Rosey's Covid-19 Diary: #Adulting | Taxes Filed | Yard Fun | Boy Girl Party Offers Self Care Gifts | Hijas de Maiz | Chicano Nuevo

I was completely off the news cycle today. It was more of the same---states reopening, spikes in national cases, nearly 3,000 new deaths nationwide in 24 hours, covidiots protesting and flouting the laws and guidelines. Instead, we hung tight at home. I super-slept in because my bed felt so nice, then I buckled down and filed my 2019 taxes. My personal financial health has always been one of my biggest personal flaws. My dad worked in finance for over 30 years in the government, still I've always felt so poor and uneducated in this area for so long. So it was a nice little gratification to deal with that one portion at least. Props to free filing at TaxAct which seamlessly navigated me through W-2s, 1099s, and deductions. Going to still have to deal with past issues and whatnot, but as Erika Jayne said in a recent RHOBH episode, problems have a way of getting bigger the longer you avoid them. So while my plans to buy a new fancy camera are put off indefinitely, I feel a little better that I won't wake up in the middle of the night with cold sweat tax nightmares.

Once that was done, we played in the backyard. A little volleyball, then some football. My dear friend Jeff dropped by with some goods for the 'speakeasy'-- some Alpine beer, a bottle of Bulleit Rye, some ginger ale, the new Heavy Hawaii and Hazel English albums, and some gum for the kiddo. Then we made a nice dinner of links, corn on the cob, and sauteed baby bellas. It was definitely a good day and my spirits are up. Now I'm in the speakeasy with Darren having some cocktails and we're trying to decide if we should keep the smaller window A/C unit or set up the larger one we were gifted. Absolutely feeling 'hashtag blessed' at the moment. We'll eventually start getting out of the house for some time at a park or the coast or a bike ride, but we're just waiting for the weekend to pass and see how things suss out. For now, the backyard will serve us just fine. I'll share a couple links after the jump just for good measure.

Saturday, June 1: Art Around Adams- Free & All Ages!!

Saturday June 1 is Art Around Adams. This is a free and all ages event, except for the 21+ stages at the Ken Club, Rosie's, and The Ould Sod. It runs from Noon to 8pm. Keep in mind, Adams Avenue remains open to vehicular traffic during this event, so mind sidewalks and crosswalks, and use your common sense and look up from your phone every once in awhile.
For all the info you need to know, check out the official site here. For good measure, all the set times after the jump. 

San Diego Newsy Bits Roundup: FM 94/9 SPF 2013, Restaurant News, X-Fest Switcheroo

It has been a while since I've done a newsy bits roundup, but exploring the city on my bike helps me notice things a little bit better. Fortunately, we all have Facebook, so you're probably up to date on a lot of stuff, so I'm just going to post some stuff I've noticed. Lots of things happening around the city.

FM 94/9 Announced their SPF 2013 lineup. The Sandy Parts Festival (SPF) 94/9 - Presented by BUD LIGHT is back at the Oceanside Pier and features Matt & Kim, Youngblood Hawke, Capital Cities, Family of the Year, The Mowgli's, The Palace Ballroom and UCSD Battle of the Bands winner Soda Pants. Tickets are only $15 and can be upgraded to VIP for another $10. The show is Saturday, June 8 at the Junior Seau Amphitheatre at 3pm. Tickets are on sale now.

Back in March, 91X announced their X-Fest lineup. Since then, the lineup has changed slightly and more importantly, they've changed the date of the show. The new lineup has Blink 182, Thirty Seconds To Mars, The Offspring, Jimmy Eat World, Silversun Pickups, The Dirty Heads, Fitz & The Tantrums, Wavves, Atlas Genius, Iamdynamite, and New Politics. Absent from the new lineup were previously announced artists The Offspring, Jimmy Eat World and Capital Cities. The original show was scheduled for May 17th. The new date is Friday, September 20th. Tickets are on sale and previously purchased tickets will be honored. [Update: According to Robin Roth, Capital Cities is the only band on the original lineup who will be absent from the new date.]

