City, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri; Provo, Utah; and Austin, Texas. Google Fiber is in the process of expanding to six additional metro areas: Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Raleigh Durham, North Carolina; Salt Lake City, Utah; and San Antonio, Texas.

City approves settlement in flood case

On Tuesday, the City Council voted to pay property damage to San Carlos resident Tracy Kull, whose home was flooded twice in 2014.

Kull filed suit, asking the city to pay damages because she alleged the city failed to maintain a storm water channel, which caused the flood.

“The flooding is negligence of the city, so insurance does not cover any of that,” Kull told Fox 5 News in a report that aired shortly after her home was flooded a second time on Nov. 1, 2014.

Kull and other neighbors complained of the flooding due to blockage of the storm drain but nothing was done because the area was protected by environmental groups, the report claimed.

Kull will receive $211,181for the damage and attorney costs paid from the city’s Public Liability Fund.