Tag: government

City of San Diego honors Constitution Week.

Kathleen Winchester holds City of San Diego Proclamation that recognizes and honors Constitution Week.

It’s Constitution Day and Citizenship Day!

Today is the 238th anniversary of the drafting of the Constitution of the United States. September 17th was the date in 1787 when delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the historic document in Philadelphia.

The City of San Diego has issued an official Proclamation that celebrates Constitution Week. I was fortunate to see it close up!

The City of San Diego Proclamation, signed by Mayor Todd Gloria, includes the following words:

…celebrating Constitution Week serves as an important reminder of the historic rights, privileges and responsibilities the Constitution affords us…

…Constitution Week commemorates the week the Constitution was signed and delivered to the Continental Congress. It laid the foundation for the birth of a new nation and became one of the most significant chapters in United States history…

…the Constitution lays out liberties like freedom, opportunity, and rule of law…

As a writer and individual who loves to create, I cherish freedom.

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Natural History Museum’s 150 years Block Party!

The San Diego Natural History Museum celebrated its 150 year anniversary today with a big “block party” in Balboa Park!

Shortly after 9:30, presentations were made on the museum steps by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, California’s Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins, and Judy Gradwohl, President and CEO of the San Diego Natural History Museum. Not to mention a friendly dinosaur! Then everyone watching enjoyed free morning admission to the museum!

Those who ventured into the San Diego Natural History Museum could experience fascinating exhibits and enjoy live entertainment. By heading down into the building’s basement, visitors could see the museum’s amazing new Paleo Center. I did just that, and posted photos of it here!

The big outdoor block party attracted visitors to numerous canopies situated on either side of the museum, which sheltered environmental and educational organizations from throughout San Diego County.

Scientists from the Fleet Science Center were happy to be asked anything! I asked two daunting questions. What is existence? What is consciousness?

The San Diego Air and Space Museum showed kids how to make straw gliders and paper helicopters!

The Coronado Public Library was showing how to made a newspaper pot for plants!

A smile from the Earth Discovery Institute! They are helping with natural habitat restoration and conservation.

A kid uses a stamp to print an image using red ink from ground up cochineal, at the Balboa Art Conservation Center table!

I correctly answered Balboa Park Facts for 500 at the Forever Balboa Park table and won a cool pin!

Inside the San Diego Natural History Museum during their 150 year celebration block party!

Great live music inside the museum.

Back outside, on the north side of the museum, on the lawn near the Moreton Bay Fig and the Natural History Museum’s new nature trail.

The Friends of Famosa Slough in Point Loma were showing award-winning photographs. I need to return to the slough for another bird watching walk.

All sorts of great information was available concerning Mission Trails Regional Park.

Cans4Books recycles cans and bottles and uses the proceeds to provide books for kids!

Reef the Whale is a fun sculpture on a trailer used by Cans4Books to collect recyclables!

A wood plaque shows that Reef the Whale was born in Point Loma this summer!

So many organizations were present for The NAT’s big block party.

Amazing sculpture of a California Red-legged Frog made of unrecyclable plastic collected at the museum. A cool creation of local nonprofit Endangered Concepts.

San Diego Botanic Garden had lots of plants to check out.

A big, wonderful smile!

I learned construction of the San Diego River Park Foundation’s new nature center in Mission Valley is making good progress!

Thank you for helping to maintain our beautiful San Diego River!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Barrio Logan exhibit during Archives Month!

We are now in the middle of San Diego City Clerk’s 6th Annual Archives Month!

Through October 18th, 2024, the public can experience a fascinating San Diego City Clerk Archives exhibit concerning the history of Barrio Logan. Extensive displays can be viewed just inside the front entrance of San Diego’s downtown City Administration Building, at 202 C Street.

The exhibit is titled Telling Our Stories–Preserving Our Histories: The Chicano Movement in San Diego. It features photographs, articles and City Clerk documents that pertain to the culturally rich Barrio Logan neighborhood and how it has changed over time. There is an emphasis on the creation of Chicano Park, the work of Chicano activists, the origin and influence of Neighborhood House, and the tuna canning industry that once thrived in Barrio Logan down by the water.

In addition, there’s a video that visitors to the exhibit are invited to watch. It shows how residents were adversely affected by the construction of Interstate 5 and the Coronado Bay Bridge, and how they worked together to help preserve the community’s identity and establish Chicano Park.

The exhibit is curated by the San Diego City Clerk Archives in partnership with the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center.

I enjoyed looking at the displays and learning important facets of San Diego history. I encourage anyone who travels downtown to check it out. The City Administration Building is open on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Here are a few photographs that I took…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Votes For Women at San Diego History Center.

The Women’s Museum of California has made its home inside the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park. Visitors who walk into the history center can now view a museum exhibit concerning the struggle by women to obtain the right to vote in the United States.

Votes For Women: A Portrait of Persistence follows the efforts of suffragists to amend the U.S. Constitution and change state election laws by lobbying in their community and in the halls of Congress. As one display explains, the suffragists wrote articles, circulated petitions, gave speeches, organized marches, and were sometimes imprisoned for their protests. Over time these tactics won support for woman suffrage that led to the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.

Visitors will learn how the fight for women’s right to vote lasted more than 80 years. Even after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was required to eliminate the suppression of voting by women.

In addition to many interesting posters, there are garments on display that suffragists might have worn, including a bloomer costume, named for writer and women’s rights advocate Amelia Bloomer.

Kids can also enjoy fun activities. There’s a San Diego History Center image scavenger hunt and the opportunity to take selfies with a suffragist sash and protest signs!

After you check out the Votes For Woman exhibit, take a stroll around the rest of the San Diego History Center. There’s a lot of history to see!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

The historic Starlight Bowl on road to recovery!

