Actor Martin Sheen will help launch USD’s new School of Peace Studies on Oct. 17 in the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice. The school, headed by Dean William Headley, will focus on peacemaking, peace building and peacekeeping efforts. The noontime program will evolve to include full-time faculty and expansion of the undergraduate and graduate programs. The IPJ, established in 2001, is now part of the new school. Also, on Oct. 20 the university’s School of Leadership and Education Sciences will formally dedicate Mother Rosalie Hill Hall, its new 80,000-square-foot, $36 million education technology building. The building is named after one of USD’s founders.
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Michael Kinsman called Peter Q. Davis: “Am I dead yet?” asked the retired banker. Kinsman has been writing obits at the Union-Tribune for about 10 months. “I do like it,” he says, “except on days too many people die.”
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The median price of a resale condo Downtown was $573,000 for the 30-day period ended Sept. 20, up $4,000 from August but down 4.66 percent ($28,000) from $601,000 in September 2006, reports Realtor Lew Breeze of sdcondo.com. The number of condos pending sale during the past 30 days was 33, compared to 30 from the same period last year. The number of condos closing sale during the 30 days prior to September 20 was 24, compared to 32 from this same period last year.
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With 10,000 books on its shelves, Goodwill Industries’ first San Diego bookstore is open in the University Square Center. “We are very excited to be able to enhance the retail offerings in the University City community by providing great literary values in the bookstore and online, along with providing a convenient way for the public to donate their gently used items, or to drop off those confidential documents that need to be shredded in a secure environment,” says spokesman Mike Rowan. The phone is (858) 909-0200.
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   Homewood Suites by Hilton has opened a 150-suite, residential-style hotel at Liberty Station in Point Loma. Huntington Hotel Group manages; Rick Brown is g.m. Amenities include outdoor fireplaces with patio seating and waterfront views, a billiard room and two outdoor terraces with telescopes. Guest rooms have 32-inch flat screen televisions.
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Alliant Insurance Services Inc. decided against leasing 50,000 square feet in DiamondView Tower Downtown after the company was purchased by The Blackstone Group, which owns another Downtown high-rise, the Merrill Lynch building at 701 B St. Alliant will lease space in that building instead. Jason Wood, v.p. of finance and leasing for Cisterra Partners, DiamondView’s developer, says 30,000 square feet of the space Alliant was to take on the 10th floor of the 15-story building has been taken by The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, which is moving from 1010 Second Ave. The remaining 30,000 square feet is on the market, leaving the building 84 percent leased.
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Free Wi-Fi Internet service is now offered in all terminals at San Diego International Airport. The service is supported by more than 60 access points. Data transmission speeds are capped at 256 kilobytes per second per user to keep bandwidth hogs from bogging it down for others. The Airport Authority is working on ways to allow for faster connection speeds.
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The Working Waterfront Group and the Port of San Diego are offering free two-hour bus tours of the working waterfront on San Diego Bay on Oct. 24 and Nov. 16. The tour offers a close look at the National City Marine Terminal, home to one of the largest automobile import operations on the West Coast; a look at where 25 percent of all West Coast waterborne lumber is imported; a major shipyard; and the Port’s Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal, a cargo operation handling fresh fruit, steel, newsprint, cement and other commodities. All tours are from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Reservations are required. Call (619) 686-6466 or visit workingwaterfrontgroup.org.
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Displaying a deftness that startled the presenter and brought gasps and laughs from the audience, Deborah Lindholm swiftly stripped off her jacket to accept and put on an African gown during the ninth annual Honoring The Women In Our Lives Luncheon. The gift was from Senior Vice President Joseph Boakai of the Republic of Liberia. Lindholm, founder of the Foundation for Women and organizer of the luncheon, helped start a micro credit program that assists Liberian woman. The country’s recently elected president is a woman, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Boakai said women in his country are the breadwinners and thanked Lindholm, who has traveled to Liberia, for her assistance. “We believe the micro credit from this foundation is transforming lives,” he said, later saying he enjoyed his visit to San Diego so much that perhaps one day the city can have a sister city relationship with Monrovia, his country’s capital.
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Roberta Ruffini and Stefano Ceresoli, owners of Caffe Bella Italia in Pacific Beach, will open late this month Solare Ristorante ~ Lounge at Liberty Station. It will be the first restaurant in the NTC Promenade Arts & Culture District. Call (619) 270-9670 for more information.
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Michael Mitchell, g.m. and operating partner of The Oceanaire Seafood Room, has been named president of the San Diego County chapter of the California Restaurant Association.
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Julio A. De Quesada, head of corporate and investment banking activities for Banamex and Citibank in Mexico, presents “An Insider’s Look at the Mexican Economy” at an Oct. 18 roundtable luncheon sponsored by the San Diego Chamber. Cost to attend the event at the Marriott Hotel & Marina is $55. Advance registration is required by Oct. 15 and payment won’t be accepted at the door. Call (619) 544-1362 for details. De Quesada’s lengthy resume includes spending 28 years with Citibank and holding numerous positions in New York, Central America, Greece and Saudi Arabia. He is a board member of California Commerce Bank, former president and a member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico, and a board member of Atradius, one of the world’s largest corporate credit risk insurance companies.
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Loews Coronado will hold a soft opening early this month for its new signature restaurant, Mistral, which replaces Azzura Point. Operating from a renovated dining room that features floor-to-ceiling windows with bay views, Mistral’s menu will focus on sustainable ingredients. “When you’re located in San Diego and have countless organic resources at your fingertips, it’s easy to support one of the fastest growing food movements,” says Ellen Burke Van Slyke, food and beverage director. Special three-course, $35 tastings of the Mediterranean menu start Oct. 16, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Modest Needs Foundation.
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 Brion Murray was among the Pfizer La Jolla researchers surfing at the annual Moores UCSD Cancer Center Luau and Longboard Invitational. The event raised more than $600,000, bringing its 14-year total to $2.6 million.
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Attendees at the monthly meeting of the Inventors Forum of San Diego sign in by agreeing not to disclose new and unprotected ideas. The best of those ideas won’t stay unprotected for long; among forum supporters are Sheppard Mullin and Fish & Richardson. To learn more, visit sdinventors.org.
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A San Diego publication just lowered its legal advertising rates, offering to publish fictitious business name statements for $150. The San Diego Metropolitan Uptown Examiner — our legally adjudicated, twice-a-week newspaper — publishes fictitious names for $12, cash or check. Call (619) 398-8927.
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Five years before the 500th anniversary of Columbus planting the Spanish flag in the New World, Rogelio and Janet Huidobro brought Spanish cuisine to a primordial Gaslamp Quarter. A dingy area that previously was known for topless bars now had a tapas bar. “Café Sevilla was one of the very first businesses to establish itself in the newly revitalizing Gaslamp Quarter,” says CEO Eric van den Haute. Twenty years later Café Sevilla has served 2 million dinner guests, 2 million sangrias and 1 million paellas, Sevilla’s signature seafood dish, under the direction of executive chef Christian Vignes. Hoofing through those two decades in the Gaslamp has been Sevilla’s dinner show, The Art of Flamenco. Downstairs, Sevilla’s dance club moves to different themes (rumba, samba, gypsy, salsa and merengue) on different nights. The Huidobros have since planted the Café Sevilla flag in locations in Riverside and Long Beach. And for the last five years, Sevilla Catering has been carrying the flag, the paella and even the flamenco to corporate events and private parties. Café Sevilla —(619) 233-5979 — is at 555 Fourth Ave.
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