Local Dinosaurs Go Extinct
Plus: LV Graffiti Clean-Up and SD Padres Pop Up in MV
Imagine taking advantage of a time machine capable of hurling you back to that dramatic time, many, many eons ago, when dinosaurs suffered through their extinction. You would have witnessed the unbelievable—one dinosaur after another succumbing to the effects of the fatal climate change that resulted from a giant meteor impact. It would have been both enormously shocking and sad to see these giant beasts die off and disappear from the face of the earth. However, after observing the latest developments occurring in and around the Mission Valley area, I believe we are witnessing a similar extinction, in this case, the extinction of local commercial/sports venues previously thought too big and essential to disappear from our landscape.
The biggest contemporary dinosaur to fall has obviously been the sports venue formerly known as Qualcomm Stadium. Numerous stories have been recently written in the SD Union-Tribune about all the memorable times shared by San Diegans of the stadium. All of us have our own personal favorite Chargers and Padres highlights that occurred there. Driving past the site conjures up nostalgic remembrances that even allow us to forget all the losing seasons that San Diego teams and fans suffered through—the nostalgia is strong enough that some of us have even gone so far as to conjure up warm memories of former QB Ryan Leaf. But those memories stand in stark contrast to how the stadium now appears as it gets swiftly torn down. The photo above makes the stadium look like an exposed fossil more befitting a National Geographic episode about dinosaur excavations. In a few more days, it will entirely vanish.
But this sports venue isn’t the only mighty dinosaur to recently go extinct. The past month also saw the closing of Fry’s Electronics (located off of I-15, near the Walmart), once the most popular place in San Diego to shop for computer-related products. We all recall the daily page-length Fry’s advertisements published in the Union Tribune that featured discounted items. While employed as a teacher at the time, I used to look forward to their frequent sales on reams of printer paper. Purchasing this paper was my excuse to go strolling through the giant store to check out the latest in computer trends. But those were the days before Amazon grew to dominate the retail arena, and before the Apple Store became the hip place to hang out at the mall. In the time leading up to its demise, I can’t recall the last time I saw a Fry’s advertisement in the Union Tribune—that one fact alone told me this retail dinosaur’s fate was headed for its own deadly meteoric impact experience. It was sad to recently pay a visit to the former Fry’s site and see the parking lot—once a hub of activity—now as silent and still as a cemetery. It was like visiting the La Brea Tar Pits, minus all the tourists.
And then there’s Office Depot. Both local stores—the one in Mission Valley and the one in the Linda Vista/Morena District area suddenly closed. I used to enjoy going there to shop for the latest sale on classroom supplies when I was teaching. My favorite time was at the beginning of the school year, when Office Depot would honor members of its Teachers Club with discounted items, snacks, and a bag of free products. Those free products included a variety of miscellaneous items like memo pads, pens, colored markers, USB drives, etc.. Compared to the $225,000 value gift bag given to Academy Award nominees on Oscar Night, this free Teachers’ bag might have seemed trivial, but I always appreciated it. And Office Depot was always a convenient place to make last minute copies of worksheets, essays and poems for my classroom, until the price of the copy machine steadily climbed from 3 cents to over 10 cents per copy. Over two years ago I bought a case of paper on sale at Office Depot. I got a really good deal on it. Unfortunately, my use for paper is not that great anymore—everything is digital these days (though my wife’s grandson who is a student at USD borrowed several reams of this paper to serve as free weights when the local gym closed during the pandemic). I still have many of those reams of paper remaining in my garage. I guess that personal anecdote says a lot about why Office Depot is no longer in business. In fact, when the pandemic panic started last year, it was toilet paper people were looking for, not printer paper.
I suppose we shouldn’t be too sad about the demise of these dinosaurs. After all, if it wasn’t for the extinction of the real dinosaurs, we wouldn’t have mammals, which means we humans would not exist. And so it goes with the old Qualcomm stadium. The new SDSU stadium promises to be a wonderful place to watch a football game. No more broken seats, or water leaking from one level to the next on rainy days. I’m not sure what will take over the Fry’s site, but in addition to a “Closed” sign in front of the old Mission Valley Office Depot site, there is also a “Public Notice of Application to Sell Alcoholic Beverages” sign on the locked doors. That’s a promising omen for whatever business will come next! Imagine, one more Mission Valley restaurant or bar where you can wine and dine when the pandemic is over. The only thing that would make such an establishment better is if it were to come with a copy machine for customer use, even if it was BYOP (Bring Your Own Paper).
Graffiti Removal and Clean-up in LV
Young people from SDPD Officer Ricardo Pinon’s Linda Vista Sports Mentorship Program, along with other LV residents, recently participated in a Saturday morning community service project that involved graffiti removal and trash clean-up in the Linda Vista neighborhood. Using supplies donated by local community members, approximately 20 young people were successful in removing several instances of graffiti, several of which dotted a much traveled alleyway. Before removing the graffiti, they were provided gloves, masks, hand sanitizer; additionally, their temperatures were taken, and the groups were subsequently spaced out during their work in order to maintain social distancing.
