La Jolla News Nuggets: Mural to be replaced; Rosemont Trading Post removed; Historical Society camp; more
Faded Fay Avenue mural removed to make room for something new
The Murals of La Jolla program removed a mural earlier this month to make room for an as-yet undecided mural at 7450 Fay Ave.
“Bill 2,” designed by artist Alex Katz and installed in 2019, was taken down as the bright yellow background had faded almost completely, said Murals of La Jolla Executive Director Lynda Forsha.
A new mural is being decided by a program committee. Forsha said she expects the new mural to be installed in about a month.
Rosemont Trading Post removed from La Jolla Bike Path
The originator of the Rosemont Trading Post, which was installed on the La Jolla Bike Path in early 2021 so people could leave items they no longer needed and pick up something left by others, took it down June 7.
“Despite the best efforts of many, the trading post often became cluttered,” Rozanne Edwards said. “There were incidents of destruction of items as well as occurrences of the post being tipped over, creating structural issues.”
Edwards said native plants will take the place of the trading post.
The Rosemont Trading Post was “a concept created for a community committed to sustainable stewardship of local resources,” Edwards said. “The high turnover rate proved neighbors valued the model.”
Edwards thanked those who contributed items and time to the trading post.
La Jolla Historical Society to offer ‘Shaping Our Stories’ summer camp
The San Diego Foundation has awarded the La Jolla Historical Society a Level Up San Diego grant, which will be used to create a free summer camp program for San Diego Unified School District students in grades 3-5.
Level Up SD is a reimagined summer school experience offered to SDUSD students.
For its camp, the La Jolla Historical Society has created a program called “Shaping Our Stories,” which will invite students to explore how objects, photographs and buildings communicate stories about the past. Participants will use historic structures in La Jolla and materials from the Historical Society’s archive to uncover how life has changed in the San Diego region through time. The program will culminate in a student-designed exhibition featuring personal artifacts and interviews that students will conduct with a caregiver, friend or neighbor.
Shaping Our Stories will be offered at Wisteria Cottage, 780 Prospect St., on three separate weeks: June 27 to July 1, Aug. 8-12 and Aug. 15-19. Registration is required. To learn more, email Lauren Lockhart at llockhart@lajollahistory.org.
La Jolla Boulevard property sold; may be developed into mixed-use building
The corner commercial property at 5575 La Jolla Blvd. in Bird Rock has been sold for $3.35 million. The sellers dissolved a partnership and sold the property to Pelican Venture LP, led by brothers Russ and Scott Murfey. Franco Realty Group, led by Michael Elliott and Tony Franco, represented the buyer and seller.
The property currently has two vacant 1,500-square-foot office buildings on a 13,020-square-foot lot — one of Bird Rock’s largest commercial parcels. The buyer is considering developing a mixed-use commercial and residential project, the details of which have not been confirmed.
Franco Realty also sold the former “Piano Building” at 5680 La Jolla Blvd., which is being renovated and converted into a restaurant called Paradisaea.
DPR doesn’t vote on Lower Hermosa development; asks applicant to return
A remodeling project went before the La Jolla Development Permit Review Committee during its June 14 meeting, but trustees had questions that prevented them from voting on it. The project will return at a future meeting.
The proposal calls for coastal development and site development permits to redevelop a 6,807-square-foot, two-story single-family residence at 5960 Camino de la Costa.
Applicant Mark House said major changes include “adding about 606 square feet of new space, a pool in the backyard, hardscape and redoing the look of the space and adjusting some ceiling heights, creating an upper deck and redoing the front and back courtyard.”
People who live in the area had concerns about the increased roof height and whether the proposed terrace would block views of the ocean.
The DPR Committee asked for outlines of the existing house and the new house, among other items.
San Diego retreats from ADU parking exemption, but only in coastal areas
The city of San Diego retreated June 20 from a blanket parking exemption the city had given to those who construct new accessory dwelling units, sometimes called “granny flats.”
Prompted by complaints from the California Coastal Commission, the City Council voted unanimously to require new ADUs near the beach to have parking spots if they aren’t close to a trolley stop or a bus line with frequent service.
The Coastal Commission said allowing residents of new ADUs to take up scarce parking spots near the beach would make it harder for tourists and residents from inland areas to park near the beach.
“It represents a potential substantial intensification of residential development in the coastal zone without a commensurate increase in off-street parking,” the commission said. “An increase in parking demand could result in residents of the accessory uses, the primary residence, or both, occupying public parking that would otherwise be used by coastal visitors, increasing the burden of accessing the coast and deterring coastal recreation.”
The Coastal Commission has expressed several concerns regarding coastal areas and sought some modifications to the city’s policies.
In addition to the new parking requirements in coastal areas, the commission demanded that the city retreat from making ADU construction in coastal areas exempt from review by the city. Instead, developers of ADUs in coastal areas will be required to go through a similar process to that required for a building permit. City officials say no appeals will be allowed, contending approvals still will be much easier than before.
