Roller Derby Standout Skates in Linda Vista
Plus: Oak and Anchor BBQ, LV News Updates, Free Blood Pressure Reading, and Recycling Redemption Centers Face Crisis
The Linda Vista Update: a Community Newsletter
If you were to hear of an athlete described with words like fast, quick, tough, and able to block, the image of a 220 pound, 6-foot-4-inch football tight end might come to mind. But these same words can also be used to describe a 4-foot-11-inch female teen dynamo who regularly skates at Linda Vista’s own Skateworld. Malauni Sapinoso is not only the smallest member of the San Diego Roller Derby team, which practices at Skateworld and is part of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, but she is also a member of the 2023 USA Junior Roller Derby Open Team that has been selected to compete in the Roller Derby World Cup, to be held July 28-30 in Valence, France.
Sapinoso, who is a senior at Westview High School in the Poway Unified School District has been skating for 10 years, and has been competing in roller derby for 9 of those years. In addition to serving as a team member of the San Diego Roller Derby team, she also skates for the Oceanside Outlaws of the Junior Roller Derby Association.
Based on her tremendous skating ability, she was selected back in November to be one of 20 boys and girls nation-wide on the 2023 USA Junior Roller Derby Open Team roster. They will be competing against the likes of teams from such countries as Australia, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Switzerland.
Roller derby competitors commonly express their competitive attitudes or skating abilities by bearing colorful nicknames like “Thunder” and “Ambush”; Sapinoso’s nickname of “Speedy Gonzalez” accurately reflects her special ability to display tremendous speed around the track. But she’s not just all about being fast, as she constantly shows off her versatility by serving as both a blocker ( a defensive player) and a jammer (an offensive player who scores points). She is employed as a utility player who can take advantage of both her speed and her low center of gravity.
With high school graduation coming up, “Speedy Gonzalez” has her post high school sights set on the immediate goal of competing in the World Cup. However, her ultimate plan involves joining the U.S. Navy, which will means following in the footsteps of her father, a Navy veteran.
As far as the World Cup is concerned, she has a GoFundMe web site account which she and her family are using to raise the $10,000 needed for transportation and lodging related costs for her and her parents to attend the World Cup. You can visit her site by clicking here.
In the meantime, look for her the next time the San Diego Roller Derby team practices or plays a match at Skateworld. Unless you ask her to slow down or stop, she will appear as a fast moving blur on the skating rink.
LV Farmers Market Review
Oak and Anchor BBQ
As our faithful newsletter readers know, we from time to time review the wonderful vendors that make up the Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market. There have been new vendors coming in all the time, and one in particular I have been wanting to review, for many reasons, but the most important is that as soon as you enter the market you can smell the distinctive Oak and Anchor BBQ aroma beckoning you to come try their food.
Let me tell you a little about Oak and Anchor BBQ. It is a disabled veteran, minority owned business and has been in operation since 2017. It is a family owned business that provides wonderful smoked eats in San Diego, but with roots in Texas. It is co-owned by Adrian and Chris Sweat. Chris is a Navy veteran, having served 24 years before retiring as a Chief. Unable to find their favorite Texas food in San Diego, they started their own.
It started out as a pop up business, but as word spread of the deliciousness of the products, they purchased a truck and now Oak and Anchor BBQ can be found in many farmers markets such as Pacific Beach on Tuesday, Lane Field Harbor Drive on Sunday, Cardiff on Saturday, and of course, Linda Vista on Thursday afternoons from 2:00 pm to 7 pm. They also do catering and can be found at many breweries. Check out their website, https://www.oakandanchorbbq.com to find out where they are and when. Their ingredients are all sourced from local markets and you can be sure of the quality of their products. Their meat options include brisket (which they tell me is the most popular and often sells out), chicken, hot link (hot or mild), pulled pork, pork ribs and tri tip. Their sides include cole slaw, mac and cheese, potato salad, and Texas baked beans. Find their complete menu on their website.