The young people who participate in the local sports mentorship program were invited to attend this community service project and were required to obtain parent permission. All parents and community members were welcome to participate. The clean-up culminated with a pizza lunch for participants at Giant King Pizza on Osler Street.
This was the second graffiti removal/trash clean-up the LV Sports Mentorship program has conducted in the past year.
Officer Pinon, a member of SDPD’s Gang Intervention Unit, started the LV Sports Mentorship Program in the summer of 2020. According to Sergeant Joanna Makwana of the SDPD Gang Intervention Unit, “all participants in this program were introduced to baseball, flag football, volleyball, Frisbee golf, kick ball, soccer, slip and slide and many other activities. They have taken field trips to the beach (boogie boarding), lake (fishing), Zoo, hiking, Balboa Park, Coronado Island, and picnics at the park. They get together every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at Kelly Park and Linda Vista Elementary. A majority of the participants live within walking distance of the park. The participants range from 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th grade.”
The Sports Mentorship Program is one component of the SDPD’s Gang Intervention Unit’s efforts in Linda Vista. It also includes teaching a program called G.R.E.A.T. (Gang Resistance Education and Training) for 4th / 5th grade and middle school students in the Linda Vista community.
As pointed out by Sergeant Makwana, “the Gang Intervention Unit is dedicated to working with our communities and building relationships and trust with our youth. Linda Vista is just one community we work with. We have officers teaching the G.R.E.A.T. program in other communities and schools within the City of San Diego. Since COVID we have managed to maintain our programs within our schools via Zoom.”
Though the next clean-up is not yet scheduled, the Gang Intervention Unit offers community members the opportunity to join in future community clean-ups and are always thrilled to work together on these projects. Linda Vista Update readers who are interested in participating can contact Sergeant Makwana at jmakwana@pd.sandiego.gov.
SD Padres Sell Hope in Mission Valley
The San Diego Padres hosted a pop-up shop this past weekend in the parking lot of Mission Valley’s Puesto Restaurant. Available for sale were various T-shirts, sweatshirts, and jerseys. The event was well attended, with Padres baseball fans eagerly buying items to prepare for what promises to be an exciting season. After the success of last year, and especially after obtaining more key players in the winter, San Diegans are thinking big for this upcoming season—a return to the playoffs, beating out the Los Angeles Dodgers for a national league pennant, maybe even a World Series championship! With players like Fernando Tatis and Manny Machado, and a host of good pitchers, Padres fans are in the mood for believing that anything is possible. That’s why they were willing to shell out $40.00 for a Padres T-shirt and $80.00 for a Padres sweatshirt at the pop-up shop.
Call me a skeptic, but I’m not as ready and willing to assume a winning season is in the offing. I’m very cautious about jumping on the Padres bandwagon. Why such skepticism from a Padres fan? Because I’ve been a Padres fan for too many years, and I’m tired of feeling let down at the end of the season. Even though last year was surprisingly enjoyable, I don’t want to get my hopes up. Yes, hope springs eternal when it comes to baseball, but all it takes is some pulled hamstrings, a few broken fingers, a torn ACL, and a couple of rotator cuff injuries to put a serious dent in the Padres’ championship prospects. Accordingly, I am going to exercise some self-discipline regarding my enthusiasm for the Padres. If I am going to be a crazy Padres fanatic, I will become one in a gradual, methodical way. Accordingly, I have come up with a plan for managing my baseball emotions so I don’t end up overly disappointed and bitter at the end of the season. Here is the plan:
1. During the first 39 games of the season, I will wear no Padres attire (except for my Padres COVID face mask) and hold back on referring to the Padres in any conversation with fellow San Diegans.
2. If the Padres are in first or second place at the end of 40 games, I will then purchase a $40.00 Padres T-shirt and begin all conversations with the words “How about those Padres?”
3. If the Padres are in first or second place at the All-Star game break, I will erect a small Fernando Tatis shrine (to include a life size Tatis cut-out) on my balcony for all my neighbors to admire, and work into every conversation the following words, “You know what? This might be the year the Padres go all the way.”
4. If the Padres are in first or second place at the end of 120 games, then and only then, will I buy an $80.00 Padres sweatshirt.
5. If the Padres beat out the Dodgers for the National League pennant, I will begin every conversation with the words, “I knew all along the Padres were going to win this thing.”
6. If the Padres win the World Series, I will coordinate the construction of an actual Padres bandwagon to be placed in the parking lot of the Linda Vista Shopping Plaza Center, so that anyone at any time (for every season that comes hereafter) can enthusiastically jump on the Padres bandwagon, free of any lingering skepticism that was built up over the past many years.
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