P.O. BOX 633031, San Diego, CA, 92163 • T 619 269 8001 • F 619 839 3118 www.mancecreative.com VOLUME 20 ISSUE 11 November 2019 Follow us on social media Sen. Atkins on SB50 Columbia • Core/Civic • Cortez Hill • East Village • Gaslamp/Horton Plaza • Little Italy • Marina Page 14 FEATURE P. 3 CEO keeps A look ahead CLIENT PROJECT VERSION CLIENT APPROVAL DATE innovative SAN DIEGO Logo Design DOWNTOWN NEWS FINAL X 1/9/12 high school on track Focusing on neglected diseases KENDRA SITTON | Downtown News Every day, students at e3 Civic POLITICS P. 4 & 5 High are greeted by a familiar face. After trekking up six flights of stairs in the San Diego Central Library to reach the school, Dr. Cheryl James-Ward meets them with a therapist by her side. The San Diego Convention Center with the Sails Pavilion’s revamped LED light display (Photo courtesy Oliver Even as her role has expand- Yambao, San Diego Convention Center Corporation) ed — she was recently promoted from serving as chief impact of- Convention center’s strength will provide muscle in the next 30 years, COO says ficer and principal of the charter school to its CEO and chief en- District 3 candidates debate DAVE FIDLIN | Downtown News first opened in 1989, but Karen including an all-hands-on-deck, gagement and innovation offi- Totaro, chief operating officer, collaborative approach between cer — she still takes time for this For 30 years, it has loomed said there are some common the hundreds of staffers who morning ritual. THEATER REVIEW P. 9 large on the San Diego Harbor threads that have solidified suc- work in a number of different “Four hundred-plus kids come skyline, serving as the host venue cess over the past three decades professions. up the stairs. So those are the for everything ranging from the and will help pave the way for But there are other external ones that I greet every morning. I internationally known Comic- similar results in the next trio of factors, Totaro said, that also say a ‘good morning,’ it’s a bump Con to gatherings for medical decades. have played into the venue’s fist. You look in the face to make professionals to the auto show. In an email interview with popularity — not just locally, sure that they’re ready to go,” Dr. The events and visitors have Downtown News, Totaro said but across the U.S., and beyond. Ward explained in an interview been disparate since the doors of she attributes three factors to conducted in an open lounge the San Diego Convention Center the convention center’s strength, SEE CONVENTION CENTER, Page 15 in the middle of the school. “If they’re not ready to go, then I have my therapist on the ground Best play of the year! with me.” Downtown architecture projects Students facing a crisis can im- mediately head up to the thera- BUSINESS P. 13 pist’s office, but otherwise, a note awarded Orchids and Onions is made and they are brought to his office throughout the day. Dr. DELLE WILLETT | Downtown News Ward said having the therapist on-site is important in addressing In early October, the San Diego the unique needs of the student Architectural Foundation (SDAF) body, many of whom come in with recognized this year’s best and “a lot of trauma.” “not so best” projects through- Meanwhile, Dr. Ward is visit- out San Diego County at the ing classrooms and seeing what Tuk tuks come to Downtown 43rd Annual Orchids & Onions is going on between meetings. She Awards Ceremony held at the does not get a chance to open her historic U.S. Grant Hotel. The email until late in the workday, Index ceremony was emceed by state which for her often stretches past Assembly member Todd Gloria. 12 hours. Dining 10 The projects awarded Orchids e3 Civic High is in its seventh Puzzles 15 and Onions were nominated by year, and has continued to pioneer Classifieds 16 the design community and the new methods of teaching to help Calendar 17 public. A jury made up of archi- accommodate the diverse group tects, landscape architects, in- of students walking through Contact us terior designers, a historic pres- its bright halls. Dr. Ward’s pre- Editorial/Letters ervation architect, a developer, Makers Quarters Block D (Photo by Nick Merrick) decessor Helen V. Griffith has 858-270-3101 x136 a visual artist, an architecture moved on to be the inaugural [email protected] Advertising professor and a student conduct- Along with the jury-selected A total of 14 projects were executive director of The Preuss 619-961-1958 ed a daylong tour of short-listed awards, there were three people’s awarded Orchids or Onions in School UC San Diego, a middle [email protected] projects, followed by delibera- choice awards