Fall is finally here. Kids are back in school, the days are getting shorter, and the garden harvest is in full swing. It's a time to sit back as the sun sets and the air starts to cool off with a nice breeze from the bay and reflect on the dog days of summer and the cooler seasons in front of us. Celebrate the changing seasons National City style. This is the ninth edition of Your National City News. Enjoy.
Before the Special Olympics World Games began on July 25, 2015, more than 7,000 athletes from 177 countries were welcomed to Southern California through the Host Town program. The cities of Chula Vista, Coronado and National City joined together as San Diego South County to host 108 delegates from Puerto Rico and Argentina for the days prior to the World Games opening ceremonies. The delegates were housed at the University of San Diego and received Welcome bags filled with goodies from our respective cities…with a special thank you to all our local service clubs who sponsored the book bags and special thanks to the Chamber of Commerce for donating the reusable bags.
Maria Limon has turned 100! She was born on September 12, 1915 in Ahualulco de Mercado, Jalisco, Mexico. She was the youngest of five siblings. Maria met her future husband, Honorato Fernandez, in her hometown and they were married for 55 years. Maria and Honorato had three children: Jose, Jesus and Maria. Her husband was also a member of the Casa de Salud Seniors club until the day he passed. Maria joined both clubs in 1989 when her oldest son moved them here to National City. She has been a resident and active member of the Kimball Seniors Club and Casa Seniors Club for over 25 years. You can find her at the Kimball Senior Center almost every day!
Both clubs recognized her milestone birthday. The Casa Seniors had a surprise birthday song presentation with a Mariachi group on Wednesday, September 9. The Kimball Seniors Club had a birthday celebration with cake on Monday, September 14. If you haven’t had a chance to see the amazing Kimball Senior Center and all it has to offer stop by to pick up a newsletter and get a tour. Call us at (619) 336-6700 or visit 1221 D Ave, National City, CA 91950.
September is National Preparedness month and we’ve found a unique game to get our community better prepared!
30 Days, 30 Ways Challenge which is an interactive social media based preparedness game. The game challenges players to complete a specific preparedness task for each day of the month of September, hence 30 Days, 30 Ways.
Join the City and register to play, post the daily tasks on social media to encourage the community to play along, while learning some important preparedness tips during the process!
Check out a very cool video that explains the importance of being prepared in a fun way. Click here.
Go to the 30 Days, 30 Ways website for more information and to register.
Facility Hours are:
Monday through Friday 3:00-8:00pm
Saturday 11:00am-4:30pm
Sunday 11:00am-5:00pm.
Activities include FREE open play basketball and indoor soccer, dance classes, arts and crafts, and more! Other classes include Zumba, Basketball instruction, and Karate.
To view the monthly schedule and to get more information on programs visit the website.
For Questions call the Community Services Department at (619) 336-4290 or email communityservices@nationalcityca.gov.
Manuel Sanchez, Custodian, Engineering & Public Works Department
Manuel is an integral, respected member of the National City family. He is an ambassador highlighting the best that we have to offer as an agency. His work in providing custodial support to both the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center and City Hall is accomplished with care and great pride. More importantly, his work is always accompanied with a contagious smile and willingness to assist. Manuel can often be seen graciously providing information, directions and a helping hand to members of the public. With City staff, he is always there to greet you with a smile and a hello, an offer to help with a heavy load, and a set of watchful eyes when you are waking to your car late at night.
Manuel is a true example of living our core values of the commitment, customer service and courtesy.
We thank you Manuel for your dedication and relentless service to our community!
Did you know the National City Fire Department (NCFD) can provide aid to any agency within California?
The National City Fire Department is a participating and signatory agency in many automatic and mutual aid agreements.
We provide automatic aid to any agency within our zone, the San Diego Metro Zone (there are 5 zones in San Diego County). What this means is that no matter where the need for service arises, the closest Fire Agency will respond, regardless of whose jurisdiction the call is in. For example, a National City Fire Engine will respond into the city of San Diego if we are the closest resource. It is the same with any of our adjoining cities and zones within the county. The agreement goes both ways, we get their units, they get ours. It is also known in the fire business as the “closest unit” concept or the “border drop”. The intent is to get help to whomever is calling, the quickest way possible. We do this every day, multiple times a day.
