THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
San Diego Community Newspaper Group
www.SDNEWS.com Volume 27, Number 18
Myriad changes greet students returning to Point Loma Cluster BY DAVE SCHWAB | THE BEACON Now that Labor Day has come and gone, students in the Point Loma Cluster of schools are back in class, having turned the page on another summer and beginning a new academic calendar year. The Point Loma school cluster includes Point Loma High School, Correia and Dana middle schools, as well as Silver Gate, Cabrillo, Dewey, Loma Portal, Sunset View and Ocean Beach elementary schools. Principals at Point Loma High and Ocean Beach Elementary said they’re delighted students have returned, noting they have much
to look forward to in the new school year. Hans Becker, the new principal at Point Loma High who served for five years as vice principal, talked about his educational philosophy. “I told staff what we focus on becomes our reality, that the things we value, what’s important to us, is what expands and grows us,” Becker said. Becker discussed how his school intends to put that theory into practice. “As educators, we look at what we do and what’s working, and we try to amplify that, replicate that SEE SCHOOLS, Page 4
Frustrations mount over homeless dilemma Merchants and residents in the Midway/sports arena area say they are growing weary of the problems associated with a growing number of homeless people, many of whom push shopping carts to truck around their worldly belongings. With the exception of an occasional arrest, police often can do little, short of offering social service programs and forcing homeless to relocate to other areas. Photos by Dave Schwab I The Beacon
Options in Midway/sports arena area and elsewhere often limited BY DAVE SCHWAB | THE BEACON
T
Students returning to the Point Loma Cluster of schools will find many new changes afoot, including new administrators, construction projects and programs. Photo by Don Balch I The Beacon
Vision for new OB Veterans’ Plaza to be unveiled Sept. 12 BY TONY DE GARATE | THE BEACON The latest design of a plaza that will honor America’s veterans while underscoring the iconic vibe of the Ocean Beach community will be unveiled next week. Steve Grosch, who has chaired a yearlong effort to replace the worn-out, difficult-to-decipher sidewalk medallions at the current Veterans’ Plaza at the foot of Newport Avenue, said the design will be displayed in public for the first time at the monthly meeting of the Ocean Beach Community Development Corporation on Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center, 4726 Santa
Monica Ave. The new plaza will be based on the “Life Journey” design first unveiled by the design firm KTU+A during a public workshop hosted by the OBCDC in April. The plan also calls for the plaza to be moved to the grassy area on Abbott Street, immediately south of the lifeguard tower. “Life Journey” emphasizes a beach feel and reflects the importance and significance of coastline, designers said. It’s a walkway that runs from Abbott Street to a gathering plaza next to the sand, and features four granite walls with the
SEE HOMELESS, Page 5 SEE VETERANS, Page 3
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he Midway/sports arena area is known for its major sporting/concert venue, shopping centers and warehouse district and — less desirably — for its high-profile homelessness problems. Not that the homeless issue is necessarily any worse here than elsewhere in San Diego, where the region’s year-round temperate climate draws those living unsheltered existences. Maybe it just seems worse because it’s so noticeable. “They’re everywhere,” said Walter Andersen, owner of Andersen Nursery at 3642 Enterprise St. near the intersection of Barnett Avenue and Pacific Highway. “It drives us crazy. And it drives the Panhandling is among the long list of complaints by local merchants and residents, who say there police department crazy moving people seems to be one or more homeless panhandlers practically at every intersection in the Midaround who just go somewhere else. It’s way/sports arena areas. very frustrating.” Noting the homeless situation “has been a mess” for at least the last three Police are conyears, Andersen said outdoor encamptinually breakments are rampant, with “cardboard ing up illegal boxes all up and down” from Big Lots to encampments his nursery. by the home“There’s usually someone sleeping in less, who something almost every night,” he said. often leave Andersen said he believes one of the trash, clothing reasons why homeless frequent the area and other is that they have easy access to post office debris behind boxes where they get whatever financial when they subsistence they depend on, and because move on. “there are a lot of liquor stores and fastfood restaurants are everywhere. They
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