Ben Wanicur Quartet live at Dizzy's
Robert Bush 6:31 p.m., May 18
Chula Vista news & stories
Breaking news and stories about Chula Vista, California. For event listings, blog entries, photos, and places to go in Chula Vista, visit the Chula Vista neighborhood page.
Sweetwater school district board approves Alliant partnership
Trustee Jim Cartmill: "Tonight we are beginning the dance."
The Monday, May 13, meeting of the Sweetwater Union High School District was raucous…again. The potential agreement with Alliant University was one source of contention. Trustee Bertha Lopez said while she supported choices for students, ...
Chula Vista exhibit documents WWII Japanese internment
Prewar, they established “Celery Capital of the World”
A cot, a hand-hewn chest of drawers, and tight quarters for six men — this is the display that dominates the visual and conceptual space of the current exhibit in the Chula Vista Heritage Museum. ...
Sweetwater school district to team with Alliant University?
According to YouTube, they already have
Sweetwater Union High School District superintendent Ed Brand will be bringing another university plan to the board of trustees on May 13. In January of this year, the district made a controversial agreement with the ...
Sweetwater cheer coaches seek pay from district
Broken promises and runaround, they say
Revanna Gonzalez and Vanessa Gamez love what they do: on top of work, family, and attending college, they coach cheerleaders for the Sweetwater Union High School District…or, they used to. Revanna and Vanessa were former ...
Volkswagen Bugs, buses, and Corvairs welcome
San Diego Air Cooled motors to Chula Vista
The Volkswagen enthusiasts of San Diego Air Cooled have lined up at least 200 cars — Bugs, Karmann Ghias, and vans — for the First Annual Air Cooled Fiesta at Southwestern College on Sunday, May ...
Montgomery Adult School’s last Viva Vida conference?
Budget cuts will likely end career-oriented workshops
For the 11th year in a row, Montgomery Adult School, part of the Sweetwater Union High School District, held their annual Viva Vida conference on April 25. The conference is designed to give students exposure ...
Former San Ysidro schools chief Manuel Paul won’t speak
Pleads Fifth, avoids self-incrimination
In an April 17, 2013, deposition, former San Ysidro School District superintendent Manuel Paul pleaded the Fifth 43 times in less than an hour in a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed against the district by EcoBusiness Alliance/Manzana ...
New BMX track opens in Chula Vista
Most difficult in the U.S.?
This week a redesigned BMX track opened at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. Tyler Brown, manager of the track since October 2012, developed the new look. A pro racer for the past ten ...
Chula Vistans discuss SANDAG’s rapid-transit plans
Cost, practicality, and bridge discussed
Chula Vista residents continue to seek alternatives to SANDAG’s plan to run a 21-mile rapid-transit bus line from the Otay border crossing down east Palomar Street and into downtown San Diego. At councilmember Pat Aguilar’s ...
Another Sweetwater board meeting mired in disagreement
Failure to elect oversight committee member
Sweetwater Union High School District board meetings often last five hours and are characterized by conflict. The April 9 meeting ended in a meltdown over the selection process used by the district to choose members ...
Sweetwater board votes to cut occupational programs
Students vow to continue protest
On April 9, the majority of the Sweetwater Union High School District board (John McCann, Arlie Ricasa, and Jim Cartmill) voted to cut the district’s Regional Occupation Program/Career Technical Education and adult-school programs. Funding for ...
Latest plans for ill-fated L Street land deal
Who can say no to soccer?
During public comment at the March Sweetwater Union High School board meeting, Jacqueline King, a resident of Chula Vista who has worked in real estate development for 36 years, addressed the trustees regarding the district’s ...
Gun grab
This year’s run on guns
The empty shelves inside the Chula Vista Gun Store (in mid-February) make it hard to tell the place sells guns at all. Last December, the amplification of the gun-control debate sent buyers rushing to this ...
Before the DA's investigation of Sweetwater school district...
Lawyers paid for with school funds
In November 2012, the San Diego Grand Jury began investigating corruption allegations that encompassed three South Bay school districts: Southwestern College, the San Ysidro School District, and the Sweetwater Union High School District. The investigation ...
Sweetwater school district board seeks to silence opposition
Superintendent Brand calls someone’s boss
Is there a concerted attempt by the Sweetwater Union High School District to silence or stifle criticism? That’s what many public speakers told the trustees during the March 11 board meeting. The meeting was prefaced ...
