Street dedicated to LGBTQ Latino activist
Longtime activist Nicole Murray Ramirez was permanently honored by the City of San Diego on Saturday, Dec. 4 when a section of Harvey Milk St. in Hillcrest was renamed honorary Nicole Murray Ramirez Way. The ceremony with Mayor Todd Gloria, Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins, the parents of Matthew Shephard, Stuart Milk and more present, coincided with his birthday. In addition, he received the medal of honor from the Harvey Milk Foundation at the event.
He has served as a political adviser to the likes of Mayor Todd Gloria and Carl deMaio. One of his other political mentees, City Councilman Stephen Whitburn, brought forward the resolution to dedicate the street to Murray Ramirez. The City Council passed the resolution unanimously.
“Nicole is an iconic community leader, not only in San Diego but across the state, country, and even around the world,” said Whitburn. “His decades of activism have ensured that so many underserved communities – including LGBTQ people and Latinos – have had their seat at the table. Our community owes much gratitude to Nicole.”
Murray Ramirez became a prominent activist during the AIDS crisis and has since served on many government boards as well as significant nonprofit boards, such as San Diego Pride. He was also a part of the labor movement led by Cesar Chavez.
Mayor Gloria sponsors pet adoptions this weekend
San Diego Humane Society is hosting an adoption campaign sponsored by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria Dec. 10-11, 2022. During the event titled #Gloria100, adoption fees for the first 100 adult pets (7 months and older) will be waived. After 100 adoptions are reached, all adult animals will be $25 for the remainder of weekend!
“This adoption promotion could not come at a better time — we have more than 600 pets available for adoption,” said Dr. Gary Weitzman, president and CEO, San Diego Humane Society. “It has been a tough year for us, with more pets staying longer than ever before, so we are incredibly grateful to Mayor Gloria for his support.”
“Adopting my rescue pup, Diego, brought me so much joy, and I know adopting a new pet can do the same for other families too,” said Mayor Todd Gloria. “I’m proud to host Gloria 100 because San Diegans are giving and loving people, so I’m confident we will be able to find forever homes for so many animals in our shelters.”
San Diego Humane Society is open for walk-in adoptions Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at its campuses in Escondido, El Cajon, Oceanside and San Diego. To view animals available for adoption, visit sdhumane.org/adopt.
Parade of Lights on Dec. 11, 18
It will seem like a fantasy on San Diego Bay on Sunday, December 11 and Sunday, December 18 when the San Diego Bay Parade of Lights transforms the waterfront into a luminous lineup of sparkling boats. Approximately 80 vessels will take part in the parade, each decked out with lights and festive decorations that spotlight this year’s parade theme, “FantaSEA.”
The action starts at 5:30 p.m. both evenings at Shelter Island. The route proceeds to Harbor Island, the North and South Embarcadero areas, Cesar Chavez Park Pier, and ends at the Ferry Landing in Coronado. The entire procession takes about two hours.
“The San Diego Bay Parade of Lights is one of the region’s most anticipated holiday events,” said Chairman Dan Malcolm, Port of San Diego Board of Port Commissioners. “We’re proud to sponsor this parade, which brings residents and visitors together to celebrate the season and enjoy the beauty of San Diego Bay.”
This is the 52nd year of the parade, which the Port is sponsoring through its Civic Event Program that supports community-based events and activities around the waterfront in the Port’s five member cities.
On December 11, the Port is providing free bleacher seating on a first-come, first served basis at Broadway Pier. There will also be a shimmering selfie spot, and food and beverages available for purchase. At Cesar Chavez Pier, located in Cesar Chavez Park in Barrio Logan, the Port will be offering free coffee, hot cocoa and cookies on both parade dates.
The parade can be viewed from Shelter Island, Harbor Island, Spanish Landing, the North Embarcadero, Seaport Village, Embarcadero Marina Parks North and South, Cesar Chavez Park and Pier and the Coronado Ferry Landing.
New Clean & Safe App for Downtown SD maintenance
The Downtown San Diego Partnership Clean & Safe program has made it easier than ever for residents, visitors, businesses, and property owners to help resolve non-emergency maintenance and safety concerns in Downtown through the new Clean & Safe app.
Available via smart phones, the app easily connects community-generated service requests for issues such as graffiti removal, trash removal, power washing, security checks, safe walk services, tree trimming, and more directly to the Clean & Safe ambassadors who will be mobilized to address them. Enhanced maintenance and safety services like those submitted through the app are available 24/7, 365 days a year to ensure Downtown neighborhoods are clean, safe, and thriving.
“One of the things we hear most often from community members is that they want more ways to connect with our team to improve our urban neighborhoods and resolve challenges,” said Alonso Vivas, Senior Vice President and Executive Director of the Downtown San Diego Partnership Clean & Safe program. “Through the Clean & Safe app, we’re excited to provide an easy way to do just that and address the issues that matter most to our community. Just download the app, snap a photo, describe your issue, submit, and someone from our talented team will be on our way to take care of it – it’s that easy.”
Key features include records of requests so users can stay updated on status and know when their item has been completed, data reporting to help identify hot spots and allocate resources where they are needed most across the 275 blocks within the Property and Business Improvement District where Clean & Safe operates, and GPS location to quickly pinpoint the precise area in need.
