Toni G. Atkins, Speaker of the Assembly for April 2015 eNewsletter
Dear Friend,
San Diego is doing great! Recent figures from economic reports found that San Diego was one of the fastest growing job markets in California last year. We have a great year ahead of us, with Balboa Park's Centennial celebration and many different events throughout the district, which you can read about in this month's newsletter.
IN THIS ISSUE:
A Note from Toni
Events & Office Hours Calendar
Feeding America
Sexual Assault Prevention Awareness Month
District 78's Women of the Year
Ag Day at the Capitol
Balboa Park - 100 Years After the Expo
Shawn VanDiver: Truman National Security Project
Contact
Last month I presented a resolution to Luann creator and cartoonist Greg Evans. Here he is pictured with his daughter, Karen, and his wife, Betty.Luann is celebrating their 30th Anniversary this year.A Note from Toni
San Diego is America's Finest City - and we've got a lot going for us.
We've got the best weather in the state, craft breweries galore, the best Mexican food this side of the border, and of course Comic-Con, which attracts thousands of visitors each year from all over the world. Think of all the great and unique activities here: scuba diving, visiting underwater graves in La Jolla, surfing, free concerts at Spreckels, kayaking in Coronado, pandas at the zoo, and hiking at Torrey Pines; you'll never be bored here.
Maybe that's why so many great industries picked San Diego to be their home. From biotech to the Navy and Marine Corps - San Diego is where industries grow and flourish. Last year, San Diego County added more than 30,000 new jobs in nearly every category of employment!
At 5.3% our unemployment is among the lowest in the state and country and local economists expect that it'll dip below 5% sometime this year.
And why wouldn't businesses choose our city? We attract a highly educated workforcethrough our great university system and we're the innovation hub for industries as diverse as life sciences and software development.
The last couple of years have been hard on everyone but San Diego has weathered the recession and we're in full recovery. Now is the time to make investments in infrastructure, housing, business, and education to ensure a brighter future for all San Diegans. These are challenges we must meet to keep prospering, but as we've shown before, no problem is insurmountable.
I might be a little biased, but I believe that one of California's first cities is its best city.
Warmly,
Toni G. Atkins
Speaker of the Assembly
78th Assembly District
Feeding America
I’ll be joining Feeding America San Diego this month for my latest TeamToni event. We will gather April 25th to collect and sort food for the region’s hungry individuals and families.
Feeding America supports nearly 75,000 San Diegans weekly, and since it is estimated that 1 in 4 children in San Diego County face the risk of going hungry, many are very young.
Thousands of volunteers and donors support Feeding America, packing food to be distributed countywide, and they make a huge contribution – nearly half of the charity’s labor comes from volunteers. In total, they sort more than 1 million pounds of food each month.
In addition, officials say that each dollar donated to the organization results in six meals for those who might otherwise go hungry.
I’m pleased that this month we’ll include local Girl Scouts, who will volunteer with TeamToni. Feeding America San Diego is happy to welcome more volunteers. Please contact us if you or your business would like to sign up or check http://feedingamericasd.org/get-involved/volunteer/ to see instructions for individuals and groups. If you are interested, you also may email me at Speaker.Atkins@Assembly.ca.gov.
TeamToni has gathered this year to participate in the homeless count downtown, and for beach and bay cleanups and beautification efforts in Imperial Beach and Mission Bay. Check my newsletter and website for updates and more details.
April is Sexual Assault Prevention Month
In recent years we have seen a global surge of awareness about the problem of sexual assault. From massive protests in India, to President Obama’s 2010 “call to action to prevent rape and sexual assault," to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s UNiTE to End Violence campaign, the message is clear that we have to come together to stop sexual violence.
Sexual assault is a crime which can result in devastating psychological and physical trauma. Unfortunately, sexual assault is all too prevalent today. On average 293,066 cases of sexual assault are perpetrated each year in the U.S. This means that every two minutes, someone in the United States is sexually assaulted. While sexual assault is often framed as a crime which is committed against women, both women and men can be victims of sexual assault. Although our friends, neighbors, sons and daughters may be victims of sexual assault, cases of sexual assault are still vastly underreported.
