It’s Fairly Easy to Get Bored Around Here Bonita lies in the Sweetwater Valley, nestled inside three freeways--I-805 to the west, 54 to the north, and 125 to the east. To the south lies the …
April 24, 2023
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Stories by Bruce Kauffman
Bonita – horses replaced lemons
Bucolic Bonita
Not so pretty: Bonita’s sign replacement cost Though Bonita's welcome mat has been pulled, the South Bay community is hardly discouraging people from coming by. The “Welcome to Bonita” sign, designed to convey a warm …
September 16, 2019
Free Ride Day – a few left behind
On Oct. 2, a Tuesday, everyone could board public transit and go all over the region – how about El Cajon to San Marcos and back? – for nothing; yes, no fare, no tickets, no …
October 23, 2018
National City's Cano accused of Hatch Act violation
Two weeks after being cleared on charges of using his clout to avoid five years' worth of fees and fines for carrying out a dozen projects on his property without the required building permits, National …
September 14, 2018
Ice creamery in summertime meltdown
On June 22, a federal judge ordered a newly-opened ice cream shop in the Gaslamp to close down, citing a "high likelihood" that a venerable ice cream parlor chain based in Youngstown, Ohio, would otherwise …
August 30, 2018
Chula is mostly okay
In the spring of 2017, as word spread of a marketing campaign to promote good feelings about the city of Chula Vista — and amid a bid to persuade Amazon to bring a second headquarters …
August 7, 2018
Probe clears Cano on building without permits
National City council member Jerry Cano has been cleared of wrongdoing by an outside investigator who looked into whether he used his political clout to escape scrutiny and five years' worth of fines as he …
July 27, 2018
El Cajon shrink gives up practice
On May 15, El Cajon psychiatrist Leon Fajerman surrendered his license to practice medicine in California. A month earlier, on April 11, the state medical board had accused him of sexual misconduct with seven patients …
May 24, 2018
National City council member subject of probe
Shortly after midnight on Wednesday (April 18), National City council member Jerry Cano became the subject of an investigation into whether he violated state law by using his official position to influence a government decision …
April 19, 2018
Just another night in Gaslamp
Last Thursday (3/22/18), a few days after St. Patrick's Day, a worker at a cigar bar on Fifth Avenue confirmed a report that an incoherent reveler had wobbled in waving an open bottle of champagne. …
March 30, 2018
Imperial Beach closings sink beach attendance
Imperial Beach by the numbers: Beach closings 2016: 30 Beach closings 2017: 70 Beach attendance 2016: 3.1 million Beach attendance 2017: 2.3 million The number of beach closings in Imperial Beach more than doubled in …
March 12, 2018
Wrecked it Ralph Inzunza
Former city councilman Ralph Inzunza's debut novel, The Camp, a semi-autobiographical account of his 21-month stretch in a federal prison camp for his efforts as a city councilor to change the law so patrons could …
March 1, 2018
Hard-caught MTS bus out of East Village
A host of new changes took effect on the bus lines of the Metropolitan Transit System on January 28th. Several routes were eliminated, with MTS noting in a monthly bulletin that you could still get …
February 6, 2018
Reefer mathematics in San Ysidro
Marco hovered in front of the display cases at a San Ysidro dispensary on January 24th waiting for those in line ahead of him to make their selections. He said he'd had a doctor's recommendation …
January 27, 2018
Chula Vista's Victory Christian Church sold
For more than a year, congregants of the Victory Christian Church and Academy in Chula Vista have endured a cloud overhead because the possibility loomed that they might have to sell some three acres at …
November 30, 2017
Bernie Sanders pays National City campaign bill
More than a year after Bernie Sanders led a high-spirited rally in a public park in National City during his run for the presidency, he's finally paid his bill of more than $28,000 in municipal …
October 8, 2017
Solution for 12th & Imperial clock problem
When folks heading for the 12th & Imperial Transit Center would look up at the southeasterly face of the four-sided clock tower, the face visible from 13th Street and National Avenue, it would read 8:45. …
October 2, 2017
National City students least fit out of 42 school systems in San Diego County
The schoolchildren of more affluent parents not only do the best on standardized academic tests, they also do better on measures of physical fitness, a recent report on obese children in San Diego County suggests. …
June 15, 2017
Time standing still in the East Village
What time is it anyway? For commuters whose travels include a stop or a transfer at 12th Street and Imperial Avenue, time either stood still or twelve hours went by awfully fast. The clock tower …
September 22, 2016
San Ysidro School District teachers ripped off?
