TURN TO HELP WANTED ON

VISTA RESIDENTS Mark Loigman, above, and his wife Jannah set up a food pantry in their driveway for needy families during the pandemic. The city of Vista is shutting down the pantry due to code violations. Courtesy photo

Vista shuts down local food pantry

By Anneliese Esparza

VISTA — A neighborhood food pantry is being shut down by the City of Vista for not adhering to a city zoning ordinance.

Residents Mark and Jannah Loigman have been operating Angel’s Food Pantry and Community Cupboard out of their home’s driveway since March 2020, when the pandemic started.

In addition to giving out shelf-stable food items, the Loigmans’ pantry also provided toys and books to families in need. All items were acquired through donations and were given to recipients free of charge.

According to Assistant City Manager Amanda Lee, the city’s code enforcement department surveyed the property after receiving a complaint. It then issued a notice of violation for accumulating items in the front yard and “operating a distribution hub in a residential zone,” Lee said in an email to The Coast News.

Jannah Loigman, who also goes by the nickname Angel, said that the pantry has been a crucial resource to families in need during the pandemic.

“A lot of people were having a hard time having food, so we decided we would put a couple of cans of food out there, or pasta and sauce, that kind of thing, just to help,” Jannah Loigman said. “The neighbors started adding to it, and it just kind of grew into... a pretty helpful operation for folks in our community.

“We had created a place where people could come in with dignity ... these are people that, because of COVID, lost their jobs ... people who had never even asked for food, and were embarrassed to do it.”

Jannah Loigman herself experienced food insecurity as a young single mother, which inspired her to help others once she had the resources to.

“I know what it’s like to struggle. We’re not wealthy people, but my husband is back at work now, and it was my time to give back,” she said.

She has been operating the food pantry seven days a week, nine hours a day or more and has formed a personal connection with many of the people who visited the pantry.

“I really put my heart and soul into creating a space of warmth: feeding more than just people’s bodies, but actually becoming friends and listening to their stories and knowing their children,” Jannah Loigman said. “It just became a beautiful community.”

At the Vista City Council’s May 25 meeting, several residents voiced their opinion that the pantry should remain open.

One was Dan O’Donnell, a businessman and vice president of the Democratic Club of Vista.

“When people go (to the pantry), they find friendship,” O’Donnell told the council. “They find mental health resources. They find individuals who share a common bond with them and know that they struggle together and know there is hope at the end of the tunnel.”

Elissa Yassine, a Vista resident who has used the pantry herself, said that an advantage of Angel’s Food Pantry & Community Cupboard over a larger food bank is that you can take what you need instead of getting an entire box of food that recipients might not be able to eat, either because it is too much food or because they have dietary restrictions.

“By utilizing the items that Angel’s Food Pantry & Community Cupboard has available to us, we are not only saving the county money, we are also preventing unnecessary food waste,” Yassine said.

Yassine has also started a petition to keep the food pantry open, which has been signed by nearly 900 people.

The Loigmans intend to comply with the city, but they are hopeful that their pantry can somehow remain open to help those in need.

By Tigist Layne

ESCONDIDO — After an officer-involved shooting back in April that resulted in the death of Steven John Olson, a 59-year-old homeless man, the city of Escondido experienced a renewed push for police oversight from community activists.

But that won’t be happening any time soon.

Escondido Police Chief Ed Varso told The Coast News that there is no future agenda item planned for the Escondido City Council to consider a police oversight committee at this time.

Varso added that with a new incoming city manager, it is possible the department and the council will revisit the issue at a later date.

The last time the council discussed police oversight was in October of 2020, but the issue was not up for a motion or a vote so the council did not reach a consensus on an approach to take.

“You can support law enforcement, support public safety and support transparency,” Councilwoman Consuelo Martinez said at the October meeting. “Creating some type of board… is the right thing to do, it’s the transparent thing to do, it’s the timely thing to do.”

The demand for a police oversight committee escalated in Escondido after the death of George Floyd in Minnesota last year, along with a push for stronger de-escalation policies and cuts to the police budget.

So far, only one of those demands has been met. In March, the Escondido Police Department created a standalone de-escalation policy.

The policy calls for officers to gather all of the information they can before entering a potentially tense situation. It also says that officers should use tactics to lower the intensity during these encounters.

Officers are called to stay calm, listen to the individual in question and use clear and concise language.

If necessary, officers can even disengage, or walk away from a situation, as long as the person isn’t a threat to others.

This is the first standalone de-escalation policy the department has created.

When it comes to the city’s police budget, it has seen a steady increase over the past several years.

The city’s budget for the fiscal year 2021/22 includes a $2.7 million increase in the city’s police budget from last year, bringing it to more than $49 million.

The recent officer-involved shooting was one of several in the city over the past couple of decades.

A review of public records by the Union-Tribune last year revealed that 217 people died at the hands of county-wide law enforcement over the last 20 years, and 12 of them were in Escondido. Nine of those deaths occurred between 2001 and 2011.

PICKETING

CONTINUED FROM 3 reading of the ordinance.

The council received dozens of public comments at Tuesday’s meeting, with the majority of comments urging councilmembers not to approve the ordinance.

Councilwoman Nunez, who opposed the motion both times, said at the last meeting that she feels the ordinance was created once it started affecting “decision makers and people of power, such as elected officials.”

Back in February, when the San Diego Tenants Union was leading several protests on behalf of low-income tenants that were being evicted from the Villa Serena Apartments, the union posted on social media about protesting in front of Mayor Jones’ house.

However, Jones told The Coast News that the ordinance has nothing to with that specific incident. “It’s not to protect people who are elected up here… it’s to protect the dozens of regular people who have been tasked with making controversial decisions in our society who find themselves having their front lawns filled with people,” Councilman Walton said. “This is almost identical to the County of San Diego’s law.”

The motion was approved 4-1.

The council also discussed naming recommendations for the park that is within the San Marcos Creek Project.

The options came down to either Paseo del Arroyo Park or Creekside Park.

Councilmembers unanimously chose to name it Paseo del Arroyo Park, which means “Creek Walk” in Spanish, the second most spoken language in San Marcos.

BIA NAMES CEO

Former Escondido mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler has been named president and CEO of the Building Industry Association of San Diego County. She replaces retiring CEO Borre Winckel, who led the BIA for 13 years. Holt Pfeiler starts July 6.

HELP WANTED

CONTINUED FROM 1 either fortified with their unemployment and unemployment benefits, which includes the additional government funding that they’ve gotten. Second, if everybody’s not back at work, then, you know, a lot of people are dependent on whether they can get child care, which is a big expense.”

Don Romo, director of development for Erickson Hall Construction, said that they are struggling to hire people who have the right skill sets.

“We hire superintendents, project managers, project engineers, project executives, staff, field staff, all of that, and those people are in short supply all throughout the industry right now,” Romo said. “You’re going to see it starting to impact job costs, and it’s also starting to impact delivery time because things just take longer to get built.”

He added that the industry is looking for people with the right skill set and the desire to build.

“It’s not a good thing, but it’s temporary. We’ve been around a long time, and this is temporary. We just need to keep doing the best we can to be positive and successful and the rest will work out,” Romo said.