The Grove on Juniper in South Park will celebrate Independent Bookstore Day with an array of special events, authors, new merchandise and free festivities. Following the runaway success of last year\u2019s California Bookstore Day, The Grove is joining with similar locally?owned shops on May 2 for a country?wide celebration of books and independent bookstores. Anne Mery, co?owner of The Grove, said customers of her 12?year?old South Park emporium have inspired the plans for this year\u2019s Bookstore Day. \u201cSan Diegans especially love food, travel, crafts and urban gardening, so we\u2019re featuring those interests,\u201d she said. Novelist Belinda Jones (\u201cThe Traveling Tea Shop\u201d) and Maria Desiderata Montana (\u201cSan Diego Chef’s Table\u201d and \u201cSan Diego Italian Food: A Culinary History of Little Italy and Beyond,\u201d) will talk about their books and new interests with San Diego foodies. Cookbooks and recipes by award?winning San Diego Chef Deborah Schneider will also be featured, along with tastes of her new salsas and moles. Bhavna Mehta of Hansa Arts and UCSD will lead a book arts project workshop, demonstrating alternative ways to tell a story. A workshop on urban sketching and the drawing of food will be led by San Diegan Angie Brenner, who wrote and illustrated \u201cAnatolian Days and Nights: My Love Affair With Turkey.\u201d The Grove will donate proceeds from select Bookstore Day sales and will collect donations from customers to support Dorcas House\/Vida Joven<\/a>, services for vulnerable children and families in Tijuana, Mexico. The full schedule of Independent Bookstore Day events will be published on The Grove\u2019s website at thegrovesandiego.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ace Parking and BluCar have partnered together to create an on-demand parking services app in North Park, Hillcrest, La Jolla and Little Italy for iOS. The service will be available from Thursday through Saturday from 5 \u2013 11 p.m. Customers choose a drop off point in specified zones, which signals an Ace Parking attendant. After meeting with the customer, the attendant will park the car and retrieves the vehicle once the customer selects a return location with the BluCar app, which should be less than 10 minutes. The app is capable of tracking your vehicle in real-time. It also offers a pay and tip system directly through the app similar to Uber or Lyft.\u201cThe idea behind the BluCar App is to offer customers virtual parking at the front door of their destination so they don\u2019t have to search for parking or walk very far from the lot,\u201d stated Michael Dee, co-founder and vice president of sales and business development for BluCar, in a press release. \u201cThe app is especially appealing to individuals who do not want or are unable to walk very far.\u201d The app can be downloaded at bit.ly\/1CuWD3w<\/a> or by visiting blucar.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Urban Discovery Academy (UDA), San Diego\u2019s first Downtown K-8 charter school, has received its first major gift to support the launch of its new East Village campus. Jeff Silberman, on behalf of Carleton Management Inc., has committed $125,000, a gift that was announced at a March 26 corporate sponsorship event.With a scheduled opening in September, the UDA campus at 14th and F streets will offer a high-quality STEAM infused curriculum with the benefits of proximity to the downtown public library and the convenience of nearby trolley stops. The campus is specifically designed to advance the Academy\u2019s three founding areas of distinction: strengthening project-based education, returning arts education to the classroom, and encouraging families to live Downtown. Silberman said he was confident that other benefactors would step forward to match his family\u2019s $125,000 pledge. \u201cWe are honored to partner with UDA in the development of their new campus in the East Village,\u201d Silberman said in a statement. \u201cUDA is an important community asset in the ongoing evolution of the East Village and is so worthy of our community support. We look forward to a long-standing relationship with UDA and are excited to welcome them to the neighborhood.\u201d Urban Discovery Academy was established in 2008 as a model charter school that would fully utilize the vast resources of the Downtown urban landscape. Now in its seventh year of operation, the Academy is currently located in temporary quarters at 730 45th St. Student API test scores are in the high 800s, and UDA educational experiences include an enriched visual and performing arts program and community service opportunities. To learn more about the Fundraising efforts by The UDA Foundation, visit its website at theudafoundation.org<\/a> or to learn more about Urban Discovery Academy, visit its website at urbansd.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n The San Diego Ballet Guild will host their Silver Anniversary Gala on May 9 at 5 p.m. in the newly renovated Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter. This elegant affair will raise the much-needed money to help support the ballet\u2019s innovative performances, educational programming and community outreach. The Gala is chaired by Lynell Sanchez and Carolyn Lara, two founding members of the San Diego Ballet Guild who are enthusiastic supporters of San Diego Ballet and San Diego School of Ballet. \u201cDuring the event, guests will enjoy beautiful ballet performed by past and present San Diego Ballet dancers,\u201d Lara said in a statement.\u00a0\u201cSan Diego Ballet\u2019s Artistic Director,\u00a0Javier Velasco, has\u00a0created something truly special for this evening.\u201d\u00a0Sanchez said organizers hope attendees wear something silver to commemorate the anniversary and though black ties are encouraged for men, they are optional. The evening will begin with a reception in the Garden Terrace where guests will have the opportunity to mingle with dancers and fellow guests under the stars and bid in the silent auction. The cocktail reception will be followed by a dinner and dessert in the San Diego Ballroom and a live auction featuring unique items and travel experiences. Tickets are $125 per person or $1,000 for a table of 10. To purchase tickets or for more information, email Lynell Sanchez at sdbgala@gmail.com<\/a>, visit the website at sandiegoballet.org<\/a>, or call the San Diego Ballet office at 619-294-7374.<\/p>\n The San Diego Padres and the club\u2019s flagship radio station, The Mighty 1090, have teamed up with U.S. Bank for Padres Wednesdays, featuring a complete lineup of Padres guests throughout the day\u2019s programming each Wednesday. Launched April 22, each Padres Wednesday will start with the \u201cExecutive Report\u201d first thing in the morning on The Dan Sileo Show. This weekly update will rotate between Padres Executive Chairman Ron Fowler and Padres President and CEO Mike Dee, and will air at approximately 7:35 a.m. \u201cLunch with the Manager\u201d on The Darren Smith Show will feature a weekly interview with Padres Manager Bud Black, airing at approximately 2 p.m. That will be followed by the \u201cFront Office Report\u201d on Scott and BR at 3:35 p.m. Each week, Scott Kaplan and Billy Ray Smith will hear from rotating guests from the Padres front office, including EVP\/General Manager A.J. Preller and other members of the club\u2019s baseball operations and leadership teams. \u201cFrom this programming, our fans can expect regular, comprehensive updates from all areas of the club,\u201d said Padres SVP\/Chief Marketing Officer Wayne Partello in a statement. \u201cAs we build upon our Padres partnership, we always keep in mind how to provide our audience with more behind-the-scenes insight about their favorite team,\u201d Mighty 1090 President Mike Glickenhaus said. \u201cPadres Wednesday creates another destination day on Mighty 1090 to deliver on that commitment.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LOCALS CELEBRATE INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE DAY The Grove on Juniper in South Park will celebrate Independent Bookstore Day with an array of special events, authors, new merchandise and free festivities.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":237246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Downtown Briefs May 2015","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11552,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-opinion","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}New parking app launched<\/strong><\/h3>\n
UDA RECEIVES FIRST MAJOR DONATION<\/h3>\n
BALLET\u2019S GALA CELEBRATES SILVER ANNIVERSARY<\/h3>\n
PADRES AND THE MIGHTY 1090 ANNOUNCE PADRES WEDNESDAYS<\/h3>\n