PACIFIC BEACHFEST The Mission Bay High School Preservationists will perform on Oct. 3 at Pacific BeachFest, which also includes a fish taco contest, 5k run, surfing, and pro volleyball. PAGE 6
SAN DIEGO COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER GROUP
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
BEACHANDBAYPRESS.COM
Bixby, a stolen bike and the TV reporter After 9,000 miles, a crime, and a happy ending By DAVE SCHWAB It’s a tragedy-turned-triumph story of how a man who pedaled 9,000 miles through 31 states promoting pet adoptions had his bike stolen in Mission Beach – then promptly recovered a day later with the aid of a TV newscaster. Nearly three years ago, bartender-turned-animal welfare spokesman Mike Minnick decided to change his life. Opting to leave his past in the rearview, Minnick quit his job and gave up smoking. He then set out from Texas on a crosscountry “odyssey” with Bixby, his 5-year-old rescue dog, riding on his Yuba
UP THE CREEK WITH A PURPOSE
Lexi and Darcy Castillo along with Caroline Nalezny fish bottles and cans out of Rose Creek during the Coastal Cleanup Day last Saturday morning in Pacific Beach. (Below) USD professor Michel Boudrias speaks with his students as they clean Rose Creek. PHOTOS BY THOMAS MELVILLE
Volunteers help clean Rose Creek Watershed in PB
OKTOBERFEST CLEANUP On Saturday, Sept. 26, from 9 a.m. to noon, join I Love A Clean San Diego and Karl Strauss Brewery (5985 Santa Fe St.) to clean up the upper end of Rose Creek and the Rose Canyon bike path as part of the Oktoberfest Cleanup.
By THOMAS MELVILLE Last Saturday morning, as youth soccer league games filled Mission Bay Park and couples went for pre-breakfast runs along the shore, a group of about 65 residents gathered in the high school parking lot on Grand Avenue to prepare for the worst – in waste. In the shade under some trees at the far end of the Mission Bay High faculty lot, Karin Zirk stood behind a table filled with registration forms,
Following the event, enjoy some brews courtesy of Karl Strauss. For details and to register, visit saverosecreek.org.
bananas and apples, and work gloves. Zirk, a member of Friends of Rose Creek and one of the main organizers of the nonprofit group's events, read-
Saturday was the county's 31st annual Coastal Cleanup Day, and The Friends of Rose Creek joined with I Love A ied the band of volunteers – Clean San Diego to take action who ranged in age from 8 to and clean up one of the most 80 – with suggestions on important watersheds in the where to go and how to be safe while cleaning Rose Creek. SEE CLEANUP, Page 10
‘Itica asked the man nicely, ‘Where did you get that bike?.’ MIKE MINNICK BIKE’S OWNER
Mundo cargo bike, outfitted to accommodate Bixby’s bed in a crate, as well as the pair’s mascot, “Chicken Charlie,” a rubber chicken. The pair’s goal: to promote pet adoption, animal shelters and the welfare of four-legged creatures large SEE BIXBY, Page 2
Planning board votes against ‘Miami-zation’ of Mission Beach Developer plans condos at former elementary school By DAVE SCHWAB In September, Mission Beach Precise Planning Board voted 8-0-2 against turning the former Mission Beach Elementary School property into residences due to perceived violations of the Planned District Ordinance, the beach community’s development blueprint. Some claim that development is the largest – and most character-changing – proposal in Mission Beach in the last 50 years. Developers McKellar McGowan purchased the old Mission Bay Elemen-
tary School property, at 818 Santa Barbara Place, from the San Diego Unified School District. McKellar McGowan plans to raze school structures and build a total of 51 residences on the site, which is proposed to be redeveloped into 18 buildings, including one singlefamily home, two duplexes, four fourplexes and 10 triplexes totaling 178 bedrooms. There are 102 total proposed project parking spaces. SEE CONDOS, Page 5