News Nuggets: sidewalk widening, food drive, marine protection, more

Hearing scheduled for Scripps Park sidewalk widening

A city of San Diego hearing officer is scheduled to consider plans to expand a section of sidewalk next to Scripps Park. The hearing is set for 9 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17, online, with livestreaming on the city of San Diego’s YouTube channel.

The project would remove about 450 linear feet of the 5-foot-wide concrete sidewalk adjacent to Coast Boulevard and install a new 10-foot-wide concrete sidewalk as a replacement. The plan also includes minor grading as needed and relocation of irrigation.

Expected impacts during construction include noise and dust, some restricted access to the park, detours for pedestrians and temporary loss of about 10 parking spaces that will be used for equipment staging.

The project has been anticipated for nearly three years.

In fall 2022, the La Jolla Community Planning Association, La Jolla Shores Association, Bird Rock Community Council and La Jolla Parks & Beaches produced a list of capital improvement requests for the coming year, with the sidewalk project at the top.

In 2024, the city allocated $750,000 to draft a plan to widen the park sidewalk.

Love, La Jolla food drive gathers 65 pounds of food

A recent food drive, launched by a group of community activists in light of the recent federal government shutdown, collected 65 pounds of non-perishable foods that were distributed to Feeding San Diego.

During the month of November, the “Love, La Jolla Community Food Drive,” brought together La Jolla Meals on Wheels and several local businesses to serve as collection hubs.

“La Jolla Meals on Wheels looks forward to organizing the campaign as an annual holiday food drive,” said organizer Molly Bowman Styles. “It’s a meaningful way to build community partnerships and an opportunity for our board members to give back to the greater San Diego community.”

Multi-unit complex planned for Westbourne Street

An application has been filed with the city of San Diego to demolish five existing single dwelling units on the 600 block of Westbourne Street in the Beach Barber Tract neighborhood. The project would subdivide the property into seven lots for the proposed construction of three new two-story single dwelling units and two three-story duplexes, one of which will house an attached accessory dwelling unit located at 621 Westbourne Street.

The project is undergoing environmental review, and the decision to approve or deny this application will be made at a public hearing that has yet to be scheduled.

Rec Center tree lighting on track to return

After last year’s comeback, the tradition of turning an 80-foot tree on the La Jolla Recreation Center lawn into a lighted Christmas tree is on track to return this month.

Things started to come together the week of Dec. 1, La Jolla Sunrise Rotary Club board member Steve Cross told La Jolla Light.

San Diego Parks Foundation will partner with them and hold the permit.

The partnership with San Diego Parks Foundation was formalized as both groups approved the transfer of funds from the Sunrise Rotary Club to the San Diego Parks Foundation. The check was delivered Dec. 4, Cross said.

La Jolla-based GDC Construction will once again be involved in the effort.

The initiative to resurrect the decades-long tree tradition — which stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic — was pitched last fall by the Sunrise Rotary Club and GDC Construction, along with a price tag of about $15,000 for new ornaments and lighting. Community members ended up raising over $20,000.

The effort was successful last year, as they began work Dec. 18 and flipped the ceremonial switch Dec. 21.

No official date has been selected this year, but Cross says additional updates should be available soon.

UCSD looking at new target in cancer drug resistance

The emergence of drug resistance is considered one of the most pressing problems in cancer care with a critical need to devise approaches to mitigate it. But the molecular mechanisms driving treatment resistance are poorly understood, hindering efforts to devise new treatment strategies which prevent resistance.

Now, researchers at UC San Diego have found a paradoxical new way in which cancer cells survive and regrow after targeted therapy: by hijacking an enzyme that is typically only switched on during cell death.

A study was published in Nature Cell Biology Nov. 17 and funded, in part, by grants from the Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society.

In the new study, the researchers found in models of melanoma, lung and breast cancers, a subset of “persister” cells that survive treatment displayed chronic, low-level activation of a protein that dismantles DNA as a part of normal cell death, called DFFB. This DFFB activation is at a level too low to kill the cells, but high enough to interfere with the cells’ ability to respond to signals suppressing their growth.

Removing this protein keeps cancer persister cells dormant and prevents their regrowth during drug treatment. DFFB is nonessential in normal cells, yet is required for regrowth cancer persister cells, making it a promising target for combination treatments to extend responses to targeted therapy.

New SIO study to look at ‘Blue Spots’ as method for marine protection

Although more than 8% of the global ocean is designated as a marine protected area (MPA), only about 3% is fully protected from extractive activities.

A new study from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography showed that fully protected areas remain the most effective tool for restoring marine biodiversity.