Unfortunately, since Steve and I do not eat meat, we thought we could not effectively review Oak and Anchor without reviewing the BBQ. We have tried many of their vegetarian dishes including baked potato, mac and cheese and fries, and highly recommend them, however, we were waiting to get a review of the meat dishes. And enter – to the rescue – our invaluable Carnivore Sidekick – who is always looking for a free meal. He decided he wanted to try the pulled pork sandwich with mac and cheese on the side. He thought it was great and said he likes eating bbq with no bones because you can eat more in less time. The mac and cheese was very creamy and he loved the spicy bbq sauce. Next time he will try the hot mess which is hot or mild sausage link with mac and baked beans, or the Hogzilla (pulled pork and ribs). The Mac and Spud, which Steve and I tried, included a loaded baked potato with sour cream, cheese, green onion and mac. We had to split it because it was so much, but it was really good. Their bbq sauce comes in hot or mild and is excellent on any of their dishes.
So, come on up to the Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market and give this booth a try. The meats are smoked in a commercial kitchen, but finished on the grills at the market. Each order is made individually, so you wait a few minutes, but it is so worth it. You will find the entire Sweat family friendly and helpful as you try to make a decision among all the delectable items.
Tell them you read all about their BBQ in the Linda Vista Update.
LV News Updates:
—Farmers Market: The Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market will be open today (Thursday) from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the Linda Vista Plaza Shopping Center. Come and get your fresh fruit and vegetables. There will be 30 vendors offering their various products. In addition to fresh fruits and vegetables, there are plenty of arts and crafts and delicious ethnic food booths.
—Fish Fry: Holy Family Catholic Church (1957 Coolidge Street) is sponsoring a Fish Fry this Friday from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Take out orders are available.
—Parking Near Francis Parker School: The Linda Vista Town Council (LVTC) has been working with Francis Parker School to resolve parking problems (caused by campus construction) for residents living in the vicinity of the school. These residents are encouraged to read the recently published parking related instructions/solutions published by the LVTC, as provided here.
—New LVTC website: Check out the new Linda Vista Town Council (LVTC) website at https://lindavistatowncouncil.org. Bookmark the page as a favorite so you can continue to refer to this website as it grows and becomes a valuable source of community information.
—LV Community Planning Group Meeting: The Linda Vista Community Planning Group (LVCPG) will hold its monthly meeting on Monday March 27 at 6:30 pm. The meeting will be held at the American Legion Post 731 (7245 Linda Vista Road). Check the LVCPG website for the proposed agenda and details on how to ZOOM the meeting if you can’t make it in person.
—SDPD RSVP Volunteers: The San Diego Police Department’s Western Division is looking for you to join their Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol (RSVP) Program. According to SDPD Officer David Surwilo, “You too can become a part of the solution by the joining to assist with neighborhood safety and crime prevention. You need only to be at least 50 years of age and be free to commit a minimum of three and a half days per month of your time. Following an RSVP Police Academy, plus some on the job training, you will be ready to wear the SILVER BADGE OF THE RSVP.” Click here to learn more details about joining the program.
—The Kittens are Coming: San Diego Humane Society (SDHS) is preparing for the upcoming kitten season. Kittens will be depending on the services of the SDHS kitten nursery to prepare for their eventual adoption. In anticipation of kitten season, SDHS is conducting a Kitten Virtual Shower to ensure enough supplies are available for the Kitten Nursery and Foster Program. Please click here to learn what you need to do to contribute to the Virtual Kitten Shower. We encourage you to click here to view a fun video of the SDHS’s Kitten Program.
—LV Multi-Cultural Fair/Parade: The ever popular Linda Vista Multi-Cultural Fair and Parade will be held Saturday April 29. If you or your organization wish to participate in the fair and/or parade, please visit this site to apply for parade, entertainment, booth, volunteer, or sponsorship opportunities. And check out the below flyer.
More Linda Vista Fair News
Get Free Blood Pleasure Reading
Here is some interesting and cautionary news! According to a website operated by the office of San Diego County, heart diseases are the leading cause of death in this country, and the second leading cause of death in San Diego County. In 2021, nearly 5,000 people died in San Diego County from diseases of the heart.
This kind of news makes it clear that knowing your blood pressure numbers is vital to your heart health. Fortunately, there are a number of places in the area where you can get a free blood pressure screening, and one of those places is at the Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market. A Farmers Market booth operated by UC San Diego Health offers free blood pressure screenings every Thursday afternoon from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Booth attendees, Imani and Shravya (UCSD students featured in the above photo) encourage local residents to come visit their booth, chit chat a bit, and get their blood pressure read. Don’t worry….they are not there to scold you about your blood pressure or anything else (they are actually very friendly and personable). And they are not there to dispense medical advice. But they are advocates of preventive medicine, and so if your blood pressure is a concern they are available to refer you to other groups in the area that can help support you in pursuing healthy lifestyle changes.
