Dining Out for Life returns to San Diego
Thursday, April 24th marks The San Diego LGBT Center’s eighth annual Dining Out for Life San Diego, with more than 80 participating restaurants, bars, coffeehouses and nightclubs in San Diego donating a minimum of 25 percent of sales to the Center’s HIV/AIDS services and prevention programs. These services and programs include health education and HIV risk-reduction services, free counseling for individuals living with HIV, emergency food services and HIV testing.
This year is already setting records with an unprecedented 13 venues committing to donate 50 percent or more of their sales. Among those include The Mission, who has generously committed to donate 100 percent of its sales from its three locations in Mission Beach, North Park and East Village. Other locations donating 50 percent to Dining Out for Life include Adams Avenue Grill — who will also be extending the number of days it will it offer its 50 percent donation to Sunday April 27 — as well as Barrio Star, Brass Rail, East Village Asian Diner – Hillcrest, Mariposa Ice Cream, Martinis Above Fourth, Project Pie, The Fresh Asian Bar and Bistro, Wang’s North Park and Which Wich.
More information and a full listing of participating restaurants are available at thecentersd.org or by calling 619-692-2077.
Information on how to volunteer or become an Ambassador at
Harvey Milk’s starts ‘selfie’ contest
Guests of Harvey Milk’s American Diner can enter to win up to $200 in food and drinks at the diner in an upcoming “selfie” competition. In an effort to create a deeper connection between the guests, friends and fans of Harvey’s, the diner has teamed up with Lynup, The Social Agency, to run a social media campaign in which guests can post selfies on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
Entrants can submit through the contest app on Harvey’s Facebook page or by sharing a photo on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #SelfieAtHarveys. Friends and fans can vote for their favorite selfies, and the winners will be selected based on the most votes received.
The first-place prize is a $200 Harvey’s gift card or a $200 donation to Harvey Milk Foundation, a $100 gift card or donation for second place and a $50 gift card or donation for third place. The competition closes May 16.
First 5 San Diego expands healthy eating partnerships
First 5 San Diego and Vons grocery stores recently announced they are increasing their efforts to encourage healthy lifestyles among San Diego residents by extending their partnership to include the San Diego County’s Live Well San Diego campaign.
Last year marked the beginning of the collaboration between the two entities, who together distributed more than 100,000 healthy eating information flyers throughout the county, and also ran healthy eating contests. First 5 focuses on helping parents and others to promote the health and wellbeing of children during their first 5 years of life.
“The Healthy Eating campaign materials and events have been well-received by our customers across the county,” Carlos Illingworth, Director of public affairs and government relations for Vons, stated in a press release. “The Live Well San Diego campaign is an excellent fit and we are proud to support both organizations.”
For more information on First 5 San Diego, visit first5sandiego.org.
San Diego second best in U.S. solar installations
Environment California Research & Policy Center released a report on April 10 in which San Diego was ranked second in the nation in the amount of solar installed, and fourth for per capita solar installations. San Diego ranked second only to Los Angeles.
“As a pollution-free energy source with no fuel costs, solar energy can help us to meet many of our city’s environmental and economic goals,” Mayor Kevin Faulconer said in a press release. “It makes perfect sense for San Diego, one of the sunniest cities in the country, to lead the way in solar energy.”
The report also credited policy initiatives that encouraged more solar. Such policies are included in the current draft of San Diego’s Climate Action Plan.
“San Diego’s visionary leaders have spurred the growth of solar in our region,” said Daniel Sullivan, founder and president of Sullivan Solar Powerin the release. “The city’s proposed Climate Action Plan calls for 100 percent renewable energy by 2035, which will stimulate the local economy and create more green jobs.”
San Diego submits a bid for 2024 Olympics
America’s Finest City submitted an 80-page bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, and is now waiting to hear back from the U. S. Olympic Committee. The USOC will wade through the many submissions and narrow them down to three, which will be announced next month. Vincent Mudd, chairman of the San Diego exploratory committee, told U-T San Diego that if San Diego is not selected this time, they will gear up for another bid for 2032. Though former mayor Filner made much of San Diego’s ties with Mexico, the events would all be held in venues that already exist in San Diego, including Fiesta Island. Mudd estimated it would cost the City $4 billion to host the Olympics. According to the U-T, the public may be asked to choose a mascot and create a logo as early as this month. For more information, visit sd2024ec.org.
CPI protests fast-food employment-practice scandal
The first-ever national poll of fast-food employees showed that companies like McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s are “stealing” money from 89 percent of their employees. The poll, which was taken by 1,088 fast-food employees in the nation’s 10 largest metropolitan areas, revealed that employees are routinely forced to work off the clock, are often not given their ten minute breaks and are not paid overtime.
On Thursday, April 3, just days following the release of the statistics, fast-food employees joined community leaders to protest outside a local KFC/Taco Bell holding signs that read “San Diegans can’t afford to work for free.” The protestors demanded that KFC/Taco Bell and other fast-food companies stop the illegal theft of employees’ pay.
Last month, class-action lawsuits were filed in California, Michigan and New York demanded McDonald’s pay back stolen wages to its employees and stop its illegal theft of workers’ pay. In the last few weeks, employees have reached settlements of nearly $1 million in stolen wage suits against Domino’s and McDonald’s.
