Traffic Board works with city for traffic calming
A traffic-calming project for Via Capri and Hidden Valley Road, which has been in the planning stages since July 2006, is still being actively pursued by the La Jolla Traffic and Transportation Board, according to board member Joe LaCava.
During a Dec. 13 board meeting, Gary Pensce, the city’s associate traffic engineer, spoke about plans for the project that include implementing several landscaped islands in the center of roadways.
The plan has been on hold because the city is unclear about whether citizens or a private organization will provide maintenance for the landscaping, LaCava said.
Pensce is continuing to work with the city attorney’s office on insurance issues pertaining to residents maintaining the islands and about obtaining proper funding, LaCava said.
The Traffic and Transportation board meets the fourth Thursday of every month at 4 p.m. at La Jolla Recreation Center, 615 Prospect St.

LJCPA will hold special meeting for bylaws vote
At its January meeting, the La Jolla Community Planning Association (LJCPA) decided to hold a special meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, to vote on its bylaws, a set of guidelines for the organization outlined by the city.
To be considered a voting member of the LJCPA, a resident must have attended three meetings within the previous calendar year. The current membership list has been posted on the organization’s Web site.
The revised bylaws that will be voted on Jan. 18 call for the meeting requirement for membership to be changed from three to one meeting, according to Tim Golba, LJCPA president.
The bylaws document has been a source of conflict between board members and community members of the LJCPA for the last three months. During an October meeting, many residents became aware of membership requirements outlined in the document that discredited them from being a part of the organization and therefore prevented them from casting a vote to revise the bylaws.
For more information, visit www.lajollacpa.org.

Delphi students volunteer at MLK breakfast
Students in grades four through six at the Delphi Academy will be volunteering at the All People’s Breakfast event on Monday, Jan. 15, at Golden Hall in downtown San Diego, Third and B streets.
This community event will commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy of fighting for civil rights. Although the breakfast has been around for a while, the Delphi Academy, a coeducational, secular school and a chapter of the Youth for Human Rights International, has been participating for four years, said Siofra Nugent, director of Delphi Academy.
“This year, students will wear human rights T-shirts, pass out brochures and collect signatures for a petition” to encourage President Bush to implement the objectives of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Nugent said.
The students are hoping to gather more than 500 signatures. The event provides a great opportunity for many organizations with different purposes but with the common goal to advocate for social change to connect, mobilize and inspire others, Nugent said. Last year about 16,000 people attended the All People’s Breakfast, which features keynote speakers in addition to providing a big breakfast and the opportunity for various organizations to meet.
For more information, call (619) 236-6413 or visit www.allpeoplesbreakfast.org. Doors open at 7 a.m. Breakfast will be served at 7:30 a.m.

Band concert will help LJ teen hurt in accident
Phillip Maslow, 18, of La Jolla, returned home a few days before Christmas after being hospitalized for nearly three months with critical injuries from an October motorcycle accident near Ardath Road in La Jolla.
The teenager celebrated his 18th birthday in the hospital, and friends and family have been under a lot of stress due to the accident, according to 22-year-old Tony Montemarano, Maslow’s best friend and lead singer of the band Mursic, which will hold a benefit concert for Maslow at Saturday, Jan. 13, 8 p.m. at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center’s David and Dorothea Garfield Theatre, 4126 Executive Drive.
Tickets are $15 for floor and $20 for balcony seats, with all funds going toward Maslow’s medical bills, Montemarano said.
“This is what I felt I could do,” he said. “My brother and I sat down together and conjured up an idea to do a benefit show, and everyone has been helping and pitching in.”
Friends have helped build a stage for the show, others have donated lighting and sound equipment, and many people have offered to volunteer their time, the band said.
Maslow is currently receiving physical therapy and is in fair condition, according to Montemarano.
The band, which is based in San Diego, was founded by Montemarano in 2003 and is made up of seven members, including his brothers, Nick and Mike. Nick and another friend have formed an acoustic band that will open for the show, Montemarano said.
To purchase tickets, visit www.mursic.com or www.lfjcc.org. To hear Mursic’s live recordings, visit the band’s site, www.myspace.com/mursicmursic.

