Daily Business Report-April 17, 2019
Students at San Diego City College’s Sustainable Urban Agriculture program get hands-on experience at the Downtown campus. (Photo courtesy of City College.)
Sowing the Seeds of Success:
San Diego City College’s unique
urban agriculture program
Erika Pepper is a believer. A project assistant with a company that designs and installs green roofs throughout New York City, Pepper enrolled at San Diego City College’s Sustainable Urban Agriculture program largely because of its Seeds@City Urban Farm – an outdoor laboratory in the downtown core of California’s second-largest city that complements a science-based curriculum in modern classrooms just steps away. Pepper’s quest for a unique urban agriculture program led her to San Diego City College for a certificate in Urban Gardening after securing a master’s degree in environmental studies at Tel Aviv University in Israel.
“The program was amazing,” Pepper said. “I had never had a community college experience before, and I was really impressed with what their expectations were. The standards were high, the educational quality was high, instructors had the kind of background I was looking for, and having the urban farm right there to serve as an outdoor classroom was invaluable.”
Seeds@City Urban Farm is at the top of the class when it comes to urban agriculture programs at the community college level, and the Sustainable Urban Agriculture program is unlike any other in Southern California. Every agriculture class – which range from Introduction to Soil Science to Sustainable Urban Agriculture Practice – combine classroom study with hands-on experience, making City College a rarity among two-year institutions by offering laboratory experience on an operating farm.
Students collectively spend up to 800 hours each year working at Seeds@City doing everything from taking soil samples to harvesting produce.
“You’ll be taking a class in soil fertility and then you go outside and practice what you learned on the farm,” said Zach Spain, 34, who earned certificates in urban gardening and urban gardening professional and now works for San Diego-based Urban Plantations managing sustainable farms on corporate campuses in San Diego and Orange counties. Those farms, which are no more than a half-acre in size, grow up to 40 percent of the vegetables served in company cafeterias, and they underscore the impact City College’s Sustainable Urban Agriculture program is having.
“This is the future, and City College is right there,” Spain said.
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San Diego Community Newspaper Group
purchases five additional newspapers
San Diego Community Newspaper Group has purchased five of San Diego Community News Network’s six publications. Julie Main, owner and publisher of San Diego Community Newspaper Group, adds San Diego Uptown News, San Diego Downtown News, Mission Times Courier, and La Mesa Courier to the company’s stable of La Jolla Village News, Peninsula Beacon, and Beach & Bay Press newspapers.
Included in the purchase was Mission Valley News, which will be discontinued. San Diego Community News Network retained Gay San Diego as its only publication.
As a result of the purchase, the bi-weekly Beach & Bay Press will move from publishing on Thursdays to coming out on Fridays, starting with this week’s edition.
With the addition of San Diego Community News Network’s papers, Main runs the largest independent newspaper group in the region. As a woman in the male-dominated media industry, this marks a significant achievement.
“It’s a rewarding industry. One of the more rewarding things about the community newspaper industry is everyone has a story to tell. It’s very gratifying to peel back the layers and find these treasures (stories) and share it with our readers,” Main said. “These people help shape the community.”
Over the years, control of the newspapers has passed between Main and San Diego Community News Network owner David Mannis. The former married couple founded San Diego Community Newspaper Group together in the 1980s. Even after their divorce in 2002, they worked together on La Jolla Village News, Peninsula Beacon, Beach & Bay Press, and Downtown News until Main took full control at the end of 2008.
Read more…
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Apple and Qualcomm settle their war
Apple Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. have ended their worldwide, multibillion-dollar dispute over a technology used in Apple’s iPhones, the two tech titans announced Tuesday. They agreed to drop all litigation, and Apple will provide a payment to Qualcomm, they said. The companies also announced a six-year license agreement and a “multiyear chipset supply agreement.”
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Inaugural North County San Diego
Women’s Conference set for April 27
The inaugural North County San Diego Women’s Conference will be held on Saturday, April 27 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the campus of California State University San Marcos. The event is a collaboration between CSUSM Feminists Unite and the North County San Diego Women’s March organizers and will focus on the power of storytelling, from oral traditions passed down through generations to narratives unfolding in real time. Keynote speaker
The keynote speaker will be Aliza Amar, founder of the nonprofit organization Breaking the Silence Together. Amar’s story of surviving sexual violence and sex trafficking is compelling and empowering. She has spoken at many high-profile events and was the lead organizer of San Diego’s #MeTooMarch. Additional speakers and sessions will focus on environmental justice, consent, financial freedom, murdered and missing indigenous women and more.
