FEATURED THIS WEEK 

Girl Scouts Help Navigate Kit Carson Park Trails
Local Girl Scout Troop #4034 has been working with the Community Services Department to achieve the goal of helping people easily navigate the trails of Kit Carson Park. The purpose of the project is to develop trail names, distances, and a new trail map system in order to enhance trail users of the amazing terrain located in Escondido.  This sustainable community idea came from the Girl Scouts who will be awarded their Silver Award when it is complete. 

The first phase of the project included the trail signs and were just installed last week.  A total of thirteen trail signs complete with names and directional arrows are now posted on the trail system.  The second phase of the project is to develop an overall park map including the trails, which will be unveiled in Spring 2018.  

New Use for the ReportIt! App
Residents and employees can now use the ReportIt! App to notify staff about water use violations and improper storm drain discharges. Reports generated in these new categories will go directly to the appropriate staff and addressed efficiently. 

Download the ReportIt! App from your smartphones app store today to report issues such as graffiti, potholes, streetlights, abandoned shopping carts and other code violations. 

City Receives Award for 2017/18 Budget Document
The City received national recognition for its 2017/18 Annual Operating Budget document and was awarded the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA).  The City also submitted its budget document for the California Society of Municipal Finance Officers (CSMFO) Budget Awards Program, which is designed to recognize those agencies whose budget document meet certain statewide standards and requirements. This program has two levels of awards.  The first level is the “Meritorious Budget Award”, which requires the entity to meet a very specific list of criteria defined by CSMFO. The second level is the “Operating Budget Excellence Award”, which requires that the organization meet even higher criteria that effectively enhances the usability of the document. We are pleased to announce that the City has received the “Operating Budget Excellence Award” for fiscal year 2017/18. 

Love your Heart Blood Pressure Screenings
The 2018 Love Your Heart Event was held in Escondido on Wednesday, February 14 at multiple locations throughout the City. The Park Avenue Community Center performed 66 screenings total! During the duration of the event 169 people were screened across the City. Thank you to all that volunteered their time! 

FEATURED THIS WEEK

New Lighting at Kit Carson Park Girls Softball Fields
This project consists of lights throughout the park, from the adult softball fields at the south end, up through to the Girl Scout building parking lot and under the parking structure at the girls’ softball fields. Construction is expected to start during early summer.

Habitat for Humanity Gazebo Project at Kit Carson Park
Thank you volunteers! On Saturday, February 3, twenty volunteers worked on the gazebo that Habitat for Humanity previously built in the El Arroyo picnic area at Kit Carson Park. They worked from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. rebuilding picnic tables and washing and painting the gazebo.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Escondido Leads Home Sales in San Diego County
The eastern portion of Escondido led the County with 40 home sales during January, which is usually one of the slowest months for sales in the region. link here.

FEATURED THIS WEEK 

The Escondido Police Department is Now on Instagram
If you’ve ever been curious about the “behind the scenes” work that our Police Officers do on a daily basis, you can now follow them on Instagram @EscondidoPolice
https://www.instagram.com/escondidopolice/

Orange County Brewery Expanding in Escondido
In the most recent issue of http://www.westcoastersd.com/, Cismontane Brewing talks about their upcoming expansion to Escondido. They cite the City’s charm and business-friendly attitude as reasons for their site selection.

New Lights Improve Safety at the Dorothy E. Boeger Building
New lights were installed over each of the doors to the DEBB building last week. The lighting helps customers have a brightly lighted pathway to their classes. This also gives some additional lighting to the courtyard area to create better visibility in the evening.

FEATURED THIS WEEK 

Ray Love Tennis Center Cleanup
On Saturday January 27, approximately 30 volunteers, with assistance from four Public Works staff, held a clean-up of the Ray Love Tennis Center. Volunteers worked from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. trimming shrubbery and trees, removing weeds and invasive plants, planting 20 new non invasive plants, and removing approximately 25 yards of trash and debris. Thank you to the volunteers for donating their time and energy to make our park cleaner and more attractive for everyone.

Local Company Plans to Go Public This Week
“One Stop Systems, an Escondido company that makes high performance computing systems for defense, manufacturing and telecommunications, is on deck to become the first IPO of the year for a local company.” – read more about One Stop System’s plans in the Union Tribune and the San Diego Business Journal