Daily Business Report: Friday, Feb. 11, 2022
San Diego’s sidewalk vending rules
are finally heading to the City Council
By Andrea Lopez-Villafaña | Voice of San Diego
San Diego’s long-awaited sidewalk vending rules are finally moving forward.
The city’s Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations Committee approved proposed regulations to street vending on Wednesday. The draft rules are expected to go before the full council next month.
The committee’s more than three-hour public discussion, however, exemplified how divisive the subject has become.
Dozens of business owners and beach area community members who spoke during the meeting said the proposal didn’t do enough to rein in street vendors. Some pointed to public safety concerns and others spoke about the trash produced by vendors. A handful argued that vendors
pose unfair competition to tax-paying businesses.
Street vending advocates celebrated two key points in the draft: the creation of “entrepreneurship zones” — designated areas for vending – and shifting enforcement of vending regulations to the city’s Code Enforcement Division and Park Rangers from police.
Still, some advocates and vendors said the policy did not do enough to ensure economic equity and that some rules were too restrictive. They encouraged the commission to make changes to its permitting process and ensure that restrictions around operation hours and distance requirements are supported by evidence.
TOP PHOTO: Draft rules for street vendors will go before the San Diego City Council next month.
Cornerstone Communities gears up for
bright home-building market in 2022
Cornerstone Communities reports that it sold almost every home in its portfolio in 2021, clearing the way for new residential communities that will supply at least 630 new homes in San Diego County.
The La Jolla-based homebuilder closed escrow on 306 single-family and townhomes last year and closed out eight communities in San Diego and the Inland Empire for a total gross revenue in excess of $206 million. Company officials credit their entire office, field and sales teams.
The momentum will continue into 2022 when Cornerstone opens Laurel Heights with 80 new single-family townhomes in Santee, and Summit Estates with 30 high-end view-oriented estate homes in La Mesa. Another community set to break ground this year is a 450-home master plan with four distinct neighborhoods in South San Diego. Cornerstone has several other projects in their pipeline which include new communities in Poway, Sorrento Mesa, and San Marcos.
The number of San Diego County homes for sale hit one of its lowest points in decades and housing experts say there are few signs that the shortage will abate in 2022.
Sports San Diego is launched to recruit,
support and host world-class sporting events
SDCCU Holiday Bowl officials announced formation of Sports San Diego which will serve as the primary organization responsible for marketing San Diego as a sports destination and driving visitor demand through recruiting, supporting, and hosting world-class sports events.
Several San Diego companies have already stepped up to the plate to become founding partners of the organization including: Qualcomm Technologies Inc., Kaiser Permanente, General Dynamics NASSCO, and Rady Children’s Hospital.
“The launch of Sports San Diego is the definition of big city energy,” Mayor Todd Gloria said. “San Diego is always ready to show the world what we have to offer: unbeatable weather, world-class entertainment venues, an incredible hospitality industry and unparalleled quality of life. I’m excited for Sports San Diego to bring more world-class sporting events to San Diego and boost our regional economy.”
San Diego has been successful in hosting some of the largest events and most iconic brands in the world including the Super Bowl, X-Games, MLB All-Star Game, U.S. Open (golf), Breeders’ Cup, and more.
Cal State San Marcos joins national
program to support student veterans
As a means of boosting the retention rate of student veterans, Cal State San Marcos has joined a nationwide peer support program that has helped thousands of student veterans across the country.
CSUSM has become one of 49 partner campuses of Peer Advisors for Veteran Education
( PAVE), which connects incoming student veterans with those already on campus to help them navigate college life and ease the transition from the military to academia.
PAVE is a collaboration among the University of Michigan, Student Veterans of America and a network of partner campuses. CSUSM is the third partner campus from California State University, joining Chico and Fullerton.
Paul Tontz, who is coordinating PAVE at CSUSM as the director of Veteran Services, described it as a pilot program that will support 400 student veterans. CSUSM has hired a graduate assistant to help manage the program and three peer advisers to engage in outreach. The grad assistant is Jonathan Ramer, an Air Force veteran who’s pursuing a master’s degree in education at Point Loma Nazarene University.
Tontz pointed to data showing that one-year and four-year retention rates for transfer student veterans (who make up the majority of student veterans at CSUSM) are significantly lower than the rates for all students.
“This is saddening to me,” Tontz said. “More needs to be done to help engage these students in academic success and a sense of belonging.”
Jacqueline Jackson reappointed to the
California Commission on Disability Access
Jacqueline Jackson, 66, of San Diego, has been reappointed to the California Commission on Disability Access by Gov. Gavin Newsom, where she has served since 2020.
Jackson has been a nonprofit management consultant since 1994. She was development director and consultant for the San Diego Center for the Blind from 2002 to 2004, and was director of charter school development for Norman and Norman Inc. from 1996 to 2005.
Jackson was education consultant for the School Futures Research Foundation from 1994 to 1996. She was director of education for Health and Family Support Services at the San Diego Urban League from 1988 to 1994.