The all-day conference will include break-out sessions for young people (ages of 12-17) and activities for younger children (ages 5-11). The event also will include a story circle, financial coaching workshop, inspiring art project, meditation and a nature walk around sacred places and native garden.
Tickets are $20 (general admission) and include lunch. Tickets are available for purchase on Eventbrite.
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CaseyGerry attorney to be inducted as
co-president of Tom Homan LGBT Law Assn.
CaseyGerry attorney Meagan L. Verschueren will be inducted as the incoming co-president of The Tom Homann LGBT Law Association (THLA) at the organization’s 25th annual Awards and Installation Dinner, Thursday, April 25, at San Diego’s U.S. Grant Hotel. She will serve as president from 2019 to 2021.
Verschueren will work closely with outgoing co-president George Seymour to help oversee the association, which is dedicated to the advancement of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues throughout California and beyond.
California Supreme Court Justice Leondra R. Kruger is the keynote speaker.
Over the last few years, Verschueren has been heavily involved in the Tom Homann LGBT Law Association as a board member and chair of the membership committee, as well as mentoring LGBT law students. Additionally, she works closely with the Lawyers Club’s LGBT committee and is an active member of the San Diego County Bar Association, California Women Lawyers, Consumer Attorneys of San Diego, the American Association for Justice and the National LGBT Bar Association.
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Citadel Defense wins counter-drone
contract valued over $1 million
San Diego-based Citadel Defense Company has been awarded a purchase contract valued at over $1 million by the Defense Logistics Agency in support of United States Special Operation Command requirements. This is the company’s sixth government contract for its mobile system that counters threat drones that have become an increasing problem to U.S. forces around the world.
Citadel Defense is a counter-drone technology company specializing in development and deployment of drone mitigation solutions for military, homeland security and commercial applications.
Chula Vista residents are encouraged to bring any working and non-working technology devices to be refurbished and recycled.
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E-waste recycling drive set for April 27
at city of Chula Vista Public Works Center
Computers 2 Kids, San Diego (C2K), Cox Communications, and the city of Chula Vista will host an e-waste recycling drive and prescription drug take back event on April 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the city’s Public Works Center, 1800 Maxwell Road, Chula Vista. Chula Vista residents are encouraged to bring any working and non-working technology devices to be refurbished and recycled by C2K. Many of the electronics are then repackaged and distributed to San Diego County families who qualify.
Computers, laptops, gaming systems, monitors, keyboards, mice, servers, routers software and hardware, tablets, cell phones and land phones, fax macines, printers, copiers, scanners, projectors ink and toner cartridges (new), televisions, VCRs and DVRs, recorders, radios, stereo equipment, speakers and miscellaneous cords.
Organizers of the collection event and representatives of the Chula Vista Police Department and San Diego County DEA also encourages the public to drop-off expired or unused prescription medications – no questions asked. Household hazardous waste will not be accepted.
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Personnel Announcements
Janessa Rathert named escrow
manager at Foothills Escrow
Foothills Escrow in El Cajon has named Janessa Rathert, with 18 years of experience in escrow, as its escrow manager. A second generation San Diegan, Rathert grew up in San Diego’s Clairemont and Bay Park community and graduated from Madison High School (class of 1995). She began working in the real estate escrow industry in 2001. She also has worked in accounting and payroll roles. The former Ocean Beach resident got married last year and recently moved to La Mesa’s Mount Helix area.
Foothills Escrow Ltd. is an independent escrow company licensed by the California Department of Business Oversight and provides real estate settlement services for brokers, agents and for-sale-by owners throughout California. Foothills Escrow is affiliated with Keller Williams East in El Cajon.
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Penn Jones joins Keller Williams Realty
Keller Williams Realty San Diego East Foothills in El Cajon announced the addition of commercial broker Penn Jones to KW Commercial, the company’s commercial division.
An El Cajon resident and San Diego native, Jones grew up in the East County and graduated from Granite Hills High School (class of 1973). In 1976, he began working at San Diego Federal Savings and Loan, which later became Great American Savings and Loan in 1982. His career as a senior commercial appraiser has included operating his own business, Jones and Associates, from 1986 to 2014.
Jones has earned two professional designations, including Senior Residential Appraiser (SRA) and Member Appraisal Institute (MAI), both from the Appraisal Institute of Chicago.
