Darth Vader and Yoda Coming to Linda Vista
Plus: Thoughts on LV Multi-Cultural Fair/Parade, Carnivore Reaches Fundraising Goal, Free Youth Soccer Clinic, Kearny Volleyball Victory, and Stopping Mail Thieves
The Linda Vista Update—a Community Newsletter
Today—Thursday May 4—is no ordinary day here in Linda Vista. It is the day before Cinco de Mayo (which practically makes it Cinco de Mayo), as well as the one year anniversary of the Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market. And, it’s also May the Fourth Be With You Star Wars celebration day. Fortunately for Linda Vista residents, all three days will be celebrated at today’s Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market. This Three-in-One celebration will be held in partnership with the Bayside Community Center.
In addition to the thirty vendors selling products at the Farmers Market, the celebration will also include performances by the Ballet Folklorico El Tapatio de San Dieguito, Nepalese Dancer, Soniya, Odyssey Training Center, the Francis Parker Pep Band, and the Bright Soul Trio band. Performances begin at 4:00 pm.
Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market discount coupons will be available to anyone wearing Star Wars related attire.
So roll up your hair in Princess Leia buns, dig into your closet and find your favorite light saber, practice your best Chewbacca impersonation, get a Darth Vader mask and rehearse that memorable line “Luke, I am your second cousin twice removed,” and then come out to the the Farmers Market to buy your fresh fruits and vegetable, get your discount coupon, check out what kinds of interesting foods are being offered by the vendors, and gather with your fellow Linda Vista residents.
The Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market is held every Thursday from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the Linda Vista Plaza Shopping Center.
Reflections on the 38th Annual Linda Vista Multi-Cultural Fair and Parade
Rather than write a restaurant review this week, we thought we would give our thoughts on the recent LV Multi-Cultural Fair and Parade at which we had a booth— a ringside seat, so to speak.
It was a beautiful day and the Fair was very well attended. It started with the Parade which included many entrants, from our own Engine 23 to marching bands to city officials, including Council District 7’s Raul Campillo and staff and State Assembly Member Chris Ward, to dancers, to schools, high school JROTC units, and of course many local civic associations such as Bayside Community Center. The Grand Marshal was the House of Ukraine; they were well received by the crowd. The University of San Diego was a major sponsor and featured many of its athletes. Skateworld, as always, was present in the parade as well as Beauty queens. The Southern Sea Dragon’s Lion Dancers were very popular and just fantastic as usual. For those of you who couldn’t make it this year, there is always next year.
The Linda Vista Update’s booth was excellently located, right in front of Yum Yum donuts. We got the chance to meet many of our readers and persuaded many folks to subscribe and become new readers. Our Carnivore Sidekick was very popular and he learned that even vegetarians enjoy his food reviews. We were happy to hear from people who told us they tried certain restaurants because of what they read in the newsletter, or who enjoyed reading stories about various Linda Vista oddities and notable people of Linda Vista, and of course, stories about sports teams and our schools. They were encouraged to give us stories they would like to read about, or people we all should know more about. Sera from Sushi Yorimuchi stopped by to leave us some of her latest menus. Councilmember Campillo mentioned that he never misses an issue of the Update, which made us feel good. All in all, it was a very pleasant experience.
Then there were the food booths. Unfortunately, we were rather stuck in our booth and unable to venture out to fully investigate all the foods available, but Carnivore and his sidekick managed to wander out and try some of the great variety of offerings and bring us some back. We especially like the House of Bao for their dumplings and bao. The shrimp shu mai was delicious as were the vegetarian dumplings. Wish we could persuade them to come to the Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market on Thursdays. Papa’s polvoron is always a hit with Carnivore and he had that as well as a gyro from Turkish Grill. Some of our vendors from the Farmers Market also had booths. One really popular item seemed to be the spiral potato. We didn’t get to try one but heard it was delicious.
