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East County Roundup highlights the best stories about East County
issues found in other publications.
June 2009 (San Diego’s East County)
- Sycuan Wants Land Added to Reservation
- Pillars of Fire? Poway’s Twin Peaks Haven’t Burned since 1967
- Officials Warn Against Wimpy Solar Goal; SANDAG Rewriting Regional Energy Strategy
- “It’s a Nightmare” (SD Unified School District Cuts)
- Proposed Santee Cable Ski Park Draws Friends, Foes
- Couple: County Trying to Stop Home Bible Studies
- Grossmont Students Speak Out Against Calendar Cuts
- Hunter: Maintaining Defense Spending Top Priority
SYCUAN WANTS LAND ADDED TO RESERVATION
Proposal would give tribe control over 2,000 acres it owns
San Diego Union-Tribune (June 3, 2009) -- Pat and Wally Riggs, property owners on Dehesa Road, object to the Sycuan band's plan to add land it owns to its reservation east of El Cajon. (K.C. Alfred / Union-Tribune)
The Sycuan Indian band is seeking to triple the size of its reservation just east of El Cajon by annexing 2,000 acres it owns, including a former sand mine, a golf course and a hotel.
The proposal to bring the land into the reservation would take it off property tax rolls and outside the jurisdiction of county land-use decisions, giving the tribal government power over what happens there.
PILLARS OF FIRE?
Poway's twin peaks haven't burned since 1967; residents urged to clear brush around homes
San Diego Union-Tribune ( May 31, 2009) POWAY-- The twin peaks of Poway are synonymous with the town that calls itself the City in the Country.
The mountains grace the city emblem, as well they should. Their location in the middle of Poway makes them visible from almost everywhere in the city. Thousands of people now live in the shadows of the two peaks, once largely undeveloped. That's a problem – a big problem.
The twin peaks represent the single greatest wildfire threat in the city. Slightly more than half of the acreage in Poway has burned in two major wildfires over the past six years, in the northern and eastern parts of the city. That means the threat of another devastating inferno is greatly diminished in those areas, at least for a while, because the fuel has been consumed.
REGION: OFFICIAL WARNS AGAINST WIMPY SOLAR GOAL; SANDAG REWRITING REGIONAL ENERGY STRATEGY
North County Times (May 30, 2009) -- The way county Supervisor Dianne Jacob sees it, regional leaders were on track to set a wimpy goal for homegrown sun power.
So she objected strongly when the San Diego Association of Governments board got its first look recently at a rough draft of a blueprint for the county's energy future.
That draft said the region should use energy more efficiently, modernize its electric grid and boost reliance on green power to the point that sun, wind and other clean sources account for half of local electricity by 2030.
But the plan focuses far more on large, remote commercial solar and wind farms than on the small panels people put on their roofs.
"There is no reason why the San Diego County region can't be energy independent," Jacob said Thursday. "We have all the sun that we need. And it's clean, green, safe energy."
‘IT’S A NIGHTMARE’
Voice of San Diego ( May 27, 2009) San Diego -- San Diego Unified has foregone layoffs, avoided furloughs, and even reversed some unpopular cuts such as making schools share principals or eliminating magnet busing. Now, as the July deadline looms for the budget to be completed, board members are turning to different, sometimes dramatic options in their quest to close the gap.
Trustees John de Beck and Katherine Nakamura believe one answer is to declare impasse with the teachers union. Richard Barrera thinks part of the solution is using up the $52 million of stimulus money, which is meant to cover two years, all at once. And board President Shelia Jackson is invoking one of the most sacred of sacred cows -- the stream of buses that carry children northward from schools in the poorest, largely black and Latino areas of the school district -- as a potential source of savings.
“It’s a nightmare,” Barrera said.
PROPOSED SANTEE CABLE SKI PARK DRAWS FRIENDS, FOES
San Diego Union-Tribune (May 30)-- Officials say a proposed cable ski park would attract more youths and families to Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve, but some neighbors say the crowds will bring traffic and noise to their community.
The city of Santee's environmental report on the project has been completed and is available for public review until June 13. The Santee City Council is expected to hold a public hearing and vote on the plans in late June or early July.
COUPLE: COUNTY TRYING TO STOP HOME BIBLE STUDIES
Channel 10 News (updated May 28, 2009) – San Diego -- - A local pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a San Diego County official, who then threatened them with escalating fines if they continued to hold Bible studies in their home, 10News reported.
Attorney Dean Broyles of The Western Center For Law & Policy was shocked with what happened to the pastor and his wife.
GROSSOMONT STUDENTS SPEAK OUT AGAINST CALENDAR CUTS
THE ALPINE SUN (May 21, 2009) El Cajon — The Grossmont Union High School District is moving forward, despite the budget hardships and woes. The newly discussed calendar, and reassignment of program sites are raising concerns among students and parents. One student in particular is questioning if research was truly looked at in regards to saving money.
HUNTER: MAINTAINING DEFENSE SPENDING TOP PRIORITY; CONGRESSMAN SAYS HE OPPOSES TALKS OF CLOSING `GITMO’ UNTIL WARS END
North County Times (May 30, 2009) ESCONDIDO ---- Six months into his first term in office, freshman Congressman Duncan D. Hunter said that maintaining defense spending ---- which he said preserves national security and good-paying jobs ---- is his top priority.
He also said the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba should remain open until the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are over and the troops have returned home.
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