Minutes – August 28, 2013 SPBG Meeting
Minutes by Bonnie Nicholls

  1. Mission Statement - Donna Walker read the mission statement out loud for all attendees.

  2. SBPG reports

a. Membership: New members were welcomed: Saad Hirmez of Gala Foods, Adam Parker and Tony Konja of Brabant Belgian Beer Café (moving into Vagabond location), and Tom Sadler and Patricia Leon of South Park Relational Therapy.

b. Mimosas & Munchies Mixer is Monday, Sept. 9, 10 a.m. at Station Tavern. The idea behind mixer is to get to know other business owners on a social level.

c. Maintenance: - Matt Thomas of Alchemy said he has more trash bags for the trash cans. Let him know if you need any.

Also, he said the City is accepting requests for infrastructure improvements. Requests include improvements to transportation, bike lanes, signs, road maintenance or anywhere you see blight. He had forms at the meeting for people to fill out that he planned to take to the Greater Golden Hill Planning Committee. You can turn those forms in to him or you can attend the Greater Golden Hill Planning Committee meeting on the second Wednesday of the month at the Balboa Golf Course Clubhouse.

Lastly, he said new bike racks are coming in. For more information, contact matt@alchemysandiego.com.

3. San Diego Bicycle Coalition

a. CicloSDias: Members had this to say about the event:

  • It was great for publicity. Attendees were overheard saying they never had been to South Park.
  • Many people did not go down the hill toward Logan Heights or over to City Heights.
  • Motorists seemed to be surprised by the traffic blockades. More advance notice of the event would have helped.
  • It didn’t bring traffic to the stores that day, but visibility was good.
  • It was a better event than Tour de Fat because you didn’t have people drinking while riding their bikes. Someone else countered that Tour de Fat is a cool event with a great parade.
  • Some attendees thought it should have been just on Fern, because not a lot of people were on 30th.
  • Members reported losing business, including Gala (30 percent) and the South Bark Dog Wash (33-ish percent), but some also said people came back to shop.
  • Gala got kudos for giving 15 spaces for local employee parking.
  • Restaurants did twice the business of other shops.
  • It was too long an event. It should have been shorter. The main hubs were Einstein Academy, Upas, and Fern/Grape.
  • For an event like this, give out coupons of drop off fliers on cars that are parked to get people back to the stores.

The San Diego County Bicycle Coalition has sent surveys to see what people thought. If you receive one, be sure to fill it out. For more information, contact Andy Hanshaw at andyhanshaw@sdcbc.org.

b. Tour de Fat is Sept. 28 in Golden Hill Park. Costumed bike parade will go through South Park liaisons are Karen@hamiltonstavern.com and jinnathomasbike@yahoo.com.

4. SPBG Events

a. ArtOberfest Walkabout is Oct. 4. Theme is Altars & Icons. Send info for PR to Marsha at spbg@lucyslist.net. Deadline is Sept. 25 to be on Walkabout Guide. Melinda Lee has delivered Walkabout postcards. If you need more, contact Maureen at Studio Maureen, or contact Anne at The Grove.

b. Small Business Saturday on Nov 30. Be prepared.

c. Luminaria Festival is Dec. 1-31. Sunday, Dec. 1, 5-9 p.m., is the Luminaria First Light Party. Saturday, Dec. 7, 6-10 p.m., is the Luminaria Holiday Walkabout. Report from Christy Jaynes of Progress:

The festival will take place from Thanksgiving through New Year’s. One hundred trees and light poles will be wrapped in lights and lit from Ash to Kalmia along 30th and Fern. Cost of the festival comes from grant money the SPBG has received.

Merchants are encouraged to decorate their store windows.

There will also be a contest for residents of South Park that participate. Having them involved will help tie the business areas together, so it’s not light in one section along the street and dark the next. The SPBG will give out prize baskets. Those who live in apartments can participate too.

The SPGB has a liaison with SDG&E. All the light poles have plugs that can be used for the lights. The SPGB will get an estimate from SDG&E and pay a flat fee. The lights will be put up and taken down by a Kelle of DeLights of San Diego, an SPBG member who lives in the neighborhood. He will also store the lights and decorations. He’s doing this at a significant discount for us.

For businesses that already have lights on their trees, that’s OK. The Luminaria lights will go around existing lights.

The SPGB is looking at putting banners at main entrances to South Park. For some areas, it’s hard to get a banner to span all the way across.