Big news in San Diego today! After 14 long years, the unused Starlight Bowl in Balboa Park appears to be on the road to recovery!

The City of San Diego has announced that it is looking for organizations or individuals interested in bringing the historic and famed Starlight Bowl in Balboa Park back to life. The city has issued a Request for Proposals for the lease and renovation of the open-air amphitheater. Interested to learn more? Visit the pertinent City of San Diego web page by clicking here.

When I heard this news today I cheered. I voiced my support for the restoration of the Starlight Bowl back in 2016. I, like many others in San Diego, have fond memories of the unique outdoor venue. You can read what I wrote by clicking here.

Over the years, many people have worked hard to pull weeds, paint and rehabilitate parts of the building, and advocate tirelessly for the historic Starlight Bowl’s survival. Congratulations to the organization Save Starlight and to all who have been involved in this effort.

That photograph above is of a performance in the Ford Bowl (now the Starlight Bowl) during the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition in Balboa Park. The photograph below was taken with my camera eight years ago…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Faces greet visitors to San Diego City Hall!

I believe these murals are fairly new. I saw them the other day at Civic Center Plaza, near the front entrance of San Diego’s City Administration Building. The half dozen images greet visitors to City Hall.

By searching the internet, I can find out nothing about this installation of photographic art. So I need the help of Cool San Diego Sights readers! I hope someone out there might provide more information with a comment.

I’m afraid the only individual I recognize of the six is San Diego’s renowned muralist Mario Torero–he’s in the final photograph.

I captured these photos in somewhat dim light, so I’ve increased the contrast quite a bit…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Santee plaque and trail honors U.S. Marines.

A bronze plaque in Town Center Community Park in Santee honors local U.S. Marines. The plaque stands behind an outdoor performance stage near a flagpole, and points the way to the Marine Memorial Trail, which runs around the perimeter of the public park.

I photographed the plaque a number of weeks ago during an event in Santee promoting San Diego FC’s inaugural soccer season in 2025. As you can see in these pictures, it was raining that day. Today as I sit here it’s raining, too, and I’m going through old photos.

To read a great article concerning this 2011 plaque, click here.

The plaque reads:

CITY OF SANTEE MARINE MEMORIAL TRAILS

THE PASSAGE OF TIME WILL NOT DIMINISH THE GRATITUDE THIS COMMUNITY HAS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED WITH OUR ADOPTED UNITS OF THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS 2ND BATTALION, 1ST MARINES AND MARINE HEAVY HELICOPTER SQUADRON 462. THE CITIZENS OF SANTEE CALIFORNIA REMEMBER WITH PRIDE AND RESPECT THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES RO PRESERVE AND DEFEND FREEDOM THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

THE PROFESSIONALS MEMORIAL TRAIL

HEAVY HAULERS MEMORIAL TRAIL

SEMPER FIDELIS

I also noticed another small plaque at the base of the flagpole.

It reads:

In honor of Randy Voepel for 20 years of service to the City of Santee. Mayor and Council Member. 1996-2016

His patriotism and allegiance to community and country will forever wave.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Stepping Beyond at the Southeastern Live Well Center!

The Southeastern Live Well Center opened last year in Valencia Park, an urban community in Southeast San Diego. The impressive facility, which provides a wide range of health and social services, features diverse works of art, both inside and outside.

Take a look at the inspiring bronze sculpture that stands at the front entrance of the Southeastern Live Well Center. Stepping Beyond is dated 2023.

The artist Manuelita Brown’s statement is on a plaque at the base of the sculpture. Her words include: This sculpture signifies a human being pressing beyond current circumstances, leaving one space toward another while moving an obstacle out of the way… Eight medallions representing the flora of cultural identities in the community adorn the banner to represent our diversity and commonality.

You can see more very fine sculptures by local artist Manuelita Brown by clicking here and here and here and here!

(I walked around the perimeter of this large San Diego County facility last weekend and discovered a Wellness Garden filled with very colorful artwork. I’ll blog about that shortly!)

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Adam T. Gastelum street sign in Barrio Logan.

Have you wondered about an Honorary Adam T. Gastelum street sign in Barrio Logan? I recently noticed it on Evans Street, at the intersection of Logan Avenue.

Curious to learn more about Adam T. Gastelum, I did a little searching.

An obituary summarizes several accomplishments of the proud Hispanic American Army veteran. He is credited with helping to found nearby San Diego VFW Post 7420. It also explains: Adam joined the Army to serve in World War II. His campaign battles included Normandy, Northern Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe.

I also discovered that on October 22, 2018, a San Diego City Council Resolution designated the 900 block of Evans Street between the intersection of Logan Avenue and National Avenue to be known as Adam Trejo Gastellum Street.

Many in San Diego appreciate his service.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

The beautiful new Piazza Costanza in Little Italy.

On November 28, 2023, the new Piazza Costanza was dedicated in San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood. The public space, filled with inviting tables and umbrellas, honors Margaret “Midge” Costanza, a trailblazer who became the first woman to hold the title of Assistant to a United States President.

Costanza was a daughter of Sicilian immigrants. Her illustrious career included fighting for the cause of civil rights. In 1978 she moved to Southern California and eventually worked in the San Diego District Attorney’s office advocating for senior citizens.

The beautiful Piazza Costanza is located at the corner of Columbia Street and Ash Street. It features a bronze bust, historical photographs and several inspiring quotes.

I walked through the piazza late yesterday afternoon…

It is the link from the present to the past that gives us a spirit to address the future.

I will never apologize for allowing people to participate in a government they help select and that belongs to them.

Human dignity is a right, not a privilege, a right inherited at birth.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!