La Mesa California

Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation is holding a solo art exhibition featuring artist Sneha Craig. A San Diego artist and California native creates abstract acrylic paintings inspired by San Diego’s diverse natural spaces. “Layers of Nature” is on display at the Mission Trails Regional Park Visitor Center through July 29.…

The county of San Diego held a June 29 public outreach meeting on inclusionary housing with several polls along with opportunities for attendees to provide comments directly to facilitators. After an hour, public input made clear: county residents want more affordable housing in accessible locations. Contracted planning and development firm…

Routines similar to prepandemic years are returning. My effort to keep drunken drivers off the road is not ending. When I was sixteen, 30 years ago, I was hit by a drunken driver. I suffer daily: My gait and speech were affected and I lost my driving and hearing abilities.…

In a recent study from the Southern California Rental Housing Association Spring 2022 Vacancy and Rental Rate Study showed a dramatic decline in the vacancy rate, dropping from 2.91% in Spring 2021 to 1.25% in Spring 2022. The city of San Diego vacancy rate decreased from 3.3% to less than…

El Cajon City Council received its Fiscal Year 2022-23 preliminary annual budget report on June 14. City Council will be finalized and adopt the budget on June 28. City Manager Graham Mitchell said that the city came out of the COVID-19 pandemic fiscally intact, and that the 2022-23 budget assumes…

Nicole “Nikki” Salgado and Kerry Kilber Rebman are taking on new roles at Grossmont-Cuyamaca College District, Salgado has been named Vice President of Administrative Services at Cuyamaca College while Kilber Rebman is the Associate Vice Chancellor of Technology for GCCCD. According to Chancellor Lynn Neault: “Nikki and Kerry will provide…

A group of Lemon Grove residents are organizing a festival in the hope of gaining more public access to the city’s recreation center. The inaugural Citrus Festival is scheduled for July 9, from 3-7 p.m. at the Lemon Grove Recreation Center, 3131 School Lane in Lemon Grove. Citrus Festival team…

The city of Santee approved a proposed $53 million operating budget for 2022-23 during the June 8 City Council meeting. The two largest sources of city income stem from property taxes and sales taxes. Out of the $53 million budget, $23.2 million comes from property taxes and makes up 43%…

As of June 8, the primary 2022 election showed California state Governor Gavin Newsom in the lead at 52.9% with Brian Dahle trailing behind him at 22.5%. La Mesa resident Shirley Weber held the lead as Secretary of State incumbent at 56.2% with Rob Bernosky behind her at 26.9%. At…

A 16-year old boy who allegedly stabbed a 16-year old Black girl on June 6 in a potential hate crime was scheduled for a readiness hearing on June 6 in juvenile court. However, that hearing has been postponed until June 21. A readiness hearing is the second court appearance for…

Families with young children and friendly dogs in tow cheered and waved for local organizations marching in the downtown La Mesa Flag Day parade on June 4. The parade was held ten days before the nationally observed date of June 14 which former President Harry Truman signed into law in…

With COVID-19, due to lockdowns, social distancing, all those restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of disease, bereaved people may not have found that their needs for grieving were met. People were separated from their loved ones at the end of life. Hospitals were not allowing people in…

On June 1, elected official, water industry leaders and city representatives’ broke ground on the East County Advanced Water Purification Program at the future site of the East County AWP Joint Powers Authority in Santee. Scheduled for completion in 2026, this project is a groundbreaking environmental project for East County,…

Grossmont Union High School district is holding in-person commencement ceremonies for all 20,000 students in the district this June after two years of virtual celebrations. GUHSD Superintendent Theresa Kemper said the class of 2022 and their families deserve the pomp and circumstance of traditional in-person graduations. “Consider everything that the…

La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation Director Misty Thompson said the inaugural Art In the Park fundraiser, which was created in just six weeks, raised about $9,000 on May 21 for future community park events. “This is the first year, it is a brand new event. We were in a…

John Gunderson, 46, is a nonpartisan candidate for San Diego County Sheriff who does not accept donations, does not solicit endorsements and believes the Sheriff should remain apolitical. He said he’s never really thought about emulating a particular person in law enforcement, but generally believes any good leader provides goals…

On May 5, practicing obstetrician-gynecologist Akilah Weber, who currently serves in the California Assembly, and state Attorney General Rob Bonta addressed how California will respond if Roe v. Wade, a 1973 Supreme court case which ruled the right to abortion is a fundamental liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment of…

The La Mesa City Council on Tuesday accepted and filed the first quarterly Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement report of 2022. The HOME program is a shared initiative between the city and La Mesa Police Department which provides a trauma-informed, housing-first approach to addressing homelessness in La Mesa. Between January…