Daily Business Report-Oct. 17, 2017
Sen. Toni Atkins in Sacramento. (Courtesy of the senator’s office)
Gov. Brown Signs ‘Gender Neutral’ ID
Law Authored by Sen. Toni Atkins
Times of San Diego
Gov. Jerry Brown singed ground-breaking legislation on Monday that creates a “gender neutral” option on state documents.
The bill, authored by Sen. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), creates a third gender marker on state-issued identification documents for people who identify as nonbinary or intersex.
“I want to thank Gov. Brown for recognizing how difficult it can be for our transgender, nonbinary and intersex family members, friends and neighbors when they don’t have an ID that matches their gender presentation,” said Atkins, a Democrat who represents the 39th District.
Senate Bill 179, known as the Gender Recognition Act, would make California the second state in the nation after Oregon to allow residents to be identified by a gender marker other than “F” or “M” on their driver’s license and the first to allow a nonbinary gender marker on birth certificates.
It will make it easier for transgender, nonbinary and intersex residents to apply for a gender change from state agencies and the courts. For example, it removes an outdated requirement that applicants submit a physician’s letter stating that they have undergone appropriate medical treatment.
The legislation was jointly authored by Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, who said that with the governor’s signing, “California continues its fight for a more inclusive society, even as some in Washington continue to undermine the LGBTQ community. ”
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National Homeless Advocate Joins
Regional Task Force on the Homeless
Tamera Kohler, a national leader in homeless reduction programs, has joined the Regional Task Force on the Homeless in San Diego as its new chief operating officer. Kohler served in Seattle’s Human Services Department as division director of homeless strategy and investment where she oversaw 45 employees, a $50 million budget and the implementation of a new homeless strategy. Prior to that Kohler was the assistant division director of Housing and Community Development for the Utah Department of Workforce Services.
“Tamera Kohler brings to our team a strong track record in community engagement, contracting and the data-driven systems critical today to both achieve measureable results and ensure our resources are being allocated wisely,” said Regional Task Force on the Homeless CEO Gordon Walker.
Kohler said she is looking forward to joining the agency, and helping bring meaningful positive changes to San Diego’s homeless community.
Her awards include Utah Housing Coalition Project of the Year honors in 2016 for a Supportive Housing Toolkit that featured a series of innovative, technical assistance and peer learning sessions designed to help nonprofits, housing authorities and service providers increase the number of Permanent Supportive Housing units in their community.
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Groundbreaking for New Fine
Arts Building at Mesa College
San Diego Mesa College will host a start-of-construction event Thursday for the future Fine Arts Building on campus, a four-story 26,500-square-foot structure. The building is the final classroom project for Mesa under the San Diego Community College District’s Propositions S and N bond program.
It will be constructed within an existing building on campus, the former I-300 Building, and will serve as a hub for Fine Arts students, providing modernized facilities and equipment for programs in drawing, painting, photography, sculpting and ceramics. The building will also provide a new space for the Mesa Art Gallery.
The event will start at 8 a.m.
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Scripps Professor Elected to
National Academy of Medicine
Benjamin Cravatt, professor and co-chair of the Department of Molecular Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), has been elected as a member of the prestigious National Academy of Medicine. Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.
Cravatt is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences, to which he was elected in 2014. This puts him in a select group of scientists who have been honored with election to two of the three branches of the National Academies.
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Expeditionary Navy Ship
Hershel “Woody” Williams to be Christened
A christening ceremony will be held on Oct. 21 for USNS Hershel “Woody” Williams at the NASSCO shipyard in San Diego.
The ship, named after the last surviving Medal of Honor winner from the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II, is the second Expeditionaary Transfer Docks (formerly known as Mobile Landing Platforms) to be build under a NASSCO contract with the Navy,
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Civic San Diego Honored for
Renovation of Horton Plaza Park
The San Diego chapter of the American Public Works Association presented Civic San Diego with its Project of the Year award for Horton Plaza Park on Friday during annual dinner. As a regional winner, the project will now advance to national competition.
Horton Plaza Park was recently renovated in partnership with the city of San Diego and Westfield Corp.
The $17 million overhaul of Horton Plaza Park included a 53,000-square-foot urban plaza, three food and beverage pavilions with trellised patios, a ticket booth for local attractions, an amphitheater, luminaries, free public WiFi, and the restoration of a fountain that was built in 1910.
As part of its agreement with the city, Westfield, which owns the adjacent Horton Plaza, has committed to host up to 200 events at the park for next 25 years. CivicSD broke ground in 2014 and completed the renovation in 2016.
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Personnel Announcements
BNBuilders Adds 3 Construction Leaders
Construction leaders Tom McCready, Matt Hersam, and Douglas Allen have joined BNBuilders’ San Diego Office.
McCready, BNBuilders’ newest senior uperintendent, brings decades of experience as a leader in managing both large-scale ground-up construction projects, as well as smaller renovations. Particularly, he has extensive experience in health care construction, managing projects for Riverside Community Hospital, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Universal Health Services, Miller Children’s Hospitals, and Shriner’s Children’s Hospital to name a few.
Hersam, project manager with BNBuilders, joins the team after building an portfolio of construction experience in higher education in the Minneapolis and Midwest region. He earned his bachelor’s degree in construction management from Brigham Young University 2008, and has spent the past decade working on and managing projects ranging from $180,000 to $438 million.
Allen, preconstruction manager, earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering technology, construction management from CSU Long Beach in 1994. He brings over two decades of experience in estimating, project management, and preconstruction management to BNBuilders.
