News Nuggets: Outdoor dining extended; blood drive; Enhance La Jolla election; parking enforcement; more

La Jolla Shores outdoor dining greenlighted through Dec. 30

The San Diego Special Events & Filming Department has approved the La Jolla Shores Association’s application for a permit to keep one block of Avenida de la Playa closed for outdoor dining essentially through the end of the year.

The original permit, which allows the street closure daily between El Paseo Grande and Calle de la Plata so restaurants can place tables on the street for dining, was set to transition to three days weekly Sept. 27.

The new permit, approved Sept. 1, will allow the outdoor program to continue until Dec. 30. The city will not allow the street closure on New Year’s Eve.

La Jolla church will host blood drive Sept. 13

La Jolla Presbyterian Church will host a blood drive in partnership with the San Diego Blood Bank from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13, at 7715 Draper Ave. A bloodmobile will be parked in front of the church.

Donors must present a photo ID, be 17 or older, weigh at least 114 pounds and be in good health. The Blood Bank recommends an adequate meal and plenty of fluids before donating. Appointments are required.

To schedule an appointment, call (619) 400-8251 or visit mysdbb.org/donor/schedules/drive_schedule/45284. For information about COVID-19 safety measures, visit sandiegobloodbank.org.

Warwick’s presents local author at in-person signing event

Warwick’s bookstore will host La Jolla author Vivianne Knebel for an in-person signing of her book “From Rubble to Champagne” from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13, at 7812 Girard Ave. in La Jolla.

Knebel will appear as part of Warwick’s Weekends with Locals program, which features San Diego authors in their first local signing event.

Social distancing will be in effect, and the author and visitors must wear masks. Hand sanitizer will be provided.

Customers must present the author with proof of purchase before having their books signed.

For more information, visit warwicks.com/weekends-locals.

Enhance La Jolla board election set for Sept. 15

Enhance La Jolla, an organization dedicated to maintenance and physical improvement of The Village, will hold an in-person election for four available board seats from 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15, at the La Jolla Recreation Center at 615 Prospect St.

Voting is open to all commercial and residential property owners within the district boundaries. Enhance La Jolla has 13 directors on its governing board. The seats up for election are for a nonprofit property owner, a residential property owner, a La Jolla Community Foundation member and an at-large member.

For more information, visit enhancelajolla.org or email manager@enhancelajolla.org.

La Jolla Country Day returning $4.4 million from PPP

Saying it has exceeded its enrollment target for the 2020–21 school year, the private La Jolla Country Day School said it is returning the entire $4.4 million loan it received in May through the federal Paycheck Protection Program intended to keep people employed during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The enrollment reflects the faculty and staff’s hard work and dedication to successfully adapt and reimagine the educational experience during this pandemic. With extraordinary enrollment, the reason LJCDS secured the loan did not materialize,” Head of School Gary Krahn said in a statement.

More than 40,000 businesses and organizations in San Diego County received $1.4 billion in loans through the Paycheck Protection Program.

Search warrants were served in disappearance of ex-La Jolla resident

Riverside County sheriff’s investigators looking into the mysterious disappearance of former La Jolla resident Lydia “Dia” Abrams served search warrants in June at her ranch and other properties she owned, including a rental property where they seized thousands of marijuana plants, CBS8-TV reported this week.

Detectives also seized an RV owned by Abrams’ fiancé, Keith Harper, and searched his storage business in New Mexico.

Abrams went missing June 6 from her Bonita Vista Ranch in Mountain Center, 11 miles east of Idyllwild. She is the widow of Clem Abrams, a La Jolla developer who died in 2018.

A June 9 warrant called the disappearance “suspicious” and said “foul play is suspected,” CBS8 reported.

Harper has denied any involvement in Abrams’ disappearance and said they had planned to get married in Wyoming on July 24, according to the station.

City delays full parking enforcement through September

The city of San Diego is delaying resumption of full parking enforcement until Oct. 1 due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on vehicle use.

Full enforcement, which the city suspended March 16, had been scheduled to resume Sept. 1.

Since mid-March, the city has continued to issue citations for violations such as parking illegally at red, white or blue curbs.
But there has been no enforcement for violations of street-sweeping parking restrictions, metered parking, time-limit parking or parking in yellow commercial zones.

City officials say their decision on when to resume full enforcement involves weighing the benefits to merchants of higher vehicle turnover against concerns about residents working from home or coping with job losses.

Friends of the La Jolla Library gives $10,000 for e-books

To help those who can’t visit their local branch for contactless pickup of books, the Friends of the La Jolla Library recently donated $10,000 for the purchase of additional electronic resources (e-books and audio books) for the library system.

