Daily Business Report-Feb. 11, 2020
Andrew Simmons’ paperwork for his six adopted children. (Photo by Lisa Hornak)
San Diego among counties still charging
parents for cost of children’s time in custody
by Dan Morain | CALMATTERS
California was the first state to stop charging parents for the cost of their children’s time in the juvenile justice system.
However: That 2018 law doesn’t require counties to forgive fees that parents owed before the law took effect.
The result: Tens of thousands of families still owe juvenile justice fees that California has since abolished, CalMatters’ Jackie Botts reports.
Botts: Most counties voluntarily cleared the parents’ old debt. But 22 counties are pursuing debt that totals $137 million as of Jan. 1, 2018.
San Diego, Orange, Riverside, Tulare and Stanislaus counties have been collecting these old fees, with close to 414,000 accounts outstanding.
They’re not messing around, as Andrew Simmons, a foster parent of six kids in Ramona, can attest:
He owes $14,000 to San Diego County for one of his kid’s jail time. The county placed a lien on his home and seized a tax return of $660.
To read Botts’ report, click here…
The story is part of CalMatters’ California Divide collaboration with news organizations statewide.
To read other stories in the series, click here.
_________________________
Olympic gold medalist to speak at SDSU
women’s entrepreneurship, leadership forum
Fowler College of Business at San Diego State Universitywill host the 4th annual Women in Entrepreneurship & Leadership forum on Feb. 27 with nine-time Olympic medal winner Allyson Felix serving as keynote speaker.
This year’s event will focus on developing SDSU students and other budding businesswomen into the female leaders of the future by offering interactive panel sessions, workshops and presentations by women who are high-level corporate managers or organizational founders.
Felix, with six gold medals and three silver medals, is the most decorated female athlete in the history of U.S. Olympic track and field. Her presentation titled “The Power of She” will focus on how women can develop their own brand to empower and promote themselves in very competitive environments.
In addition to Felix, female corporate executives from Frito-Lay, Adobe Inc., Disney, the San Diego Padres and PepsiCo will deliver first-hand knowledge and information to students and other event attendees with corporate management ambitions.
The forum will be held at Montezuma Hall in the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union. For directions and parking information, please visit business.sdsu.edu/support/wiel. There is no charge to attend.
_________________________
San Diego Symphony announces new
season lineup in new venue, The Shell
The San Diego Symphony announced the inaugural season lineup and official name for the highly-anticipated permanent outdoor concert venue, The Shell. Opening in July, The Shell—a symbolic name inspired by the venue’s dramatic shape and unique waterfront location—will be an acoustically superior and architecturally captivating structure within a newly upgraded public park.
The San Diego Symphony’s first season at The Shell expands upon its wide range of musical genres —from classical concerts to Broadway, Jazz to R&B—that highlight the city’s world-class orchestra, showcase the acoustical excellence of the venue, and will attract a wider range of audiences.
The Shell opens with a star-studded three-day Inaugural Weekend celebration. The opening concert on July 10 features the San Diego Symphony with music director Rafael Payare, pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, cellist Alisa Weilerstein and hosted by Tony Award winner Ali Stroker (July 10); The Best of Broadway conducted by Rob Fisher, directed by Gary Griffin and hosted by Chita Rivera and Len Cariou with special guests including Tony Winners and Nominees Robert Fairchild, Christian Hoff, James Monroe Igelhart, Rebecca Luker, Patina Miller, Ali Stroker, and others (July 11); and two-time Grammy Award-winning songstress and Academy Awar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson (July 12).
For the full season lineu, click here.
_________________________
City of San Diego names
Ron Salisbury inaugural Poet Laureate
The city of San Diego announced the appointment of Ron Salisbury as San Diego’s first Poet Laureate.
“San Diegans have a special story to tell and I can think of no one better than long-time resident Ron Salisbury to tell it,” said Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer. “With the creation of this new City tradition, I encourage all San Diegans to explore the creativity and culture of our great city and I look forward to seeing our community’s love for the literary arts continue to grow.”
The city’s Poet Laureate serves as an ambassador and advocate for poetry, spoken word and the literary arts. During the two-year term, the appointed Poet Laureate produces engaging and conceptually rich original works inspired by and in response to San Diego. Charged with cultivating critical thinking, connection, and appreciation of the art form, the Poet Laureate participates in public events and leads a poetry project that broadens the audiences for poetry..
Salisbury’s many literary awards include the Main Street Rag’s Poetry Book Prize for his book “Miss Desert Inn” (2015). A life-long learner, he earned his first degree, a Bachelor of Arts in Business and Poetry from Antioch University in San Francisco in 1983, followed by two Master of Art’s degrees, one in Management from Antioch and the second in Liberal Studies from Mills College in Oakland, Calif. Thirty years later, at the age of 69, he decided to return to school and pursue his true passion and received a Masters of Fine Arts in Poetry from San Diego State University. Salisbury lives in San Diego’s University City neighborhood.
_________________________
Center of Expertise christened at
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
by Robert Monroe | UC San Diego News Center
U.S. Coast Guard officials and federal legislators christened a center at Scripps Institution of Oceanography that will accelerate the assimilation of Scripps Oceanography technology into Coast Guard operations.
Coast Guard Vice Admiral Michael McAllister said the Scripps “Blue Technology Center of Expertise” and other similar collaborations around the country are an answer for meeting the needs of a military branch that does not have an extensive budget for research and development. A range of buoys, gliders, drones, and other instruments developed at Scripps Oceanography could enhance search and rescue operations, stop illegal fishing, and speed containment of oil spills.
_________________________
Court upholds utility undergrounding program
City Attorney Mara W. Elliott announced that her office has successfully defended the city’s utility undergrounding program against a lawsuit that could have shut down undergrounding for 20 communities.
Utility undergrounding, which removes unsightly utility poles and wires from San Diego neighborhoods, has been an ongoing program of the city’s for many decades, and is paid in part through a surcharge added to customers’ SDG&E bills. The City Council regularly approves new undergrounding districts as the program expands.
In her lawsuit, Margaret McCann argued that each new district should be subject to full environmental review, and that the city violated the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, on numerous grounds, including its failure to disclose the exact number and location of each transformer in each district. McCann was represented by the Law Office of Todd T. Cardiff and the Law Office of Bryan W. Pease.
Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor found no violations and said that a full Environmental Impact Report was not necessary under the law. “This will either kill the undergrounding projects completely, or delay them by many years,” Taylor wrote. He noted that, “While the threshold for requiring an EIR is low, it is not bottomless.”