Summer concerts are slowly being announced, including the full lineup for Humphrey's 2013 season and the San Diego County Fair Toyota Concert Series Grandstand lineup.

As CityBeat has reported, Kava Lounge has been sold. From what I hear, the new owners are gonna pretty much keep it the same.::

After losing a contentious battle with their landlord, Croce's downtown will be closing at the end of 2013. Here's a farewell message from Ingrid Croce on the Croce's site. ::

30th Street and North Park have added several new beer spots in 2013, including Belching Beaver at 4223 30th Street. It's in the old scooter shop just south of El Cajon Boulevard. The 30th Street Corridor just keeps expanding. Polite Provisions and Soda & Swine have been open for a while now and I finally checked out the former. Not my scene, but I can see why these places are successful. It would be nice if they ponied up for a new bus shelter that would fit their design rather than getting the former one taken down. Pretty lame if you've ever tried to transfer from the 11 to the 2, let alone if you're elderly or a person with a disability.  Just down the street (4494 30th Street) is Poor House Brewing Company which I still have yet to try. Over in Normal Heights, The Heights Tavern opened (with no connection to West Coast Tavern & Uptown Tavern) and this week the Sycamore Den will be opening. Lauren, owner of Kensington Cafe, recently opened The Haven Pizzeria in Kensington, and last summer Village Vino opened on the same block. North Park has a bunch of other additions, including Thorn Street Brewery at 3176 Thorn and the Foundry shuttering and making way for a bar whose name escapes me because the font of their sign is so.bad. El Take It Easy is gone and has been replaced by Hubcap and it looked like a solid menu with tasty craft beers available by the pitcher. Of course, Bottlecraft moved into the hood, too. My friends Kristian and Pat over at MySMN developed a site to keep up with North Park happenings called Living North Park which complements another site, North Park Scene, that has been around awhile. And to round out restaurant news, I hear that the new Stone Brewery restaurant in Liberty Station is opening VERY SOON (though I was asked not to give a specific date) and is going to be the biggest restaurant in San Diego.

This Weekend: Adams Avenue Street Fair

The Adams Avenue Street Fair is back this weekend! I look forward to this event all year long (and not just because it always falls on or around my birthday). This year brings another stellar lineup of bands including The Zeros, Pollyn (from LA), Republic of Letters, Swim Party, Crash Encore, Rio Peligroso, Gregory Page, Robin Henkel, Josh Damigo, The Styletones, Breakestra, Maren Parusel and dozens more spread on 5 stages over two days. The FREE festival runs on Saturday from Noon-10pm and on Sunday from Noon-6pm.

I usually take my dog to the event but with this weather, remember that a dog's pads can burn very easily on the black asphalt. This year Pascha will be left at home. Also, there's so much killer street food and all, but there's always this booth just a bit west of DiMille's that has Samosas. They are the BEST. You can thank me later. See you all there!!

You can see the full line-up and schedule here.

Blind Lady Alehouse Open in Normal Heights

I started this review over a week ago, so I'm sorry I'm just barely getting back to it, but Blind Lady Alehouse on Adams Avenue is open. It has been now for a couple weeks and I've already been back 3 times. Ir's right next to Rosie O'Grady's and fortunate for me, is just a brisk walk from Kensington. I suppose I could drive, but with a beer selection that easily rivals Hamilton's or Toronado, and considering none of my visits there has been under three hours, I'll walk, thank you very much. The food is amazing, too. They have pizzas that are made with all organic and locally grown products. I can't decide which is my favorite, but the sausage (Salsicca) and the four cheese (Cuattro Formaggio) so far seem to be our 'go to' pizzas. But on an especially adventurous and hungry afternoon, we split the salami pizza and the pizza topped with bacon and a cracked egg among other delicious toppings. And we devoured them. Besides the food and the great beer, the staff is courteous and friendly and so far every time I've gone I run into friends from the neighborhood. Kris, who lives upstairs from the restaurant had this to say about it:

