On Monday, July 16, San Diego City Council nixed Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s short-term vacation rental proposal by a 6-3 tally, then voted 6-3 for a more-restrictive proposal favoring residents and allowing primary-residence-only rentals with a six-month maximum. The landmark counterproposal was co-authored by Council members Barbara Bry of District 1 and Lorie Zapf of District 2, whose coastal districts have a preponderance of short-term rentals. Dissenting votes were cast by Council members Scott Sherman, Chris Cate and David Alvarez. A “carve-out” of Mission Beach in the mayor’s proposal was defeated. Existing Mission Beach rentals will also not be grandfathered into the city’s new ordinance. Mission Beach has the highest number of short-term rentals — upwards of 40 percent — along the beachfront. A cornerstone of Faulconer’s proposal, the so-called “plus one” provision allowing people to rent out their own residence, and one additional place, was also denied. In its place was inserted a condition allowing one more additional dwelling unit on the same parcel as the owner’s primary residence. The City Council, however, left the door open for future discussion of granny flats and duplexes possibly qualifying as short-term rentals. Under the new ordinance, short-term rentals will have to have licenses that will be non-transferable. In the aftermath of the City Council vote, some speculated its net effect will be to end renting out of all second homes or investment properties as short-term vacation rentals. Both votes came after five hours of public testimony for and against Faulconer’s proposal. The City Council deadlocked after similarly long public debate on short-term rentals last December.  Those favoring stricter regulations were elated, especially its originators. “The primary-only solution puts San Diegans first and protects our housing stock from investors while preserving the roots of the home sharing economy,” said Bry. Noting the other California cities, including San Francisco, Pasadena and Hermosa Beach, have passed similar regulations to reign-in short-term rentals, Bry added, “We have the obligation to preserve our housing stock prioritizing housing San Diegans.” “I wasn’t elected to serve the interests of out-of-town investors, I was elected to serve the needs of my constituents,” said Zapf. “This makes the most sense for our communities. “This is not the perfect solution, but I have been working on this for the last four years, and the City Council must provide some relief for the residents in my district. This final plan will fund enforcement to penalize bad actors, so we can preserve the quality of life in our neighborhoods,” she said. District 3 Councilmember Chris Ward, whose stance on rentals changed since December, said the vote “demonstrates a clear commitment to prioritizing the needs of our neighborhoods” characterizing it as “a starting point” that “leaves the window open” to possible future amendments. Faulconer was conciliatory following the vote. “I introduced my compromise proposal to help the City Council find enough common ground so they could pass comprehensive short-term rental laws, and with the additional amendments made today, we’ve finally achieved that goal,” he said. “The most important thing is that we have an established set of rules that protect neighborhood quality of life through increased oversight and enforcement. I want to thank the City Council for working collaboratively with my office to get this across the finish line.” The HomeAway/VRBO platform was displeased by the Council outcome issuing the following statement, “HomeAway is extremely disappointed in the City Council’s decision to ignore the mayor’s compromise and effectively ban short-term rentals in the City of San Diego. This outcome will not only negatively impact the local economy but will deny many San Diegans their private property rights. We plan to evaluate next steps in the coming days to determine an appropriate path forward.” At least one Peninsulan was pleased by the vote. “I think the City Council got this one right,” said David Dick, a Peninsula Community Planning Board member. “Absent-owner, short-term rentals are inconsistent with the rights of property owners who have purchased properties in communities and neighborhoods. “I share the concern that the ordinance may not withstand a legal challenge. And I’m sure the interests aligned with Airbnb and VRBO will put up a substantial, well-funded fight. But that’s a battle for another day. For now, the City Council is on the right track,” Dick said. District 7 Councilmember Sherman hinted the short-term rental battle may not be over. “This is not a compromise,” Sherman said. “We’re abusing our discretion by restricting property rights, punishing people who can least afford it. What’s next? Banning dogs barking next door, or month-to-month rents?”