There is a statewide agreement, classified as mutual aid and falls under the California Fire Agency Agreement (CFAA) and the California Master Mutual Aid Agreement. Similar to the automatic aid we can provide assistance if called upon anywhere in the State of California.
We do our best to fulfill our commitment to these agreements while maintaining our principal goal of service to National City residents.
We send help, and more importantly, get help from other agencies if we request it. This type of agreement is fully reimbursable from either the Federal government or the State government budgets, depending who is asking for the assistance.
As far as our current participation at the statewide level, here is a listing of who’s done what and where in the past few weeks/months.
Fire Fighter/Paramedic Eric Benedek- 2 deployments
The Manuel Portillo Casa De Salud Youth Center is now open at 3pm!Drop in to participate in games, activities, and fun!
Monday through Friday - 3:00pm to 8:00pm
Saturday - 12:00pm to 4:00pm.
For the monthly schedule please visit the website.
video courtesy of San Diego Union Tribune
A Reason To Survive was pleased to host the Pomegranate Center Fellows Training for 31 professional artists, youth artists, community leaders and leaders from other nonprofit agencies on August 21st & 22nd. The first of four intensive trainings focused on teaching the Pomegranate Center principles of community engagement to support creative, effective community building.
After 29 years of service, Pomegranate Center believes that every neighborhood deserves to be full of life and beauty and that every person should have the chance to be connected to the places they live.
Pomegranate Center has demonstrated that building community gathering places is a powerful way to involve residents as a group solving problems, building projects and forging connections. The Pomegranate Center has facilitated more than 50 community plans and 45 gathering places, including Butterfly Park in National City and Manzanita Gathering Place in City Heights.
Pomegranate Center is a key partner in the 3-year Creating Vibrant Neighborhoods Initiative (CVNI), which is being led by ARTS and involving ARTS youth apprentices, professional artists and community members.
All fellows will be eligible to apply to be paid artists for future projects, the first to culminate with the ARTS Center Gathering Place in November. The entire CVNI project will result in 30 public art projects and gathering places. Some projects will be created in other South Bay communities, and will involve 100 ARTS youth apprentices, 60 professional artists and thousands of intergenerational community members.
Get your groove back with this fun exercise class! Join us on Tuesday and Thursday at Camacho Recreation Center from 6:30-7:45pm and on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center from 6:30-8:00pm. See the flyers below.
The Bayshore Bikeway is a regional corridor that will eventually extend 24 miles around San Diego Bay, providing a vital and scenic connection to major bayfront employers, as well as tourist and recreational destinations. Approximately 15 miles have been built to date, and plans are underway to construct the entire bikeway as a bike path separated from traffic. The next phase of construction is anticipated to begin in 2016, and will close the gap between the bike path at Pier 32 in National City and the existing bike path south of 32nd Street in San Diego. The Barrio Logan segment, which goes north from 32nd Street to Park Boulevard, is entering the design phase. The bikeway will eventually extend 24 miles around the San Diego Bay.
For more information and maps, click right here.
Become a Creating-Vibrant-Neighborhoods Volunteer.
To learn more about our upcoming projects and how you and/or your group could be of service, please contact our Outreach Coordinator, Xaime Aceves-Equihua or scroll down to Register for Orientation.(619) 297-2787 ext. 2011 jequihua@areasontosurvive.org
This summer, The City of National City, hosted four family fun movies for the 2015 Summer Movies in the Park series. Altogether, over 575 attendees came out to relax under the stars and to enjoy a few favorite hits including: Big Hero 6, Boxtrolls, Guardians of the Galaxy, and McFarland USA. Prior to the showing of McFarland USA, over 70 residents participated in the 1-Mile Fun Run & September 11 Tribute. The community came together to honor the 14th Anniversary of September 11, 2001 and was lead in the National Anthem by Sweetwater High School’s Double Quartet. Residents enjoyed a run or walk through the beautiful Las Palmas Park with National City Firefighters and Police Officers.
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