CHEERS AND JEERS FROM THE EDITORIAL BOARD

This week we cheer the accomplishments of a 12-year-old world champion equestrian from Escondido and jeer one of San Diego’s oldest eyesores, the boarded-up Pernicano’s restaurant on Sixth Avenue, perhaps — fingers crossed — for the last time.

The San Diego Union-tribune’s Pam Kragen introduced readers to seventh-grader Lindsay Heliker this week with a feature story about how she reached the heights of an equestrian career that started at age 2 by cinching a unanimous world championship in classic equitation at the Grand National & World Championship Morgan Horse Show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in October.

When she grows up, Lindsay said she wants to be a horse trainer. At 12, she spends three to four hours at a ranch during the week and all day on weekends, so she’s well on her way. Congratulations, Lindsay.

Gary Pernicano, now 73, was 12 when he began cooking at the family-owned Pernicano’s restaurant. It’s been boarded-up and falling down for decades now, a huge blight in the heart of Hillcrest. Talk of redeveloping it has come and gone over the years. Thankfully, the 25,000-square-foot property was recently sold to Carmel Partners, a San Franciscobased real estate investment and development firm.

A real estate agent who represented the family in the sale told Union-tribune reporter Lori Weisberg that a mixed-use development combining housing and ground-level commercial uses is likely. That sounds perfect for the neighborhood, but almost anything would be better than what’s there now. The old restaurant should have been razed long ago.