The city’s coastal zone is essentially the neighborhoods west of Interstate 5, with some small variations. ADU construction in the rest of the city will remain exempt from review and exempt from parking requirements. — The San Diego Union-Tribune
UC San Diego changes name of RIMAC Arena to LionTree Arena
UC San Diego has changed the name of its RIMAC Arena to LionTree Arena to honor an independent investment and merchant bank that gave the school $5 million for scholar-athletes.
LionTree was founded by Aryeh Bourkoff, the company’s chief executive and a UCSD alumnus.
The university said the $5 million represents the largest gift ever to UCSD Athletics. It also comes as UCSD is making the full transition to Division I in NCAA sports. The university joined the Big West Conference as part of that process.
“With Aryeh and LionTree’s generosity, we are able to recruit and retain outstanding scholar-athletes, students and faculty and strengthen the bonds of Triton alumni,” UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said in a statement.
RIMAC — which stands for Recreation, Intramural and Athletic Complex — will carry the name LionTree for up to seven years, campus officials said. The arena, which can hold up to 5,000 people, opened in 1995. — The San Diego Union-Tribune
Armenia issues postage stamp honoring local Nobel Prize winner
Armenia issued a postage stamp June 14 that honors Ardem Patapoutian, the Armenian American scientist at Scripps Research in La Jolla who shared the 2021 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for helping to discover cell receptors that enable people to sense heat, cold, pain, touch and sound.
Patapoutian traveled to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, for a ceremony showcasing the stamp, which features a drawing of the scientist’s face, with his Nobel Prize in the background. He is the first Armenian to win a Nobel.
He later took to social media to say: “Thank you #Armenia for shining a limelight on #science and honoring scientists. Yes! This is an actual stamp with my face on it! ... I am trying to figure out how to process all this.”
“It is pretty surreal,” Patapoutian later told The San Diego Union-Tribune. “If anyone told 18-year-old me that my face would be on a stamp, I would have felt mocked. This is very special to come from Armenia; as a kid I used to collect Armenian stamps.”
Armenian officials said 20,000 of the stamps are expected to go into circulation. — The San Diego Union-Tribune
Scripps Research professor receives U.K.-based award
The United Kingdom’s Royal Society of Chemistry has awarded its 2022 Sir Derek Barton Gold Medal to K. Barry Sharpless, a chemistry professor at Scripps Research in La Jolla.
The award, named for British Nobel laureate chemist Sir Derek Barton (1918-98), is given every two years to recognize innovative research in organic chemistry by a chemist at least 60 years old. This year the award honors Sharpless, 81, for his pioneering work in what is known as “click chemistry.”
Click chemistry, first described in 2001, is a set of methods for constructing chemical compounds via irreversible, highly efficient reactions among smaller molecules. “Click” refers to the Lego-like ease of fitting the elements together. The click chemistry approach is now almost ubiquitous in drug development, biological research and other research and industrial settings using chemistry.
“It is indeed a great honor to receive this award named for my career-long scientific role model and mentor, Sir Derek Barton,” said Sharpless, a Nobel Prize winner.
The award includes the medal, a gift of 3,000 pounds (approximately 3,682 U.S. dollars) and an award dinner in London.
Scripps Research team develops new approach to disease therapeutics
To cure rare genetic diseases, from cystic fibrosis to Niemann-Pick, scientists at Scripps Research in La Jolla have turned to a computational approach usually used to pinpoint the best spot for an oil well.
By using the method to analyze the spatial relationships between different variants of a protein — instead of the relationships between test wells across a landscape — the researchers can obtain valuable information on how a disease affects a protein’s underlying shape and how drugs can restore that shape to normal.
The new method, detailed June 16 in the journal Structure, requires only a handful of gene sequences collected from people with disease.
To show its utility, the Scripps Research team used the method to show why existing drugs for cystic fibrosis fall short of curing the disease.
Already, the team is applying the method to other rare genetic diseases, as well as pursuing new drugs to treat cystic fibrosis.
Salk scientist named Pew-Stewart Scholar
Christina Towers, an assistant professor at La Jolla’s Salk Institute for Biological Studies, has been named a 2022 Pew-Stewart Scholar for Cancer Research as part of a partnership between The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust.
Towers is among this year’s six early-career scientists who each will receive $300,000 over the next four years to support research focused on a better understanding of the causes, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Partnerships advisor joins Conrad Prebys Foundation
Bringing more than four decades of local connections and experience in government, nonprofit and private sectors, Julie Dubick has joined The Conrad Prebys Foundation as its strategic partnerships advisor.
Dubick previously was director of policy and chief of staff to former San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and was a partner and member of the executive committee for the law firm Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek. Before that, she worked for the federal government as assistant director of the U.S. Marshals Service and as a trial attorney for the Justice Department.
She currently is an adjunct professor at California Western School of Law.
Rotary Club of La Jolla fills baskets for Salvation Army
Members of the Rotary Club of La Jolla packed 24 baskets and boxes with goods requested by The Salvation Army for homeless families moving into its new Door of Hope Rady Housing building.
The containers included laundry essentials and personal hygiene products.
— Compiled by La Jolla Light staff ◆
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