Clairemont Stories

Airbnb vans invade San Diego streets

Why bother with a $100/night hotel room?

On the Airbnb app/website, Craig is referred to as a “Superhost” for his $70 per night unit that can sit five visitors. Craig accommodates his guests in his green 1998 Ford E350 van; he’s based ...

Zapf's Swampland aka Cate's Litter Box

Eyesore median set to be clean in 2019

Joel Pointon in Clairemont has been calling his city council office about a messy median on Balboa Avenue at Mt. Abernathy and Mt. Alifan. He and others started making calls before Lorie Zapf was in ...

Clairemont braces for density

Will NIMBY suburban go YIMBY urban?

Our mayor has a dream, a dream in which NIMBYs click their heels three times and turn into YIMBYs joyfully proclaiming, “Yes, in my backyard.” In this perfect world, constituents no longer have any anti-housing ...

Clairemont still waits for Trader Joe's

In spite of local connection to Joe Coulombe, founder

On January 31, a lady walking her dog announced to me that "Trader Joe's is coming to Clairemont!" She said she knows someone that works for the Clairemont Town Square shopping center and that everything ...

That vacation craving

A search for shredded beef leads to great bread

Every time on of my friends travels to Cuba, I start craving the stewed beef dish, ropa vieja. The pictures they share on Facebook never have anything to do with food: it's mostly cars, beaches, ...

Rose Creek was worst of the Clairemont parks

Help clean it up this weekend

In the 1850s, San Diego pioneer Louis Rose maintained cattle and a ranch house in Rose Canyon, utilizing the canyon’s stream to water his animals. As the town grew up around the creek and Mission ...

A tree survives in Bay Park

Church and city adamant the tree is theirs

On August 15, Bay Park resident Laura Schumacher saw her husband's favorite ficus tree being cut down (above Mission Bay Park on Clairemont Drive between Denver and Galveston). The workers told her they were there ...

U-T paperboy blues

Two Ocean Beach routes took three and a half hours

It's 2:30 am on a Thursday, and I'm headed to a warehouse in Mira Mesa to learn the paperboy trade. When I arrive at 3 am, the parking lot is dark and full of double-parked ...

Yard crimes in Clairemont blamed on Prop 47

"Mass incarceration is bad but so is the jerk that ransacked my car"

Thieves are targeting whatever isn't nailed down in Clairemont's front yards. It's a big problem in Pacific Beach, too, according to one resident, "Yards are being picked clean of outdoor furniture, surfboards, and bikes. If ...

Deceptive calm in University City

Even as talks on water pipes continue, lawsuit filed

As the San Diego water department plans to plant several dozen miles of pressurized 48-inch-diameter steel pipes to and from its pure water plant, residents of University City are worried. They are expressing those concerns ...

How to eat and pronounce Uyghur

Lunch served with a geography lesson

It’s an old joke by now, something along the lines of: "going to war is how Americans learn geography." I’ve laughed about it myself, but I’ve been able pick out Kuwait and Vietnam on a ...

Cate to Clairemont: Drop dead

County proposes 494 apartments on Mt. Etna near Genesee

As tensions wane over a homeless housing development on Mt. Alifan Drive, all eyes have shifted to a bigger affordable housing project on Mt. Etna Drive. Both are within one-half mile of each other by ...

Maybe it wasn't woodshop after all

"There's an alert out on us? That's okay, you don't need to sign this."

Lenny Swanson heard a knock at his front door on June 11 at 7:00 p.m. He looked out his window to see a 20-something, Hispanic male, heavy build. "He said, 'we're gathering signatures to bring ...

Bus rider pet peeves: walking and waiting

What will get more riders to saddle up?

Metropolitan Transit System or MTS has been hanging Choose Transit posters at bus stops around town. Plus they reached out to ask public opinion in April and May. Shorter commute times, more transit options, and ...

Property crimes low, worries still high

Transients, theft, reckless driving, vandalism/graffiti, and illegal dumping

San Diego is one of the safest regions in the U.S. according to a report released by the county in April. Data from 2017 reflects the fourth-lowest violent crime rate since 1980 and the lowest ...

Local Dems and GOP beat back the edges

Smiechowski, Kirkman, Hidalgo — skunks at the garden party

Clairemont resident Danny Smiechowski says he's being bullied by local Democrats and shunned by the media. He is an official candidate for San Diego city council in district 2. He’s running as a Democrat, but ...

Just keep toilet out of the title

Pure Water gets unanimous city council approval

Tuesday was a big day for water projects in Southern California. The Metropolitan Water District's board of directors authorized $10.8 billion toward Governor Jerry Brown's effort to fix the state's aging water delivery system, one ...

