Daily Business Report-April 1, 2019
Office building at 3850 Fifth Ave. in Hillcrest.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation purchases
Hillcrest building to transform into retail
thrift store with upstairs medical clinic
AIDS Healthcare Foundation has purchased a two-story office building in Hillcrest that it will convert into a retail thrift store on the bottom floor and a medical clinic on the second floor. LuxView Properties sold the building at 3850 Fifth Ave. for $4.8 million.
“With walkable amenities and its proximity to Downtown, buildings in Hillcrest command a premium, particularly if they have on-site parking, like this building,” said Marc Posthumus, vice president at Colliers International, which represented the seller. “This property will prove a worthwhile investment for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation to introduce its retail thrift store and medical clinic concept.”
Recently, Posthumus represented LuxView in the sale of properties at 3855 Wabash Ave. in North Park and 3338-3348 Kettner Blvd. in Downtown San Diego.
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State lawmakers take aim at
medical vaccine exemptions
Voice of San Diego
Sen. Richard Pan has unveiled details on his plan to curb medical vaccine exemptions, which have surged in the last three years since California – in an effort led by Pan – did away with personal belief exemptions for vaccines for children attending public and private schools and daycare.
Pan took an argument often used by the anti-vaccine community – that parents should have the freedom to make their own choices about vaccines – and turned it on its head: “We are joined here today to again defend our right to safe schools for all children, and our freedom to go about our community without being infected by a serious disease,” he said at a press conference announcing the bill, SB 276.
In describing the need for the bill, Pan cited a Voice of San Diego report in which we revealed that a single doctor is responsible for nearly one-third of the medical exemptions within San Diego Unified School District, and many of those exemptions rely on a reason for the exemption the CDC and many other physicians do not find medically sound.
“A few unethical physicians advertise medical exemptions for cash,” Pan said. “These physicians were often not even trained in pediatrics or family medicine and were not providing ongoing care for these children. Instead, they were monetizing their medical license by selling these exemptions.”
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Rapid global switch to renewable energy
can save millions of lives annually
Rapid phase-out of fossil fuels can save millions of lives annually as a result of reduced global air pollution, according to an international team of scientists including Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher Veerabhadran Ramanathan.
Researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany used a global atmospheric chemistry and climate model linked to the latest health effects estimates. For the first time, the team studied the combined impact of decarbonization on public health, precipitation, and climate. The results of the study are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) March 25.
The team headed by atmospheric researcher Jos Lelieveld of the Max Planck Institute calculated that fossil fuel emissions are responsible for about 65 percent of premature deaths from human-made air pollutants globally. Polluted air significantly elevates the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.
According to Richard Burnett of Health Canada, a co-author of the study, it was recently found that the health burden of fine particulate matter is even higher than previously assumed. Phasing out the use of fossil fuels would therefore prevent more than 3 million premature deaths annually worldwide.
“If all sources of air pollution from human activities could be eliminated, that number would further rise to more than 5 million per year,” said Andy Haines from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a co-author of the study.
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San Diego sees surge in startups
aiming for VC attention
The number of San Diego startups angling for investor attention has spiked this year. A record-breaking number of startups have applied for a spot on San Diego Venture Group’s roster of Cool Companies — a 42 percent increase in application from the previous year.
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County Air Pollution Control District
gets funds to monitor air pollution
The County’s Air Pollution Control District has received $2.5 million from the California Air Resources Board to help conduct air pollution monitoring in the district’s Portside Environmental Justice Neighborhoods community.
With the funding, the district will for the first time monitor the ambient air quality in Barrio Logan, Logan Heights, Sherman Heights and parts of National City—the neighborhoods that comprise the Portside community—and take steps to reduce the air pollution and its harmful effects on residents. Ambient air is the air immediately surrounding people at street level.
Portside was one of the first 10 communities in all of California selected by the California Air Resources Board to be part of its Community Air Protection Program. The state air board created the program in response to California’s passage of Assembly Bill 617 in 2017, which aims to help communities that may be more vulnerable to threats from air pollution because they’re located near ports, rail yards, warehouses, industries and freeways.
Work in the community will include placing multiple air quality monitors in the four neighborhoods, collecting air quality data and using the district’s air quality improvement projects to reduce pollution. For example, encouraging businesses and people through monetary incentive grants to swap pollution-spewing diesel machinery and engines with electric or less-polluting diesel engines.
As part of the state’s program, the Air Pollution Control District is required to install, operate and start reporting data from the air quality monitors by July 1. The district already began monitoring efforts this month, ahead of schedule.
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Gubernatorial Appointments
16-year-old Eastlake High student
named to State Board of Education
Brenna Pangelinan, a 16-year-old Eastlake High School student, has been named to the State Board of Education by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Pangelinan, a swim and water polo star, was chosen from a field of 12 semifinalists and three finalists for the one-year student member term.
Pangelinan has been athletics commissioner for the Eastlake High School Associated Student Body since 2018. She was champions council member for the Nothing But Nets UN Foundation Campaign and captain of Eastlake’s water polo team from 2017 to 2018.
Pangelinan, a student board member of the Sweetwater Union High School District in 2018, is founder of the Eastlake High Mental Health Task Force.
According to the application, the student member will spend at least two consecutive school days every other month to attend regular meetings, usually in Sacramento.
Pangelinan — whose position requires state Senate confirmation — also is expected to attend selected advisory group meetings, student meetings, workshops and conferences.
All transportation costs are paid by the SBE, along with lodging and meal costs allowed by state regulations. She’ll also receive a $100 stipend for each day’s service on official business. Pangelinan is not registered to vote.
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Kim Perigo appointed to California
Community College Board of Governors
Kim Perigo, 49, of San Diego, has been appointed to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Perigo has been a professor of communication studies at San Diego Mesa College since 2006 and a lecturer at San Diego State University from 2002 to 2005. She is a member of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges and the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges. Perigo earned a Doctor of Education degree with an emphasis in community college leadership and a Master of Arts degree in communication from San Diego State University. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Perigo is a Democrat.
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Brian Anderson reappointed to
State Mining and Geology Board
Brian Anderson, 55, of Carlsbad, has been reappointed to the State Mining and Geology Board, where he has served since 2014. Anderson has been principal geologist at Sespe Consulting Inc. since 2018. He held multiple positions at Vulcan Materials Company from 2002 to 2008, including vice president of property permitting and environment, director of environment, regulatory affairs and sustainable development, environmental affairs manager and area resources manager. Anderson held multiple positions at Brown and Caldwell Inc. from 1994 to 2002, including program leader, operations manager and senior project manager. He is a registered professional geologist in the state of California and earned a Master of Science degree in geological sciences from the University of California, Riverside. The position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Anderson is a Republican.
