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i On San Diego

HEY, IS THAT CLOWN SPEAKING ENGLISH? The next time you drive up to Jack in the Box to order a Jack Taco, the voice you hear may have a Texas drawl. The San Diego–based pioneer of the first “drive-thru” restaurant a half-century ago is still cutting-edge. In an attempt to make the fast-food chain even faster, a spokesman says, they’ve begun testing the efficacy of taking orders through a centralized location, rather than on-site. That way, they’ve reasoned, they could free local employees to process food orders. It’s just a test, they insist; no commitment yet. But the experiment is under way in some North Carolina drive-thrus, with most orders routed through a Texas call center. Eventually, the spokesman says, calls may be routed through another country. Can you say “Breakfast Jack” in Hindi?

SAN DIEGANS’ INK: Through more than four decades as executive director of the Mission Bay Lessees and the San Diego Hotel-Motel Association, Rose Marie Starns tried to keep a low profile——always deferring to her “bosses.” But the public servants, the politicians and the press knew where the power was. Now, a year after her death from lung cancer, the rest of the city should get the idea. This month, by a unanimous vote of the city’s Park & Recreation Board, Mission Bay’s South Shores Park will be renamed in honor of Rose Marie . . . Former San Diego city attorney Mike Aguirre will not be ignored. Pretty much impotent in his dealings with the city’s financial crisis, he’s now taking on the national banking crisis. He’s the new self-appointed counsel to the National Center for Regulatory Reform, a citizens group Aguirre organized to promote bankruptcy for troubled securities and financial-services firms . . . Among the cast of Grease, the Broadway/San Diego road-show engagement this month at the Civic Theatre, are three homecoming San Diegans: Brian Crum (“Doody”), a School of the Creative & Performing Arts grad; Kate Morgan Chadwick (“Frenchy”), late of Francis Parker High School; and Kelly Felthous (“Marty”), a Vista High School grad.

QUOTEWORTHY: Dale Fetherling, former editor of the Los Angeles Times’ San Diego edition, was among panelists at a recent San Diego Press Club forum called “Reinventing Yourself” (heavily attended by former San Diego Union-Tribune staffers). Fetherling, who’s been selfemployed as a literary collaborator (read “ghost writer”) for the past 15 years, conceded his new gig required some downsizing. “The work,” he said, “is absent of social interaction. The arrival of the mailman is a major event.”

BETWEEN THE DOTS: Investors who’ve taken over the Gaslamp Quarter space that once housed Olé Madrid on Fifth Avenue reportedly plan to reopen it as a nightclub called Voyeur. Which is not far from Submission, so to speak——another club slated to open on the site of the ill-fated Jade Theater at Seventh and C . . . Scripps Health has been named to Fortune magazine’s 12th annual list of America’s “100 Best Companies to Work For”——only the second San Diego–based company to make the list (joining Qualcomm) . . . InterContinental, the world’s largest hotel group, will open a Hotel Indigo (described as “affordable luxury”) this summer adjacent to Petco Park.

IN THE NUMBERS: San Diego’s continuing success in siphoning off visitors from Los Angeles has prompted L.A. to invest $2 million in a new “That’s So L.A.!” ad campaign. According to the folks at L.A.’s own tourism bureau, about 26 million people visited Los Angeles County last year. If you believe their statistics and those of San Diego’s own ConVis Bureau, that means San Diego is now a bigger tourist destination than L.A. San Diego drew 28.8 million visitors in the first 11 months of last year.

ITEMS INFINITUM: The “most wired” city in the country a little more than a decade ago, San Diego has slipped to the middle of the pack in Forbes’ new list of the 30 most broadband-connected cities in the United States . . . San Diego’s Dr. Sonia Borg, who touts her credentials as a clinical sexologist, has the hands-down happiest news in this nasty recession. According to Borg, when financial times are getting you down, a healthy sex life is the best antidote. Why, if you have to ask? Because it relieves stress; increases intimacy; enhances mood; and, possibly most important, it’s free (if you play by the rules) . . . Bad news: The most recent stats from the Regional Homeless Profile showed at least 7,582 homeless persons in San Diego County. Worse news: That was a 9 percent increase over the previous count. Worst news: The most recent count was done in January 2008, well before the depths of the current recession.

SHORT-CHANGED: Wendy Butler’s friend, Tim, dialed up an old buddy and got the standard answering machine connection. But not the standard message: “I am not available right now,” said the familiar voice, “but thank you for caring enough to call. I am making some changes in my life. Please leave a message after the beep. If I do not return your call, you are one of the changes.”

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