By Miriam Raftery

July 15, 2019 (Santee) – Fanita Ranch, the controversial master-planned development proposed in Santee, is seeking to drum up community support through pop-up ads targeting East County residents on the Internet.  This reporter had one of the ads pop up while paying an online solitaire game.

The ad claims that Fanita Ranch can “improve traffic” including adding westbound and eastbound lanes as well as a high-capacity onramp at Mast Blvd.  The ad clicks open to the website https://fanitaranch.com/improvingtraffic. But project opponents take issue with the advertising’s claims.  

East County News Service

July 5, 2019 (Santee) – San Jose musician Joe Ferrara will perform a concert on Sunday, July 21 from 2-4 p.m. at the Summit Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (8778 Cottonwood Ave.) in Santee.

Santee Chamber of Commerce celebrates with family-friendly fun, craft beer and the honoring of military members 

East County News Service

May 20, 2019 (Santee) -- Join more than 30,000 visitors at the Santee Street Fair and Craft Beer Festival on Saturday, May 25 at Town Center Parkway and Riverview Parkway in Santee.  The Street Fair is celebrating its 11th year and offers family-friendly games, live music and entertainment, over 300 various food and vendor booths, artists, carnival rides, a kid’s zone and more. The Craft Beer Festival is back for its sixth year and will feature award-winning craft beer samples from local breweries and beyond. The street fair starts at 10:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the Craft Beer Festival starts at 11:30 am to 5:30 p.m.

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.

East County News Service

March 26, 2019 (San Diego's East County) – The 14 Chick-fil-A® restaurants in San Diego County, including the two in East County, will offer a free breakfast entrée this week to guests who create or log in to their Chick-fil-A app account. From now till March 30, guests have a choice of Chick-fil-A Chicken Biscuit, a Chick-n-Mini (4-count), an Egg White Grill or Hash Brown Scramble. Chick-fil-A restaurants in East County are located at 9418 Mission Gorge Road in Santee and 8200 Fletcher Parkway in La Mesa.

East County News Service

February 25, 2019 (Santee) – The Santee Chick-fil-A restaurant at 9418 Mission Gorge Road in Santee, will celebrate six years of serving guests with an anniversary party in the restaurant on Thursday, Feb. 28.  The 110-seat restaurant opened on February 28, 2013.

Santee Drive-In Theatre is one possible site for low-income housing

Council also approves feasibility study on community choice energy option, with two other cities

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By Mike Allen

January 24, 2019 (Santee) --Believe it not, Santee needs new housing, particularly affordable type, and more rental stock to handle demand from folks who cannot afford to buy houses.

But where to put housing geared to low income earners, and how that construction will impact other properties are not easy subjects, as was revealed at the latest City Council meeting Jan. 23.

The agenda item that prompted much frustration and hand wringing was a proposed residential condo development on a parcel owned by the county. City Ventures, a large Irvine-based developer, recently obtained the 22-acre parcel which is now in escrow. The company wants to build 365 new units at the site, which is just east of Town Center Community Park, behind the YMCA.

 By Mike Allen

 January 10, 2019 (Santee) -- It’s become the latest trend sweeping across California by cities and counties: establishing alternative energy- providing entities that allow customers to choose a greener source for their power needs.

 So far, 19 agencies, mostly in Northern California but including Los Angeles County, are operating as community choice aggregators, or CCAs. The concept gives local agencies more control of their energy purchases, allowing them to buy more power generated by natural sources such as solar and wind.

 Now Santee is taking a look at joining the trend.

By Miriam Raftery

January 6, 2019 (Santee) – Santee City Council has several important items on its agenda for the next meeting on Wednesday, January 9 in Council Chamber (10601 Magnolia Ave., Santee).  These include the city’s climate action plan, a proposal for more developer funding of the city’s subarea plan, and a presentation on a community choice option for Santee residents to purchase power from the city instead of SDG&E.