So make a visit to the Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market, buy your fresh fruits and vegetables, and get a free blood pressure reading. Your body will appreciate it.
California Recycling Centers are Threatened
In these often divisive times, the act of recycling is one action that nearly every American can agree upon as a worthy patriotic chore. Anyone concerned with the environment wants to pitch in and do their part to keep our streets free from litter, our landfills from overflowing, and our oceans free of unwanted plastic material. Furthermore, recycling appeals to our capitalistic side; as many readers have personally experienced, if you take several large bags of cans and plastic bottles to the local recycling redemption center, you can easily end up with 40 to 50 dollars in your pocket.
However, a current situation facing the business people who operate local recycling redemption centers may end up discouraging some of us from recycling and complicate efforts to make a little extra cash. Recycling redemption centers, like SD Recycling Depot (located at 2351 Ulric Street, behind Minit Mart), which at times can be one of the busiest places in Linda Vista, are having a hard time staying afloat. They are struggling to deal with the drastic ups and downs associated with the price of scrap plastic material, and the related process used by the state of California to pay recycling redemption centers for eventually turning in collected recyclable material to processing centers. These two factors have already resulted in the state-wide closure of a number of recycling redemption centers. As stated by Mary Camacho, owner of SD Recycling Depot “7 recycling centers in San Diego closed just this month. And I fear we might be next.”
In case you don’t know, here is a quick primer on how redemption centers make money. They do so in three ways—from the California Refund Value, the value of the scrap material itself, and a processing payment. When a recycling redemption center sells their scrap material (with plastics being the most lucrative), the processing center pays the redemption center both the market price for the scrap material and a processing fee from the state for handling and transporting the material and providing a small profit). According to one internet source, “The processing fee is designed to offset any gaps between what the redemption center business spends to handle the redeemed material and what the processing center pays for scrap. In simpler terms, as scrap prices go up, the processing payment goes down, and vice versa. For example, if the price of plastic material is $450.00 a ton, the processing payment to the recycling redemption center will be $85.00. But if the price goes down to $384.00 a ton, the processing fee will be $171.00 a ton.
The recycling redemption centers rely heavily on this processing payment to make a profit, especially in regard to plastic scrap material (as a result of the demand created for plastic by the increased use of plastic water and soda bottles). But what complicates matters is the fact that (1) the price of plastics material fluctuates greatly during the year, and (2), the state of California sets the processing payment per ton of material every January 1 based on the most recent four quarter average of scrap prices available. Thus, the processing payment remains the same for the following 12 months. Unfortunately, the price can fluctuate wildly during this 12 month window, and a big price drop (as has recently happened) means that recycling redemption centers get stuck having to get paid based on a high price—which equates to a much lower processing payment (oftentimes hundreds of dollars a ton in difference) and not necessarily one that reflects the most current prices of scrap plastic material. This has happened in several years, which has resulted in many redemption centers going out of business (500 since 2016) because they were not making a profit. In other words, this inflexible 12-month window frame does not adequately address the big price swings that redemption centers must face each month.
In short, Ms. Camacho recommends that if Linda Vista wants to retain its recycling redemption center—SD Recycling Depot--and the ability to conveniently recycle, keep the community clean, and make a little money, residents should contact their state legislators and ask that the state amends the way it calculates prices for scrap material, using prices from more recent quarters instead of a long 12-month window. This simple change should result in fairer and more realistic processing payments for recycling redemption centers.
As Ms Camacho stated, “If we were paid fairly, I wouldn’t have a problem opening up more recycling centers in San Diego, but if things continue as they are, we will probably close down and there will not be any recycling centers in the area.”
That would certainly be a loss for the Linda Vista community.
If you are interested in contacting State Senator Toni Atkins and Assemblyman Chris Ward about this recycling crisis, you can take a look at a sample support letter template addressing State Bill 353 (Senator Bill Dodd). This template has been put together by the non-profit group Californians Against Waste.
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You can go back in our archives to read the article we originally published about SD Recycling Center way back in February 2021— just click here.
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