Monday, November 16, 2015

Upcoming November 24 Community Town Hall Topic: Homelessness

Many neighbors across San Carlos, Del Cerro, Allied Gardens and Grantville have expressed grave concern with the inundation of homeless in our community over the past several months.  Some have shared their own hair-raising stories on NextDoor.com    

The Allied Gardens – Grantville Community Council will host a very important Public Safety Forum with the San Diego Police Department on the proliferation of serial-inebriates and mentally ill homeless individuals that are making our community their new hang out.  The Forum will be held at our next Town Hall Meeting on November 24th at 7pm, Ascension Lutheran Church, located at 5106 Zion Avenue.

Leadership from the San Diego Police Department will explain what they are doing to address this challenge including the formation of new police teams as well as what we can do as concerned citizens to ensure that this challenge does not disproportionately affect crime and nuisance-related activity in and around where we live, shop, and recreate.  Please come and share your concerns with SDPD and hear what we can do to partner with the police to ensure Navajo remains the best community in San Diego

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

AG First Fridays 1st Free Concert Series in Allied Gardens Community Park presented by Ideal Plumbing is June 5th!

 

 

Grab your lawn chairs and picnic blankets!

The Allied Gardens – Grantville Community Council in conjunction with Kiwanis and the publishers at the Mission Times Courier have created “AG First Fridays” which is a FREE concert series in Allied Gardens Community Park on the first Friday of each month from 6 to 8 pm.

Our mission is to provide our neighbors and friends of all ages a venue where we can congregate, enjoy local musical talent, and celebrate the summer as valued members of our community.  Our goal is to create a neighborhood tradition.
 
We will encourage families to bring picnics and get to know their neighbors; permitting restrictions will not allow us to have any items for sale. 



Our first band June 5th is none other than Y3K!

Y3K means "YEAR 3000", and is San Diego's premiere band specializing in familiar and fun live dance hits from the 80's, 90's and today, not just the classic oldies, Y3K is the band for events where all ages will be present.

With three lead vocalists, 4 part harmony, male and female vocalists, keyboards, guitar, bass, drums and percussion, Y3K has the tools and talent to accurately cover hits from any decade, so everyone joins in the fun.

The members of Y3K thoroughly enjoy entertaining, a refreshing quality that is contagious to audiences. The most frequent comment is "You are all so much fun!"

Monday, April 20, 2015

Allied Gardens – Grantville Community Council update

By Jenner Smith

I’m pleased to announce that a few great new things are happening in our community this spring. We have organized a new outdoor concert series and are excited about a potential farmers market coming to the area.

The Allied Gardens/Grantville Community Council, along with help from the Kiwanis Club of Grantville/Allied Gardens, has been working to organize a summer concert series at the Allied Gardens Recreation Center, and we want everyone to mark their calendars for “First Fridays.” Our goal is to bring together neighbors and friends of all ages to celebrate summer in our community while supporting local music talent. We are planning a series of four concerts on the following “First Fridays”: June 5, July 3, Aug. 7 and Sept. 4 (the first Friday of each month) from 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Allied Gardens Recreation Center.

Across the street, the Kiwanis Club of Grantville/Allied Gardens is also working on setting up a farmers market in the parking lot of the Allied Gardens Shopping Center, near the vacant Albertsons space. They have not set a firm date yet, however hope to announce it in the next few weeks. This will not affect the shopping center’s owner from continuing to pursue a new tenant to take over the Albertsons space. As Councilmember Scott Sherman’s office confirmed at the most recent “State of the Neighborhood” event, the center is still looking to lease the former Albertsons space to another local grocer.

Thanks to robust community support and donations, the new clock is up and running at the corner of Waring Road and Zion Avenue. We owe a big “thank you” to Kiwanis for spearheading this effort. In addition, we want to say a special “thank you” to Paving Stone of San Diego, who donated their services for the installation of the bricks and RCP Block and Brick, who donated the bricks themselves.

Once again, I’m proud to see so many members of our community come together to enhance its character. I encourage everyone in the community to join us for the First Fridays concert series this summer, and to continue to attend the quarterly Allied Gardens/Grantville Community Council town hall meetings. The next one is Tuesday, May 26 at 7 p.m. at Ascension Lutheran Church, 5106 Zion Ave.

—Jenner Smith is a member of the Allied Gardens/Grantville Community Council.

