… Illegal RV Park Run by Vice-Chair of Otay Mesa Planning Group, and Homelessness In Bonita Discussed In Community Forum
By Barbara Zaragoza
Fallen Police Officer Jonathan DeGuzman Was From Chula Vista
This week, the shooting of police officers throughout the country became deeply personal in Chula Vista.
Eastlake resident and police officer Jonathan DeGuzman was shot five times at close range by ex-con Michael Gomez, 52. Officer DeGuzman died shortly thereafter.
Governor Jerry Brown will attend a Friday memorial service for Officer DeBuzman, which will be held in Bonita. DeGuzman is survived by his wife and two children. (KPBS)
NBC 7 San Diego described the suspect. Gomez faces the death penalty if convicted.
Otay Mesa’s Junkyard Trailers Uncovered
inewsource‘s Megan Wood uncovered a trailer park without electrical hookups or sewage service. Tenants pay about $370 per month. To whom? None other than the Vice-Chairman of the Otay Mesa Planning Group, Melvyn Ingalls, who owns the property.
He has been cited four times in regards to the RV park within this unincorporated area. Read the full details here. The biggest problem: the tenants were served eviction notices on June 10 citing the tenants for illegal use of the land.
Too Many Foreigners In Mexico’s Schools?
Voice of San Diego’s Brooke Binkowski wrote in her bimonthly Border Report that more than 50,000 foreign students are enrolled in Baja California schools each year. Most are the children of parents deported from the United States. (She found the source and translated it from the Spanish at Tijuana Press.)
National City & Chula Vista
- Joe Little at 10 News uncovered that National City is going to move several homeless out of the Sweetwater River. It’s an effort to clean up the polluted river … Ironically, the river is considered a sensitive habitat. The river is filled with shopping carts, possibly put there by homeless individuals. However, if residents try to clean up the river, they could possibly go to jail. (10 News)
- Ron Morrison participated in a Rally for Justice at Las Palmas Park on July 31. Junior Munoz was shot to death in October 2015. The Mayor said on Facebook: “Our young people are too precious and valuable to allow cowards to take them away from us. Our community is standing together and saying this will not be tolerated here! Never forgotten!”
- A brush fire broke out near the Living Coast Discover Center on Tuesday. (San Diego Union Tribune)
- Chula Vista man, Wilbert Ross III, 32, was sentenced to life in federal prison for gang-related racketeering, including execution-style murders and sex trafficking. (Chula Vista Star News)
- At least some organizations are thinking about rehabilitation for prison inmates. Southwestern has a Second Chance college program for inmates at Donovan Correctional Facility. Southwestern started the classes this past spring for about 50 students. Now the students will also receive help with the cost of textbooks through this federal program. (San Diego Union Tribune)
Bonita & Imperial Beach
- Homelessness in Bonita was discussed at a July 28 meeting prompted by the Sweetwater Valley Civic Association. Supervisor Cox
attended alongsideorganized the meeting for 100 residents who voiced concerns that makeshift campsites in areas not designated for them are destructive to natural resources and have the potential to scare equestrians, thereby endangering riders. (San Diego Union Tribune)
- Imperial Beach continues improvements to the city. The Bicentennial Triangle sign off Palm Avenue will be redesigned and include water conservation features. (San Diego Union Tribune) IB City staff members are also looking for a location for an off-leash dog park. (San Diego Union Tribune)
- Remember the rash of coaches & tutors at Mar Vista High School who were facing charges for inappropriate sexual relations? This week, the Imperial Beach Patch reported that a 27-year-old football coach pleaded guilty to committing sex acts with a 13-year-old girl over a several-month period. He will have to register as a sex offender for life, the prosecutor said.
Otay Mesa Has Jobs!
And speaking of Otay Mesa. For many years the community group Crossroads II has complained that the City of Chula Vista is a “bedroom community”. People live in track homes and must commute (mainly downtown) in order to get to work. As a consequence, Crossroads II has clamored for more industrial, retail and office space.