In order to better protect our loved ones, we must break the silence. We can start by having open conversations about consent and by providing victims the support they need to heal. One effort which helps us to achieve these goals is Sexual Assault Prevention month.
Every April, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) coordinates a nationwide effort to prevent sexual assault. Although NSVRC does not provide direct services to assault victims, it supports providers who do by disseminating research, training curricula and prevention programs to advocates who help victims. This year the NSVRC has placed an emphasis on supporting sexual assault victims on college campuses.
As a University of California regent and California State University trustee, I am committed to working with UC and CSU leadership so cases of sexual harassment and violence on college campuses are reviewed and resolved thoroughly and fairly and so students, faculty members, and staff know about the resources available to them. In January, UC launched the CARE initiative to provide better support and education about sexual assault. If you would like to learn more about the resources available on San Diego’s campuses and in our communities, please check out the resources listed below:
UCSD – https://students.ucsd.edu/well-being/_organizations/sarc/index.html
SDSU – http://go.sdsu.edu/student_affairs/healthpromotion/sexualviolencehealthieryou.aspx
USD – http://www.sandiego.edu/care/
BridgeHotline & Shelter for Adolescents
3151 Redwood Street, San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 521-3939
Center for Community Solutions Rape Crisis Center
(888) 272-1767
Center for Community Solutions - Legal Clinic for Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault & Stalking Only
(858) 272-1574
Women’s Resource Center
(760) 757-3500 accepts collect calls
District 78’s Women of the Year
Mrs. Betty Peabody, of Point Loma, was District 78’s honoree for the State Assembly’s Women of the Year ceremony. For 45 years, Betty Peabody has played an active role in the success of Balboa Park. A founding member of the Balboa Park Millennium Society, she also served on the Board of Directors for Exposition 2000 – a Millennium Celebration in Balboa Park. For eight years, she was a member of the Board of Directors of the San Diego Museum of Man, and has been a member of the Central Balboa Park Association since its inception. She has served as president of the Klee Wyk Society of the Museum of Man, Caridad International and the House of Hospitality. She chaired the House of Hospitality’s grand reopening in 1997 and received the organization’s lifetime membership award. Mrs. Peabody was the 2001 Rotary District Conference/Balboa Park liaison.
Mrs. Peabody has also been a distinguished civic leader in other San Diego organizations, serving on the board of San Diego County Crime Stoppers, chairing Caridad International and the Mercy Hospital Ball, and co-founding Point Loma Acts Now.
The San Diego Women of the Year honorees gather for a photo with Speaker Atkins and San Diego's student leaders and Reality Changers graduates following the ceremony.
We asked and you answered – when we asked the community to nominate women for our Women of the Year award there were so many great options that we decided to honor all of them.
Honorees: Dr. Rommie Amaro, Hon. Hazel Bailey, Doug St. Denis, Lisa Marie Harris, Rebekah Hook, Linda Katz, Lisa Montes, Laura Mustari, Mrs. Betty Peabody, Dr. Maria Nieto Senour, and Midori Wong.
Student leaders: Avril Prakash, Zohreh Akhavan Aghdam, Jacqueline Karczewski, and Kit Brown.
Ag Day at the Capitol
Every year farmers, educators and diverse farming commissions and associations come to the Capitol and showcase their wares for the legislators and the public to see. It’s a day where people living in a city get a taste of farm life. There are exhibits for flowers, strawberries, nuts, plants, and (my favorite) farm animals like cows, horses, goats and even alpacas. There was even an electric cow teaching folks how to milk!
Many young future farmers also attend and help the organizations and commissions give out information about where their produce, dairy, and meat products come from and how they’re grown.
Left: San Diego County’s own Kahlan Patel is the 4th grade winner of the “Imagine this…” story writing contest sponsored by the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom. Right: I was glad to meet these young future farmers helping out at this event.