Many people stopped by the Love, Linda Vista Farmer’s Market booth and were rewarded with fresh fruit. The Linda Vista Town Council had a booth, as well as Bayside Community Center. The University of San Diego had many booths including a Legal Clinic, a Nurse’s Booth, and other schools/educational institutions such as Empower Language Academy, Carson Elementary, Montgomery Middle, KAVOD Charter School, and Head Start.
For the first time, the Fair included a Beer Garden. Leather sofas were set up in a fenced-in section of John Baca Park and beer and margaritas were enjoyed by many fairgoers. It was all very enjoyable. Of course, the entertainment was top notch. There was something for everyone including kids pop, a steel drum band, rap a tap, ballet folklorico, a mariachi band, Kushinda drummers and more.
Hats off to the Fair Board and the Fair Coordinator and Parade Director for putting on a great Fair and Parade.
We wish to thank one of our faithful LV Update readers—Thyrra LaMarca—for contributing many of the above outstanding photos for our use!
Carnivore Sidekick Reaches Fundraising Goal
We are happy to report a popular member of our LV Update staff—the Carnivore Sidekick—has made his goal of raising $500.00 from LV Update readers for this Saturday’s SD Humane Society Walk for Animals. The Walk will be held at Liberty Station. All the money raised will go to the SD Humane Society.
The Carnivore has been training and assures us that he is more than capable of representing this newsletter and all of our readers by completing the Walk in fine fashion. On a bittersweet note, the Carnivore will be walking alone this Saturday, since Bernie —the pup he was fostering for Del Mar Dog Rescue—found his forever home and was adopted by a lucky family.
We wish to thank all of our fantastic LV Update readers for helping the Carnivore reach his fundraising goal.
Free Youth Soccer Clinic
Check out the above flyer for details on a Free Youth Soccer Clinic sponsored by the San Diego Police Department. Please pass this information along to Linda Vista families.
Kearny Boys Volleyball Advances in CIF playoffs
On Tuesday of this week, the Kearny High Boys Varsity Volleyball team scored an exciting home court victory over the Cambridge School (Rancho Penasquitos) in the first round of the Division IV CIF playoffs.
The Komets started slowly, losing the first set 25-17. They then bounced back to win the second set 25-13. After losing the third set, Kearny came from behind to stun the Griffins by winning the fourth set in dramatic fashion 26-24. In the fifth and decisive set, the Komets came on like gangbusters right from the opening play to overwhelm their opponents 15-3 and win the best of seven match.
Kearny Head Coach Jennifer Ogo had this to say about her team’s winning performance, “We started off a little slow in the first game but when we found our groove, things kicked in and they started playing as a team. There were so many things to highlight but what I am most proud of is our team’s ability to overcome challenges and come back from a deficit. They keep their composure and were able to stay calm and focused under pressure.” She noted the individual performance of senior outside hitter Max Vaughn who had a season high 25 kills.
The Komets, who were 9-1 in regular season league play (and league co-champions) now head down to the South Bay to play Mater Dei High School tomorrow Friday May 5 at 6:00 pm. Tickets for this second round playoff game must be purchased online HERE . Coach Ogo encourages LV Update readers to attend. “We need fans to support us,” she commented.
The LV Update congratulates the Kearny High Boys Volleyball team on their victory and wish them success on their CIF championship quest.
Commentary
Thwarting the Mail Thieves
It’s a sign of the times. Some of you may have already noticed the change implemented by one of the major government agencies located in Linda Vista. It’s a relatively small modification, but many contend this seemingly minor change says quite a bit about our society, and how it is quite possibly headed in the wrong direction. I contend, on the other hand, that the change is more of a signal telling us we must constantly and wisely adapt to the society we live in.
