March 2011 La Mesa Blog Posts (49)

Water Districts take note!  Governor Brown has just come out with his pension reform recommendations.  While many of the local agencies have already taken steps towards reforming pensions, our Water Disricts are far behind the curve, especially HWD.  (See Gov. Browns reforms at the link below).…

DUI Warrant Sweep Nets Three

LA MESA --The La Mesa Police Department conducted a DUI Warrant Sweep on Friday and arrested three people with outstanding warrants.

Police said a total of forty subjects with outstanding DUI warrants that had been issued in the last two months were identified. Several teams of Officers attempted to locate these subjects at their last known…

Jitters, Blockbuster Calling It Quits In Downtown

DOWNTOWN LA MESA -- Through more than two decades of change in the coffee business, somehow Jitters, a shop that changed very…

Visiting A Hidden Jewel: Anthony's Fish Grotto

LA MESA -- Every few weeks members of La Mesa's Chamber of Commerce gather at one of the member locations for some food, drinks and networking.

Wednesday's meeting was held at Anthony's Fish Grotto. For long time La Mesans, this restaurant…

I call them golden days, those days that just feel incredibly real and wonderful.  They don't even have to be perfectly happy days, but they have to be days that, I believe, you'd be sorry you took for granted.

Golden days.

I'll be having one on Thursday.  I'll get home from work, take my dog Ben out for a little stroll,  feed him,  sit beside him while he enjoys a bone…

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Antiques Fill Much-Debated Downtown

LA MESA -- It was just before dusk on Saturday night and many of the…

Posted by LaMesaToday.com member Russell Buckley          

"Today's benefit structure for public employees is unrecognizable from the design, funding structure and goals of the original 1932 version. Instead of retirement security, the public pension became a wealth generator. Initially, state workers retiring at age 65 could expect retirement income at roughly half of their final compensation, based on an average salary earned during their last five years of…

SANTEE -- The new span of State Road 52 opened this morning and, for residents living east and north of highway 67, getting to La Jolla or the Golden Triangle just got easier.

The virtual tour offered above showed the step by step travel on 52 West from the 67 was virtually effortless at 7:30 a.m. today until the junction with the 125 where backups seemed about normal. The backup on the 125, in fact, may have been a bit worse than…

Don't expect the Helix Water Board to make any changes to employee benefit and pension package in the upcoming Memorandum of Understanding with its employees.  When they themselves can make over $18,500 in benefit compensation (see chart below) before you add in the $200 per meeting for another 7-10 meetings per month and you have total compensation that could approach nearly $40,000 for a part time job. Not bad. 

Some wonder why a Board member would spend $10,000 to win an election…

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Imagining A Redeveloped Grossmont Center

LA MESA -- When the lease on the land under Grossmont Center…

Robbers Steal Phone At Trolley Stop

SPRING STREET -- La Mesa Police are looking for two men who punched a man in the face and then stole his cell phone at the Spring Street Trolley Station Thursday night.

Police said at 10:17 P.M., the 24 year old male victim had just exited the trolley and was walking down the stairs from the trolley platform. The victim was busy dialing a number on his cellular…

A Day To Pause And Think

LA MESA – Once a year the City Council retreats away with the city staff and, without an agenda, a public hearing or angry citizens dominating the session the way they often do at regular council meetings, they spend a long day taking…

A Touch Of Tuscany Comes To Lake Murray

LAKE MURRAY -- It is not just the four foot outdoor flames that make the Vine Cottage on Lake Murray Boulevard stand out.

There's stone work and artful carpentry and, for the wine obsessed, the kind of vintage selections not usually…

Only a few days ago would-be comedian, full-time hate monger, Bill Maher performed one of his HBO standups. In all his speeches and bits  Maher makes a point of cloaking himself in the First Amendment of the Constitution so all the Political Correct freaks are frightened to retaliate or even respond. In most of his bits and appearances somewhere he will generally bring up the subject of Sarah Palin and spend…

Taking A Moment To Remember Korea

LA MESA -- No matter how many times the City Council starts a meeting with a salute to veterans, it never seems to get old.

Perhaps it is the age of the veterans -- in most cases seventy years removed from the events of their youth that made them veterans. Or maybe it is the unstated but evident fact that these gentlemen are quickly leaving us.

But the…

1.  Today as I drove to work, a man I pass by often actually recognized my car and waved back at me.  And smiled.

 2.  I bought a big bag of Mother's Cookies to take to the nurses and staff at a convalescent hospital where my long time neighbor was staying. They took very good care of her. She returned home today to Grossmont Gardens.

 3.  The clouds in the sky…

Local Residents Celebrate The New 52

SANTEE -- In many ways it was the most California of events. Thousands of local residents gathered to celebrate two new ribbons of concrete snaking through the hills of East County San Diego.

If ever there were a people on this planet who understood the benefits of a good road, it is Californians. And thousands made…

Elderly Bandit Sought In Gas Station Robbery

MURRAY DRIVE -- Call him the Mature Bandit. La Mesa police are looking for a 70-year-old robber who hit the Arco Station at 9600 Murray Drive early Friday morning.

Police said the man entered the station at about 3:40 a.m. The clerk at the Arco station reported seeing the suspect standing outside of the store a few minutes before the…