Monday, January 19, 2015

Update on Albertsons Closure & Liquidation Action Plan

Allied Gardens Friends and Neighbors:

I wanted to provide an update on the Albertsons supermarket closure located at Zion & Waring. As I stated Saturday, I am committed to keeping you all informed about what is and will happen as credible information comes out.    

On Saturday afternoon I met directly with the Albertsons store manager -- She presented to me that the store would be closing on February 27th because they were unable to renew their lease terms with the property owner. That story was ratified when speaking to the General Manager this morning -- she was quite tight-lipped and encouraged me to communicate directly with the Albertsons LLC Corporate Communications.
This morning I had an extensive dialogue with Albertson Corporate Communications Director.  This is the factual informational presented:

1.)   Albertsons LLC is the sole owner of our neighborhood Albertsons.  Albertsons LLC is a private shareholder group.  There is no ownership/financial relationship with Haggen Inc based in Washington State.  Some neighbors had suggested that Haggen's recent purchase of purchase 146 food stores across Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington -- including VONS -- was the reason this store was closing. That is NOT the reason the store is closing. 

2.)   Executive leadership at Albertsons LLC, the sole owner of our neighborhood Albertsons, made the decision on their own to close our Albertsons because, "It was not meeting expectations," "determined it was not a viable location to continue operation" and that this was an irrevocable "business decision" made by Albertsons LLC ownership.

3.)   Albertsons LLC will initiate a liquidation action plan starting Wednesday, January 21st.  It was explained to me that everything in the store will be available for sale -- from food to fixtures.  It was presented to me that the target date to close the store was February 26th.  However, if the liquidation action plan is completed before the 26th, they could and would close the store sooner.

After that conversation, a Boardmember of the Community Council who is also a real estate executive, reached out to the property owner who is the landowner of the entire mall.  The property owner claims they were not aware of the closure until the information was presented to them by the Community Council Boardmember.  This is the factual information presented:

1.)   The property owner would value working with the community to find another viable food store.  It will most likely will be a prolonged process.

2.)   The property owner did not require the Albertsons to close

3.)   Some neighbors suggested the property was to be torn down to build high-density apartments.  The property owner says this information is not credible.

While all the information above is verified by me as fact, it remains a very fluid situation.  I will ensure that you all get information as the facts present themselves. 

The Allied-Gardens Community Council will be holding a Community Town Hall on Tuesday, January 27th at 7pm at Ascension Lutheran Church at the top of Zion to discuss the most up-to-date information about the closure and what we can do as a community to advocate for a new food store. 

Logic suggests that big box national food chains might be apprehensive to try their luck at this location but we may be able to lure a smaller niche food store like Trader Joe's or Sprouts.  Once again, we are the beginning of a long marathon -- we're all in this together.  Let's make good decision based on fact and limit conjecture. 

FYI:  San City Attorney Jan Goldsmith will be the Keynote of the Town Hall on January 27th.  He will discuss the proliferation of illegal marijuana dispensaries that have popped up in Grantville and the strategies he is deploying to close illegal / non-conforming dispensaries.  He’ll also explain the municipal code process to zone legal conforming medial marijuana outlets.

See you all January 27th at 7pm at the Allied Gardens-Grantville Town Hall Meeting!
Best regards,

Anthony Wagner
President Allied Gardens-Grantville Community Council


619-253-4989
@AnthonyWagnerSD

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Albertsons Permanent Closure on February 27



Allied Gardens Friends & Neighbors:

Several of you have reached out to me today with information that the Albertsons located at Zion and Waring may be shuttered.  Today, I verified with the Albertsons manager that they were unable to come to lease terms with the property owner and it will close on February 27th.  I've requested a meeting with Albertsons management on Monday to glean additional information.  
 
I'm in communication with Councilmember Scott Sherman and we both understand the gravity of loosing a food store anchor in our community and what it means for some of our elderly neighbors.  I am committed to keeping you all informed about what is and will happen as credible information comes out.

Best regards,

Anthony Wagner, 
President Allied Gardens-Grantville Community Council

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Del Cerro Action Council keynote speaker: Kevin Beiser

Good evening Allied Gardens neighbors,

Mark your calendars...

School Board Member Kevin Beiser will be the keynote speaker at the Del Cerro Action Council meeting on January 22 at 7pm at Temple Emanu-El.  He will provide an update on the San Diego Unified School District and the schools in the Patrick Henry Cluster in particular.