Awesome, awesome place! How awesome you ask.... Well, for those of you who don't know it used to be A La Francaise, a breakfast and lunch nook, which was not all that. Petro and I live right above it so from 7am and on you would hear people talking, dogs barking which is not what you want to hear on a Saturday or Sunday morning. The Blind Lady opens up at 11:30am on the weekends so YAY for that! If you haven't checked this place out you MUST....it's a cool, hip place that serves delicious bar type pizza...thin crust and very yummy crafted beers! For those beer lovers out there you have a pretty big selection and good ones at that! I love the whole vibe of this place...you have two lines, one to order your food and the other to order your beer. No waiting for waiters or waitresses coming to your table you get up and do it yourself. That's right, don't be lazy! The owners redid the whole inside and it looks 10 times better then it used to. They have hardwood floor panels up on a portion of the wall, a huge painting of beers and brick walls! This place is just amazing so go check it out for yourself!

Here are some photos of our visits there:

Another Normal Heights Shooting

Last night there was another shooting in Normal Heights, and again the victim was leaving the A/C Lounge, only this time, instead of it being random, there was a post-bar altercation and the little punk came back and shot the other dude in the face. Another major difference is that since the shooter was at the A/C, witnesses were able to piece things together and the guy was arrested. I've written extensively about the shootings in my area here and I also attended a community meeting and wrote about it here.

It's not enough to get pissed off. This is OUR community. Do the simple things: keep an eye on your neighborhood, turn on or install security lighting, and, um, don't get in bar fights becuase people are fucking psycho and even more so after a night of drinking. I'd personally like the A/C Lounge to take some responsibility this time around. I don't know how you change the entire clientele of a bar, but something's gotta happen and soon. These situations are unacceptable.

Shooting In Normal Heights

I've kept my comments about the Sunday morning homicide in Normal Heights restricted to my MySpace page, but I thought I should post it here, since there will be a vigil tomorrow night.

There was a bulletin going round, that I'm not gonna repost here, but it basically said there was a shooting (half a mile from my house). Here's the U-T article. The bulletin went on to mention the recent crime in the Normal Heights/University Heights/North Park areas and then the poster went on to say, "It makes me mad that we are not informed as a community by the police, but what do you expect."

I saw this bulletin and felt the need add my two cents. I don't know who the original author was(I saw the repost from Lancer's), but obviously everyone is against crime in their own neighborhood. But just an FYI, there HAVE been community meetings hosted by our City Councilperson Toni Atkins in conjunction with the SDPD, where neighborhood watch groups were organized. I attended a couple of those meetings and was very disappointed that I was one of a handful of people under 40 at any of them.

Maybe when you were a 15 year old skateboarder, it was cool to be dismissive with "Cops suck" or "Fuck the police", but we're adults now. Also, the job of disseminating information about crime is not the responsibility of police but of media. If you actually read the newspaper, all of the mentioned crimes (in the original myspace bulletin) were covered. Neighborhood crime statistics are available on the SDPD website.

We have power at the ballot box, we have power within our communities to actually show up and be present for events and meetings, and we have power to be good neighbors and watch out for our fellow citizens. Cliche as it is, if you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Complaining about the cops does nothing for anybody.
*****

Here's the information about the vigil:

Candlight Vigil
Join us Wednesday December 12th
7pm at the Corner of Adams Avenue and Wilson
Normal Heights

To call attention to Sunday's murder of a 99 cent store clerk and a rash of violent crimes in recent months. We want to come together as a community to stop and acknowledge the recent incidents of violence.

Help us make Normal Heights a place where we can feel safe on our streets and help discuss what we can do to prevent this from happening in the future.

But please come out Wednesday Night to support stopping crime in Normal Heights and along Adams Avenue home to The Air Conditioned, Lestats, Ould Sod, The Lou Jones, Rosie O'Grady's, Dimilles, and a number of other great establishments!!!!

*****
I wanted to add that after a shooting that took place this summer, there were a series of community meetings. I attended one of them and posted the information that was given about "what we can do" within the community. The information is still useful, though there have unfortunately been more shootings since then.

