Escondido

Arts, Escondido December 13, 2015

Fun Saturday around Escondido featured parade, art walk, and festivities downtown

“Maple Street Plaza was bustling with craft vendors and shoppers. Downtown Escondido was alive today with seasonal spirit.” — Matt Fox, realtor Saturday started early and continued often around downtown Escondido with  “A Superhero Christmas” kicking off at 9:30 a.m. at Escondido High School. That would be, in other words, the staging point for the Escondido Jaycees 65th Annual Christmas Parade. Under cool, but sunny skies,…

Business, Escondido December 8, 2015

Iconic Major Market has gone to the Stumps

Escondido’s iconic upscale supermarket, Major Market, has gone to the Stumps. That’s Stump’s Family Marketplace with an upscale market at Ocean Beach Stump’s wasted no time taking over the Major Market brand either, quickly rebranding the store’s Facebook sites. Actually, it was a week of coming and going for Stump’s, which had its 10,000-square-foot Rancho Santa Fe outlet closed after landlord Susan Wooley raised the…

Escondido December 1, 2015

‘Price is Right’ goes wrong for controversial Southwest Sewer Realignment Project

Toxic waste below didn’t stop this project. Bids straight out of a “Price is Right” show gone wrong sure did. Based on the recommendation of Escondido Director of Utilities Chris McKinney, the Southwest Sewer Realignment project along Felicita Road, slated to begin this month, has gone back to the old fiscal drawing board. Bids were wildly divergent, ranging from $6.4 million to nearly $17 million….

Escondido November 26, 2015

Ultimate coffee experience: CULTURE Craft Coffee & Espresso comes to The Centre

They always do it up right at The Centre, Escondido with top quality shops, a luxury Lexus of Escondido dealership, Vintana fine dining and now this, CULTURE Craft Coffee & Espresso. CULTURE held its grand opening celebration last week during which coffee and company took over the ground floor of The Centre and a good time was had by all. “This is a very good…

Escondido, Homelessness November 22, 2015

Sustainable Heroes transform Aster Street transitional housing into Aster Gardens

At a frenzied, yet fruitful, pace Saturday, and Sunday, Sustainable Heroes volunteers from across the nation transformed a parched piece of transitional housing dirt into Aster Street Gardens, a landscaping delight. Beginning shortly after sunrise, celebrity TV host Ahmed Hassan of DIY Network/HGTV “Yard Crashers” fame, along with outdoor living designer Duane Draughon of Columbus, Ohio and about 30 volunteers got down to work, and…

Escondido November 20, 2015

Clark’s back with another hotel scheme and other Escondido City Council tales

Two items on Wednesday’s closed session of the Escondido City Council caught my attention, both property negotiations. First was the City’s property at 2269 East Valley Pkwy., and the negotiating party the American Heritage Charter Schools. That property is now leased by one of the Escondido Community Child Development Centers (ECCDC). I was concerned that, once again, the city was evicting a needy tenant to…

Escondido, Homelessness November 20, 2015

Solutions for Change affordable housing project gets $2.1 million Escondido boost

Escondido City Council members approved with extreme enthusiasm $2.1 million toward an affordable housing solution for Solutions for Change. It’s part of the non-profit group’s plan to provide housing for battered, abused women and children next year.   It was a Wednesday love fest of sorts for the Vista-based non-profit started in 1999 by “social entrepreneurs” Chris and Tammy Megison, who attended the council meeting…

Escondido, Politics November 17, 2015

Big Escondido city manager salary reveal and more came Wednesday (spoiler alert)

Time for the big reveal on Wednesday, Nov. 18. That’s when the Escondido City Council members unanimously approved, with no practical discussion, the new $234,719 annual base salary with an additional, and lucrative, benefits package and contract for newly hired city manager Graham Mitchell who assumes office Dec. 18. It’s the same as outgoing city manager Clay Phillips got in his last three-year contract although Mitchell…

Escondido November 7, 2015

Blue View for Escondido: 10 more years for Escondido Research and Technology Center

‘That means 10 more years for the Escondido Research and Technology Center. Let’s hope it develops businesses a little more high tech than a hospital, a power plant, and a brewery.’ Things were pretty mundane for most of Wednesday’s (Nov. 4) Escondido City Council meeting. Everyone had a positive view of Westfield North County’s plans to build a theater complex. Well, Councilman Ed Gallo had…