Daily Business Report-Oct. 23, 2015
Gov. Jerry Brown in an undated file photo.
Governor OKs Fast-Track
Environmental Review of New Stadium
Times of San Diego
Gov. Jerry Brown announced Wednesday that the proposed new stadium in Mission Valley qualifies for accelerated environmental review under state law.
The governor certified the Qualcomm Stadium replacement plan as an “environmental leadership development project,” which requires any lawsuits arising from the environmental impact report to be resolved within 270 days.
“It’s fantastic news for San Diego and a big step forward for the Mission Valley stadium plan,” said Mayor Kevin Faulconer. “This gives our Mission Valley project more certainty and momentum.
“I thank the governor for supporting our efforts to create a state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly and Super Bowl-ready stadium. I also appreciate the efforts of Speaker Atkins, who was instrumental in the Capitol,” Faulconer added.
The action comes a week before the National Football League is scheduled to host public forums in San Diego, St. Louis and Oakland about those cities’ possible loss of football teams to the giant Los Angeles market. The San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders are planning a new stadium in Carson, while the owner of the St. Louis Rams wants to build a stadium in Inglewood.
The governor’s certification will be complete in 30 days after the state legislature’s Joint Legislative Budget Committee, which is not in session, either concurs or does not concur in writing.
Once enacted, any lawsuit challenging proposed stadium’s environmental impact report must be resolved within 270 days. This timeline ensure the city can open the new stadium in 2019 and meet the NFL’s schedule even if there is litigation.
The draft environmental impact report received only 18 comments, a very low number for such a large project.
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State-of-the-Art Archery Center
Opens at Olympic Training Center
Times of San Diego
A state-of-the-art facility for indoor archery training officially opened Thursday at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista.
The Easton Archery Center of Excellence is the gift of Jim Easton, whose family’s Easton-Bell Sports, now a part of the BRG Group, is well know for innovative aluminum and carbon-fiber composite sports equipment for baseball, softball, cycling and archery.
The 42,629 square-foot facility includes a 70-meter indoor range, fitness room, athlete lounge, coaches’ offices and multiple classrooms and conference rooms. State-of-the-art technology includes ultra-high speed video, a 3D imaging system and other tools to assist Olympic athletes. Housing for 30 is located nearby.
“Part of my vision to support the development of sports education and programs for youth and aspiring Olympians and Paralympians has included designing, building and supporting archery training facilities,” said Easton. “The Easton Archery Center of Excellence is the culmination of years of planning and hard work by a team devoted to the goal of providing…leadership, facilities, programs, training and education for the growth and development of archery.”
Easton said the new center will be a place for “archers from around the world to pursue their competitive dreams.”
The building was designed by Easton’s brother Bob, who is a champion archer and also renowned architect.
The new center is expected to help California attract and host major archery events, including world championships.
“Archery has meant so much to the Easton family for over 90 years,” said Greg Easton, president of the family’s Easton Foundations. “Through the Easton Foundations, my father’s dream of supporting archery from the grassroots and community level all the way to high-end competitive archers is being realized.”
In 1939 the Easton family began developing and manufacturing aluminum arrows in Los Angeles. This was the beginning of a trend in materials that would change traditional archery and ultimately other sports.
In addition to the new center in Chula Vista, the foundation has developed archery centers in Van Nuys, Salt Lake City, Newberry, Fla., and Yankton, S.D., in the United States, as well as in Spain and Switzerland.
New Courtyard Hotel
Opens in Gaslamp Quarter
The 14-story, 90-room Courtyard by Marriott was officially opened on Wednesday at 453 Sixth Ave. in Downtown San Diego.
The hotel is operated as a Marriott franchise. J Street Hospitality Inc. is the owner and Azul Hospitality Group Inc. is the manager.
The custom lobby opens to a “racing stripe” of green terrazzo tile leading guests to the business center with an array of seating zones, complimentary Wi-Fi and a computer station dedicated solely to checking flight status and printing boarding passes.
Additional features include an on-site fitness center; The Market, a 24/7 shop for snacks, beverages and sundries; and The Bistro, overlooking the lobby with an outdoor patio, which offers flexible seating as well as menu options for breakfast and light evening fare along with snacks, cocktails, wine and beer.
The Nolen — a rooftop bar and lounge — offers views of Downtown San Diego, Petco Park, San Diego Bay and Coronado Island.
Second Chance Raises $100,000
In Benefit Featuring Piper Kerman
Second Chance, a nonprofit helping adults and youth in need, reported that it raised $100,000 from a benefit Oct. 17 on “Orange is the New Black: The Real Story with Piper Kerman.”
Piper Kerman, author of the memoir “Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison,” was the event’s keynote speaker.
The San Diego event was designed to raise awareness of the failures in our current prison system and the solution provided by Second Chance to get people off the streets and into the workforce.
“The dignity of work is central in importance to successful re-entry,” said Kerman.
As a result of the event, Second Chance received 150 new donors and, in addition, Piper Kerman donated her entire honorarium to Second Chance to continue its ongoing effort to provide job readiness training, development programs for disadvantaged youth, job placement services, sober-living housing and behavioral health treatment.
The San Diego Foundation was the event’s title sponsor.
Insurance Settlement for San Onofre
Shutdown to Help Lower Customer Bills
City News Service
Southern California Edison said it will receive $400 million after reaching a settlement with an insurance carrier over the shutdown of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
About 95 percent of the revenue from the agreement with Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited will be applied to lowering customers’ bills, according to Pedro Pizarro, president of Edison, which is the plant’s operator and majority owner.
“This settlement represents a good outcome that is in the best interests of our customers,” Pizarro said. “We expect Southern California Edison customers will begin to see the direct benefit of this settlement in early 2016 through reduced rates.”
San Diego Gas & Electric, which owned 20 percent of the plant and received one-fifth of the electricity it generated, will also get 20 percent of the proceeds, or $80 million.
The nuclear plant at San Onofre hasn’t operated since the end of January 2012, when a small, non-injury leak occurred in one of the two reactors. The cause of the leak was traced to vibrations in steam generators manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan, and investigators determined the company’s design process was flawed.
SCE said it’s pursuing arbitration claims against MHI and Mitsubishi Nuclear Energy Systems to compensate for the steam generators’ failure.
The utility decided in June 2013 to retire the reactors, rather than pursue a costly restart process.
Personnel Announcements
Fish & Richardson Adds 2 Associates
Megan Chacon and Veronica Sandoval have joined Fish & Richardson’s San Diego office as associates.
Chacon joins the firm’s litigation group. Her practice emphasizes complex patent litigation across a wide range of technologies, including pharmaceutical compounds and delivery systems, biotechnology, chemicals, medical devices and consumer products. Prior to joining Fish, Chacon practiced as a patent litigator at a leading intellectual property law firm in New York focusing on Hatch-Waxman litigation.
Sandoval also joins the firm’s litigation group. Prior to joining Fish, she served as a judicial extern to Honorable Charles K. Wiggins of the Washington Supreme Court and as an extern at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Prior to law school, Sandoval earned her Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology, with a focus in neuropharmacology, and was a medical liaison for two different pharmaceutical companies.
