City Council accepts USS Coronado memorabilia and proclaims Lions Club White Cane Day
The brief October 18 city council meeting began with Mayor Bailey delivering a proclamation honoring Coronado Lions Club White Cane Day on October 29 to Lions Club President Gene Arnold, Board Member Floyd Ross and to Carrie Downey. Lions International, the world’s largest service organization with 1.4 million members in more than 210 countries, just celebrated its 105e anniversary. The Coronado Lions Club was established 83 years ago and organizes this event to offer “The Gift of Sight”. Volunteers will be in Vons to raise money and glasses for The Seeing Eye Dogs of the Desert, the San Diego Center for the Blind and the Lions Club Optometric Center.
The Board accepted memorabilia from the recently decommissioned USS Coronado (LCS-4), which included a large city flag that was presented to the ship upon her commissioning on April 5, 2014, as well as the bell traditional ship and brass identification letters. Last Commanding Officer Spike Lamson and Executive Officer Joshua Freeze presented the items. Board member Marvin Heinze noted that this is the third ship named USS Coronado, on which he has served, and said he hopes there will be another in the future. He also joked that our city now has the largest flag in the world. Former council member Susan Keith, who was the ship’s sponsor, offered to hold a group march with the flag during the Christmas parade and asked the city to donate the items to the Coronado Historical Association (CHA ) for preservation.
Council member Donovan was absent from this meeting, and several additional items were approved on the consent schedule, including a policy request #2 from Mayor Bailey for an agenda item to review the level of service at signalized intersections along SR 75 and provide recommendations to improve traffic flow with priority at Avenida Del Sol, Third and Fourth Street intersections.
The Free Summer Shuttle (FSS) began as a pilot program in 2013. The Coronado FSS 2022 report noted that it operated from May 27 to September 5 and carried 79,741 passengers, an average of 731 passengers per day, a 45 percent increase over 2021. The route consisted of MTS Route 904 between the Coronado Ferry Landing and Coronado City Hall which offered 15-minute advances with four operational buses. The report says ridership is rebounding from the pandemic. Interestingly, the peak day for ridership in 2022 was July 15 with 1,500 boardings, nearly double the daily average. The lowest passenger day was June 6 with 146 passengers. The Cays Fourth of July shuttle lasted only one day this year with a total of 917 passengers, an increase from the previous year, which lasted two days with 880 passengers. The cost to the city for the 2022 FSS program was $179,562.