Thus, a new spatial framework researchers have dubbed Blue Spots can accelerate marine conservation by concentrating efforts in areas where existing non-extractive economies, especially diving and wildlife tourism, already support biodiversity protection.

The concept is described in the study “Blue Spots: A Novel Framework to Leverage Non-Extractive Economies for Ocean Conservation,” appearing in the journal Conservation Letters on Nov. 27.

“By identifying areas where conservation and local economies already benefit one another, we can expand fully protected marine areas more efficiently and equitably,” said Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, SIOmarine ecologist and study co-author.

A bio-economic model developed by the team shows that protecting the 30 highest-priority Blue Spots could increase diving tourism revenues by more than 70% over a decade, while avoiding losses expected under business-as-usual degradation.

Bird Rock Coffee Roasters to showcase local artist this month

Bird Rock Coffee Roasters will showcase the works of local abstract artist Kerry Riché during the month of December, on the south wall of its 5627 La Jolla Blvd. coffee shop.

Riché has been creating abstract work for more than 20 years in both residential and commercial spaces. According to Riché, her art is inspired by nature, water, and science, and her notable commissions include installations at the UC San Diego Neurology Department.

She said she finds her greatest joy in the studio, and her true reward is seeing her artwork become part of other people’s spaces.

Holiday card drive underway at La Jolla Library

Get your pens ready! Through Dec. 18, the La Jolla/Riford Library will serve as a collection hub for holiday cards that will later be delivered to La Jolla seniors in assisted living communities.

Through the initiative, volunteers can drop off homemade cards at the collection box inside the La Jolla/Riford Library at 7555 Draper Ave. Supplies will also be available at the library to create cards.

The effort is being led by former La Jolla/Riford youth services librarian Katia Graham, who advises that a nice message be written inside each card and that they be addressed as “Dear Friend” and have them signed as “Your Friend” or “Your Friend, [first name].”

Curebound names new CEO

Curebound, a La Jolla-based philanthropic organization that fundraises for and invests in innovative cancer research, announced that Robin Toft has been appointed chief executive, effective Jan. 1. Toft succeeds founding CEO Anne Marbarger.

Toft currently serves on the board of directors for the American Cancer Society’s San Diego Chapter and the La Jolla Institute of Immunology, according to Curebound.

On the Curebound board of directors, she spent two years as secretary, established and chaired the nominating governance committee, and now leads the advancement committee. A colon cancer survivor, Toft is described as deeply committed to driving research innovation and investing in cancer studies that support Curebound’s vision to find cures in our lifetime.

UCSD researchers examine human placenta formation’s earliest stages

Studying the initial stages of placental formation is a challenge due to ethical considerations and technical constraints in evaluating progress in humans. But a new study out of UC San Diego has offered new insight on the process thanks to a model using pluripotent stem cells.

These stem cells, capable of developing into any type of tissue, are treated with a signaling protein called BMP4, “in order to mimic cell differentiation in early development of the embryo and placenta,” a press release from UCSD states.

They discovered the gene VGLL1, or vestigial like family member 1, was activated early in placenta formation and held the key to turning pluripotent stem cells into various placental stem cells. Decreasing their activity caused stem cells to stop differentiating, thus stopping development.

These findings, researchers hope, will improve vitro fertilization success in the future.

La Jolla well represented in San Diego Restaurant Week participants list

San Diego Restaurant Week is returning Sunday, Jan. 25 to Sunday, Feb. 1, and several La Jolla restaurants are participating.

The series, presented by the California Restaurant Association, will offer a portion of every restaurant’s participation fee to California restaurant workers in need through relief fund Restaurants Care.

Here are the La Jolla and UTC restaurants offering lunches and/or dinners starting at $30: Brockton Villa, Red O Restaurant, The Amalfi Llama, Sea & Sky, George’s at the Cove, Duke’s La Jolla, Haidilao Hot Pot.

The full list of participants include 100 restaurants across San Diego County. See the full list at sandiegorestaurantweek.com/restaurants.

Village Garden Club of La Jolla to host master florist this spring

San Diegans will have the chance to observe one of America’s masters of floral artistry and design when the Village Garden Club of La Jolla presents Meet the Masters with Lewis Miller at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar on Thursday, March 12 next year.

Now on sale, tickets are $200 and include a luncheon plus live floral demonstrations showcasing Miller’s celebrated talents.

The founder of Lewis Miller Design, Miller crafts signature floral events for Tiffany, Chanel, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and many marquee names in entertainment and business, according to the Village Garden Club of La Jolla.

Learn more: vgclj.com.