By Mickey Zeichick

Our next San Carlos Area Council (SCAC) meeting will be Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 6 p.m. in the San Carlos Branch Library, 7265 Jackson Drive. Our meetings are open to the public. Our guest speaker will be California State Senator Marty Block. Senator Block was elected in November 2012 to represent California’s 39th Senate District, including the cities of San Diego, Coronado, Del Mar, and Solana Beach. He chairs the Senate Education Budget Subcommittee, the Senate Committee on Banking and Financial Institutions, the Capitol Knesset, and the Legislative Jewish Caucus.

Senator Block was elected to the California State Assembly in 2008 where he represented the 78th Assembly District until his election to the Senate. He served as chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee for three years.

Senator Block previously served for 8 years as a member of the San Diego County Board of Education and then served 8 years as president of the San Diego Community College District Board of Trustees. During that period, he also served as a San Diego Superior Court Judge pro tem, Statewide President of the California County Boards of Education, President of the San Diego Chapter of the American Jewish Committee and Founding Chair of the San Diego Latino/Jewish Coalition.

During his time in the legislature, Senator Block has helped California progress on a number of key education, public safety, veterans, economic and other policy areas. Some of his notable legislative work subsequently signed into law include: community college baccalaureate degrees; newborn heart screening; human trafficking court consolidation; military spouses’ professional licenses; CSU admissions processes; unemployment benefits and workforce development; training and whistleblower protections for senior care facilities.

Also at our Sept. 7 meeting, the Magnolia Science Academy (former Cleveland Elementary site) principal will provide a brief update regarding their move to their new home in Allied Gardens.

On behalf of Judy Pilch (widow of John F. Pilch), thank you to all who contributed to the John F. Pilch Memorial Fund. The fund has been established to maintain and continue to display the flags along Navajo Road.

Visit our plot (C-1) at the San Carlos Community Garden. A special thank you to our gardener extraordinaire Luciano Emanuele. This community garden provides a serenity area, a vegetable garden area, a flower area, and all sorts of trees, some fruit and some not. Kudos to the San Carlos Methodist Church for bringing this garden to life.

SCAC dues are due ($7 per household and $15 for business). Please send your check for Membership to: SCAC P.O. Box 19246, San Diego, CA 92159-0246.

—Mickey Zeichick is president of the San Carlos Area Council. Reach her at [email protected].