Mission Bay High - Mission Bay High School junior, Taylor Kavieff, was recently named the American Red Cross Youth Volunteer of the Year for 2016-17. The award recognized Kavieff for her commitment to her “service to the Armed Forces,” and a program that brought holiday cheer to many wounded and injured service men and women.  Taylor has been a 4.0 student throughout her school career in Pacific Beach, starting at Kate Sessions Elementary, then Pacific Beach Middle and now Mission Bay High. Her academics have been recognized by the Pacific Beach Town Council and the Pacific Beach Kiwanis Club. She is a two-year varsity athlete in track and a member of the Mission Bay High School Academic League team. - The last MBHS tour before the School Choice application is set for 8 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, in the library. San Diego Unified's School Choice online applications for the 2018-2019 school year are due Nov. 13. Pacific Beach Middle - Are you interested in PBMS for the 2018-2019 school year, but don't live in PB? You can apply to attend PBMS by submitting an online application through the School Choice program at www.sandiegounified.org until Nov. 13.  - The PBMS tour will take place 8 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 2, in the Media Center. Hear about all of the great programs at PBMS from principal Meng and parent representatives. This is the last tour before the San Diego Unified School Choice applications are due.  Kate Sessions - Kate Sessions Elementary’s annual Fall Carnival will take place Friday, Oct. 27, from 2:10 to 4:30 p.m. Enjoy a bake sale, costume parade, and game booths hosted by each classroom and the popular Haunted House put together by the fifth graders. Pizza and drinks will be available for purchase, as well. - Final Donation Update: the first graders in rooms 3 and 9 ended up sending a grand total of $121, from their piggy banks, to the Red Cross for hurricane relief. PB Elementary - School tours at Pacific Beach Elementary will take place Oct. 25 and Nov. 8. For prospective students outside the area, the choice enrollment window is Oct. 2 – Nov. 13.  - A community meeting to discuss the joint-use field expansion at Pacific Beach Elementary will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Oct. 30 in the PBE auditorium. The meeting will discuss plans to add a natural turf field and walking tracks, and make these additions and the existing hard courts open to the community after school, on weekends, and during school breaks.  CPJMA - Crown Point Elementary invites the community to join them for dine-outs on Oct. 24 at Wendy's, and Oct. 30 at Rubio’s on Grand Avenue. They will post the flyers on their Facebook and web pages, just show up with the flyer to help support the school. - The public is invited to join the free Trunk or Treat on Friday, Oct. 27 from 5 to 8 p.m. on the CPJMA campus. Come in costume and enjoy trunk-or-treating and carnival games, vote for the best trunk, watch a student flash mob, and if you're brave enough, try the Haunted Library. It's going to be a spooky good time. - On Saturday, Nov. 4, the Music Club will be performing at PB Taylor Library from 11 a.m. to noon. Barnard Elementary - Students from Barnard Elementary, a Mandarin immersion magnet school in PB, performed before representatives from Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s office, San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Cindy Marten, school board trustees, and visiting Chinese dignitaries on Sept. 26, at the Eugene Brucker Education Center. Prospective families and community members alike are invited to tour the school to see the Mandarin learning in action. For information, visit www.sandiegounified.org/barnard.   FOPBSS - Join in on the conversation and discover what's going on in PB's secondary schools at the next Friends of Pacific Beach Secondary Schools meeting 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25 in the PBMS Media Center.  Mission Bay Cluster - Learn about the upcoming events and changes in Pacific Beach and San Diego Unified schools at the next Mission Bay Cluster meeting 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2 at Pacific Beach Elementary School.