Jackson is a member of the County of San Diego Registrar of Voters Accessibility Advisory Committee and the Aging and Disability Resource Connection. JShe earned a Master of Education degree from the University of San Diego. The position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Jackson is a Democrat.
General Atomics selects two companies
to support MQ-9B development
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) has selected two Belgian companies, ALX Systems and Coexpair, to support the development of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) and other advanced RPA-related projects.
The companies were selected from a field of 18 companies that presented their ideas and capabilities to a panel of GA-ASI technical experts during Blue Magic Belgium 2021.
“We were impressed by the many talented companies that participated in Blue Magic Belgium,” said GA-ASI Vice President of Engineering Dee Wilson, who led the GA-ASI panel. “We look forward to working with ALX Systems and Coexpair. Both companies bring unique products and capabilities that are important to our ongoing and future RPA development activities.”
ALX Systems develops unmanned aircraft solutions, including a cloud-enabled operating system that enables UAS to fly autonomously. Coexpair specializes in out-of-autoclave Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) processing of composite parts.
January home sales fall, while prices tick up
The number of resale home closings in San Diego County fell significantly in January from December – not uncommon for the first month of a new year, according to housing statistics compiled through the San Diego Multiple Listing Service by the Greator San Diego Association of Realtors.
The rush to close on home sales by the end of the year may have accelerated the percentage of closings for both single-family detached and attached property home sales last month to 31 percent. However, sales are down evidenced by a drop of 10 percent in closings on single-family homes, and 15 percent for attached properties (condos and townhomes).
The median price of resale single-family homes in January was up 4 percent month over month, to $885,000, and that’s up significantly from a year ago, more than 19 percent. The median price for attached properties was $595,000, up slightly from December, and nearly 23 percent higher than January 2021. Properties were closing escrow during January in an average of only three weeks.
In January, the ZIP codes in San Diego County with the most single-family home sales were:
- 92028 (Fallbrook) with 46
- 91977 (Spring Valley) with 44
- 92065 (Ramona) with 41
- 92027 (Escondido East) with 32
- 92021 (El Cajon North) with 31
City of Carlsbad offers free
cyber security program
The City of Carlsbad is helping their small businesses by offering a free cyber security program to inform their community about the importance of cyber threats. Due to the pandemic, there has been a increase in cyber attacks on companies, resulting in many small businesses closing. Carlsbad wants to see their small businesses flourish and decided to create this program to help give back to their community members.
This program offers great advice from well trained professionals in the field and provides an opportunity to gain access to free cyber security systems and courses. Only 250 small businesses are eligible to have access to this program.
City of San Marcos debuts COVID-19
Nonprofit Community Grant Program
The City of San Marcos is debuting a $3 million COVID-19 Nonprofit Community Grant Program, aimed at helping essential nonprofits that serve San Marcos residents who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
Eligibility to Qualify:
• Be a tax-exempt charitable organization in good standing, as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
• Focus all or in part on benefiting the lives of San Marcos residents. Applicants will be required to indicate the number of San Marcos residents you intend to serve on the funding application and report participant zip codes, should funding be awarded
Priority will be given to projects in which participants are economically disadvantaged per HUD’s Qualified Census Tract. However, recipients may also provide these services to other populations, households, or geographic areas disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
Sekr raises $2.25 million in seed funding
to improve outdoor travel experience
Sekr, the mobile platform simplifying the outdoor travel experience, announced the close of a $2.25 milllion seed financing round to further its mission of empowering people to pursue connection with the outdoors and its communities. The round was led by Storyteller Overland, Backstage Capital, Techstars, Ad Astra Ventures, Crescent Ridge Ventures, and Andy Ballester, co-founder of GoFundMe.
Sekr, a women and minority-founded, crowdsourced mobile platform, says it is making every step of the outdoor travel planning experience easier, safer, and more social. From full-time digital nomads to the occasional road tripper, the company is creating an inclusive community with access to 50K+ campsites, including the nation’s largest database of free campsites. After year one of the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in outdoor travel spiked—with notable increases among active and prospective campers according to Statista.
Digital training on JUNO featured at Feb. 27
International Franchise Association convention
JUNO, a software company that connects and educates people on a single destination platform for events and year-round community, offers a training opportunity for those in the franchise community. CEO Josh Hotsenpiller will speak on Training in 2022 at the International Franchise Association’s annual convention at 4 p.m. Feb. 27 at the San Diego Convention Center.
The Training in 2022 session at IFA will cover post-pandemic decision-making about tools to keep and tools to lose as well as best practices for using tools that bring people together virtually. Also presenting in the Operations track are Carisa Findley, VP, learning and development, TITLE Boxing Club; Evan Hackel, CFE, Founder and CEO, Tortal Training; and Heather Lane, VP, training and operations services, FOCUS Brands.
JUNO recently was recognized with the Best Event Software: Community Platform honor from the Professional Convention Management Association and the BIG Innovation Award 2022 from Business Intelligence Group.