Clairemont: Touch and Go needs to go

Residents want Montgomery Field to get the lead out

"It's a constant barrage of planes sputtering and buzzing," said one resident that lives under Montgomery Field's flight path. Eden Yaege, Clairemont town council president said, "Many people have noticed that over the last few ...

Baby rattler at my door

"The whole thing was so frustrating, as there weren't any clear options."

A baby rattlesnake was found by Veronica Alcaraz's sister at her front door on February 12th. "Can you believe it?! My sister was taking things to and from her car when she spotted it. It ...

Traffic circles coming to Moraga Avenue

Some Bay Ho residents thrilled, some not

A topic of conversation for years has been the speeding, traffic, and accidents on Moraga Avenue. The city plans to remedy the situation by installing traffic circles (mini-roundabouts) on Moraga at Idlewild Way and Fox ...

Eyewitness: Clairemont plane crash

"The tail of a burning Beechcraft was hanging over my fence."

It sounded like a bomb went off on the afternoon of December 9th. I was inside my house on Chandler Drive when I felt and heard the sound of a powerful impact followed by an ...

Short-term renters’ neighbors’ gripe tool

Reporting website claims PB anti-pot activist is "operator" of problem house

There have been protests, meetings, petitions, and lots of blowback directed at the City of San Diego for allowing the proliferation of short-term vacation rentals in residential zones and the lack of enforcement of current ...

Clairemont farmers' market gets the boot

Sprouts opening pushes vendors down the block to yoga studio lot

Clairemont's farmers’ market got two weeks’ notice on October 5 that their last day in the Clairemont Village shopping center would be October 19. They had to vacate before the new Sprouts opened on October ...

Not only about the clean cars in Clairemont

Car-wash businesses get more attention than they want

A Bay Park resident stated his opposition to unpermitted business signs at Victor's Tire Shop and Car Wash (3030 Clairemont Drive) on Nextdoor in late June. He asked others to complain to the city. A ...

The pet-friendly housing problem

"No friends, no music, no smoking — but you can have your dogs here."

A pet-friendly bill hit the governor's desk on September 21. The bill (AB 1137) would mandate that new multi-family housing developments allow tenants to have pets if those developments receive financing through state programs. Former ...

Cheetahs scandal: the novelization

Ex-city councilman publishes fictionalized take on federal prison time

Ralph Inzunza — the only one of three San Diego city-council defendants in the notorious Cheetahs strip-club influence-peddling case to go to prison — is out with a novel said to be based on his ...

Hope for winds of change at Miramar Landfill

Beginning September 30, the city will use tarps to cover the garbage

With the post-summer wind direction about to shift from east to west, the city and county are working overtime to solidify a plan to quell odor complaints that skyrocket between November and April against Miramar ...

Breaking Bad: Clairemont edition

"Do you know Theresa?... That's all I need to ask."

On July 10, an East Clairemont neighborhood was faced with a vandalized SUV asking people to "Call Turko" because "This neighborhood is a meth op." Michael Turko said no one ever did "Call Turko." On ...

Debate on community choice for electricity heats up

"Choice under a monopoly is not a choice."

The city's goal of reaching 100 percent renewable energy by 2035 is kicking in to high gear with a new study that explores the feasibility of community choice — a program that would hand over ...

Orthodox priests attracted attention in Coronado

"Who are you guys?"

Membership: 670 families Pastor: Father Bratso Krsic Age: 46 Born: Crnojevic, Serbia Formation: The Holy Three Hierarchs Seminary, Southern Croatia (five-year high school); St. Sava Serbian Orthodox School of Theology, Libertyville, IL; Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, ...

24 years of martians, murder, magic, and mayhem

In the back room with the grande dame guardian of the Mysterious Galaxy

Eat. Sleep. Read. Local. For years these edicts have presented themselves in the form of a bold red-and-white poster gracing the entryway of Mysterious Galaxy, an independent bookshop specializing in science fiction, mystery, fantasy, and ...

What they brought for Mark Hamill to sign

Empire Strikes Back VHS tape. Star Wars costumes, Yoda game, Return of the Jedi book, Star Wars Campbell’s Soup

“We don’t have a crowd size,” said Lt. D. Crubbs, “we normally do that [assessment] from a helicopter.” No Star Wars motif drones flew above either (at the Castleton Drive and Mount Abernathy Avenue cross ...

What lies in Clairemont's future?

