Daily Business Report-Oct. 25, 2017
Beginning Thursday, Nov. 16, prospective business owners can apply for a permit to grow, manufacture and/or sell recreational marijuana products to adults age 21 and older.
New City Webpage Gives Instructions
on Recreational Marijuana Sales and Deliveries
The city of San Diego has launched a new webpage that provides guidelines and details about the new recreational marijuana industry — specifically the cultivation, testing, sales and delivery of marijuana products.
Earlier this year, the San Diego City Council voted in favor of expanding existing medical marijuana consumer cooperatives to include recreational use. The city’s ordinance follows the Nov. 8, 2016 general election when California voters approved Proposition 64, which legalizes the recreational use of marijuana statewide on Jan. 1, 2018.
Beginning Thursday, Nov. 16, prospective business owners can apply for a permit to grow, manufacture and/or sell recreational marijuana products to adults age 21 and older.
“We developed this webpage to explain the changes that will take effect after Jan. 1,” said Development Services Director Robert Vacchi. “It also provides details about the permit application process for those interested in starting a marijuana business. This webpage will help individuals understand the guidelines and rules established for this new industry.”
Anyone interested in learning more can visit the new website: www.sandiego.gov/marijuanainfo. In addition to the final approved ordinances governing Marijuana Outlets and Marijuana Production Facilities, the website includes:
- General submittal instructions to apply for a Conditional Use Permit.
- Text of the legislation legalizing recreational marijuana in the City of San Diego.
- New/revised use categories and definitions for the new business categories;
- Lists and maps of existing marijuana outlets (formerly medical marijuana consumer cooperatives).
- Permitting instructions.
- Special operating requirements and prohibitions.
- Information Bulletins.
Permit application processing begins on Thursday, Nov. 16
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Salk Scientists Lead $25 Million
Initiative to Catalog All Brain Cell Types
Salk Institute scientists will lead a multimillion-dollar, five-year initiative to revolutionize our understanding of the human brain by systematically identifying and cataloging cell types across the mammalian brain, the National Institutes of Health announced.
The effort, which is part of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, will be co-led by Salk Professors Joseph Ecker and Ed Callaway. Researchers from USC and UC San Diego will also participate in the collaboration.
“Developing an atlas of brain cell types is an incredibly ambitious undertaking but one that is critical to uncover brain function,” says Salk President Elizabeth Blackburn. “With this generous grant, we will be able to better understand the organ that not only makes us who we are, but whose dysfunction — from mental illness to the degeneration of Alzheimer’s disease — causes some of the most acute kinds of human suffering.”
The brain is not just made up of one type of neuron, but many types of cells that scientists are just beginning to identify. Pinpointing these different cells can help reveal how the brain works — and what happens when it doesn’t —but scientists lack a systematic catalog that identifies cell types across the entire brain. They also lack appropriate means for genetically targeting the majority of cell types for research into therapeutic uses, particularly in humans.
To address these limitations, Ecker and Callaway, along with Salk colleagues and other collaborators, propose a series of integrated experiments to identify, catalog and characterize brain cell types in mice via molecular signatures and then link those cells types to their inputs and outputs.
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San Diego Workers Spend 46.19 Minutes Commuting
San Diego workers spend an average 46.19 minutes commuting each day, according to a new survey from staffing firm Robert Half. That puts San Diego 16th in a ranking of 27 major U.S. cities in terms of average daily commute. San Diego ranks No. 19 when it comes to the stress of commuting each day.
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Major Renovations Completed
at The Ranch at Seal Beach
Following the completion of more than $1.2 million in renovations at the newly renamed The Ranch at Seal Beach office complex, San Diego-based real estate investment firm Parallel Capital Partners announced it has leased more than 50,000 square feet in the newly refurbished Class A office park.
Matt Root, CEO of Parallel Capital Partners, said Parallel acquired the complex — previously known as Bixby Office Park — in 2013 for $85 million and soon embarked on a comprehensive repositioning program developing a new logo, name and signage for the three-building property. Parallel has now completed all planned capital improvements.
