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The More Things Change, the Harder They Fall, and the Older We Get |
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August 24, 2009
DÉJÀ VU: The San Diego County Taxpayers Association is fleshing out plans for its 65th anniversary next year, with emphasis on some themes that may sound familiar. Among the topics expected to be the focus of the association’s attention: airport relocation/expansion; a new main library; Mission Bay development; a new city hall; a home for the Chargers; and convention center expansion. Right. These would likely be excellent topics for a 100th anniversary celebration, too.
SO THEY SAY: Kari Ann Peniche, the “other woman” in the naked Web video of Grey’s Anatomy’s Eric “McSteamy” Dane and his wife, Rebecca Gayheart, has San Diego roots. Sadly. In her chronicle of a trauma-filled childhood, the former Miss Teen USA and Playboy centerfold, tells Steppin’ Out magazine she was repeatedly molested from age 4 to 7 by her next door neighbor in San Diego ... At Lowes Coronado Bay Resort, they’re resorting to the soft sell in this depressed tourism market. A new one-night package, the Voga Voyage, offers couples a floating massage aboard Loews’ 33-foot gondola on San Diego Bay. Oh, and the $499 price includes a room ... The University of California, San Diego places seventh in U.S. News & World Report’s latest ranking of 262 public and private universities. That’s the good news. But UCSD was bested by UC Berkeley (first) and UCLA (second).
SUCH A DEAL: With recession and unrest taking their toll on tourism south of the border, one hard-hit destination is taking steps to correct a long-festering problem for U.S. visitors and expatriates in Mexico. Next month, that country’s first mediation court to hear consumer complaints between local businesses and English-speaking non-nationals will open in Rosarito Beach, says Mayor Hugo Torres. The new program, called Centro de Justicia Alternitiva, will be available to an estimated 14,000 expats and some 1 million tourists who visit Rosarito each year. The mediation court will hear complaints orally and in English — with no written documents required. And no tourist tax. The mediation is free.
SAN DIEGANS’ INK: Chandra Lee Schwartz, who took over the lead role of Glinda in the Broadway road show of Wicked at our Civic Theatre Friday night, should feel right at home. Or close to home. Schwartz, whose Broadway credits include Gypsy and Hairspray, is a San Marcos High School grad who starred locally at Theatre West and was the lead singer in the ska band The Fabulous Rudies ... Legendary Chargers coach Don Coryell will celebrate his 85th birthday in San Diego on October 17 when he headlines the Huntington’s Society of America’s “Celebration of Hope Gala” at the downtown Hyatt. Among the impressive supporting cast: Chargers Philip Rivers, Shawne Merriman and Norv Turner, and ESPN’s Ron Jaworski and Mike Tirico ... And yes, it’s Don Coryell’s 85th birthday. Sorry.
QUOTEWORTHY: “My instinct as a writer is to be very understated about really bad things, to just show them and to not put a melodramatic gloss on the material. As a journalist, it is very important to show the whole story ... I didn't want the book to have an agenda. I could have shown President Bush playing guitar at the San Diego naval base while Katrina struck. [But] if I tried to direct readers to the outrage, I think that would turn readers away.” — Josh Neufeld, nonfiction comic book author of A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, on how he handled the devastating scenes of death and panic after Hurricane Katrina stuck New Orleans.
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