“Library patrons who are unable to physically get to a library branch or would just prefer to download books from home will now have a broader selection from which to choose,” said Friends of the La Jolla Library President Linda Dowley. “And thanks to the city of San Diego program where donations are matched at 50 percent, the total amount available for new materials should be $15,000. The county library system has 55,000 titles in their electronic collection and the San Diego library system has only 15,000. We hope the Friends of the La Jolla Library’s donation will beef up the offerings for our San Diego library patrons, minimize wait times to check out popular e-books and help patrons who rely on the library for their audio books.”

UC San Diego student wins cybersecurity award

UC San Diego undergraduate Jessica Lam has won one of four $5,000 Women in Cybersecurity Scholarship awards from global cybersecurity company ESET, which has its U.S. headquarters in San Diego.

Lam, a computer science major, leads the membership committee for UCSD’s cybersecurity division of the Association for Computing Machinery chapter. Lam also is a member of CyberDEI and Women in Cybersecurity and has won several awards, placing first in the Secure Code Warriors competition presented by Women in Cyber Security Silicon Valley and earning fourth place in the New York edition.

JCC campus gets $1.8 million donation for day programs

The Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center Jacobs Family Campus in La Jolla recently received a $1.8 million donation to the JCC Movement from Sharon and David Wax of San Diego.

The Waxes’ donation will help fund programs like All Day at the J, which enables working parents to have a place for their children in kindergarten through eighth grade to go during the day to work on their school’s distance learning curriculum.

For more information on The J, visit lfjcc.org.

Scripps Green launches new organ collection system for transplants

Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla has launched a first-of-its-kind system for San Diego County to retrieve organs from deceased donors for transplant.

The new system is being introduced in a phased approach starting this month, with all deceased donors from Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla and Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas being transported to the organ recovery center at Scripps Green. Later this year, Scripps Mercy Hospital’s San Diego and Chula Vista campuses will begin participating in the program.

“The opening of this new center will provide the optimal setting to medically manage the deceased organ collection process so the maximum number of organs can be collected in the most viable state and as rapidly as possible for transplantation,” said Dr. Christopher Marsh, division chief of the Scripps Center for Organ Transplantation at Scripps Green Hospital.

Scripps Green is at 10666 N. Torrey Pines Road.

La Jolla Soroptimist elects co-presidents

Soroptimist International of La Jolla has two new co-presidents.

Maria Ramirez is a retired pharmacology executive and Ronda Landrum owns the accounting firm RFL Management.

SILJ is the local nonprofit member of Soroptimist International, which works to provide women and girls access to education and training.

La Jolla High grad gets Girl Scout Gold Award

La Jolla High School 2019 graduate Serena Jones has earned the Gold Award, the highest achievement in the Girl Scouts.

To achieve the honor, Jones developed an educational campaign called Critical Aid Relief Effort to help educate La Jolla students on how to be safe in natural disasters. She presented events to teach survival and planning techniques, held a clothing drive around her school and helped implement and maintain a water bottle refill station on campus.

City lifeguard tryouts scheduled

The city of San Diego will hold lifeguard tryout sessions Oct. 15-17 and Feb. 25-27 at Ventura Cove at Mission Bay, 1000 W. Mission Bay Drive.

Candidates must sign up at least two weeks in advance. The Lifeguard I position is open and has starting hourly pay of $17.32.

Learn more or apply at sandiego.gov/bealifeguard, or call (619) 221-8844.

La Jolla Realtor is named best agent in U-T readers poll

For the second year in a row, Eric Kalisky of the La Jolla office of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties has been named Best Real Estate Agent in The San Diego Union-Tribune’s 2020 “San Diego’s Best” readers poll.

“My ultimate goal is to provide my clients with the best service they have ever received. I am always available for all of their real estate needs, day or night,” said Kalisky, a luxury homes and relocation specialist.

The retired Navy commander received the La Jolla Sunrise Rotary Club’s Rotarian of the Year award in 2017.

Coldwell Banker agents donate supplies to SDUSD

Agents affiliated with San Diego offices of Coldwell Banker Realty filled a truck full of school supplies, backpacks and hygiene products and donated them to the office of Children and Youth in Transition at the San Diego Unified School District and donated nonperishable food items to the nonprofit Feeding America.

The donation drive took place before the school year started Aug. 31.

“Our affiliate agents are always looking for ways to give back to the communities they serve,” said Jeff Nunn, branch manager of the La Jolla office of Coldwell Banker Realty. “Even during a pandemic, they find ways to be a source for good and meet the needs of our community. Uplifting acts like these help to spread the joy that we need right now.”

— Compiled by La Jolla Light staff ◆