Mission Hills’ French Marche

The Mission Hills Business Improvement District will be holding the Mission Hills Marché, a French-inspired street festival, on July 23, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Marché will include businesses along Goldfinch and Washington Streets as well as Fort Stockton Drive. There will be handcrafted art, paintings, unique gifts, jewelry, fashion accessories, glass art, silks, cards, home décor and more on display by Mission Hills artists, as well as food, drinks, special promotions and coupons offered by businesses along the Marché.

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. there will be live French music performed by accordionist Lou Fanucchi, and performances by Bviolin and the Gypsy Knights Ensemble from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Meshuggah Shack parking lot at 4048 Goldfinch St.

For more information, visit missionhillssandiego.org.

Two San Diego residents newly inducted into the ASLA Council of Fellows

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) recently inducted 40 new members to its 2011 Council of Fellows.

Two of these new members come from San Diego, one from the Uptown area.

Kelly Broughton, who lives in Encinitas, was inducted into the Leadership/Management category, and Laura Burnett, who lives in Little Italy, was inducted into the Works category.

Broughton has served as San Diego’s principal landscape architect since 1989, playing a key role in San Diego’s small-business development, affordable housing, government efficiency and sustainability.

Burnett, who just opened her own practice called Burnett Land and Water, does community service work with The Cultural Landscape Foundation and serves as a board member for the ACE Mentor Program. She is a LEED accredited professional and has been involved in the LEED process for a variety of projects.

“Laura cares profoundly about the ways landscapes are made and how they engage the public,” said David Reed, ASLA San Diego Chapter President in a release. “A gifted designer and skilled project manager, she brings to her work a strong commitment to the principles of sustainability and the cultural, functional, and aesthetic interface of human activity and natural systems.”

All of the inductees will be publically recognized at the 2011 ALSA Annual Meeting and EXPO from Oct. 30 through Nov. 2 at the San Diego Convention Center.

Adopt a new pet at the third annual doggie street festivalThe third annual Doggie Street Festival, July 31 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Liberty Station, 2600 Cushing Rd., is Southern California’s largest dog-adoption festival.

Over the last two years, the festival has found more than 250 shelter dogs homes, and with the goal of increasing awareness about pet adoption, this year is expected to be no different.

The Doggie Street Festival will also provide information about pet care, training, health and general well-being. There will be a photo booth, a kid’s area, food and treats for your dog. There will be pet adoptions available from rescue groups from all over San Diego County. For more information, visit doggiestreetfestival.org.

NPMS welcomeds a new executive director
North Park Main Street (NPMS) is saying goodbye to Executive director Liz Studebaker whose last day will be today July 22, and welcoming its executive director, Angela Landsberg.

The July mixer, held on July 21 at Queen Bee’s Center for Arts & Culture, 3925 Ohio St., was dedicated to wishing Liz goodbye and good luck and welcoming Angela as the new director with drinks, appetizers and a cake from Heaven Sent Desserts.

Uptown road repairs underway
Councilmember Todd Gloria announced earlier this week that 12 streets in Council District 3 would have repair work begun by today—starting with filling the surface cracks on Boundary Street on July 21. Additional street repairs and repaving around the city were already taken care of on July 18.

“Contrary to how some may feel, infrastructure work like street repairs is exciting to me,” Gloria said in a statement. “It shows our commitment to core services and literally protects the foundation of our City.”

In addition to this proposed work on streets such as Kansas, 31st, Upas and 30th, a list of street segments has already been approved by the City Council to receive repair work in the upcoming months, including parts of El Cajon Boulevard, Madison Avenue and Felton Street.

Councilmember Gloria releases statement about Plaza de Panama.

On July 19, City Council decided to move forward with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Plaza de Panama Committee in order to complete environmental reports concerning potential projects that would alter the Plaza de Panama area of Balboa Park.

Councilmember Todd Gloria released a statement in response to this decision, saying that the approval of a MOU is necessary to accomplish an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) which is in turn a necessary step when considering removing parking and traffic issues within the Plaza de Panama.

“While I have strong concerns about the potential impacts of the Plaza de Panama Committee’s proposed project, I am interested in having the analysis of the project and alternatives so that when the time comes I can weigh all of the possibilities in the correct context,” Gloria said in his statement. “The MOU does not commit me or the City Council to supporting the project once the EIR is completed.”