Sweetwater school district cuts program and teachers
Abstained vote becomes a “yes” vote
The March 11 Sweetwater Union High School District meeting opened with a presentation “On Civility,” which was delivered by one of the district’s attorneys, Dan Shinoff. While Shinoff discoursed on the Constitution, Frederick Douglass, the ...
Sweetwater Union High School District & Realty Co.
Should the troubled district change their name?
The Sweetwater school district owns several properties that it is trying to flip into condo/apartment developments. The properties, located in western Chula Vista, are on L Street, Third Avenue, Fifth Avenue (district headquarters), and Moss ...
Southwestern College trustee resigns in protest
“Another of many sad days”
The latest at Southwestern College is the sudden resignation of trustee William Stewart, who gave an exclusive interview to the student newspaper, the Sun, on March 1. He told news editor Thomas Baker that he ...
Southwestern faculty questions college’s education plan
Is inaccurate data guiding the way?
Members of Southwestern College's faculty are concerned that the college’s master education plan is based on inaccurate data that may inform the administration’s pink-slip plan or presage the closing of programs integral to student needs. ...
Chula Vista librarian Donna Golden retires
City won’t appoint a new one
Chula Vista Public Library’s photographic archive may languish following Donna Golden’s retirement on February 23. After 39 years of serving as a reference librarian and as the local history librarian since 2005, her position will ...
Southwestern College may trim faculty to reduce costs
Teachers’ group resolves to fight
The threat of pink slips has reared its head at Southwestern Community College District for the first time since l987. Only a few months ago, when voters passed Proposition 30, a tax to fund K-12 ...
Sweetwater school board to address campaign spending limits
Activist succeeds after warning of legal action
At the Sweetwater Union High School District board meeting in January, Maty Adato finally resorted to the “A” word — she told the trustees she had retained an attorney. Adato, a Sweetwater parent and one ...
Sweetwater school district’s weird, failed real estate deals
District property to be apartments or soccer stadium?
In 2005, in conjunction with a nonprofit group called California Trust for Public Schools, aka Plan Nine Partners, LLC, the Sweetwater Union High School district borrowed $25,415,000 and $8,235,00 in variable-rate bonds to buy property ...
On the Rocks
On the Rocks in Chula Vista -- a good place to find out if your date is a bedwetter or cheapskate.
Should you pay that ticket issued by Ace Parking?
Parking police privatized
The City of Chula Vista has an arrangement with Ace Parking that enables the company to issue parking tickets…is that legal?
New Sweetwater Union financial officer has controversial past
Alleged “personnel problems,” unaccredited degree
In a February 1 phone call, Sweetwater Union High School District spokesperson Manny Rubio acknowledged that the district has hired Dr. Albert Alt as their new CFO. Rubio said Alt was selected after “a couple ...
Chula Vista’s Dynegy energy plant to be destroyed tomorrow
Expect rolling thunder across the bay
The Dynegy South Bay energy plant in Chula Vista — described by some environmentalists as a fossil-fuel-burning monster — gets blown sideways tomorrow, February 2. People who want to see the two-minute event should go ...
Chula Vista’s Cricket becomes Sleep Train
Concert venue gets a name change
Coors Amphitheatre became San Diego County's largest concert locale when it opened in July of 1998 (the Spice Girls put on the first sold-out concert a month later). In April of 2008, the Chula Vista ...
Sweetwater board votes to open second charter school
Superintendent Brand sees it as money-maker
At the January 28 Sweetwater Union High School District board meeting, the majority of trustees voted to support superintendent Ed Brand’s push to open a second charter school; following up the Stephen W. Hawking Math ...
Sweetwater's gathering storm
Sweetwater Union High School District in Chula Vista has an excessive spending habit and may be in serious fiscal trouble soon.
Sweetwater board succumbs to public outcry
Still, meeting time to be slightly earlier
On Monday, January 28, concerned parents, teachers, and community members packed the Sweetwater Union High School District board meeting. One reason for the big draw was the district’s proposal to move evening board meetings to ...
Sweetwater board meeting times may change
Indignation ripples through the South Bay
The official Sweetwater Union High School District calendar says the next board meeting will be held on January 28 at 6:00, the usual time board meetings are held. However, over the January 19–20 weekend, an ...