A petition drive, started by the group Protect PB, to block the proposed Law Street Lifeguard Station in Pacific Beach garnered 1,081 signatures to date on change.org, with the goal of reaching 1,500 supporters. “The beach at Law Street and the coastal canyon bluffs are environmentally sensitive and should be preserved as such,” the change.org petition opposing the Law Street Lifeguard Tower states. "This project will likely require further construction to protect it from coastal flooding, due to this poor site choice… We are very concerned that construction plans have been drawn up 'before' proper impact studies have been done... The community needs the opportunity to explore and propose alternative solutions rather than see this proposed command center built.” Two years ago, overriding some neighbors' objections, Pacific Beach Planning Group voted 12-3-1 in favor of current proposed design plans for a new, 3,500-square-foot lifeguard tower in North Pacific Beach. It is to be built into the coastal canyon at the foot of Law Street. Those for, and against, the proposal have been debating its merits ever since. San Diego Lifeguard union chief Ed Harris admits to being biased. “I am very much in favor,” said Harris, noting, “The beach is crowded and the guards need a station. They are currently working out of a rat-infested storage container.” Harris added the only drawback with the proposed tower “is the inability and incompetence of city staff. The proposed towers should be state of the art. It should run off wind solar. It should be designed to take advantage of natural lighting and be cooled by opening windows.” Harris said, “After watching them (city) build four highly-flawed towers, I can tell you this will be another poorly thought-out tower with massive cost overruns and construction flaws.”  Law Street neighbor Micaela Porte disagrees with Harris. “It is a ridiculous waste of unique and precious public land, and money (started at $4 million, now $7 million-plus) for construction of a massive fire-rescue station on a natural wonder of a site (Law Street canyon and beach),” Porte said.“The frankly corrupt hired guns/city architects who have been working on this design for years, since 2011 when we began our protest, are raising the price of the construction every year, and the design gets bigger and more useless … "The lifeguards, all six of them, scheduled to occupy this acre of public beach for three months in the summer with improved concrete roads and ramps into the high-tide zone for their oversized trucks, will be responsible for endangering the coastal eco-system, the erosion of coastal cliffs… and limiting public beach access, effectively killing this stretch of beach for the rest of our time … 'Day of the Dead Beach' is what we will have … It is heart-breaking to pave paradise and put up a parking lot," concluded Porte. Longtime Pacific Beach community activist Chris Olson, said of the Law Street tower: “My personal preference is a simple observation tower set on piers that will allow high tide to pass under it. Generally, I do not support storage or the use of motorized vehicles on the beach, except in the case of emergencies.”  PB activist Paula Gandolfo is most concerned about the environment with the environmental consequences of the tower. “While we debate if and how to build this station ... I wonder about the short-sightedness of our elected officials to fund a project that may be under water (literally) before the usable service of the facility is received,” Gandolfo said. “The world over, climate change is embraced as science... and the timing is a matter of each of us doing what we can now to de-accelerate the process… It's a dynamic problem that requires the broadest support and collaboration from grassroots, governments and sustainability leaders and active implementation of the CAP by San Diego.”  As for the lifeguards, Gandolfo added, “They need a place to change. A portable office with shower/head and A/C could be an immediate, cost-efficient interim solution for the necessary Emergency Service Providers who work that zone.”

After a summer break, the City of San Diego project to replace and rehabilitate aging water and sewer infrastructure has started up again, leading to road closures throughout Pacific Beach – specifically Ingraham Street and bridge, along with other side streets in Crown Point. The Pacific Beach pipeline south project, which began July 2016 and is scheduled to conclude October 2018, is replacing approximately 7.6 miles of water main and about 1.6 miles of sewer main in the Midway District-Pacific Highway Corridor and Mission Bay areas. The project will also demolish the Pacific Beach Reservoir, which was built in 1908 and removed from service more than 20 years ago. This project will contribute towards the city’s ongoing program that mandates the replacement of all aging and deteriorating cast iron water mains currently in service. It will: - Replace associated water services, fire hydrants, curb ramps, and traffic control devices; - Use best management practices to control erosion and protect storm drain inlets; - Resurface streets impacted by project construction activities; and - Install new accessibility curb ramps. These improvements are consistent with goals set forth in the city’s Climate Action Plan, by maintaining water supplies and services that support the region. Residents who live in the affected areas may stay informed about the construction activities and impacts for both the water and sewer improvements by signing up for emailed project updates at sandiego.gov/cip. For specific questions about the Pacific Beach pipeline south project, contact the Public Works Department at 619-533-4207 or email engineering@sandiego.gov. Reference "Pacific Beach Pipeline South Replacement Project" with your inquiry.