The lack of jobs may be true within the circumscribed area of Chula Vista, however, the industrial zone within the integrated South Bay is Otay Mesa East, directly south of Chula Vista. Factories abound and, it seems, the Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce touts an abundance jobs. Check it out here. Those jobs could provide employment and could help with the commute for Chula Vistans, couldn’t it?
Sports and Sports
The Olympics began this week and Chula Vista has its own star: Carlin Isles — the rugby player in Rio. The sport returns to the Olympics this year — it hasn’t been played since 1924. The San Diego Union Tribune has the story.
To boot, Chula Vista South is on its way to the Colt League World Series in Lafayette, Indiana from August 5-10. (Chula Vista Star News)
And Park View Little League won the Southern California Championship with an 11-8 victory over Redondo Beach. They’ll be headed to the West Regionals in hopes to getting to the Little League World Series. (San Diego Union Tribune)
What Are the San Ysidro Mountains?
When you’re in the South Bay, do you notice that large mountain range?
The County of San Diego Planing & Development Services August eBLAST newsletter explained the mountain ranges. Here’s what you’re seeing:
“The San Ysidro Mountains are a mountain range in southern San Diego County, California. The range extends for a short distance into Baja California. The San Ysidro Mountains are part of the Peninsular Ranges System. The highest point of the range is Otay Mountain, elevation 3,566 feet. The majority of the range is included in the Otay Mountain Wilderness Area.
“The native vegetation of the San Ysidro Mountains represents the coastal sage scrub of the California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion (western faces) and plants of the California montane chaparral and woodlands ecoregion (inland). The San Ysidro Mountains are one of the few locations where the rare Tecate Cypress is found. This tree was once abundant in the higher elevations of the range as well as in its canyons. The San Ysidro Mountains were deforested of living foliage by wildfires in 2003 and 2007. The Tecate Cypress is a fire ecology dependent species, and there has been some evidence of regrowth starting.”
Interesting, no? So next time your visitors ask, what are those mountain ranges? You’ll know.
(Updated 6/5/2016 at 2:19pm)
It was impressive to see all the dignitaries and special arrangements made in order to honor SDPD Officer Jonathan DeGuzman
It was terrible when not one elected official turn out to honor the lives of three homeless men brutally murdered as they slept, unsheltered, in San Diego last month.
I joined with others at the Metropolitan Community Church in Bay Park, to reflect on the life of Angelo De Nardo, who attended their services, and honor the memories of Shawn Longley and Dionicio Vahidy.
I was surprised to be asked to speak as I joined with friends and community members to commemorate the lives of these three men. They were killed while sleeping alone and outdoors in our city- a city that refuses to provide safe shelter for all the men, women and children in need of basic housing.
Mayor Kevin Faulconer, SDPD Chief Shelley Zimmerman & City City Councilmembers Lorie Zapf and Todd Gloria were all no-shows at these church services, even though these men were killed in their city and districts.
County Supervisor Ron Roberts and District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis also failed to attend, even though the County has jurisdiction over providing health and human services to men like Angelo, Shawn and Dionisio, and prosecuting the person who committed these assaults and murders, to ensure justice for these men’s families.
They didn’t send staff or district representatives to join us at the memorial, to read a brief statement, or seek to learn more about these homeless residents.
Please contact the offices below.
Ask why they ignored a memorial to honor the lives of members of our San Diego community who were killed while sleeping unsheltered on our streets.
Ask why they declined to send a representative, or even a written statement to be read at the church services conducted August 7.
Thank you.
Contact information:
Mayor Kevin Faulconer
Phone: (619) 236-6330
Email: kevinfaulconer@sandiego.gov
Twitter: @Kevin_Faulconer
Councilmember Todd Gloria
Phone: 619-236-6633
ToddGloria@sandiego.gov
Twitter: @ToddGloria
Councilmember Zapf: Phone (619) 236-6616
Email: loriezapf@sandiego.gov
Twitter: @loriezapf
Chief Zimmerman: Phone: (619) 531-2000
Twitter: @ChiefZimmerman
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Victims-of-Homeless-Attacks-Remembered-at-Church-Service–389433121.html