selected by the architecture, interior design, and high school that enrolls 800 sdnews.com tions. This process resulted in public through an online voting San Diego Community Newspaper Group this year’s awards. process. SEE ORCHIDS & ONIONS, Page 6 SEE E3 CIVIC HIGH, Page 19 San Diego Downtown News 2 November 2019 sdnews.com San Diego Downtown News sdnews.com FEATURE November 2019 3 San Diego nonprofit combats neglected diseases KENDRA SITTON | Downtown News dancers in between presentations by the honorees and DDTD found- The small San Diego-based er and CEO Marco Biamonte. nonprofit Drugs & Diagnostics Biamonte shared about current for Tropical Diseases (DDTD) projects the group is taking on held its second annual gala event and gave specific metrics of what Health For All Humanity atop the they have accomplished so far. University Club at the Symphony Currently, they are working to de- Tower’s roof Downtown on Oct. 6. tect the diseases Laois, river blind- The charity aims to direct philan- ness, Buruli ulcer, and lymphatic thropic dollars toward neglected filariasis in order to help eliminate diseases that affect millions in them. Through ticket sales, the impoverished countries. Many silent auction, and an ask at the of these diseases have known end, the nonprofit hoped to raise Guests mingled ahead of the program at the top of the Symphony cures, but the impediment to get- $25,000-$30,000 — the money Tower. (Photos by Kendra Sitton) ting people treatment is properly needed to manufacture 5,000 of diagnosed them first. The orga- the diagnostic tools so they can be with other health organizations. —Kendra Sitton can Emcee for the evening was veteran Emmy nization’s team works on devel- deployed in four countries to test “Our objective is to bring the be reached at Kendra@sd- Award-winning journalist Peggy Pico, former oping diagnostic tools that are their accuracy. The group invent- assays that are currently in de- news.com.v reporter for KPBS and NBC San Diego. affordable, fast, and can be used ed the diagnostic tool and have velopment all the way to the fin- en masse so that other organi- preliminary data it works, but it ish line… We also want to keep zations, like the World Health has yet to be tested in the field. innovating, not just in terms of Organization, knows where best According to numbers provided the numbers of diseases we want to focus on conducting a mass by DDTD, the gala far exceeded to look at, but I think it’s very im- drug administration like a cav- that— raising around $51,000. portant to bring new technology vine or other preventative med- DDTD is filling a missing niche to test for multiple diseases at the icines. DDTD’s tools also helps in global efforts to eradicate ne- same time,” Biamonte said. “The create maps after a mass drug glected diseases that plague im- burden of these neglected tropi- administration (MDA) so health poverished countries. The phil- cal diseases is immense and we • officials know if the targeted dis- anthropic event supported their at DDTD are trying our best to • ease was successfully eradicated. future work as they collaborate address them.” The event honored other peo- ple whose work helps fight these oft-overlooked (in the West) dis- eases that affect vulnerable pop- ulations. The Field Award was given to Dr. Matthew Waxman, an assistant professor at UCLA, for his international volunteer work, which includes working in an Ebola treatment center in Sierra Dancers entertained guests before dinner. Leone during the 2015 outbreak and serving at a trauma stabiliza- tion unit in Iraq during the battle to take Mosul. Waxman pointed out that during the Ebola epidem- ic, 30,000 people in Sierra Leone died from Ebola but in that same time period in the same country, 200,000 people died of malaria. While in the U.S., he researched the outcomes of people who were co-infected with malaria and Ebola (they were more likely to die than if they had just one of the diseases). The second honoree was Dr. Barry Dunin, the founder and CEO of Collaborative Drug Discovery (CDD) Vault, who re- ceived the Passion in Science Award. The Vault is a way for sci- entists around the world to work together to find the cure to diseas- es. In his speech, he shared about a scientist in South Africa who discovered a compound that could treat drug-resistant strands of ma- laria. By uploading his work to the Vault, he was able to make a series of connections that eventually led him to an executive at Pfizer. The executive was able to share what already FDA-approved medicines had that compound in them, even if they were used for other purposes.