Agriculture Day at the Capitol is a great yearly event that helps us celebrate California’s 80,500 farms. Farming occurs in every county and I’m proud to say that San Diego County is not only the number one producer of avocados and nursery crops in the nation but is also number two in farms with women as the principal operator.
Balboa Park – 100 Years After the Expo
Former President Teddy Roosevelt at the Panama-California Exposition in July 1915, according to the Library of Congress. A shot from “A glimpse of the San DiegoExposition,” archival footage from the eventfeatured by the Library of Congress.
It’s stunning how similar the scene at 1915’s Panama-California Exposition is to 2015’s Balboa Park – at least where the icons are concerned, like the Cabrillo Bridge and the California Tower.
Each has stood the test of time, as demonstrated in photographs, but there is film footage too and it can be found at the Library of Congress, one of the nation’s foremost archives. Better yet, it’s available online.
One of the library’s collections, “America at Work, America at Leisure: Motion Pictures from 1894-1915,” features a film called “A glimpse of the San Diego Exposition,” a quirky chronicle.
The silent 7 minutes of footage includes some things that are expected – a perfect view of the bridge and tower, people strolling through exhibits and a panoramic view of the exposition grounds. Then, inexplicably, it concludes with 90 seconds of a tot fascinated by scores of pigeons.
Two much shorter films, part of the Library of Congress’ Teddy Roosevelt collection, depict one of our most notable citizens arriving at the expo and addressing crowds. In one, the former president steps out of a touring car and gets up close and personal with a child. In the other, he doffs his hat before speaking forcefully to a throng of people.
The videos also can be found on the Library of Congress YouTube page. For a deeper look at the era, see the University of California Television’s “San Diego and the Panama-California Exposition of 1915,” also on YouTube.
This is one of a series of monthly features in the newsletter spotlighting aspects of the 2015 centennial celebration. For more information on upcoming centennial events, please seewww.celebratebalboapark.org.
Shawn VanDiver: Truman National Security Project
San Diego’s efforts towards a stronger, safer America are being noticed at the national level.
Earlier this year, the Truman National Security Project launched its sixteenth national chapter with a ceremony on the USS Midway. Local leaders, including former Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher and current City Council members David Alvarez and Todd Gloria, as well as U.S. Representative Scott Peters, attended the launch event.
The Truman Project is a nationwide community of post-9/11 veterans, frontline civilians, political professionals, and policy experts who are coming together to advocate for a strong, smart, and principled version of American foreign policy. They recruit leaders from across the nation to bring local expertise to high-level discussions in Washington, and San Diego’s work in national security—including innovation in cybersecurity, policy work on immigration, and our efforts to reintegrate a growing veteran population—makes us a great source for that talent.
An example of the Truman initiative gaining speed across the nation recently caught my attention. No Exceptions is a movement dedicated to full combat inclusion in the military. In January 2013, the Department of Defense lifted the official ban on women serving in combat roles. While qualified women are already excelling in some of these positions, the new policy leaves room for the various services to request ‘exemptions’ to combat inclusion by 2016.
No Exceptions pushes back against these limits, arguing that so long as any man or woman meets the established requirements for a position in the military, he or she is able to serve their country.
I believe that the United States military deserves the best talent America has to offer, regardless of gender. At a time when the number of Americans actually fit for military service is small, no one should seek arbitrary restrictions on who can serve. No Exceptions isn’t arguing to change or lower standards, either; they simply want the best qualified people in the fight. Besides, women have been excelling in combat zones for years—why would we tell these patriots that their willingness to sacrifice is not wanted or appreciated?
I firmly believe that national security issues matter at the local and state level as well as the national. It is up to all of us to hold Washington accountable for policy that keeps our nation safe at home and respected in the world.
I encourage everyone to learn more about No Exceptions and the Truman Project as they lead this fight from cities across the country.
