La Jolla News Nuggets: Community Center reopening, Fay Avenue land, Scripps Health, more
La Jolla Community Center plans June 15 reopening
The La Jolla Community Center will reopen its doors Tuesday, June 15, after being closed for more than a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
LJCC will follow a hybrid model, continuing its current online offerings and adding in-person events. All classes and events will take place in the center’s open-air courtyard or the larger Great Room.
For the record:
4:50 p.m. May 25, 2021This article’s headline and photo have been corrected to reflect that the La Jolla Community Center plans to reopen June 15.
Visitors will be required to maintain social distancing and wear a mask inside the center.
Classes will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, with “welcome back” gifts provided to current members and those who join in June.
For more information, visit ljcommunitycenter.org or call (858) 459-0831.
San Diego council votes to vacate Fay Avenue parcel
The San Diego City Council voted last week to vacate from the city’s inventory a small piece of land across from La Jolla High School, meaning the city can sell the property. The 0.42-acre site spans two lots at the southeast corner of West Muirlands Drive and Fay Avenue.
The San Diego Planning Commission voted to vacate from the city’s inventory a small piece of land across from La Jolla High School, meaning the city can sell the property.
Development Services Department project manager Catherine Rom said the approximately 20,000-square-foot property was originally acquired by the city for public street purposes in the late 1960s and includes a city-owned duplex.
“The street segment has been constructed to its ultimate width and the remnant portion of right of way is no longer needed,” she said.
The proposal was opposed by La Jolla’s planning groups in 2018, with community members questioning whether the property could be used as a small parking lot or overflow parking for La Jolla High School students.
It is not known when the property will be sold or how it will be used.
Scripps Health reports progress in restoring electronic medical records
Scripps Health hopes to restore full electronic medical records capabilities, including resumption of its MyScripps patient portal, in “the latter part of this week,” according to an update sent to patients by its chief executive May 24.
For the first time, Chris Van Gorder, Scripps’ CEO, acknowledged in writing that the cyberattack the organization suffered May 1 was ransomware.
So far, Scripps has not specified the amount of ransom that hackers demanded, or whether it paid the cyber extortionists.
It was the most significant update on the situation at Scripps in weeks and came as the region’s second-largest medical provider entered the fourth week of an attack that snarled its digital resources from scheduling to patient care, forcing many to reschedule appointments while front-line medical professionals had to document their care in paper charts. — The San Diego Union-Tribune
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La Jolla Historical Society’s Carol Olten to be honored
La Jolla Historical Society historian Carol Olten will be recognized as one of the Save Our Heritage Organisation’s 2021 People in Preservation, with an online award presentation set for 4 p.m. Thursday, May 27, at sohosandiego.org.
This year’s awards will honor 12 projects and people across multiple types of historic preservation, from building restorations and adaptive reuse to historic community traditions and arts and cultural centers.
“You will be hard-pressed to find another writer who has a better way with words for sharing San Diego and La Jolla history than La Jolla Historical Society historian Carol Olten,” according to a news release. “The breadth of topics she has written about include discussions of popular architectural styles and building types in La Jolla. She has also chronicled La Jolla landmarks such as the Red Roost and Red Rest, the long-lost Green Dragon Colony and the magnificent Marine Room. Her alluring articles and books flash you back to the past, including captivating facts interspersed between literary paintings of vivid past images.”
UC San Diego opens applications for its startBlue program
UC San Diego has opened applications for startBlue, an accelerator program designed to connect San Diego innovators with resources aimed at solving ocean challenges. The application period ends Friday, July 2.
StartBlue is a joint endeavor between UCSD’s Rady School of Management and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, meant to provide support to researchers looking to bring their products to market.
Eight teams will be selected to start the program in the fall, when they will receive hands-on training and mentorship to bring their “blue,” or water-focused, technology products to market. No affiliation with UC San Diego is required to participate, but teams must have a San Diego presence.
For more information, visit startblue.ucsd.edu.
UCSD students receive scholarships for public service projects
Two UC San Diego students are among 14 scholars awarded $15,000 scholarships by the Donald A. Strauss Foundation for public service projects to be carried out their junior or senior year.
Audrey Bogosian’s project, “Educlinics: Empowering the Armenian Population through Health Education,” aims to establish educational clinics through two existing health centers in the villages of Nerkin Karmiraghbyur and Achajur, Armenia, to combat the lack of health education and resources available to Armenian villagers.
Zina Patel’s project, “This Able: A Platform Empowering Students with Disabilities,” will connect college students interested in joining the workforce with mentors already in the workforce via a free online platform to provide the students with resumé and interview assistance and more.
Essbee Learning Center holds youth writing contest
The Essbee Learning Center is holding its second annual spring writing contest for young authors.
The contest, open to students in kindergarten through eighth grade, asks for works of fiction to be submitted to EssbeeFictionContest@EssbeeLearning.com through Tuesday, June 15.
Entries must include the student’s name, school and grade. Winners will be announced by Thursday, July 15, and will receive a Warwick’s bookstore gift certificate.
La Jolla Christmas Parade opens registration
Registration is open for entries in the 65th annual La Jolla Christmas Parade & Holiday Festival set for 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 5, in The Village. The theme of this year’s parade is “Spirit of La Jolla — Celebrating Home Town Heroes.”
Registration will close Sunday, Aug. 1, or whenever slots in each category are full. For more information, visit ljparade.com.
La Jolla High School slates summer theater program
La Jolla High School will hold a summer theater program from 2 to 5 p.m. Monday, June 21, to Friday, July 30. The program will be run at the school’s Parker Auditorium.
The program will aim to produce a full show live onstage and is open to students from La Jolla High and eighth-graders from Muirlands and Pacific Beach middle schools.
Actors, singers, dancers and backstage “techies” are sought; no experience is necessary.
The program is free. Students must provide their own transportation to and from rehearsals and performances.
Space is limited. To sign up, email Stacey Allen at sallen@sandi.net.
— La Jolla Light staff compiled this report. ◆
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