Downtown Democratic Club begins
The new San Diego Democratic Club is aiming to give ordinary Democrats in Downtown a voice.
“I am a relatively new arrival to San Diego who, shortly after arriving, began advocating for our city to restore safety to our sidewalks after the onslaught of dockless motorized rental vehicles began to be misused and misplaced on our streets and my neighbors told me they were afraid to go for a walk,” said club president Jonathan Freeman. “From there I became interested in local politics and decided to establish a new club for Democrats Downtown, the location of government in the city and county and on multiple levels, yet where Democrats were not organized nor well represented.”
Freeman is working to hold politicians who do not behave in the best interest of people accountable and give an outlet for ordinary people to be heard. He believes this is important especially in Downtown where government, the judicial system and federal agencies are located.
In the next year, the club will make key endorsements in the race for mayor and on the County Board of Supervisors. They will also work to increase voter turnouts.
Birth announcement
Heath Hansen and Linde Wester Hansen are excited to announce the birth of their son, Haegan Richard Hansen, on June 19, 2019, at 4:05 p.m.!
City and county tackle mental health together
A new city-county partnership announced June 24 by Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer and County Board Supervisor Nathan Fletcher will increase staffing and capabilities for the Resource Access Program (RAP) – a mental health initiative with a track record of success in connecting frequent 911 callers to assistance and reducing the strain those callers put on the region’s emergency response system.
Initially launched as a pilot program in 2008 and formally established in 2010, the RAP program focuses on helping vulnerable individuals with complex medical and social difficulties who repeatedly call 911. The program began operating in a reduced capacity in 2017 due to lack of funding and then expanded in May 2019 with six additional positions and two designated vehicles to better contact, connect and transport clients.
“This program is exactly the type of proactive outreach that cities across the country should be doing,” Mayor Faulconer said. “Using a data-driven approach, we are identifying those San Diegans who need specialized care and connecting them with the help they need so they don’t have to call 911. It’s a shining example of how the city and county can work together to find solutions to our region’s mental health crisis.”
RAP teams – overseen by the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department – consist of community paramedics paired with San Diego County Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PERT) clinicians. The teams use real-time data to identify individuals who frequently call the 911 emergency system and connect them to the appropriate services. These individuals may suffer from issues such as chronic homelessness, mental illness, substance abuse disorders, aging complications or other medical conditions. Approximately 90% of RAP clients who call 911 over 30 times per year currently experience homelessness.
“Our region needs action tackling the challenges of providing mental health services and this city-county collaboration is critical to helping meet that need,” Supervisor Fletcher said. “Teams of trained medical and mental health professionals from the county and city through the Resource Access Program can quickly take action to help people experiencing a behavioral health emergency. This partnership exemplifies a great spirit of cooperation and progress.”
RAP clients represent less than 1% of the total population yet generate nearly 20% of 911 calls directed to emergency services in the city of San Diego. In its first iteration, the program was able to reduce the number of patients with 50 or more calls per year in 2012 down to only one patient in 2016. That number jumped back up in 2018 to 26 callers after the program was reduced.
San Diego government recognized
Confirming the city’s commitment to being as innovative as the people it serves, Governing Magazine announced San Diego as the No. 1 city nationwide for high-performance government.
The magazine’s annual “Equipt to Innovate” report ranked San Diego the top overall performer based on the city’s fiscal responsibility, racial equity, resident engagement and evidence-based policymaking.
“From overhauling the infrastructure system to making city data transparent, we’ve transformed how San Diego operates, engages and delivers results for all residents,” said Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer in a statement. “This recognition reflects our efforts to improve year after year and invest in a better future for all San Diegans.”
Of the seven core categories, the city also earned top performer in the race-informed category and landed in the top five cities for the following categories: dynamically planned, broadly partnered, resident-involved, employee-engaged and data-driven.
Local landscape architecture firm celebrates 65 years
Wimmer Yamada And Caughey (WYAC), San Diego’s oldest landscape architecture firm, is celebrating its 65th anniversary this summer. The local studio has shaped the landscape of some of San Diego’s most recognizable landmarks, including the Embarcadero, The Headquarters at Seaport Village and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, to name a few.
“As San Diego’s oldest landscape architecture studio, we are incredibly proud of the creative footprint we have created across our community over the last 65 years,” said WYAC owner Pat Caughey. “WYAC was part of many original master plans of major institutions like SeaWorld, UC San Diego, San Diego Community College District, CSU San Marcos, San Marcos Civic Center and the El Cajon Civic Center, and helped to shape what they have become today. We are proud to carry that legacy into the next phase of WYAC’s future with fresh faces and rising talent in the industry.”
Ware Malcomb announces promotion
Ware Malcomb, an award-winning international design firm, today announced Joshua Thompson has been promoted to studio manager in the Downtown San Diego office. In this position, Thompson will lead Ware Malcomb’s Interior Architecture & Design Studio and manage select projects.
Thompson joins Ware Malcomb’s Downtown San Diego office from the firm’s Phoenix office, where he has served as senior project manager for the past five years while assisting with operations of the Interior Architecture & Design Studio. He brings over 18 years of commercial office design experience to his new role. Thompson brings extensive interior architecture and design expertise to the Ware Malcomb team, specializing in corporate office, medical clinics, retail and industrial projects. Thompson graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in interior design from Arizona State University. He is a member of IIDA and is National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) certified.
Dinsmore hires commercial litigation partner
Dinsmore & Shohl LLP welcomed Christopher Lyon, a new commercial litigation partner, in its San Diego location. He rounds out the office’s team of litigation attorneys and is the firm’s third litigation partner in the city.
Lyon has specialized in defense of insurance companies in personal injury cases, which he predominantly worked on for the last 10 years as house counsel for a major Fortune 100 company. At Dinsmore, he’ll lead a team of attorneys working on product liability and breach of warranty claims.
“It’s exciting to add a trial lawyer like Chris to our growing San Diego office,” said office managing partner and board member Joe Leventhal. “Chris adds significant skills to our bench of trial lawyers.”
While representing the Fortune 100 company, Lyon took hundreds of depositions and tried many cases to successful verdicts.
“It’s interesting work. While cases tend to follow a similar pattern, they’re all different and they require varying methods to achieve the result we believe is right,” Lyon said. “So I’m excited to continue that kind of work at Dinsmore, where I can strategize with clients to best achieve our goals.”