Between Dec. 1 and Dec. 7, people can buy and bring toys and food in South Park and donate them and drop-off areas.

d. 2014 Walkabout dates are confirmed:
- Spring – Saturday, March 22
(Old House Fair is Saturday, June 21)
- Summer – Saturday, July 19
- ArtOberfest, Saturday, Oct. 4
- Holiday – Saturday, Dec. 6

Walkabout theme suggestions from members were circulated. Please use this month to think up theme titles (names for the events), and complete the survey by Sept. 15th, or email Christy.progress@gmail.com or SPBG@lucyslist.net. Voting will take place at the Sept. 25 meeting.

5. Community Affairs

a) Police and Safety:
- Dr. Z said that a rape was reported on Juniper west of 30th. She also said there were about 8-10 car break-ins and an attempted theft on Juniper east of 30th.

  • Graffiti: If you see graffiti, you can take photos of it and send the images to the Graffiti Task Force. Courtney Thomson of Council President (and interim mayor) Todd Gloria’s office said it’s faster to contact the Urban Corps at 800-829-6884. The city funds the Urban Corps. If you call them, they’ll take care of it right away. Saad Hirmez of Gala said it’s best to paint over the graffiti the next day. It’s very effective.

  • Kalmia Street: Sarah and Sally Schoeffel of Rancho Buena Vista Real Estate said they’re working on getting a stop sign at Kalmia and 30th. They’re also looking into getting diagonal parking on Kalmia. Sally said they have to get a petition signed by 75 percent of the residents.

b) The office of City Council President: Courtney Thomson said as of Aug. 30, Todd Gloria is the interim mayor. However, she is still the contact for Council District 3, so that has not changed. She also talked about the bike sharing program that the city is considering. It’s like car2go, but for bikes. For example, you could take a bike from downtown to Golden Hill. You would have some type of credit card, rent a bike, rent a helmet.

Matt Thomas asked her to explain the city’s Capital Improvements Program (CIP). She said that the CIP budget is for community programs and services. When Todd Gloria doesn’t spend all of his budget, he can use some of it in the community. So if there’s something the SPBG wants, such as a bike corral, or to fix the recreation center, they would submit an application, that would go to her, and she would present it to Todd Gloria.

Saad Hirmez of Gala asked if a sign (such as a gateway sign for South Park) would qualify. She said yes, but it might be more expensive.

So smaller projects would be sent to Todd Gloria’s office, while large community projects are presented to community planning meetings, she said. Those community planning groups rate those projects, which can be up to millions of dollars. Local community planning groups include the Greater Golden Hill Planning Committee and the North Park Planning Committee.

Adam Parker of Brabant Belgian Beer Café asked if illumination would fall under small projects. He would like better lighting on 30th over Switzer Canyon, that it’s dangerous to cycle there at night.

Courtney said that would be a larger community project.

Matt Thomas said to email him with small and large project ideas and he can divide them up and send them or present them to the appropriate place.

Assemblywoman Toni Atkins’ office: Jason Weisz of Assemblymember Atkins’ office reported that she is not running for mayor. She’s staying in Sacramento. She is working on two bills, one of which would allow the California Coastal Commission to fine people who prohibit beach access.

Saad Hirmez said supposedly there’s a bill going through the state legislature to reassess businesses back to pre-Prop 13 levels, which he said would be catastrophic. He said it would remove restrictions from businesses, but would keep the same rates for residents. Jason said he would find out more about that.

6. New business/Information/Announcements:

a) South Park Relational Therapy: Tom Sadler and Patricia Leon have been in business for 24 years. They specialize in couples therapy. It is insurance billable, but they try to keep it affordable.

b) Brabant Belgian Beer Café: Co-owner Adam Parker, a South Park resident, said he’d heard that some are worried that it’s just another beer place. However, he said it will be the only Belgian café in San Diego. It’s going to be a lot of fun, very family friendly. He said they care a lot about the food, and they have a great chef. They’ll be doing brunch on the weekends. Co-owner Tony Konja estimates they should open in about four weeks. It’s going into the former Vagabond location.

c) Gala plans to bring host different food trucks every Tuesday. They’re also trying to bring a farmer’s market to the property once a week. Lisa Vella of South Bark Dog Wash said she appreciates everything Gala has done lately, from moving the floral shop to bringing in Captain Kirk’s. She said Saad Hirmez has a wonderful property and is a wealth of knowledge.

d) Lulu’s Nail Salon is expanding. Sally and Sarah Schoeffel have been silent partners with Travis Parker until recently. Travis has moved on, and the Schoeffels are now full owners. They also own Rancho Buena Vista Real Estate.

Minutes submitted by Bonnie Nicholls.
Next meeting: Wednesday, September 25, 8:30am.