Anyone who drives knows the frustration of getting a green light just to have the next one turn red. San Marcos city staff submitted a $549,000 plan to City Council on Aug. 12 to renovate the traffic control system along the complete route of San Marcos Boulevard, the city’s main artery, to make that happen less often.

The Friends of the Palomar College Arboretum had a lot to celebrate at their special meeting in the park Aug. 13. The centerpiece of the event was the relocation of the James Hubbell Structure, an artistic fixture at the college for decades, to its new home in the five-acre park and nature reserve.

A 44-year-old comedic actor pleaded not guilty Aug. 13 to a violent assault on his ex-girlfriend in her San Marcos home.

There are two seats on the City Council to be filled at the ballot box this November. The two incumbents, Hal Martin and Rebecca Jones, made it clear early on that they intended to run again.

At the request of Mayor Jim Desmond, San Marcos City Manager Paul Malone gave a presentation he lightly termed “Redevelopment 101,” highlighting the successes, limitations and potential vulnerabilities of the city’s redevelopment areas to an audience of city employees, staffers and council members Aug. 6.

City Council elections are held every four years in San Marcos, and the names of those who have announced their candidacy this year thus far should be familiar. Both Hal Martin and Rebecca Jones are running for re-election, and it is not yet certain if they will be opposed.

Where there are losers, there are often winners. The recent economic downturn has produced unexpected windfalls for some of San Marcos’ more than 200 automotive repair shops, according to several storeowners.

David Lovell pleaded guilty July 21, just a day after his 20th birthday, to pimping and human trafficking charges relating to his ex-girlfriend and her friend.

A Superior Court judge granted a continuance July 16 in the sentencing of William M. Hall II, a former Palomar College student convicted of calling in multiple bomb threats to the campus last fall.

A young man burglarized the Palomar College Police Department locker room last month in part by wearing a community officer shirt, an officer with the college testified last week.

San Marcos civic and commercial leaders lambasted the controversial “Growth Management and Neighborhood Protection Act” with two formal proclamations at the July 8 City Council meeting. The initiative, which qualified in March for the November ballot, would require the approval of the majority of San Marcos residents for most zoning changes to the city’s general plan.

The streets of San Marcos just got a bit safer with the official induction of three new senior volunteer patrol officers. Barry James, Allen Hearing and Donald Roberts — graduates of an intensive two-week Academy — were recognized at the July 8 City Council meeting by the mayor, council members and San Marcos Sheriff’s Station Capt. Don Crist.

The music, the fireworks and the food in Bradley Park on July 4 were in celebration of our nation’s birth more than two centuries ago, but they were also a testament to the strength of San Marcos’ community of residents.

It was a virtually perfect spring for the San Marcos Cubs as the scrappy 11 in blue and white trounced their opposition in an unprecedented 15-1 season.

Most of the 150 tenants of the affordable living Grandon Village apartments in San Marcos crowded into City Hall on June 17 to try to get relief for a nearly $100 rent increase announced in April.