City of San Diego officials are meeting with residents to discuss trash/recycling services in the city and the potential for new customer fees.

In-person community meetings by City Council District; all meeting 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m.

Council District 4: Tuesday, Aug. 6 Valencia Park/Malcolm X Library, 5148 Market St., 92114

Council District 6: Monday, Aug. 12 Mira Mesa Library, 8405 New Salem St., 92126

Council District 9: Tuesday, Aug. 13 Mission Valley Library, 2123 Fenton Parkway, 92108

Council District 3: Monday, Aug. 19 Mission Hills-Hillcrest/Knox Library, 215 W. Washington St., 92103

Council District 1: Monday, Aug. 26 Point Loma/Hervey Library, 3701 Voltaire St., 92107

Council District 7: Tuesday, Aug. 27 Serra Mesa-Kearny Mesa Library, 9005 Aero Drive, 92123

Council District 5: Tuesday, Sept. 3 Scripps Miramar Ranch Library, 10301 Scripps Lake Drive, 92131

Council District 1: Monday, Sept. 9 La Jolla/Riford Library, 7555 Draper Ave., 92037

Additional information can be found at https://cleangreensd.org/

At a ceremony tonight at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay (kindly live-streamed by Eater LA after the official feed didn’t work), the Michelin Guide California was unveiled for 2024, revealing the restaurants across that state that either achieved star status or kept stars earned in previous years. Since the California guide was first released in 2019, only five San Diego restaurants have been anointed with stars. Addison received its first star in 2019 and was upgraded to two Michelin stars in 2021 when revered local establishments Jeune et Jolie, Soichi Sushi, and Sushi Tadokoro each earned one Michelin star. In 2022, Addison vaulted to three stars while Valle in Oceanside was awarded one star in 2023.

Throughout the year, Michelin singles out “new discoveries” that could be eligible for Bib Gourmand or Michelin stars. In the time since the 2023 guide was released last summer, Paradisea in Bird Rock and La Jolla’s Ambrogio by Acquarello have been recognized as culinary gems.

The good news for San Diego is that Addison, Jeune et Jolie, Soichi Sushi, and Valle have all kept their star rankings for 2024. The bad news is that Sushi Tadokoro, the revered Old Town restaurant, has lost its Michelin star. More bad news: no new San Diego restaurants earned stars in this latest round, which included seven new one Michelin star restaurants and three new two Michelin star establishments. There also were no San Diego restaurants added to the Bib Gourmand list.

After 70 years of aquaculture research, coastal preservation projects, and public oyster tours, Carlsbad Aquafarms is leaving its waterfront location by the end of August.

After being linked to a norovirus outbreak in January, the facility ceased public tours in May and launched an online auction of items in July, but did not publicly announce plans for the future. Carlsbad Aquafarms CEO Thomas Grimm says that despite the move, it’s not the end. “We are not going out of business,” Grimm says. We’re going to continue our work, but not in that location, and so the public-facing parts of that will no longer be open to the public or anybody else.”

NRG Energy, Inc., which operated the nearby Encina power plant until its decommissioning in 2018, owns the land that Carlsbad Aquafarms currently occupies.

“The City’s general plan [for the location] will guide the nature of the planning and overall development of this important part of Carlsbad,” says NRG. “The Encina power plant has now been removed and the ocean desalination plant is installing a new water intake structure. In addition, the Encina site hosts temporary Fire Station No. 7 for the City of Carlsbad. As far as the future of the former Encina power plant site is concerned, community engagement is key.”

Grimm says that while he does not know what the company has in store for the space, he’s grateful to NRG for allowing them to operate for decades and hopes to work with them again. 

He adds that he hopes the existing network of shellfish in the Agua Hedionda Lagoon can remain to continue filtering runoff from nearby agriculture. One oyster can filter up to 50 gallons daily, which helps deter algal blooms and other pollution issues. “The amount of water filtered by our oysters and mussels at the lagoon accounts for hundreds of millions of gallons a day,” he says. “If you don’t have the shellfish eating that stuff, that’s going to be a challenge… to try to do that with engineering processes is impossible. It’s just not feasible.”

Grimm says the next iteration of Carlsbad Aquafarms will focus solely on living shoreline restoration projects to combat issues such as erosion and carbon sequestration using shellfish aquaculture—work they’ve been doing for years and will now be their primary aim. But don’t expect any farm tours or consumer oyster sales again anytime soon.

“Hopefully, we’ll find a way to find operation space where we do engage and have that public face, which we love, but that’s not our current plan,” he says, adding a caveat that they’re open to developing a farm in a new location should the opportunity arise in the future. Whatever happens, Grimm says everyone should be paying attention to what’s happening in our oceans—not just ecologically, but economically. The vast majority of seafood in the United States is imported, which puts domestic food security at risk depending on international trade relations.

“The future is not overharvesting wild fisheries. It’s doing things that are helping the ocean, like oysters, mussels, seaweeds… those are improving the ecosystem, improving the carbon footprint, absorbing CO2, providing local food for people that’s sustainable,” he says. “That’s been my philosophy, and I am never going to stop doing that and work on other conservation projects.”