Guitar man plays on at Chula Vista’s Steak House on Broadway
Voice reclaimed after medical problem
The Steak House on Broadway in Chula Vista, formerly known as the Butcher Shop, gets a lot of attention from me. I've been going there for years. A number of things keep me coming back: ...
Sweetwater U partnership opposed by Freedom from Religion
Foundation objects to “Christian worldview”
The Sweetwater Union High School District voted in 2011 to move forward on a university-related project. Superintendent Ed Brand told the Reader in a December 2011 interview that the district was surveying the residents to ...
Serious supporters of Sweetwater trustee Pearl Quiñones
Surprising allegations, questionable tactics
It’s no secret that the allegations of long-term corruption in the Sweetwater Union High School District have roiled the South Bay waters. A recent U-T article even calls on South Bay politicians to discuss the ...
Documents hint at Sweetwater board’s diners’ club
High school student investigated 10 years ago
The latest round of indictments handed down by San Diego’s criminal grand jury is so extensive, people wonder if corruption is just another name for South Bay. Fifteen defendants from three separate South Bay school ...
Sweetwater school board supporters and detractors show in court
Additional indictments brought by DA
“We love you Pearl!” shouted several people to Pearl Quiñones inside the lobby of the downtown courthouse on January 7. Handfuls of supporters and opponents in the alleged Sweetwater Union High School District “pay for ...
Drive-thru at SDG&E payment center closes willy-nilly
Disabled and moms most inconvenienced
The San Diego Gas & Electric payment and customer service center at 436 H Street in Chula Vista has a habit of closing their drive-thru bill-payment window on the side of the building unannounced. Mothers ...
A Closer Look at the Chula Vista Courthouse Flag
Heymatt: Why is a Mexican flag included at the courthouse at Third and H streets in Chula Vista? Does this mean some courtrooms there follow the “guilty until the level of extortion has been satisfied” ...
Southwestern College professor Philip Lopez dies
Heart attack befalls teacher/activist/accordionist
Friday, December 14, on the eve of his 65th birthday, on the last day of the fall semester, Southwestern College English professor Philip Lopez suffered a heart attack and died. Many people consider Lopez an ...
Sweetwater school board avoids campaign donations talk
Confronted three times in past year
After the fanfare was over at the Sweetwater Union High School District meeting on December 10, after San Diego mayor Bob Filner stood by recently reelected Pearl Quiñones's side as she was sworn in (referring ...
Developer gets cracking on unapproved Chula Vista project
Chula Vista residents who have been battling the city and the developer about a proposed 284-condo/apartment complex in eastern Chula Vista were alarmed last week when earth-movers appeared on the scene. Barney Reed, a spokesperson ...
Sweetwater University to “Open” Soon?
Last year, the Sweetwater Union High School District board voted to support a vaguely worded concept about an institution called “Sweetwater University.” The latest gambit for Sweetwater U is online college courses offered to high ...
Mayor Cox Cozy with Chula Vista Developer
Although the Chula Vista Redevelopment Corporation has come to an end, the legacy of a past redevelopment project continues to play out. In June of 2011, the U-T published an online story titled “City-subsidized building ...
Another Closure at Chula Vista’s Otay Ranch Center Mall
Another store in the Otay Ranch Center mall will be closing its doors soon. Coldwater Creek, an upscale women’s clothing store, and Coldwater Creek Spa, a full-service salon, will be going out of business on ...
Shades of Sweetwater at Calexico Unified School District
As the San Diego County grand jury opens an investigation this week into allegations of corruption in the Sweetwater Union High School District, new intrigues play out in Calexico with Sweetwater’s former attorney firm, GCR, ...
Sweetwater Schools Forum Makes Policy Clear as Mud
Concerned Sweetwater Union High School District parents and residents lined up to ask superintendent Ed Brand questions at a November 8 meeting. They wanted an accounting of the money they have paid into the 17 ...
Former Charger Seeks Seat on Sweetwater Schools Board
Though many people want to see corruption and mismanagement cleaned up in the Sweetwater Union High School District, few people stepped into the November 6 election. One interesting candidate who wants to try his hand ...
Chula Vista Ethics Meeting Draws Mayor and Three Police
An unprecedented board of ethics meeting took place in Chula Vista on October 24. The audience — which came to the hearing regarding a complaint filed against council member Pamela Bensoussan — was so large ...