In 2014, the board of the San Ysidro School District told the teachers it was nearly broke and asked them to swallow a pay cut of 8 percent. The teachers went on strike, then settled …
July 15, 2016
Teen's October 11 murder remains unsolved
On Sunday, May 29, at least 50 friends and family members of 18-year-old Juan Carlos Muñoz Jr. gathered at Highland Avenue and 30th Street in National City to press for justice for the teen, who …
June 3, 2016
Math is done on Pier South hotel
In January, 2013, the Pier South Resort hotel opened on the sand in Imperial Beach after more than a decade of delays. The project got a $7 million push from the city, enough to cover …
February 25, 2016
Hey, not everyone is good with numbers
It’s open season for a seat on the San Ysidro School District board for the post recently vacated by Jose Barajas, a trustee who decided to resign instead of face a recall election. The governing …
August 31, 2015
In raunchy-funky's absence...
Fifteen years ago, officials in Imperial Beach proposed transforming the raunchy, funky Seacoast Inn — its redeeming feature being the location on the sand — into a resort and luring upscale tourists to the most …
April 6, 2015
Padres bean brawl with Atlanta in 1984
In 1984, the feisty San Diego Padres made it all the way to the World Series, with a bump or two in Atlanta en route. Deep into the pennant-winning '84 season, on August 12 at …
Community garden springs up in Chula Vista
Scrawny saplings are in the ground in rows — apple, peach, avocado, tangerine — and a gardener says you may be able to pick fruit from these trees two years from now. Landscaping tools are …
March 11, 2014
Pit bull attack inspires petition for Imperial Beach ban
A lifelong lover of dogs who says she lives in fear of them now is asking the Imperial Beach City Council to ban pit bulls along the shoreline. Caesarina Kelley planned to present a petition …
January 16, 2014
Not so pretty: Bonita’s sign replacement cost
Though Bonita's welcome mat has been pulled, the South Bay community is hardly discouraging people from coming by. The “Welcome to Bonita” sign, designed to convey a warm hello to those entering the community's portal, …
December 29, 2013
South Bay skaters hit the slope
In high school, Joshua Aguirre would gaze across the 805 freeway from Hilltop High’s campus at a steep incline that curved wide at the top, had a sharp turn near the bottom, and ended in …
November 16, 2013
Pier improvements in Imperial Beach
Strollers at the Imperial Beach Pier were recently greeted by a sign at the entrance proclaiming that improvements — mainly refurbishing and replacing worn, warped, wooden planks — are being carried out “at no cost …
May 29, 2013
North County Times online archives awash in the ether
Though the stated aim of the U-T San Diego has been to "merge'" with the North County Times, and loyal Times readers can still get their hands on ersatz NCT editions with a masthead that …
April 2, 2013
North County train construction causing dirty water runoff
In August 2003, the North County Transit District, preparing to build a train line linking Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos, and Escondido, applied to state authorities for a storm water discharge permit. The train, called the …
February 13, 2008
Creative Chaos at MiraCosta
MiraCosta College dean Eileen Kraskouskas was in San Francisco for a three-day conference last March when she got e-mails and calls from the office of the MiraCosta president telling her that 2006 would be her …
February 22, 2007
Day Labor And the Law
Around 8:00 in the morning on August 22, Susan and Sheng Wei drove their white SUV to Escondido and South Santa Fe avenues in Vista, looking to hire help for the heavy lifting required to …
December 21, 2006
The Heart Meets the Law
Jose Esteban held a rolled-up poster under one arm and his two-year-old daughter with the other as he walked toward Washington Avenue from the west side of the Escondido City Hall. Inside, that Wednesday evening, …
October 19, 2006
Maverick in a Military Town
Agents of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service say that last April 26, seven Marines based at Camp Pendleton joined with a Navy medic to enter the rural town of Hamdaniya, west of Baghdad, and without …
September 14, 2006
Touch One, Touch All
When Michael Moore finally arrived at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on October 12 to rail against a second term for President Bush, he promised to devote the ticket proceeds to scholarships for the biggest hell-raisers …
August 4, 2005