Community Meeting Notes

Crime In San Diego: Witnesses Needed

These are direct copies of two MySpace bulletins from the weekend (sorry for the caps):

LAST NIGHT AT 2:15 AM A SHOOTING TOOK PLACE ON THE CORNER OF GARNETT AND BAYARD IN PACIFIC BEACH.

SHORTLY AFTER AN ALTERCATION IN FRONT OF THE BURRITO SHOP ON MISSION AN ASIAN MAN ABOUT 6 FOOT TALL WITH SHORT SPIKY HAIR WEARING BLUE COLLAR SHIRT, BAGGY PANTS & BLACK GLOVES APPROACHED THE GROUP OF 8 AND OPENED FIRE. ERIC JOSEPH (FROM STINGAREE AND BARWEST) TOOK A BULLET IN EACH LEG AND WAS RUSHED TO THE HOSPITAL.

SURGERY TO REMOVE THE BULLETS AND REPAIR SHATTERED BONES WAS SUCCESSFUL AND ERIC IS NOW IN RECOVERY.

THE SHOOTER RAN WEST TOWARDS DENNY'S AND JUMPED IN A GREEN 0R BLUE CHEVY S-10 PICK UP (PARTIAL PLATE 7DJGB) AND GOT AWAY. ANY INFORMATION IN REGARDS TO THESE EVENTS THAT MAY LEAD TO THE CAPTURE AND ARREST OF THIS KID WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED AND REWARDED.

THIS CITY IS TOO SMALL FOR SOMEONE NOT TO KNOW THIS KID AND WE ASK THAT YOU CALL JASON AT 619.708.0421 WITH ANY LEADS OR CONTACT THE POLICE DIRECTLY. THIS KID NEEDS TO BE BEHIND BARS!

PLEASE KEEP ERIC AND HIS FAMILY IN YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS AS WE GET THROUGH THIS UNIMAGINABLE EVENT AND HE WORKS TOWARDS RECOVERY!

And at the Tower Bar (Sat night):

Last night some of my friends got held up outside of Tower Bar off of University Basically this is what happened!

We parked on the side street behind the bar and when we went to drive off we had a gun pulled on us. If not for the stunt driving I don't think things would have turned out in our favor. If you go to the Tower bar never park south of University!!

My friend said that she was unable to make out the facial descriptions of the people who held them up, but it was two hispanic males driving a white truck.
This is a warning for all of us, try to watch out and be safe, it can happen anywhere!

In a related note, there is a follow up safety meeting to discuss the recent crime issues in North Park, Uni Heights, Kensington and "Between Heights". The Meeting will take place on Tuesday, September 18 from 6:30-8pm at the Normal Heights Community Center at 4649 Hawley Blvd. Toni Atkins is hosting along with SDPD and other community members.

"Between Heights" Community Meeting

I just got home from the community meeting held at the Air Conditioned Lounge, hosted by Councilwoman Toni Atkins. "I have to say, this is my first community meeting in a bar." There was a Lieutenant from the SDPD Western Division and a few other officers (which covers more or less the area east of the I-805 to as far north as Linda Vista, though the southern boundary wasn't made clear.) At any given time, there are 104 patrol on the streets of greater San Diego. Also present were representatives of Neighborhood Watch, the Stonewall Citizen Patrol, the Adams Avenue Business Association, the owners of A/C Louge and Kadan, and 80+ citizens of the community. Noticeably absent: more bar patrons who are the ones likely to be walking home or to their cars in the late hours of the night. For that reason, I will do my best here to give a detailed description of what was discussed.

The first part of the meeting was to summarize the homicide and assault that took place last week at the 2900 block of Suncrest Drive. Because the investigation continues, few details were given though there are leads on the perp. The suspect was described as an African American male between 20 and 30 years old and he left on foot from the scene, though there was a light colored van in the alley that may or may not be related to the crime. Per usual, any tips can be called in to (888)-580-TIPS if you have any information that might be related to the crime that took the life of 30 year old Timothy Traaen. The police also informed the audience that another major crime took place within the last week in the form of a robbery of the 7-11 on Adams and Ohio.

