Daily Business Report-Oct. 11, 2016
Election ballots.
Early Voting Starts in San Diego
By City News Service
Early voting began Monday in San Diego County and throughout California for the Nov. 8 general election.
The Registrar of Voters Office at 5600 Overland Ave in Kearny Mesa will be open weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for those who want to fill out a ballot before election day. The office will also be open for weekend voting on Nov. 5 and 6.
Election officials have encouraged voters to apply for mail-in ballots due to the large number of ballot items, many of which are lengthy and complicated, in hopes of reducing wait times on election day at polling places. Around 960,000 ballots will be sent to voters beginning Tuesday.
The last day to apply for a mail ballot is Nov. 1. However, the faster the ballots are filled out and returned, the sooner the votes will be recorded, according to the Registrar of Voters Office.
Voters in the general election will choose a president, members of Congress and the state Legislature, and decide 17 state propositions.
Locally, there are two countywide ballot measures — whether to raise the sales taxs by a half-cent to pay for infrastructure projects and to approve or deny a development in the Lilac Hills section of Valley Center — and a dozen questions in the city of San Diego, including the Chargers’ plans for a downtown football stadium and convention center annex.
The ballot includes 21 other measures for voters in various cities and special districts — many of them proposed bond issues.
Also to be decided are high-profile runoffs for county supervisor, San Diego city attorney and San Diego City Council.
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Major Traffic Jam on Route 94 as
Hollywood Casino Opens in Jamul
By City News Service
A casino and entertainment complex that drew the ire of neighbors in the East County opened to the public Monday and, combined with road construction, led to major traffic congestion on state Route 94.
The $400 million Hollywood Casino Jamul-San Diego, around 20 miles east of Downtown San Diego, features 1,700 slot machines, 43 table games and seven restaurants. One of the eateries, Tony Gwynn’s Sports Pub, features memorabilia from the late Padres icon and an array of televisions for watching athletic contests.
The 200,000-square-foot casino, on the property of the Jamul Indian Village, also includes a nightclub.
A 25-year gaming compact between the state and the tribe was signed in August by Gov. Jerry Brown, setting the operating terms for the three-story facility, which will employ more than 1,000 people.
The casino was built and will be operated by Penn National Gaming, which runs 27 other casinos across the U.S.
A stretch of the highway near the casino is lined with concrete barriers. At midday, Steele Canyon High School tweeted: “Attn: SCHS Community, traffic is currently backed up from the casino to the Campo/Jamacha intersection. Please plan accordingly & drive safe.”
Area residents, led by county Supervisor Dianne Jacob, bitterly fought the development because they were concerned about traffic impacts on the semi-rural roadway in the area. She has criticized Caltrans for allowing the project to proceed.
“Caltrans is failing the public by allowing the casino to open without all the badly needed road improvements in place, which was a part of the agreement Caltrans reached with Jamul Indian Village in 2009,” Jacob told City News Service.
“The state is permitting it to go forward at the expense of public safety,” she said. “I advise motorists to not gamble with their lives and stay away.”
The tribe said it expects to pay $23 million for road and transportation improvements in the area.
“The tribe maintains a longstanding commitment to the community,” said Erica Pinto, chairwoman of Jamul Indian Village. “We are proud to fund roadway improvements and other essential services to make our community safer. These efforts are meaningful and important for our tribe and our neighbors.”
Meanwhile, Caltrans issued this alert: “Delays are expected to continue on State Route 94 in Jamul throughout the week due to a private event. Motorists are advised to avoid the area or to find alternate routes if possible.”
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Local Business Community Members
Mentor Talented San Diego State Students
By Katie White | SDSU NewsCenter
Members of the local business community are sharing their insights with talented San Diego State University undergraduate students as mentors for the 2016-18 Lavin VentureStart cohort. Each business leader is taking one student under his wing for the next two years.
The 31 students were selected for their strong entrepreneurial drive and talents. Graduates of the two-year program will be able to identify and evaluate new business opportunities, understand the responsibilities of an entrepreneur and deploy resources in order to launch new ventures. In addition to their mentors, students also get the opportunity to network with industry experts, as well as faculty and staff at the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center.
“The Lavin Program has so far made a tremendous change in my life,” said Stellan Christensen, a junior majoring in international business. “Before entering the program, I felt like I could do everything. I joined numerous student organizations, was on the club hockey team and changed my major several times. I was all over the place.”
But thanks to the Lavin Entrepreneur Program, Christensen has focused his academic and career goals and is now plotting his next big move. “Next year I plan on studying abroad in Madrid,” said Christensen. “As I am a Swedish citizen, I may consider moving to Europe after college. I want to leave the possibility of starting a business in another country open.”
Communications major Alexander Gray is equally excited about the opportunities the Lavin Entrepreneur Program provides. Gray was paired with local businesswoman Zeynep Ilgaz and says he admires her drive for success and giving back to the community. “The best piece of advice I have received from my mentor is to always sleep on big decisions and to not let emotions distort logical business decisions,” Gray said.