Since Parallel took over, the 297,410-square-foot property has attracted multiple high profile tenants – among them UBS, Keller Williams, Wells Fargo and KPMG – with the most recent lease transactions including:
AMIP leased 8,023 square feet of new office space for 84 months
Whittaker & Co. expanded its office space by 7,004 square feet for 84 months.
The general contractor for the renovations was Newport Beach-based Advanced Builders Inc, with Orange-based JB3D spearheading all new signage and Terra Pacific in Santa Ana overseeing all landscaping.
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Strauss Family Gives UC San Diego
$1 Million to Help Develop a Cancer Vaccine
Iris and Matthew Strauss have donated $1 million to the University of California San Diego to support a clinical trial over the next year designed to develop personalized cancer vaccines — a breakthrough treatment that could help patients like their daughter fight the disease using their own immune system. When their daughter’s cancer reappeared, it was the first place they turned for help.
“Moores Cancer Center is one of the finest institutions anywhere; their expertise is unparalleled,” said Matthew Strauss. “This vaccine is something new that uses a patient’s own cells. We want to help launch this new breakthrough in medicine and support the greater good.”
The Strauss family has supported many initiatives across the UC San Diego campus for nearly three decades. Iris Strauss has been on the Board of Visitors for Moores Cancer Center for several years, and both have been involved in fundraising—most recently for Moores Cancer Center.
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SDSU Graduation Rates Reach Record High
San Diego State University graduation rates continue to rise steadily according to data released by SDSU this week. Just over 75 percent of first-time freshmen who entered SDSU in fall 2011 graduated in six or fewer years. This is up from 74.1 percent for freshmen entering in fall 2010 and 68.5 percent for freshmen entering in fall 2009. The national average six-year graduation rate for four-year public universities is 59 percent.
Six-year graduation rates — the national reporting standard among universities — also rose for underrepresented students at SDSU. The six-year rate for underrepresented first-time freshmen enrolling in 2011 climbed to 73.5 percent from 71.1 percent for the students who entered SDSU in 2010.
The gap between graduation rates for underrepresented students and for all students is known as the achievement gap. At SDSU, this gap is 4.3 percentage points for students graduating in six years or fewer.
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Junior Achievement to Induct 5 Leaders
Into the San Diego Business Hall of Fame
Junior Achievement of San Diego will induct five visionary leaders into the San Diego Business Hall of Fame on Thursday, Nov. 2 at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar. The 29th annual Business Hall of Fame recognizes outstanding business and philanthropic leadership over a career of service to the San Diego community.
This year’s 2017 Hall of Fame Laureates:
Attorney Janice P. Brown, founding Partner of Brown Law Group and founder, Beyond Law. Brown went to work for the U.S. Justice Department in 1984 as a trial attorney in the tax division. She was chosen Trial Lawyer of the Year at the U.S. Department of Justice in 1987.
Jack McGrory, CEO, La Jolla MJ Management LLC. From 2001-2009, McGrory was the manager of The Price Group, a co-investor with CALPERS in more than $1 billion dollars of residential development and was also a co-investor in Trans West Housing, which built approximately 2,000 houses in the Coachella Valley and North San Diego County.
Lori & Bill Walton. Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton and his wife Lori are well-known in San Diego for their philanthropic leadership. The dynamic duo supports 52 local charities. Lori has served on 16 different
nonprofit boards and has chaired over 20 fundraisers for organizations benefiting the arts, education, youth services, and animal welfare, in addition, to the environment and the military.
Wendy Gillespie, president & CEO, Frontier Trading Inc. / Starhawk Productions, Capdevilla Gillespie Foundation. Gillespie has been a dedicated supporter of Junior Achievement San Diego for the past 20 years with 15 years of service on the board.
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Personnel Announcements
Al Pesiri Joins Harland Property Management
Al Pesiri has joined Harland Property Management as a senior property manager. Pesiri will be performing and supervising management operations for rental properties of all types including single family homes, commercial properties and apartment communities.
“We feel Al’s experience, market knowledge, especially coastal communities, and a proven track record of superior customer service accelerate our ability to deliver on our commitments to our customers and community,” said Kayvon Homayoun, founder and president of Harland Property Management.