The second part focused on how not to be a victim of crime... safety in numbers, be aware of your surroundings, look like you know where you're going, and in the case that you are mugged, to just give the criminal what they are asking for ( with the recommendation of minimizing the cash and personal items on your person, and dividing your cash stash between wallets, pockets, etc.) There were also suggestions about what can be done within the community and there were very obvious suggestions that I think people should really take the time to do.

1. Turn on your porch light. Many of the areas in the Heights are dark. Even the streetlights have a soft orange glow because we are in the flight path of Lindburgh Field. If you notice street lights out, call the office of Toni Atkins and they will be replaced. (I'll list all numbers at the end of this post). Don't be afraid to carry a flashlight while waltzing through these darker parts of the neighborhood.

2. Know your neighbors. It's not hard to introduce yourself to the people who live around you. You don't have to be friends, but knowing who they are, what car they drive, what kind of people they entertain can go a long way in being able to spot when something is askew. Because most of this audience was older and not the 'bar crowd', I would go even further and say it's easy to give your neighbors your number. When I have a big backyard party, I leave a note with my phone number, suggesting that if the noise gets too loud, that they can call me. This is usually a good faith measure and because of it, I've been left alone all these years.

I will also add that as regular bar patrons, people generally do not like us. Despite the majority of our hoods being mixed-use and generally pedestrian oriented, the community represented here do not like us. They don't like the bars staying open late. They don't like the noise generated from the bars. They don't like the noise generated from people leaving the bars. They don't like the transient population that finds a safe haven in or near the neighborhood bars. They don't like the group of smokers hanging outside any given bar on any given night. They don't like people pissing in their yards. Just by the representation of these community members at this meeting and the lack of any significant number of bar patrons, it is clear why there has been a crackdown on music venues, or bars with jukeboxes that are too loud, or dj's that are too loud. And after the empowerment people felt from this meeting, you can guess people are gonna have their ears perked a little bit more. I would just say check yourself, check your friends.

The Stonewall Citizens Patrol was an interesting part of the meeting. They formed after the string of hate crimes after last year's Pride. They are a community patrol who volunteer to monitor the hood Thursday through Sunday 9p-3a, from Hillcrest to Normal Heights. They are trained by SDPD and cruise in one marked SUV and also in private vehicles with magnetic identification on the side. They are "the eyes and ears" of the Police and do not engage in any interaction with citizens except to pass out literature, flashlights and safety whistles. They are seeking volunteers all the time and said that if you called today, you could be on patrol this weekend. Another function they serve is to notify the city when streetlights are out. (They just reported 37 this past weekend).

There were two programs mentioned to help light up the neighborhood. One is a city granted security light program. Many people complained of gang activity, prostitution, and drug activity occurring in dimly lit areas. Because there are strings of alleys throughout the neighborhood, and they are usually not lit by streetlights, the city has a security lighting program that will install, at no cost to landowners, motion detecting security lights. If you live in an apartment, approval is needed by the owner, but at no cost, it's hard to see anyone objecting to such lighting. If you think you could use such a program, contact the office of Toni Atkins. In cases where streetlights are desired but bogged down in bureaucracy (they can take 9 months for approval), there is a program through SDG&E where property owners can split a prorated cost of streetlights over a course of time with community funding.

There was almost an hour of community questions that the presenters usually had a good answer to, in the way of the programs mentioned above. Then there were kinda off the wall questions like "In a home invasion, is it true the intruder has to be in my house before I can shoot them?" But for the most part, it felt like people just felt good about the meeting and the people that represent our community. Almost 100% of the attendees showed interest in future meetings to create more neighborhood watch-style programs. I would say that while it's nice to MySpace bulletins and whatnot, actions speak louder and unless people take a stand to reclaim the neighborhoods in which they live, these criminals will continue to target our areas.

Important Numbers Below:

Police Department Non-Emergency Number: 619.531.2000
Councilwoman Toni Atkins' Office: 619.236.6633
Stonewall Citizens Patrol: 619.305.0976
Adams Avenue Business Association: 619.282.7329

Between Heights Website