What is this change? The Linda Vista post office (located at 2150 Comstock Street) recently replaced the drive-through mailboxes used by drivers to conveniently drop off mail with mailboxes sporting a new design. These mail boxes no longer have the pull-down type of intake slots to drop off mail, or the wider intake slots that reached out to easily meet drivers’ hands holding stamped envelopes. Instead, the new design consists of very slim mail slots. You may not find these slim slots very accessible, especially if you have a thick envelope that needs to be mailed, but the slim slots are designed for the specific purpose of fending off thieves willing to go so far as to steal U.S. mail, an offense that used to be considered almost unthinkable.
There was a time—not so long ago—when pieces of U.S. mail were considered sacrosanct, a sentiment representative of the respect nearly every American felt for this type of personal property, entrusted to the U.S. Postal Service for reliable delivery across the country and abroad. Unfortunately, times and attitudes change. More recently, mail dropped off and stored overnight in these mail boxes has been seen by desperate lowlifes as nothing more than an easy target for theft. A crime referred to as “mail fishing” has allowed criminals to steal mail in an illegal pursuit of gift cards, cash, and money orders. Mail fishing works like this…”Thieves, often at night, use string to lower glue-covered rodent traps or bottles coated with an adhesive down the chute of a sidewalk mailbox. This bait attaches to the envelopes inside…” and then the thieves reel the envelopes back up outside the mailbox to take any loot. One postal worker I spoke to at a post office outside of Linda Vista mentioned that prior to the installation of these new mail boxes she used to find evidence of this crime nearly every morning when conducting her mail pick-up routine.
What accounts for this change in the way people perceive the sanctity of U.S. mail? Is this a simple reflection of a downward slide in traditional U.S. morals, values, and habits? I know many people point to the rise in homelessness in downtown business areas—and the government’s inability to come up with effective remedies—along with a dramatic spike in such crimes as shoplifting, and couple these negative societal trends with U.S. mail theft to make the case that something is wrong with America.
Others attribute U.S. mailbox theft to the rise in so-called “porch piracy” of Amazon and UPS packages that are commonly left on the door steps of residences. Such items have made for easy pickings by desperate thieves. It’s not unreasonable to think that thieves who have succeeded in “porch piracy” probably think nothing of looking at U.S. mail as just different types of packages available for stealing. As an aside, townhouse, condo and apartment developments have also seen a similar spike in group mailboxes being broken into. Thieves apparently have no qualms whatsoever about disrespecting the once sacred perception of U.S. mail, no matter where it is stored.
What more can be done to prevent mailbox theft? Back in 1921, the U.S. suffered from a nationwide rash of mail thefts. President Harding responded by assigning U.S. Marines to guard the mail. They worked in detachments of two or three Leathernecks. The Marines’ orders were simple and direct—"that mail must be delivered or there must be a dead Marine at the post of duty.” Needless to say, the nationwide mail theft epidemic came to a sudden stop.
Unfortunately, the Marines are not going to come to the rescue this time to guard our mail. But that doesn’t mean things are hopeless. Instead of spending time debating whether mail theft represents a downward slide in American society, we Americans need to change our perspective and acknowledge that times have indeed changed—that new times bring about new crimes. Once we make this realization, then we can take the next step of determining how to adapt and change the way we conduct business on a day-to-day basis. This may mean no longer sending money or gift cards in the mail, or perhaps not dropping off mail in a mailbox if we know it will remain there overnight, or maybe stepping out of the car to drop off our mail inside the post office to ensure an additional level of security. Bottom line…no need to make it easy or profitable for the mail thief. We can use that same line of thinking, for example, when it comes to leaving visible objects in our cars. Why tempt thieves to break into our cars when we can instead take the extra step of putting valuable or noticeable property in the car trunk, or take it inside the house? The rise in car break-ins probably does say something about the deterioration of societal norms, but in the meantime, we can do our part to combat this criminal trend with a simple change in perspective—one that has the positive effect of improving our overall situational awareness.
In summary, it could be that successful living is all about adaptation, even if we are required to slightly inconvenience ourselves in the process.
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The Linda Vista Update is a weekly digital newsletter that publishes informative, interesting and fun news about Linda Vista and its neighboring communities.