When you read the University City/Golden Triangle News on the second-to-last Thursday in June, you’ll probably be looking ahead to the first Tuesday in July, Independence Day, a time to celebrate the birth of our country.
Do you want to celebrate it in a traffic jam on route 5 going to a certain fair? Do you want to celebrate it looking for a parking place at the overcrowded beach? Of course not. You want to stay home for the holiday and celebrate the Fourth of July at Standley Park for the 19th U.C. Celebration under the direction of a tireless volunteer, Andy Freeburn.
Andy and his committee of volunteers promise a great day, opening with the U.C. Community Association pancake breakfast from 8:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. and closing with a terrific concert from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The Chess Set will provide classic rock and roll and country music for your dancing. All day there will be entertainment, games, food, and beer for the adults. Vendor booths and game booths will line Standley Park.
Leave the car at home and take the trolley that Coldwell Banker Real Estate will provide free up and down Governor Drive. Have the kids decorate their bikes in red, white and blue and join the bike parade or get face-painting from YooHoo, the Clown. Take time out for a free swim at Swanson Pool from noon to 4 p.m. You won’t want to miss the dunk tank, pony rides, book barn, monkey bridge or Astro jump.
Volunteers are still needed to help for an hour or two on July 4.
In a recent article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, 28.5 percent of Americans volunteer. Utah, with strong ties to the Mormon Church, had the highest number of volunteers with 63 percent volunteering. California was No. 40 nationally with 26.1 percent.
Freeburn and his team of volunteers are fearful that U.C. Celebration may go dark next year because of a lack of volunteers.
Get involved on July 4 for an hour or so. E-mail your willingness to help Andy: [email protected].
Another area in which to volunteer is of a more serious nature: opposing the joint use of Miramar, a commercial airport sharing a military one, not just any military but “the few, the proud, the Marines.”
Councilman Jim Madaffer hosted a meeting in Tierrasanta on June 14, Flag Day. Many longtime U.C. residents were in attendance and ready to volunteer in opposition to the idea of making Miramar a commercial site.
Brian Maienschein, representing Scripps Ranch and other communities, said: “The airport authority did us a real disservice.”
What other politicians are opposed to the bridge? Council President Scott Peters sent his chief of staff, Betsy Kinsley, to reassure his constituents that he is clear in his opposition. Representative Duncan Hunter’s aide said Hunter was instrumental in 1996 in passing a law prohibiting joint use of MCAS. Christine Kehoe sent her policy director to remind us that there are already 144,000 trips a day on route 15. A commercial airport would shift the crash site from inside Miramar to Tierrasanta, Clairemont, University City and Kearny Mesa. George Plescia’s representative took the airport authority to task for taking three years and not coming up with some answers. It will be a 24-hour airport, but the authority doesn’t know how many flights there will be. Airport authority still plays down noise impact and trusts their consultants in that area. Taxpayers for Responsible Planning has a Web site you can check out: www.savemiramar.org.
Katherine Nakamura, San Diego Board of Education member, knows it will “change the quality of life and schools.” Soundproofing schools will be costly, but imagine life at any of U.C.’s elementary, middle and high schools. Nakamura also discussed the negative impact on parks in U.C. and Tierrasanta.
Getting involved doesn’t mean getting angry and being a NIMBY (not in my back yard) type. The county voters not directly impacted by Miramar need to know that they will have to give up road projects because the state money will be eaten up by the airport authority’s plan of moving a 5-mile stretch of route 15. The lone councilman, District 4’s Tony Young, needs to be re-educated instead of being reprimanded. Mayor Jerry Sanders needs to listen to Peters, Maienschein and Madaffer.
Our one daily newspaper, the San Diego Union-Tribune, should be taken to task for endorsing the plan of the airport authority. Write a letter to the editor at [email protected].
One of the University City residents lightened up the serious dialogue by saying the airport vote on Nov. 7 should be combined with the Mount Soledad cross controversy: “The cross will be a flight hazard.”
As it stands, UCPG has to postpone the planned meeting on the airport in July because of the public meeting for the Regents Road Bridge EIR on July 11, from 6:30 pm. to 9 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 4126 Executive Drive. However, an airport meeting will eventually take place in September with a chance to share ideas.
“Involved” is a good word. Get involved. Let’s move the numbers up for California volunteers. It all begins at home. See you July 4 at Standley Park.
Sandra Lippe, ex maestra de escuela secundaria con una maestría en escritura creativa, nació y se crió en Connecticut. Es residente de University City desde hace 33 años con su esposo Ernie. Tienen dos hijos y dos maravillosos nietos.