Shawn VanDiver is a 12-year Navy veteran, a member of the adjunct faculty at three universities, and is co-director of the Truman National Security Project’s San Diego Chapter. Follow him on Twitter @shawnjvandiver.
Contact
Last month TeamToni visited the Imperial Beach Library where we caught up with folks and discussed concerns about our community.
Capitol Office:
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, California 94249-0078 United States
Tel: (916) 319-2078
Fax: (916) 319-2178
District Office:
1350 Front St., Room 6054
San Diego, California 92101 United States
Tel: (619) 645-3090
Fax: (619) 645-3094
Facebook: facebook.com/SDToni
Twitter: @toniatkins
Website: http://asmdc.org/speaker
Warmly,
Toni G. Atkins
Speaker of the Assembly
78th Assembly District
P.S. Social media is a great way to connect with my office! Use the icons below to like my page on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.
Website: http://www.asmdc.org/speakerEmail: Speaker Toni G. Atkins
Capitol Office:
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, California 94249-0078 United States
Tel: (916) 319-2078
Fax: (916) 319-2178 District Office:
1350 Front Street
Room 6054
San Diego, California 92101 United States
Tel: (619) 645-3090
Fax: (619) 645-3094
____________________________
Feeding America supports nearly 75,000 San Diegans weekly, and since it is estimated that 1 in 4 children in San Diego County face the risk of going hungry, many are very young.
Thousands of volunteers and donors support Feeding America, packing food to be distributed countywide, and they make a huge contribution – nearly half of the charity’s labor comes from volunteers. In total, they sort more than 1 million pounds of food each month.
In addition, officials say that each dollar donated to the organization results in six meals for those who might otherwise go hungry.
I’m pleased that this month we’ll include local Girl Scouts, who will volunteer with TeamToni. Feeding America San Diego is happy to welcome more volunteers. Please contact us if you or your business would like to sign up or check http://feedingamericasd.org/get-involved/volunteer/ to see instructions for individuals and groups. If you are interested, you also may email me at Speaker.Atkins@Assembly.ca.gov.
TeamToni has gathered this year to participate in the homeless count downtown, and for beach and bay cleanups and beautification efforts in Imperial Beach and Mission Bay. Check my newsletter and website for updates and more details.
April is Sexual Assault Prevention Month
In recent years we have seen a global surge of awareness about the problem of sexual assault. From massive protests in India, to President Obama’s 2010 “call to action to prevent rape and sexual assault," to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s UNiTE to End Violence campaign, the message is clear that we have to come together to stop sexual violence.
Sexual assault is a crime which can result in devastating psychological and physical trauma. Unfortunately, sexual assault is all too prevalent today. On average 293,066 cases of sexual assault are perpetrated each year in the U.S. This means that every two minutes, someone in the United States is sexually assaulted. While sexual assault is often framed as a crime which is committed against women, both women and men can be victims of sexual assault. Although our friends, neighbors, sons and daughters may be victims of sexual assault, cases of sexual assault are still vastly underreported.
In order to better protect our loved ones, we must break the silence. We can start by having open conversations about consent and by providing victims the support they need to heal. One effort which helps us to achieve these goals is Sexual Assault Prevention month.
Every April, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) coordinates a nationwide effort to prevent sexual assault. Although NSVRC does not provide direct services to assault victims, it supports providers who do by disseminating research, training curricula and prevention programs to advocates who help victims. This year the NSVRC has placed an emphasis on supporting sexual assault victims on college campuses.
