Daily Business Report-Oct. 17, 2019
Great Shakeout
World’s largest earthquake drill today coincides
with 30th anniversary of Loma Prieta earthquake
Millions of Californians will practice how to “Drop, Cover, and Hold On” when the ground shakes during the Great California ShakeOut today at 10:17 a.m. This year’s drill will coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake that shook Northern California on Oct. 17, 1989.
Also known as the “World Series earthquake,” the magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake was felt extensively in Santa Cruz, Monterey and the San Francisco Bay Area. It was responsible for 63 deaths, 3,757 injuries, and more than $5.9 billion in property damage. Strong ground shaking, liquefaction, and landslides caused significant structural damage, and approximately 16,000 housing units—almost 13,000 in the nine-county San Francisco Bay region alone—were uninhabitable after the earthquake.
SDSU to participate. Click here.
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Cal State San Marcos dining
cafe to open in fall 2020
Change is coming to Cal State San Marcos next fall with a new dining experience focused on community, quality, value, sustainability and variety.
The university’s dining café will open on the first floor of The QUAD in time for the start of the fall 2020 semester.
“Opening a dining hall at CSUSM is a great decision,” said Victoria Dorzhu, an international student from Russia. “Having a dining hall will promote students eating healthier and regularly.”
The 8,000-square-foot café will have indoor and outdoor seating for about 250 people. The café will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week and will be open to students, faculty, staff and guests.
The café will be all-you-care-to-eat with a wide variety of options that include rotating menus and specials. There will also be plenty of offerings to accommodate dietary restrictions, including allergen-free, gluten-free and vegan dishes.
Beyond important practical reasons for having a café option, it will also help build community by providing opportunities for programming, as well as students, faculty and staff to share a meal together.
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County approves community
choice energy ordinance
The county Board of Supervisors laid the groundwork Tuesday to get into the business of buying and selling electricity. The supervisors voted 3-2 to approve an ordinance establishing a community choice energy program. Supervisors Kristin Gaspar and Jim Desmond opposed the motion.
The board also directed staff to continue negotiations with potential partners for a Joint Powers Authority to govern the CCE program and return to the board on or before October 2020.
Community choice energy programs, also known as community choice aggregation, allow cities and counties to buy and/or generate renewable energy like solar and wind for residents and businesses. A County CCE would offer customers in the county’s unincorporated areas an alternative to buying power from San Diego Gas & Electric. SDG&E would still provide transmission and delivery services.
A feasibility report found that a Ccounty CCE could provide 90 percent renewable energy by 2030 and save the average residential customer about 2 percent per year on their overall electricity bill. Several governance options were considered, including the county operating on its own or forming a Joint Powers Authority with other local cities.
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San Diego office market headed
for 10th straight growth year
Cushman & Wakefield San Diego’s new office market report for the third quarter of 2019 reflected ongoing stability in San Diego’s office sector. Overall office vacancy came in at 14.0 percent for the quarter, with direct vacancy at 11.8 percent. Net absorption did come in at a marginally negative 73,000 square feet, nonetheless, despite the shallow dive the report indicates 2019 still remains at a very solid level with a net positive 575,000 square feet year to date, as the growth cycle continues. Indicative of demand for quality office space, the Class A segment has racked up more than 900,000 square feet of growth year to date in San Diego.
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Joseph Clayes III Great Room
reopens after full renovation
To expand meal service and better care for families with hospitalized children, Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego’s Joseph Clayes III Great Room is reopening after a complete renovation this summer. The newly transformed space includes guest reception and family gathering areas, as well as dining room, family kitchen and a commercial kitchen that serves more than 120,000 meals a year.
Each year, more than 15,000 people come to San Diego’s Ronald McDonald House for meals during their child’s treatment at a San Diego hospital. Meal service is provided three times daily year-round, free of cost to family members with a hospital-issued wristband. Beverages and snacks are available outside of mealtimes, and families may also use cooking stations to prepare their own food and enjoy the comforts of home.
The renovation was funded by community donations, including a $500,000 matching gift and endowment from the Joseph Clayes III Charitable Trust to the “More Than a Meal” campaign for Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego
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New law creates path to water and
wastewater industry for veterans
State legislation co-sponsored by the San Diego County Water Authority and the Otay Water District has been signed into law, making it possible for veterans to receive credit for their military education and experience when applying for civilian water and wastewater system operator certifications in California.
AB 1588 provides a pathway for military veterans to apply their advanced skills and experience toward state and industry-supplied certifications in the water and wastewater treatment and distribution operator fields. Additionally, it ensures that advanced water treatment operators and distribution system operators of potable reuse and recycled water facilities have a career advancement path as certified water and/or wastewater treatment plant operators.
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Miguel Keith, Navy’s newest Expeditionary
Sea Base, completes acceptance trials
The Navy’s newest Expeditionary Sea Base, Miguel Keith, successfully completed Acceptance Trials on Oct. 11. The trials were conducted off the coast of Southern California after departure from the General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. shipyard in San Diego.
During the week of trials, the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey conducted comprehensive tests to demonstrate and evaluate the performance of all of the ship’s major systems.
ESBs are highly flexible, modular platforms that are optimized to support a variety of maritime-based missions including Special Operations Force and Airborne Mine Counter Measures support operations in addition to humanitarian support and sustainment of traditional military missions.
Miguel Keith is the third platform of the ESB variant, and is scheduled to deliver in early fiscal 2020. GD-NASSCO is also under contract for detail design and construction of ESB 6 and 7, with an option for ESB 8.
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PG&E executive booted after attending
‘retreat’ with major gas customers
A PG&E executive overseeing its gas system is no longer employed after The San Francisco Chronicle reported he attended a “retreat” last week with 60 major gas customers at a Sonoma County winery, The Chronicle reports.
The retreat was held just before PG&E shut off power to 2 million people, and fell on the two-year anniversary of the wine country fire that destroyed whole neighborhoods, The Chronicle reports.
PG&E’s chief executive William Johnson: “The timing and location of the event held in Sonoma, given the two-year mark of the 2017 North Bay wildfires and the imminent Public Safety Power Shut-off, was insensitive, inappropriate, and tone deaf. As such, it did not reflect the values of our company.”
— Dan Morain, CALmatters
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Supervisors approve one-year ban
on e-cig sales in unincorporated areas
The Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday to impose a one-year ban on the sale and distribution of all electronic smoking devices within unincorporated areas of San Diego County. Along with the ban on devices, the county will also prohibit the sale and distribution of all flavored products for smoking, prohibit smoking in outdoor dining patio areas and establish a buffer zone outside of outdoor dining patio areas.
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San Diego Continuing Education named
Entrepreneurial College of the Year
San Diego Continuing Education has been named Heather Van Sickle Entrepreneurial College of the Year by the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE). The prestigious honor will be given in recognition of the institution’s groundbreaking innovation, strong commitment to social justice and equity through entrepreneurship.
“We are very excited to be chosen,” said SDCE President, Carlos O. Turner Cortez. “The NACCE award speaks highly to SDCE’s innovative culture and who we will continue to be, a higher education institution founded on the principles of inclusion, social justice and entrepreneurship, that strives to improve the future of all students.
SDCE provides free career technical education in emerging fields such as Advanced Manufacturing, Health, and Information and Communication Technologies for adult learners, who are among the most diverse in the state culturally, ethnically and academically.
