Board President Dan McMillan votes against the measure

By Paul Kruze, Contributing Editor

August 17, 2019 (La Mesa) -- Water from the Helix Water District (HWD), which serves some 276,000 residents throughout East County San Diego, is going to get a little more expensive in spite of ample water supply in storage.

By Helen Ofield, Lemon Grove Historical Society

August 15, 2019 (Lemon Grove) -- The Lemon Grove Historical Society and the Lemon Grove Library will unveil Christy Hale's new, bilingual book, "Todos Iguales/All Equal," exploring the landmark 1931 desegregation case in Lemon Grove's lone grammar school. Written as an original corrida, the book is geared to all ages, but especially to youngsters.

East County News Service

August 1, 2019 (San Diego) -- National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer. Millions of neighbors take part in National Night Out across thousands of communities from all fifty states, U.S. territories and military bases worldwide on the first Tuesday in August—including a dozen locations in San Diego County.

You can come meet deputies who patrol your neighborhoods, learn about services the Sheriff’s department provides, and get crime prevention safety tips. You can also explore Sheriff’s programs such as senior volunteers, home vacation checks, the You Are Not Alone program for homebound seniors and the disabled, and Jr. Explorers. Visitors may also meet McGruff “The Crime Dog” and view a Sheriff’s K-9 demo. The events also offer free food and drinks, giveaways and a bicycle raffle at some locations.

Click on one of the communities below for an event flyer at each of these Sheriff's stations and substations including several  East County locations:

By Miriam Raftery

Hear our interview at the audio link and scroll down for highlights.

July 28, 2019 (Lemon Grove) – East Count Magazine sat down last week for an interview with Warsan Artan.  Born in Nairobi, Kenya, after her parents fled civil war in Somalia, she came to Lemon Grove as a refugee at the age of 10. A decade later, she is the lead Youth Organizer at Youth Will, a nonprofit dedicated to making San Diego a world-class region for children and youth. Youth Will recently rolled out a Summer of Youth Power campaign with a series of events to help young people’s voices be heard.

Her goal to create a brand-new regional master plan for San Diego's children and youth. The organization also recently held the region’s first youth county budget forum with Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, created a youth bill of rights, hosted youth presidential debate watch parties, and more.

By Miriam Raftery

July 6, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) – Three nonprofit charter schools operating within the Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) have been ordered shut down by a judge, but now a stay issued has been ordered for one year until an appeal can be heard. 

The schools at risk of closure are Diego Valley East charter in El Cajon and San Diego Workforce Innovation High charter schools in Lakeside and Lemon Grove. 

By Miriam Raftery

June 22, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) – The city of San Diego ranked second worst in the nation for rent hikes on  a one-bedroom apartment in 2018, at 17% with an average rent of $2,300, according to Rent.com. By contrast, the national average rent increase nationwide was 2.69% and California averaged a 4.48% increase in rents on one bedroom apartments during the same time period.

Rents are also skyrocketing in East County, where some communities had double digit rent hikes from March 2018 through March 2019 for 1 BR units:

Lemon Grove +15.66%

La Mesa +10.63%

El Cajon + 5.04%

Santee, by contrast, had only a modest 1.25% increase.

Spring Valley, the only unincorporated community in San Diego County with enough inventory to provide statistically valid data, had a 9.6% increase.

By Helen Ofield, President, Lemon Grove Historical Society

By Elenna Hernandez, Helix Charter High School student

May 24, 2019 (Lemon Grove) -- Dear citizens of Lemon Grove:  the city of Lemon Grove is in desperate need of sidewalks all around the neighborhood. In the main streets, there are sidewalks, but in some blocks, we do not have any kind of sidewalks. All of Washington Street, Cypress Street, Bonita Street and others do not contain a sidewalk other than the corners in which the main streets are connected to. Due to no sidewalks around the city, citizens of Lemon Grove at any age can be in danger when they have to walk, either on a run, walk home or to get to places they need to go. 

East County News Service

May 22, 2019 (Lemon Grove) -- Lemon Grove’s summer concert series opens June 27th and continues through August 22nd each Thursday evening from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Berry Park (7071 Mt. Vernon St.)

The series kicks off with Mariachi Real de San Diego,followed by a season that will also include salsa, Cajun-zydeco, rock and roll, Motown, country music and more: 

By Miriam Raftery

May 3, 2019 (Lemon Grove) – A 14-year-old boy was struck by a vehicle in front of San Miguel Elementary School in Lemon Grove this evening at 6:19 p.m.  He was transported via ambulance to Rady Children’s Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries, says Sergeant Aaron Montan with the San Diego Sheriff’s Department.

Updated with corrected figures for El Cajon, where homelessness rose and a higher percentage are without shelter than last year.

By Miriam Raftery

May 2, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) – For the second year in a row, the annual Point-in-Time homeless count for 2019 found a 6% drop in the number of homeless people living on the streets and in shelters across San Diego County.  The count found a 1% increase in those who are sheltered and a 10% decrease in those left unsheltered.