As a University of California regent and California State University trustee, I am committed to working with UC and CSU leadership so cases of sexual harassment and violence on college campuses are reviewed and resolved thoroughly and fairly and so students, faculty members, and staff know about the resources available to them. In January, UC launched the CARE initiative to provide better support and education about sexual assault. If you would like to learn more about the resources available on San Diego’s campuses and in our communities, please check out the resources listed below:
UCSD – https://students.ucsd.edu/well-being/_organizations/sarc/index.html
SDSU – http://go.sdsu.edu/student_affairs/healthpromotion/sexualviolencehealthieryou.aspx
USD – http://www.sandiego.edu/care/
BridgeHotline & Shelter for Adolescents
3151 Redwood Street, San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 521-3939
Center for Community Solutions Rape Crisis Center
(888) 272-1767
Center for Community Solutions - Legal Clinic for Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault & Stalking Only
(858) 272-1574
Women’s Resource Center
(760) 757-3500 accepts collect calls
District 78’s Women of the Year
Mrs. Betty Peabody, of Point Loma, was District 78’s honoree for the State Assembly’s Women of the Year ceremony. For 45 years, Betty Peabody has played an active role in the success of Balboa Park. A founding member of the Balboa Park Millennium Society, she also served on the Board of Directors for Exposition 2000 – a Millennium Celebration in Balboa Park. For eight years, she was a member of the Board of Directors of the San Diego Museum of Man, and has been a member of the Central Balboa Park Association since its inception. She has served as president of the Klee Wyk Society of the Museum of Man, Caridad International and the House of Hospitality. She chaired the House of Hospitality’s grand reopening in 1997 and received the organization’s lifetime membership award. Mrs. Peabody was the 2001 Rotary District Conference/Balboa Park liaison.
Mrs. Peabody has also been a distinguished civic leader in other San Diego organizations, serving on the board of San Diego County Crime Stoppers, chairing Caridad International and the Mercy Hospital Ball, and co-founding Point Loma Acts Now.
The San Diego Women of the Year honorees gather for a photo with Speaker Atkins and San Diego's student leaders and Reality Changers graduates following the ceremony.
We asked and you answered – when we asked the community to nominate women for our Women of the Year award there were so many great options that we decided to honor all of them.
Honorees: Dr. Rommie Amaro, Hon. Hazel Bailey, Doug St. Denis, Lisa Marie Harris, Rebekah Hook, Linda Katz, Lisa Montes, Laura Mustari, Mrs. Betty Peabody, Dr. Maria Nieto Senour, and Midori Wong.
Student leaders: Avril Prakash, Zohreh Akhavan Aghdam, Jacqueline Karczewski, and Kit Brown.
Ag Day at the Capitol
Every year farmers, educators and diverse farming commissions and associations come to the Capitol and showcase their wares for the legislators and the public to see. It’s a day where people living in a city get a taste of farm life. There are exhibits for flowers, strawberries, nuts, plants, and (my favorite) farm animals like cows, horses, goats and even alpacas. There was even an electric cow teaching folks how to milk!
Many young future farmers also attend and help the organizations and commissions give out information about where their produce, dairy, and meat products come from and how they’re grown.
Left: San Diego County’s own Kahlan Patel is the 4th grade winner of the “Imagine this…” story writing contest sponsored by the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom. Right: I was glad to meet these young future farmers helping out at this event.
Agriculture Day at the Capitol is a great yearly event that helps us celebrate California’s 80,500 farms. Farming occurs in every county and I’m proud to say that San Diego County is not only the number one producer of avocados and nursery crops in the nation but is also number two in farms with women as the principal operator.
Balboa Park – 100 Years After the Expo
Former President Teddy Roosevelt at the Panama-California Exposition in July 1915, according to the Library of Congress. A shot from “A glimpse of the San DiegoExposition,” archival footage from the eventfeatured by the Library of Congress.
It’s stunning how similar the scene at 1915’s Panama-California Exposition is to 2015’s Balboa Park – at least where the icons are concerned, like the Cabrillo Bridge and the California Tower.
Each has stood the test of time, as demonstrated in photographs, but there is film footage too and it can be found at the Library of Congress, one of the nation’s foremost archives. Better yet, it’s available online.
One of the library’s collections, “America at Work, America at Leisure: Motion Pictures from 1894-1915,” features a film called “A glimpse of the San Diego Exposition,” a quirky chronicle.
