By Shain Haug | Allied Gardens Grantville Community Council
Town Hall Meeting
Our Town Hall Meeting on Sept. 25 at 6:30 p.m. at the Benjamin Library (corner of Glenroy Street and Zion Avenue) will feature a presentation by representatives of San Diego State University (SDSU) regarding the plan for development of SDCCU Stadium (formerly Qualcomm Stadium).
This presentation represents the last of the Allied Gardens-Grantville Community Council’s on-going efforts to inform residents of Allied Gardens and Grantville about the proposals they will see on the Nov. 6 ballot.
As many residents already know from previously published documents or public presentations, the initiative proposes a plan to demolish the existing stadium and to build a new 35,000-seat stadium to host SDSU Aztec football games and other major sporting events such as major league soccer. The proposal includes development of a 34-acre river park that will be available to the public, a research park, student and faculty housing, apartments that can be rented to the public, and retail that will serve the new campus and residential areas surrounding the campus.
The SDSU proposal for a west campus is extremely ambitious and it leaves unanswered a number of questions that are important to city residents. Who is purchasing the property and what is the source of the funds for the purchase? What are the public-private partnerships that are mentioned in the initiative? To what extent will citizens participate in the future development of the site? How much will the development contribute to the city in the way of development fees and property taxes? These are just a few of the questions that you can expect to be answered in the question and answer segment that follows SDSU’s presentation.
Allied Community Garden
The community garden is located behind the Ascension Luther Church at Zion Avenue and 51st Street.
As August comes to an end, it is amazing to see how the Allied Community Garden has flourished since it was established only a few months ago. The 14 boxes that were funded through local community donations and were constructed by the hard work of community members have been filled with all types of produce.
On a beautiful summer evening, I took a stroll through the community garden while greeting the gardeners. I saw gorgeous zucchini, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers and melons ready to harvest. The fruit trees that were planted during the Allied Gardens Arbor Day festival in April are starting to bear fruit, which will be shared amongst the community gardeners.
When more funds become available, the plan is to build planter beds for the gardeners who are on the waitlist. With the blessing of our year-round growing, I’m looking forward to seeing what the winter garden will produce.
This community garden has been a great catalyst for community fellowship. If you are interested in learning more or seeing the garden, you can either contact the Allied Gardens Library or email [email protected].
—Jessica Read
Zephyr housing
The conversion of the old Motel 6 on Alvarado Canyon Road to an apartment residence for 84 previously homeless veterans is near completion. Occupancy is expected to begin by the end of the year. Our Nov. 27 Town Hall Meeting will be dedicated to information about this development and a discussion of how we can greet and support these new members of our community. We will provide more information about this matter in our October article in the Mission Times Courier. This could be the most important Town Hall Meeting of the year.
Board of directors meetings
The AGGCC board of directors meets on the first Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at Benjamin Library, at the corner of Zion Avenue and Glenroy Street. Our next board meeting will be on Tuesday, Oct. 2.
— Shain Haug is the president of the Allied Gardens-Grantville Community Council. Reach him at [email protected], or visit aggccouncil.org. Barry Price and Jessica Read contributed to this report.