Single-family paradise resistant to change

The update of the Clairemont community plan is in full swing. How this plan shapes up will determine the future of Clairemont and Bay Park until at least 2040. Senior city planner Marlon Pangilinan gave ...

What are those easterly winds blowing to Clairemont?

What happened to Miramar Landfill to change things?

On May 25, the Air Pollution Control District hearing board ordered the city to return on July 27 with a diagnosis and a concrete plan to deal with the smells that are vexing residents downwind ...

High Tech High requests permit for 1636 students instead of 1110

Clairemont neighbors get hot

The first official public meeting for the High Tech High project was held on May 10. It was the first meeting for the new Clairemont subcommittee planning group since electing a new chair. The meeting ...

Fewer burritos, more Mediterranean

International market has tarama, sangak, and mast`o musir

A buddy of mine recently made a shift in his eating habits: fewer burritos, more Mediterranean. Even though I didn’t imagine finding the ingredients for a Mediterranean diet would prove challenging — it is what ...

Bay Parkers praise Highway 101 signs on Morena Blvd.

But one old-timer says 101 was where I-5 is now.

The last stop for Dave Potter, before ordering historic Highway 101 signage to put up along Morena Boulevard, was to get one last final thumbs-up from the Clairemont community planning group on April 18. Potter, ...

High Tech High to take over Horizon Christian Academy Clairemont site

Horizon parents worry, but San Diego Unified needs the money.

Time is running out for Horizon Christian Academy. The K-12 private school that has called 5331 Mt. Alifan Drive home since 1985 has until the end of June to relocate. High Tech High, a K-12 ...

Grace Brethren Church in Clairemont to subdivide property

Eight 5000-foot houses on Atlas Street

On March 21, Sam listened to an engineer from Leppert Engineering present a project to the Clairemont community planning group. The project proposes to build eight houses on what is currently a one acre church ...

Will Chris Cate make things right at Clairemont and Balboa?

Sharok Eslamian’s former gas station still painful for neighbors

“The city has been sitting on their hands doing nothing. They did nothing until I complained."

Butt out, Clairemont, says Linda Vista

Affordable housing and cyclist groups don’t like neighborhood planning groups

Linda Vista should have a neighborhood voice in planning how the neighborhood is developed and maintained, the neighborhood's planning group voted unanimously Monday night. "I have a lot of respect for the Clairemont planning group ...

About those bombs dropped on North Clairemont...

Residents told WWII ordnance investigation scheduled for 2085

Janet Lancaster came armed with questions for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers program manager Jeff Armentrout on March 2. The town-council meeting had a modest turnout but all eyes and ears were at full attention ...

Clairemont seniors anticipate crosswalk upgrade

"I’ve also seen yellow police tape when I wasn’t sure what happened.”

Sometime during the 2016 winter holidays, the city posted notices on Cowley Way (between Field Street and Iroquois Avenue) residents’ front doors. The notices stated that work would commence within a couple weeks to install ...

Standing Rock protest movement re-gears up

"This is not the last time we'll be here."

"We knew these attacks were coming, and now more than ever we must grow the resistance," opened Abel Macias, reading a statement from tribal leaders at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota, where ...

Balboa Avenue trolley-stop talk

"It's not enough to get a mile away from your destination."

Although it's not yet funded, project managers for the planned trolley station at Balboa Avenue (just east of I-5) have started gathering information for what people want to see there — what will compel them ...

Farmers return to Clairemont

Will the latest weekly outdoor market have lasting power?

A new farmers' market is opening up in Clairemont. The community repeatedly says they want one but once it appears, they don’t seem to support it in numbers big enough to make it viable for ...

No affordable housing on Tavara Ridge

Clairemont project on former school site to include 52 homes

Fifty-two mini-mansions are planned for a recently demolished 17.5-acre elementary-school site (4520 Pocahontas Avenue). The new neighborhood (being sold as Tavara Ridge) of two-story homes will have two- to three-car garages with up to five ...

Clairemont real estate up for grabs

San Diego Association of Governments may be doing the grabbing

On September 9, the San Diego Association of Government’s board of directors voted in favor of taking a prime corner lot above Mission Bay Park by eminent domain for a new trolley Park & Ride. ...

God can be found in a gay bar as well

Pastor Dan Koeshall on preaching

Membership: 200 Pastor: Dan Koeshall Age: 56 Born: Pipestone, MN Formation: Evangel University, Springfield, MO; Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena Years Ordained: 25 San Diego Reader: What’s your favorite subject on which to preach? Pastor Dan ...

Clairemont Stories

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