The silent 7 minutes of footage includes some things that are expected – a perfect view of the bridge and tower, people strolling through exhibits and a panoramic view of the exposition grounds. Then, inexplicably, it concludes with 90 seconds of a tot fascinated by scores of pigeons.
Two much shorter films, part of the Library of Congress’ Teddy Roosevelt collection, depict one of our most notable citizens arriving at the expo and addressing crowds. In one, the former president steps out of a touring car and gets up close and personal with a child. In the other, he doffs his hat before speaking forcefully to a throng of people.
The videos also can be found on the Library of Congress YouTube page. For a deeper look at the era, see the University of California Television’s “San Diego and the Panama-California Exposition of 1915,” also on YouTube.
This is one of a series of monthly features in the newsletter spotlighting aspects of the 2015 centennial celebration. For more information on upcoming centennial events, please seewww.celebratebalboapark.org.
Shawn VanDiver: Truman National Security Project
San Diego’s efforts towards a stronger, safer America are being noticed at the national level.
Earlier this year, the Truman National Security Project launched its sixteenth national chapter with a ceremony on the USS Midway. Local leaders, including former Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher and current City Council members David Alvarez and Todd Gloria, as well as U.S. Representative Scott Peters, attended the launch event.
The Truman Project is a nationwide community of post-9/11 veterans, frontline civilians, political professionals, and policy experts who are coming together to advocate for a strong, smart, and principled version of American foreign policy. They recruit leaders from across the nation to bring local expertise to high-level discussions in Washington, and San Diego’s work in national security—including innovation in cybersecurity, policy work on immigration, and our efforts to reintegrate a growing veteran population—makes us a great source for that talent.
An example of the Truman initiative gaining speed across the nation recently caught my attention. No Exceptions is a movement dedicated to full combat inclusion in the military. In January 2013, the Department of Defense lifted the official ban on women serving in combat roles. While qualified women are already excelling in some of these positions, the new policy leaves room for the various services to request ‘exemptions’ to combat inclusion by 2016.
No Exceptions pushes back against these limits, arguing that so long as any man or woman meets the established requirements for a position in the military, he or she is able to serve their country.
I believe that the United States military deserves the best talent America has to offer, regardless of gender. At a time when the number of Americans actually fit for military service is small, no one should seek arbitrary restrictions on who can serve. No Exceptions isn’t arguing to change or lower standards, either; they simply want the best qualified people in the fight. Besides, women have been excelling in combat zones for years—why would we tell these patriots that their willingness to sacrifice is not wanted or appreciated?
I firmly believe that national security issues matter at the local and state level as well as the national. It is up to all of us to hold Washington accountable for policy that keeps our nation safe at home and respected in the world.
I encourage everyone to learn more about No Exceptions and the Truman Project as they lead this fight from cities across the country.
Shawn VanDiver is a 12-year Navy veteran, a member of the adjunct faculty at three universities, and is co-director of the Truman National Security Project’s San Diego Chapter. Follow him on Twitter @shawnjvandiver.
Contact
Last month TeamToni visited the Imperial Beach Library where we caught up with folks and discussed concerns about our community.
Capitol Office:
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, California 94249-0078 United States
Tel: (916) 319-2078
Fax: (916) 319-2178
District Office:
1350 Front St., Room 6054
San Diego, California 92101 United States
Tel: (619) 645-3090
Fax: (619) 645-3094
Facebook: facebook.com/SDToni
Twitter: @toniatkins
Website: http://asmdc.org/speaker
Warmly,
Toni G. Atkins
Speaker of the Assembly
78th Assembly District
P.S. Social media is a great way to connect with my office! Use the icons below to like my page on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.
Website: http://www.asmdc.org/speakerEmail: Speaker Toni G. Atkins
Capitol Office:
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, California 94249-0078 United States
Tel: (916) 319-2078
Fax: (916) 319-2178 District Office:
1350 Front Street
Room 6054
San Diego, California 92101 United States
Tel: (619) 645-3090
Fax: (619) 645-3094
____________________________
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