Daily Business Report-May 23, 2017
Rendering of the SoccerCity development proposal. (Courtesy FS Investors)
SoccerCity Supporters Gather Enough
Signatures to Force City Council to Decide
The group behind the SoccerCity development proposal in Mission Valley turned in more than 100,000 petition signatures Monday to the county Registrar of Voters office. The signatures are in support of an initiative that calls for replacing Qualcomm Stadium with a hybrid professional soccer-college football stadium, residences, office space, parkland and an entertainment district.
“We are overwhelmed with the level of support this plan has received,” said Nick Stone, the project manager.
If nearly 72,000 of the signatures prove to be valid, the San Diego City Council would be required to either approve the plans or place them before voters, likely in a special election in November.
The developers, led by FS Investors, announced earlier this month that they would request an election. If the initiative passes, the developers would have stronger protections against legal challenges if passed in a public vote than they would with just City Council approval.
The registrar’s office has 30 days to validate the signatures.
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Get Your Nominations In
Nominations are still open for SD METRO’s 2017 40 Under 40 Awards. Visit www.sandiegometro.com and click on “Nominate.”
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Mayor’s Proposal on Convention Center,
Homeless Funding Draws Sharp Questions
Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s push for a November special election on a hotel tax hike to finance a long-sought expansion of San Diego’s convention center drew sharp questions Monday from both City Council members and advocates for the homeless.
While the council was not being asked yet to vote the proposal up or down, battle lines were being drawn in the fight over the increasingly contentious ballot measure, which would also allocate funding for addressing homelessness and repairing crumbling streets. San Diego Union Tribune
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City Renews Toyota Deal to
Provide Lifeguard Vehicles
The city of San Diego has signed a new agreement that will have San Diego County Toyota dealers provide up to 35 vehicles for use by San Diego lifeguards. The agreement includes service and maintenance of the vehicles for a total savings of $1.2 million to San Diego taxpayers. according to city officials.
The lifeguard vehicles provided by Toyota are used to ensure public safety along the city’s beaches and cliffs — popular spots for visitors and residents.
Last year, lifeguards performed 9,475 water rescues.
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Why One-Eye Targeting Virus Could
Make for a Useful Gene-Delivery Tool
A team of researchers led by Associate Professor Vijay Reddy at The Scripps Research Institute has uncovered the structural details that make one virus a better tool for future therapies than its closely related “cousin.”
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Researcher Awarded Grant for
Rheumatoid Arthritis Study
The Arthritis National Research Foundation (ANRF) has awarded La Jolla Institute researcher Michela Locci a $100,000 research grant to study the underlying causes of rheumatoid arthritis. The disease affects around 1.5 million adults in the United States and many of them fail to respond to currently available therapies.
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Scripps Health Opens Woltman Diabetes Center
Scripps Health has opened the Woltman Family Diabetes Care and Prevention Center, which houses education and research efforts focusing on Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes patients and others at risk of developing the disease.
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Could Ketamine Help Cure Depression?
Doctors and researchers have been experimenting with Ketamine — originally a pain management pharmaceutical, now abused as a street drug because of its hallucinogenic effects — as another potential way to treat depression. That’s according to Ruben Abagyan, pharmacology professor at UC San Diego.
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SDSU Biologists Rethink
Virus and Bacteria Interaction
New research by San Diego State University biologists could overturn a long-standing paradigm about how viruses and bacteria interact under hostile environmental conditions.
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Carlsbad Couple Create Eco-Friendly
Shopping Bag System
A Carlsbad husband and wife have created an eco-friendly shopping bag system designed to fit most shopping carts, with a portion of the sales going to charities such as the Surfrider Foundation and Plastic Pollution Coalition.
Husband and wife Farzan and Jennifer Dehmoubed say the Lotus Trolley Bag system – launched via Amazon.com — was designed to help shoppers easily organize and efficiently pack their groceries in a fraction of the time than with other methods. The bags are reusable that can easily spread out, accordion-style, in a grocery shopping cart.
The inspiration to experiment and develop a new shopping bag system stemmed from two significant trends, according to the couple, who said: “With the recent ban on plastic shopping bags and the nation’s fever to reduce the impact of bags on the environment, we saw a need for creating quality recycled bags that would not be forgotten at home and also quickly end up in landfills. We wanted to eliminate the need for earth-damaging, animal-hurting plastic bags and tree-killing paper bags. We were also determined to create a bag that was practical, based on comfort, using soothing colors, and lets shoppers get in and out of the store faster.”
The Lotus Trolley Bag system retails for $29.95. For more information, visit www.lotustrolleybag.com.
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Cal State San Marcos Team Takes Top
Prize at Sustainable Earth Decathlon
A team of Arts & Technology majors at Cal State San Marcos took the top prize at the 2017 Sustainable Earth Decathlon in Los Angeles for designing a mobile app connecting those who want to act with projects focused on building sustainable communities. Javier Mejia-Trejo, Jamileh Hamideh, Jeffrey Davis, Allison Ball and Kadri Williams will now spend the next year — and $1,000 in prize money —developing the app they’ve dubbed “Heartwork” with the help of a tech incubator. Heartwork would connect those who want to act in searching for local and global projects.
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Personnel Announcements
Wilson Turner Kosmo Law Firm Adds 3 New Associates
Kirsten Gallacher, Beth Goodman and Parada Ornelas have joined Wilson Turner Kosmo LLP as associates.
Gallacher joins the firm’s Business Litigation and Employment Law practice groups. Her practice focuses on defending companies against class actions in various areas including consumer protection and wage and hour. Prior to joining Wilson Turner Kosmo, Gallacher was an associate at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Michael M. Anello, United States District Judge for the Southern District of California.
Goodman joins the firm’s Product Liability and Warranty practice groups. She represents manufacturers, distributors and retailers in product liability, personal injury and wrongful death matters, as well as class action and individual cases brought under federal and state laws. Previously, Goodman was an associate at a California-based firm where she represented manufacturers in claims involving hip implants, catheters, respiratory products, dietary supplements, nutraceuticals and other medical devices.
Ornelas also joins the Product Liability and Warranty practice groups and represents manufacturers, distributors and retailers in product liability, personal injury and wrongful death matters, as well as class action and individual cases brought under federal and state laws. Prior to joining Wilson Turner Kosmo, Ornelas was an associate at a San Diego law firm where she litigated complex civil actions and represented institutional lenders in bankruptcy and commercial litigation matters.
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Illmina Names New Chief Commercial Officer
Mark Van Oene has been named chief commercial officer of Illumina Inc.
Van Oene will be responsible for world-wide sales, services and marketing at the company. He will report to President and CEO Francis deSouza.
Van Oene was previously Illumina’s senior vice president of the Americas region and subsequently named interim chief commercial officer in late 2016.
Van Oene joined Illumina in 2006 as regional account manager for Canada. In 2008, Van Oene was promoted to senior director of sales for the Americas. Four years later, he was promoted to vice president with responsibility for global sales. From 2012 through 2014, Van Oene led the team to grow revenues from $1.06 billion to $1.42 billion. In early 2014, Van Oene was named the general manager for the Americas region, advancing to senior vice president in April 2016.