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Cal State San Marcos Receives $1.2M
Grant for Women’s Extended Hackathon
Youwen Ouyang has always been impressed by the young women who participate in the Women’s Hackathon at Cal State San Marcos.
The event generates excitement among female high school and college students who work collaboratively using computer science to address a selected real-world challenge.
Now Ouyang is working to build on the one-day event thanks to a recently awarded three-year grant for $1,199,971 from the National Science Foundation.
As the principal investigator on the grant titled “Inspiring Commitment for STEM Career Paths through Extended Women’s Hackathons,” Ouyang will be supported by Moses Ochanji, an associate professor in the School of Education, and Anna Woodcock, a research faculty member in the psychology department, who are co-principal investigators on the project.
The grant project will build on the enthusiasm from the one-day Women’s Hackathon to offer weekly after-school activities in four partner school districts — Escondido, San Marcos, Vista and Oceanside. The activities will be facilitated by CSUSM computer science undergrad students, who will visit a school site in each district to work with female students from the high school.
It is anticipated that the project will reach 180 high school girls over the three years. While open to all female high school students in the partner districts, the extended hackathon is targeting Latina students for participation.
Ouyang said the project’s research component that is spearheaded by Woodcock was crucial in securing the grant.
Woodcock said the project’s research goal is two-fold:
Examine the extent to which the extended hackathon project fosters and sustains participants’ sense of self-efficacy and identity in computer science; and Examine how self-efficacy and identity build on the interest and skills to increase participants’ commitment to a potential computer science career path.
Cal State San Marcos will host its sixth Women’s Hackathon on Saturday.
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City Attorney Receives $287,000 Grant
To Aid in Prosecuting Drug, Alcohol Cases
The California Office of Traffic Safety has renewed a grant that puts highly trained, specialized prosecutors in the courtroom when motorists are arrested in San Diego for driving under the influence of drugs, or drugs in combination with alcohol.
The $287,610 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety to the San Diego City Attorney’s Office will continue to fund a special Vertical Prosecution Team that prosecutes both drug and drug/alcohol-impaired driving cases throughout each step of the criminal process, from arrest through case issuance, arraignment, jury trial, conviction and sentencing.
In the past year under the 2015-2016 OTS grant the City Attorney’s Office prosecuted 282 drug and drug/alcohol-impaired cases (up from 150 cases the previous year), the majority of them purely drug DUI cases, with a 98 percent conviction rate. The office as a whole prosecuted over 2,700 DUI cases during this period.
Under the grant, San Diego law enforcement officers have received specialized training from Deputy City Attorney Taylor Garrot in better identifying suspects of drug DUI’s, as well as how to effectively investigate, evaluate, and secure blood samples from those arrested under suspicion of driving while impaired by drugs and alcohol.
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R/V Sally Ride Tours Scheduled
The R/V Sally Ride, a research vessel owned by the Navy and operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, will be open for public tours from noon to 4 p.m. on Oct. 30 while docked at the Broadway Pier in Downtown San Diego.
Scripps Oceanography and UC San Diego faculty, staff and students can tour the vessel on Oct. 29 from noon to 4 p.m.
The tours let visitors see the sampling stations and laboratories where the scientists collect their data. Visitorsw meet some of the ship’s crew as well as Scripps Oceanography leaders. They’ll also get to see the ship’s main work deck and living spaces.
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Personnel Announcements
Former Kimpton Exec Rejoins Destination Hotels
Terry Buchholz, most recently the area director of operations for Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, has been named general manager of L’Auberge Del Mar, a Destination hotel.
In his new position, Buchholz will oversee all day-to-day operations at the 121-room hotel directing activities such as sales and marketing, food and beverage and ongoing property repositioning.
Buchholz spent three years with Kimpton where he oversaw the company’s four hotels in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara and worked as general manager for Hotel Palomar in Beverly Hills and Hotel Solamar in San Diego.
He previously worked for the Colorado-based firm as director of operations as well as general manager and director of catering and conference services for Estancia La Jolla Resort & Spa when it was part of the Destination collection. Additionally, he spent nearly six years in management for W Hotels. He attended University of Toledo.
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Southwest Strategies Hires Account
Executive and Announces Promotions
Spencer Andrews has been hired as an account executive with Southwest Strategies. The agency also announced the promotion of several team members.
Before joining Southwest Strategies, Andrews worked at a leading public relations firm in New York City, where he garnered media attention for a variety of corporate and nonprofit clients. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Promotions:
Diana Puetz to director of public affairs; Pedro Anaya to senior manager of bi-national affairs and community relations; Rachel Audino to senior manager of public affairs; Jake Sneeden, Kelli Nenaber and Ashley Johnson to manager of public affairs; and Natalie Buchbinder and Lidiya Kravchuk to senior account executives. Sam Rivera also has been promoted to senior graphic designer and will be managing the graphics department.