In beta launches of the app, the average response time between receiving a service request and the request being completed was one hour. For community requests that do not fall within the Clean & Safe program’s enhanced services or service area, the app will easily refer those requests to the appropriate department within the city.
City opens Cyber Lab to prevent cyberattacks
With cybersecurity concerns on the rise following several major ransomware attacks nationwide, the City of San Diego has launched the San Diego Regional Cyber Lab to help local agencies prevent and protect against cyberattacks.
The Cyber Lab serves as a regional resource for small businesses, public agencies and educational institutions to utilize for specialized training with safe environments to simulate and defend against cyberattacks. The lab’s mission is to provide coordinated cybersecurity awareness for the greater San Diego region through collaborative access to the latest technology, intelligence and training tools.
“We’ve all heard the horror stories of high-profile attacks that have held companies and public agencies hostage, costing them millions in lost productivity or ransoms,” said Darren Bennett, the City’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). “We must remain vigilant in defending against these ever-evolving threats and, with this new San Diego Regional Cyber Lab, we’ll be stronger as a region by working together against a common enemy.”
The San Diego Regional Cyber Lab’s physical lab space is a no-risk sandbox environment where information technology professionals can further develop their cybersecurity skills in real-time scenarios. The lab has both PC and Mac environments connected to multiple servers running various virtual machines that can be manipulated, modified and attacked in different ways.
Cybercrime has soared in recent years with an estimated $7 trillion in damages in 2022, according to industry expert Cybersecurity Ventures. There have also been several recent attacks on San Diego’s local agencies and institutions, including Scripps Health, the Port of San Diego, the City of San Marcos and UC San Diego Health.
The city received two grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security totaling about $928,000 to create the San Diego Regional Cyber Lab. The city formed a working group of cybersecurity experts, academics, local CEOs and public officials from across the San Diego region to help design and develop the lab.
As part of the development process, the city surveyed about 200 agencies in the San Diego region about cybersecurity preparedness. Most had zero cybersecurity professionals on staff or assigned cybersecurity responsibilities to a single IT staff member with little to no experience or training in cybersecurity.
“Cyberattacks are occurring with greater frequency and growing complexity, so it’s incredibly important that we have a united front as a region working collaboratively between commercial, critical infrastructure and government to defend ourselves against cybercrime,” said Macy Dennis, Founder of the San Diego CISO Round Table and partner at Ember River.
San Diego County workers join Teamsters
Over 500 workers employed by San Diego County have voted overwhelmingly to join Teamsters Local 911. The workers are employed in the construction, maintenance, operations and repair, and crafts departments. The workers, who serve more than 3.2 million residents throughout the county, are seeking higher pay, better health care, improved safety, job security, and respect. Teamsters Local 911 represents thousands of public sector workers throughout Southern California.
Airport insulates 5k homes
San Diego County Regional Airport Authority (Airport Authority) is celebrating the completion of 5,000 sound-insulated homes through its Quieter Home Program (QHP).
The Quieter Home Program is San Diego International Airport’s residential sound insulation program in which certain residences around SAN, as determined by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), may be eligible for sound insulation treatments to mitigate aircraft noise. Eligible homes may receive retrofitted exterior doors and windows, installation of a ventilation system, and other items such as weather stripping and caulking around openings, reducing noise levels by at least five decibels inside the home and providing a noticeable noise reduction.
Since its inception, the Quieter Home Program has retrofitted 5,000 single-family and multi-family residences immediately east and west of the airport, including the neighborhoods of Bankers Hill, Point Loma, Ocean Beach, South Park, and Golden Hill.
In September 2021, the Airport Authority received two airport safety and infrastructure grants through the FAA for noise mitigation measures totaling $25.9 million. The grants marked the largest annual amount given to the Airport Authority by the FAA for the Quieter Home Program and one of the largest annual amounts given to any airport nationwide.
The $25.9 million is being used towards sound-insulating approximately 400 to 500 homes per year, depending on the size of the homes. QHP recently expanded to sound-insulating non-residential facilities; a portion of this grant will treat two church and preschool facilities in the areas most impacted by aircraft noise. It is estimated that once this program component is fully initiated, one non-residential noise-sensitive property will be able to be sound-insulated per year.
The Airport Authority encourages area residents to see if their homes or non-residential facilities are eligible to benefit from the Quieter Home Program by visiting san.org/airportnoise.
Artist in residence at New Children’s Museum launches loom workshops
The New Children’s Museum is collaborating with artist-in-residence Michelle Montjoy on a new workshop, Community Looms, in the Museum’s makerspace, The Rosso Family Foundation Innovators LAB. The artist residency is funded by a $10K grant from the ResMed Foundation to support the month-long program.
The Community Looms workshop, to start Dec. 7 and run through Jan. 9, is inspired by Montjoy’s work in engaging community members to create textile sculptures together. Previously, she has implemented similar versions of this workshop at the Oceanside Museum of Art, Art Produce Gallery in North Park, and Sophie’s Gallery in El Cajon.
The workshops at the Museum consist of three large looms, 36 inches in diameter each, in which 6-8 participants work together at each loom to knit material made from recycled or donated T-shirts. Workshop participants will learn Montjoy’s loom knitting technique as well as breathing and meditative techniques facilitated by the Museum’s Teaching Artists. The finished knitted sculptures will then be displayed in the Museum after the workshop series has ended.