UC San Diego’s EV charging program awarded for modeling ‘Energy System of the Future’ The campus is the first higher education institution to be recognized with an award from Greentech Media. The University of California San Diego has been honored with the 2018 Grid Edge Innovation Award for serving as an epicenter for research, development and commercialization on smart electric vehicle (EV) charging. UC San Diego has collaborations with more than 18 companies and organizations in providing 135 EV charging stations on campus. In May alone, more than 700 different EVs were charged by UC San Diego’s world-renowned microgrid. UC San Diego is the first university to receive a Grid Edge Innovation Award from Greentech Media, a leading information services company for technologies, markets and businesses shaping the future of the electricity sector. Representatives from the campus will officially accept the honor on June 21 at a ceremony in San Francisco. “Our efforts in the electrification of transportation have benefited from the microgrid, and both are great examples of how UC San Diego has been leading the way in decarbonizing energy,” said Vice Chancellor of Resource Management and Planning, Gary C. Matthews. “This is key to our efforts, as we approach the milestone of becoming carbon neutral by 2025.” Collectively, UC San Diego charges over 700 unique EV drivers each month, which represents a monthly reduction in 5,400 gallons of avoided gasoline being used. The number of such drivers is expected to continue to climb, as UC San Diego experiences an annual growth rate of 120 percent in EV commuters to campus. A microgrid is a local energy grid with control capability, which means it can disconnect from the traditional grid and operate autonomously. UC San Diego has one of the country’s first and best-studied microgrids. It consists of two 13.5 MW gas turbines, one 3 MW steam turbine, a 2.8 MW fuel cell, a 2.2 MW solar-cell installation, 2.5 MW/5 MWH of battery electric storage and more than eight million gallons of thermal energy storage. The success of the microgrid has propelled additional “green innovation” such as the EV charging which the campus began exploring as early as 2011. UC San Diego’s microgrid powers 85 percent of the 1,160 acres -campus’ electricity needs, 95 percent of its heating, and 95 percent of its cooling.  The reliability and resiliency of the grid has allowed the university to cut costs, while mitigating carbon emissions. It is estimated it is saving the campus about $850,000 a month, compared to buying retail energy. According to Greentech, this year’s winners represent the top projects involving the innovative applications of grid edge technologies, and they offer solutions to the technical, business and regulatory challenges of distributed energy integration. Alliance Healthcare awards youth organization Alliance Healthcare Foundation (AHF), located in La Jolla, has awarded Just in Time for Foster Youth (JIT) with a $100,000 Mission Support grant and the San Diego Center for Children with a $35,000 Mission Support grant. This grant will support JIT’s work to engage a caring community to help transition-age foster youth achieve self-sufficiency and well-being and will allow the San Diego Center for Children to improve access, timely care and a more effective, family-centered treatment approach for children, teens and their families who are struggling with mental, emotional or behavioral health disorders. This is the third consecutive year JIT has received a Mission Support grant from AHF. This year’s $100,000 grant will allow JIT to innovate and improve its services for young people who exit the foster care system without family support. The grant is part of AHF’s nine-year commitment to nonprofit organizations dedicated to advancing health and wellness in San Diego and Imperial counties. Just in Time for Foster Youth mobilizes a caring community to help young adults leaving the foster care system stay on the path to self-sufficiency, ultimately allowing them to become more confident, capable and connected while breaking the cycle of dependence. This is achieved through a variety of initiatives that empower participants while helping them attain stable housing, essential education, meaningful employment, financial security, reliable transportation, positive relationships and more.  The San Diego Center for Children, founded in 1887, is the oldest children’s nonprofit in San Diego. The Center provides therapeutic care, specialized education and critical life skills to more than 1,000 children and their families in eight locations and hundreds of homes across the county. George’s La Jolla makes OpenTable ‘100 Best Al Fresco Restaurants’ OpenTable, the world's leading provider of online restaurant reservations and part of Booking Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG) recently unveiled the 100 Best Al Fresco Restaurants in America for 2018. From the oceanside views at Leilani’s on the Beach in Hawaii and the stunning desert scenery at LON’s at The Hermosa Resort in Arizona to New York City’s Tavern on the Green, an oasis in the middle of the concrete jungle, the complete list features winning restaurants in 22 states. California comes out on top this year with 30 winning restaurants, followed by Florida with 26, and Hawaii with 10. Other notable states for outdoor dining include Arizona with eight winning restaurants and Maryland, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina each with three. Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C. are also among the winners. While most of this year’s honorees serve American fare, other cuisines proved popular for outdoor dining, particularly seafood, French, and Italian. “From picturesque restaurants with shaded terraces to vibrant rooftops and sidewalk cafés, this year’s list showcases the spots that take the al fresco experience to the next level,” said Caroline Potter, OpenTable's chief dining officer. "These restaurants offer friendly service and the ideal ambiance for diners looking to enjoy the warm weather and soak up the best sights of summer. The 100 Best Al Fresco Restaurants in America list is generated solely from more than 12 million verified OpenTable diner reviews for more than 27,000 restaurants in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. collected between May 1, 2017 and April 30, 2018. All restaurants with a minimum "overall" score and number of qualifying reviews were included for consideration. Qualifying restaurants were then scored and sorted according to the percentage of reviews for which "outdoor dining" was selected as a special feature. Based on this methodology, the restaurants, listed in alphabetical order, comprise the 100 Best Al Fresco Restaurants in America for 2018 according to OpenTable diners. The complete list may also be viewed at opentable.com/lists/us-best-outdoor-restaurants-2018. Salk scientist studying infectious diseases and microbiome receives $250,000 prize Salk associate professor Janelle Ayres has been named one of three winners of the Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists, one of the world's largest unrestricted prizes for early career scientists. Ayres, the laureate in the life sciences category, will receive $250,000 for her pioneering research in physiology. Ayres’ work is revolutionizing our understanding of host-pathogen interactions and has the potential to solve one of the greatest current public health threats. : anti-microbial resistance. "Janelle is one of the most original thinkers in the field of infectious disease research," says Salk President Rusty Gage. "Her pioneering work on microbes has the potential to change human health in fundamental ways. We are elated the Blavatnik Foundation has recognized Janelle's past accomplishments and future promise with this prestigious award." As a member of Salk’s NOMIS Center for Immunobiology and Microbial Pathogenesis, Ayres works at the intersection of immunology, metabolism and microbiology, studying how our bodies stay healthy during infections. She takes an innovative approach grounded in mathematical and evolutionary predictions to understand how bacteria have evolved ways to promote our health. She uses these discoveries to develop new therapies for treating diseases. Ayres’ groundbreaking research on host-pathogen interactions is redefining our definition of health. In pivotal work, she discovered that microbes have evolved mechanisms to promote the health of the host to support their own survival, revealing a beneficial role for microbes in the maintenance of host health. Her revelation of an entirely new set of defense mechanisms likely will lead to novel therapies that bacteria won’t be able to evolve resistance to (unlike antibiotics). Ultimately, by leveraging those damage-control mechanisms, Ayres aims to develop effective treatments for infectious and noninfectious diseases, such as pathologies associated with cancer and aging. Ayres, who is also Helen McLoraine Developmental Chair at Salk, was selected as one of 31 finalists from among 286 outstanding faculty-rank researchers age 42 or younger nominated by 146 institutions across 42 states. She is one of three Blavatnik national laureates—one each in the categories of life sciences, chemistry, and physical sciences and engineering. The 2018 Blavatnik national laureates and finalists will be honored at an award ceremony on Monday, September 24, 2018, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The Blavatnik Awards, established by the Blavatnik Family Foundation in the United States in 2007 and administered by the New York Academy of Sciences, began by identifying outstanding scientific talent in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The Blavatnik National Awards were inaugurated in 2014 and, in 2018, the awards were expanded to include young scientists in the United Kingdom and Israel. By the close of 2018, the Blavatnik Awards will have conferred prizes totaling $6.6 million, honoring 271 outstanding young scientists and engineers.

Longtime La Jolla resident inducted into the California Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Honorees  The California Baseball Coaches Association (CBCA) names longtime local high school baseball coach, David Glassey, as one of its Hall of Honorees recipients this year. A ceremony will be held on Saturday, June 16 at 5 p.m. at the University of California, San Diego baseball stadium during the annual North South Series. For nearly 40 years, Glassey has coached high school baseball at Francis Parker School in San Diego, winning several California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) championships, as well as sending many of his players to play at the collegiate level and professionally. “I enjoy the challenge that comes with coaching and watching the players come together as a team. It has been rewarding to see them mature and become successful adults,” said Glassey. “Coaching gives me the opportunity to help them learn how to deal with failure. Baseball is a game of failure; you fail more than you succeed. I love seeing the dedication of players and seeing them learn many of life's lessons.”  Dedicated to his coaching craft, Glassey has a career record of 612 wins, one of the top five San Diego County high school baseball coaches with the most wins. He has won nine CIF championships and CIF runner up seven times throughout his career. Some of his recent players who went on to professional baseball careers include Nick Allen who was drafted by the Oakland A’s in 2017, as well as Nick Noonan and Jose Vizcaino for the San Francisco Giants, and Kyle Dowdy for the Detroit Tigers. Along with these players, many others have gone to play at the college level. With all of his success, the San Diego native will retire in 2018 as the varsity baseball coach at Francis Parker School, where the team finished 22-10 and played CIF’s Division 2 Championship. “It's been fun to see the successes my players had not only in baseball, but also in their lives and careers. I hope that in some way, I have influenced their success,” said Glassey. Here are some of what Glassey’s former students say about him: “Congrats, Coach! You deserve it. Your guidance and friendship changed lives, mine for sure. The best coach and actually the only person who will always be ‘coach’ on and off the field,” said Jeff Hiekkola. “He has made a difference in a lot of lives, including mine. I wouldn’t be who I am today,” said Ben Coughlan, a San Diego trial attorney and partner with The Gomez Firm. “What makes Coach great is the impact he’s had on the lives of so many young men and women, and the role model he has been and continues to be,” said Patrick Styles. “An honor and privilege to play for and coach with. Forever grateful,” said Greg LaBarre.  “I think all Parker players throughout the years can vouch that Coach Glassey is one of the best high school coaches in San Diego history,” said Pat McQuinn.  In addition to Glassey, Charles Hatfield of Chatsworth High School will also be inducted into CBCA’s 2018 Hall of Honorees. Other notable San Diego County honorees over the last three decades include David Gonzalez with Eastlake High School, Rob Phillips with Grossmont High School, Steve Vickery with El Capitan High School, Manny Hermosillo with Montgomery High School, and Dennis Pugh with Mission Bay High School. For more information about the North South Series and the 2018 induction ceremony, visit www.calcba.com. The Bishop’s School appoints Ron Kim as 12th head of school The Bishop’s School board of trustees and the school’s head of school search committee recently announced the appointment of Ron Kim as Bishop’s next head of school. Following a highly competitive national search process, Kim was selected to begin his term as Bishop’s 12th head of school in summer 2019, the start of the School’s 111th year. Kim brings a wealth of experience in school leadership, student-centered pedagogy and inclusive education principles. He is currently the head of school at Basis Independent McLean (BIM), a preschool—12th grade school in McLean, Va. Prior to BIM, Mr. Kim spent 23 years at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, where he held various administrative and teaching roles during his distinguished career; the most recent were assistant principal, dean of faculty, history instructor and girls’ varsity basketball coach. He was the youngest dean of faculty ever appointed at Exeter. Mr. Kim grew up in Southern California and earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in history from the University of Chicago.  Chair of the Bishop’s head of school search committee Barbara Edwards says, “Kim’s passion for education guided by values, ethics and inclusive principles, and the impact that arts and athletics can have on students at a formative point in their lives speak directly to the mission of The Bishop’s School.”  “Students will be successful in the future, in part because of their academic achievements and intellectual resources, but also because of their ability to collaborate, to connect with people who are different from themselves and to be devoted to the well-being of others,” Kim said. “The most meaningful educational experience provides students with the opportunity in class, on the fields or on a stage to succeed, fail, bounce back and know that, as a supportive community, we will go farther together than we would alone.”  Bishop’s board president Annette Bradbury adds, “Kim’s warmth and ease were apparent from the moment he set foot on campus, and his authenticity and humor resonated with administrators, alumni, faculty, staff, parents, students and trustees.” As was announced in November 2017, current Bishop’s head of middle school Carol Barry will serve as interim head of school for the 2018-2019 school year, and Mr. Kim will join Bishop’s in summer 2019. Barnard Elementary hosts first ‘International Food and Culture Night’ Barnard Mandarin Magnet Elementary School held its first “International Night” on June 1, which filled the school’s auditorium with students and their families eager to taste culinary delights from more than twenty countries, including Poland, England, Greece, Germany, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Ireland, and, of course, China. There were also cultural performances on the stage. Highlights included Russian and Flamenco dancing, tae kwon do, and a folk song about the Hebrew alphabet. Many attendees wore their family’s national dress. For some, this meant wearing clothing that showcased more than one culture, hinting at the diversity found within the families themselves. “People may assume that our school’s culture is predominantly Chinese because of the nature of our immersion program,” said parent Love Zubiller. “But it’s not. Barnard is a school with so much diversity. Our ‘International Night’ is one way that we can showcase and celebrate the many cultures and rich diversity of our amazing community.” While attendees had their fill of kimchee, arroz con leche, and matzoh ball soup, it only left them hungry for more. Planning for next year’s “International Night” has begun, and the excitement –and aroma of Russian pryaniki gingerbread—is already filling the air. For information on Barnard Mandarin Magnet Elementary School, or to find out about the District’s School Choice program, visit sandiegounified.org/barnard. 'Echoing Light,' Astrid Preston works at new R.B. Stevenson Gallery locale The R.B. Stevenson Gallery recently announced the exhibition "Echoing Light" by Los Angeles artist Astrid Preston at their new main level space at 7661 Girard Ave. The opening reception for the Artist will be held on Saturday, June 16 from 5 to 8 pm. This exhibition is the second solo presentation of Preston's work at R.B. Stevenson Gallery. An illustrated catalog will accompany the show with an essay by Robert L. Pincus. "These paintings – and their titles – coax us into paying attention – not only to the paintings, which richly reward such scrutiny, but also to the details of the world at large," Pincus writes. "Preston assembles the elements of her paintings into a poetic whole; the image is permeated by a perception of how beauty, physical and perhaps metaphysical, which manifests itself in gardens, assumes an even more inspiring form in Preston’s new paintings." INFO: Where: 7661 Girard Ave. When: Tuesday through Saturday 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 pm. Contact: 858-459-3917 www.rbstevensongallery.com.