San Diego is now home to the U.S. Navy’s “Big Stick”, the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

Mira Mesa is home to “The Voice”. They are similar because both the aircraft carrier and The Voice are big and powerful. The voice is usually calm, cool and well modulated but if you watch closely you can see an occasional subtle rolling of the eyes or an all but imperceptible shaking of the head. Then, when all others seem to loose their common sense and reasoning, the Voice speaks, normalcy is restored and the problem at hand is settled. It’s especially disconcerting for whom ever happens to be speaking at the time that the Voice speaks.

Teddy Roosevelt’s motto was, “Walk softly and carry a big stick”. Bruce Brown, The Voice, also speaks softly, but with a big voice.

Bruce has the amount of patience, persistence and resolve that is rarely seen in any one person. I once asked him how he managed to deal with the myriad of frustrations that come with working with the city? His answer ……. “I say please and thank you a lot”. A classic understatement if I ever heard one !

At 11:00 AM on Friday Dec. 11th there will be an official ground breaking ceremony for the new addition to Mira Mesa Community Park. Our Mayor and City Council Representative are scheduled to be on hand to speak to the assembled crowd. Bruce will surely be asked to say a few words. What the crowd will hear from Bruce is the well modulated, calm, cool voice of a very gracious man with great judgement. This project has been in the making for over 20 years, that’s a whole big bunch of saying “please and thank you”.

Well, here’s one more thank you Bruce, only this time it is us who are thanking you. We are proud to say we know you and we salute The Voice.

Well, it’s that time of the year, Santa Claus will be flying by soon. There are those who would say I should start this piece with “Seasons Greetings” or “Happy Holidays”. But that would not be me, so, light your candles and decorate your homes cuz it’s gonna be a “MERRY CHRISTMAS”, “HAPPY CHANUKAH” and “JOYFUL KWANZAA”, which ever is appropriate for you and your family. I wish you all the very very best and be sure to have a very “HAPPY NEW YEAR”.

Here in Mira Mesa it may be a difficult time for Santa, I hear the reindeer may go on strike. It’s something about how much of their grain is being used to make beer at Callahan’s. And they’re not very happy about their pension plan either!

At MMRC we always say “Oh, but it’s for the kids” so this year we may hear Santa shouting … On Bruce … On Joe … On Jeff … Ken, go left, never mind your GPS … On Karen … Fay, stop talking, just pull … Julius … Julius … Oh never mind!

And then suddenly it will all be over, the kids will have their presents, everybody’s belly will be full, the wine bottles will be empty and we’ll all have a warm glow in our hearts for family and friends. All, as it should be!

Then we’ll have about a week until our kids in the SAPPHIRE SOUND MARCHING BAND from Mira Mesa High School share their wonderful sound with the entire world while marching in the 2016 ROSE BOWL PARADE on New Years Day. It’s been a really good year for Mira Mesa, now, about the encore ……

This list of priorities was developed by Bruce Brown and presented at the October meeting of the Mira Mesa Recreation Council:

Download (PDF, 113KB)

This Thanksgiving I’ll be giving thanks for all the usual things like friends, family, health, turkey dinner and that 8 year old bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon that I’m gonna open and savor with dinner.

I’ll also be giving thanks that the Chargers (Carson Clowns?) will not be embarrassing us in one of the annual NFL games that will be on TV. And, of course, I’ll be thankful that the Chicago Cubs went all the way to the National League Championship Series before being eliminated.

Locally in Mira Mesa, I’ll be thankful for all the folks who take our kids under their wings and teach them how to play baseball, soccer, softball, football and how to be responsible men and women. I don’t know how the heck they do it, a whole team of kids being kids ……. It would make me crazy! Kudos to all of you, Julius, Carlos, Greg, Dennis and all the rest of the gang.

I’ll be thankful for all of the shade projects that we’ve been able to accomplish, even though we had to drag some folks along who were kicking and screaming …….. until they saw the results.

Over the years we got city staff to install shade over the large patio at Lopez Ridge Park, over the Gazebo at Maddox Park, over the Pergolas at both Camino Ruiz and Breen Parks and our Rec. Council funded new Shade Sail structures over the playgrounds at Lopez Ridge and Westview Parks. To accomplish all these shade projects we had substantial help from many Park & Rec. staff members but I have fond memories of Cathy Lawler and Clay Bingham who helped us get started almost ten years ago and Kathy Ruiz who came to our rescue when we were mired in the the city bureaucracy and giving up was under consideration. Of course, I’m also very grateful for the help, financial and otherwise, of our City Council Representatives, Brian Maienschein, Lori Zapf and Chris Cate. Their help was immeasurable.

So, enjoy your dinner and family, then kick back, watch a good NFL team play football on TV and start contemplating which Rec. Council office you’re going to run for at our December election meeting.