La Jolla Motor Car Classic celebrates third year
The La Jolla Motor Car Classic will celebrate its third year by exhibiting fine British vehicles dating from before 1972. This free exhibition will take place on Sunday, Jan. 14, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., on the lawn at La Jolla Cove.
The display will consist of 150 cars, including Aston Martins, Mini Coopers, Jaguars, Rolls Royces and rare Austin Healys. According to Tiffany Sherer, the executive director of Promote La Jolla, an organization dedicated to promoting business and attractions in La Jolla, car collectors from all over California will provide the exotic cars. Previous exhibitions revolved around themes, including cars made in Italy and cars produced during the 1950s.
La Jolla Cove is located at 1100 Coast Blvd. For more information, call (619) 233-5008 or visit www.lajollabythesea.com.

Professional Men’s Soc. hosts ex-NASA director
The La Jolla Professional Men’s Society, a social organization with 130 members, will host Dr. Lee R. Scherer, former director of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center, at its next monthly meeting on Thursday, Jan. 18.
Scherer will discuss his career, which includes time spent as a technical assistant to the team responsible for establishing the Anti-Submarine Warfare Research Center for NATO and as director of lunar programs at NASA during the early buildup for the space shuttle program.
The society meets once a month and is made up of mostly retired individuals who worked in professions such as education, engineering, medicine, law and the military.
The lecture is open to La Jolla Professional Men’s Society members only and will be held from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the La Jolla Country Club, 7301 High Ave. Extension.
For more information about becoming a member, contact Bob Porter, (858) 488-1687.

Lung Association reviews 2006
The American Lung Association and the Tobacco-Free Communities Coalition (TFCC) released their review of 2006 and the policy milestones of the year, including the decision to make San Diego parks and beaches smoke-free. The groups pointed to advancements such as the California Air Resources Board’s finding that secondhand smoke is a toxic air pollutant and the Metropolitan Transit System’s vote to ban smoking at bus stops, a formal ordinance establishing a 25-foot buffer zone around all MTS stops.
The ALA also noted events that it did not receive so well, including the failed tobacco tax measure from the November 2006 elections that proposed a $2.60-per-pack cigarette tax. The association also expressed concern about what it described as the relatively unregulated hookah trend.
The ALA has offered 10 reasons to quit smoking, a perennial favorite among classic New Year’s resolutions.
According to the association, smokers should quit because their pets get cancer more often. A Journal of Epidemiology study showed that dogs in smoking households had a 60 percent greater risk of developing lung cancer, while veterinarians from Tufts University found that smokers’ cats are three times as likely to develop lymphoma, the most common feline cancer. Pets can also have asthma and allergies exacerbated by secondhand smoke.
If those are not reasons enough, the ALA topped the list by noting that cigarettes are radioactive ” they contain Polonium 210, the same poison that recently killed a former Soviet spy, according to an article in Science magazine “” and that smokers would not pass smog tests if they were put to the same tests as cars. One puff of smoke into an auto shop’s smog tester pipe exceeds tailpipe emission standards.
For more information, visit www.lungsandiego.org.

Parking Board seeks at-large members
The La Jolla Community Parking District Advisory Board is seeking applications for the 2007 board for two at-large positions. One will be filled by a La Jolla resident, and the other by a La Jolla business owner.
The rest of the board is composed of members from each of three community groups: the La Jolla Community Planning Association, the La Jolla Town Council and Promote La Jolla.
The mission of the La Jolla Community Parking District Advisory Board is to identify parking-related issues and seek solutions.
Those interested in applying for either of the at-large positions can request an application form from Leah Schaeffer by calling (858) 454-5855 or e-mailing leahbythesea.com. The application period is open from Jan. 17 through Feb. 17, 2007.