Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

From Trashy to Classy

Sam Lopez is the environmental director for Urban Corps, a nonprofit agency that gives young adults jobs such as weed abatement and graffiti and trash removal throughout local communities while helping them earn high school diplomas. This week, Lopez went to his newest client — the communities that make up Greater Golden Hill — for introductions. On Monday it was the Maintenance Assessment District (MAD) Oversight Committee and on Thursday, the Community Development Corporation (CDC).

At Monday’s MAD meeting, Lopez stood in front of the committee and before he could get the “ez” in his last name out, outspoken MAD committee member Bill Hilsdorf voiced his concerns for the corps: “The Urban Corps is made up of troublemakers, right? Well, I’ve seen them in the neighborhood, and they don’t seem to have much of a work ethic. How much are you charging our community anyways?”

Sponsored
Sponsored

The answer was $262,000 of the Maintenance Assessment District’s $488,000 annual budget.

Lopez was caught off guard. Before he had adequate time to respond on all of the services Urban Corps had performed in the ten days since starting work in the community, MAD committee chair David Skillman asked if Lopez could return for the next meeting. Lopez agreed.

Luckily for Lopez, Thursday’s CDC meeting was a much different shade of spray-paint. Before the introductions, Rosemary Downing, executive director for the CDC, gave a presentation on Urban Corps accomplishments during the first ten days of work. In that time, 158 bags of trash had been collected, 133 square feet of graffiti has been removed, 14 large furniture items hauled away from alleyways, and 13 blocks' worth of weeds have been eliminated.

“This deserves a round of applause,” said Downing.

CDC board member Katherine Willets said she saw a group of workers from Urban Corps sitting down around noon one day as she was driving through the community. When she returned a short while later, all of them were hard at work.

Lopez and the Urban Corps team will have another go with the Greater Golden Hill MAD at their meeting on the third Monday of September at 6:30 p.m. in the Balboa Park clubhouse.

For more on Urban Corps, go to urbancorpssd.org.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The vicious cycle of Escondido's abandoned buildings

City staff blames owners for raising rents

Sam Lopez is the environmental director for Urban Corps, a nonprofit agency that gives young adults jobs such as weed abatement and graffiti and trash removal throughout local communities while helping them earn high school diplomas. This week, Lopez went to his newest client — the communities that make up Greater Golden Hill — for introductions. On Monday it was the Maintenance Assessment District (MAD) Oversight Committee and on Thursday, the Community Development Corporation (CDC).

At Monday’s MAD meeting, Lopez stood in front of the committee and before he could get the “ez” in his last name out, outspoken MAD committee member Bill Hilsdorf voiced his concerns for the corps: “The Urban Corps is made up of troublemakers, right? Well, I’ve seen them in the neighborhood, and they don’t seem to have much of a work ethic. How much are you charging our community anyways?”

Sponsored
Sponsored

The answer was $262,000 of the Maintenance Assessment District’s $488,000 annual budget.

Lopez was caught off guard. Before he had adequate time to respond on all of the services Urban Corps had performed in the ten days since starting work in the community, MAD committee chair David Skillman asked if Lopez could return for the next meeting. Lopez agreed.

Luckily for Lopez, Thursday’s CDC meeting was a much different shade of spray-paint. Before the introductions, Rosemary Downing, executive director for the CDC, gave a presentation on Urban Corps accomplishments during the first ten days of work. In that time, 158 bags of trash had been collected, 133 square feet of graffiti has been removed, 14 large furniture items hauled away from alleyways, and 13 blocks' worth of weeds have been eliminated.

“This deserves a round of applause,” said Downing.

CDC board member Katherine Willets said she saw a group of workers from Urban Corps sitting down around noon one day as she was driving through the community. When she returned a short while later, all of them were hard at work.

Lopez and the Urban Corps team will have another go with the Greater Golden Hill MAD at their meeting on the third Monday of September at 6:30 p.m. in the Balboa Park clubhouse.

For more on Urban Corps, go to urbancorpssd.org.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Jazz guitarist Alex Ciavarelli pays tribute to pianist Oscar Peterson

“I had to extract the elements that spoke to me and realize them on my instrument”
Next Article

Temperature inversions bring smoggy weather, "ankle biters" still biting

Near-new moon will lead to a dark Halloween
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader