Happy Thanksgiving

As I reflect back on 2005, our City has seen much change. With Thanksgiving Day being a time to pause, reflect and give thanks, we remember our many blessings and celebrate our ability to work together, to listen, to debate and to endeavor to make San Diego a better place for all.

We give thanks for those who work day in and day out to keep us safe and our country free - both at home and abroad. We also remember to help those in need and not as fortunate.

At this time of Thanksgiving, I wish you and your family the very best.

Congratulations

Congratulations are in order to Mayor-elect Jerry Sanders. With San Diego changing to a new form of governance beginning January 1, 2006, I congratulate Jerry Sanders on his election as Mayor. Mayor Sanders will have a lot on his plate and I pledge to work with him as we guide our City forward. I also congratulate Councilmember Donna Frye for her campaign and one that allowed so many issues and concerns to be addressed.

And speaking of congratulations, Scott Peters will lead our City Council as our first Council President. I was very pleased to support Scott. He has our City's best interest at heart and I look forward to working with him in his new role.

With Lamont Ewell having been accepted as the new City Manager for Santa Monica, his last day as City Manager will be on Monday November 28, 2005. I have come to know Lamont as a man of his word, someone who always did the right thing, and someone who always put the best interests of the taxpayers of the City of San Diego first. I wish him the very best.

I chatted with Mayor-elect Sanders earlier today and am pleased to recommend that Ronne Froman serve as City Manager until the Mayor takes over the City Manager role on January 1, 2006. The City Council will vote on a new City Manager this Monday.

Click here to see Lamont Ewell's resignation and my memo regarding Ronne Froman and media statement.

Lastly, I am honored to have been asked to Chair the City Council's Land Use and Housing Committee for 2006. I have enjoyed my tenure as Chair of the Public Safety Committee this past year and as Chair of the Natural Resources and Culture Committee for the four years prior to that.

With the Land Use and Housing Committee, there are many important issues to continue tackling including our Housing Crisis, our new Redevelopment structure in the City, to the highly charged issue of City Leases including our two airports to continue overseeing the implementation of our City's 21st Century Library system. I look forward to working with my colleagues and the public as we deliver the very best policy to serve the taxpayers of San Diego.

Fake Money 

Watch out for counterfeit $100 bills that have been showing up in the San Diego region. Secret Service agents are on the lookout for counterfeiters who have been bleaching $5 bills and reprinting them as $100 bills. Authorities say the quickest way to tell whether a bill is genuine is to hold it up to the light. A $100 bill should have a watermark of Benjamin Franklin's face and not of Abraham Lincoln's.

The San Diego Police Department suggests that if you receive a counterfeit bill you should not return it to the person who gave it to you but instead contact the police department or United States Secret Service at (619) 557-5640.

Boulevard Boo Parade

Kudos to community leaders from the College Area, El Cerrito and Rolando neighborhoods. On October 29th they revived the parade tradition on El Cajon Boulevard by holding the first ever Boulevard Boo Parade on a beautiful Saturday afternoon followed by a carnival. KOGO radio talk show host Mark Larson served as the Grand Marshall. Christina Kish and Bill Markwardt deserve much credit for helping organize it. The area has a long history of parades going back to 1937 with the El Cajon Boulevard Civic Association's parade. The longest parade on El Cajon Boulevard took place in 1949 and was seven miles long. SDSU held homecoming parades from 1940 through 1967 when the parades moved closer to campus.

Now, for 2005, the College Neighborhoods Foundation and the College Area Business District have collaborated to revive the parade as a grand community event, named it "The Boulevard BOO! Parade" and moved it back to El Cajon Boulevard in the heart of the College neighborhoods. I was proud to help sponsor this great new community event and look forward to attending next year.

SDSU

In previous eNewsletters I told you about the problems that the communities are having with San Diego State University. It all centers on their approach to expanding along Alvarado Road and in the Del Cerro area as well as building The Paseo in the College Area. The problem is not merely their plans, but the impact on neighbors. Since the September meeting of the California State University Board of Regents, the Paseo ad hoc committee has met and the I-8 Interchange ad hoc committee has met. At my recommendation, the university brought on two mediators - one to work with each of the ad hoc committees. SDSU President Stephen Weber and I met again recently so we are continuing to talk. You should also know that the City Attorney's office recently filed a law suit against the University in addition to those filed by the community of Del Cerro and Alvarado Hospital. I will continue to keep up updated.

Mission Trails Summit

If you have driven on Highway 52 recently you may have noticed the new signs that say Mission Trails Summit. Working with Caltrans we were able to have new signs installed reflecting the name change to that area.

San Carlos, Allied Gardens and Del Cerro Undergrounding and other community news

The effort to underground the Navajo community is moving forward on several fronts.

• Cox Communications will complete their work on Park Ridge Boulevard next week and the old utility poles should be removed within 90 days.
• The trenching on Lake Shore Drive is completed and the lines from the street to the house electrical panels are also complete. The project should be finished next April.
• Princess View Drive between Mission Gorge Road and Waring Road is scheduled to begin on December 12.
• Jackson Drive is scheduled to be completed by the end of November. The poles will be topped off and only the SBC telephones lines will remain. The poles will be removed as soon as SBC catches up with their undergrounding effort.
• Twain Avenue in Allied Gardens is complete. As with Jackson Drive, SBC still has to catch up and place their telephone lines underground and then the poles will be removed.
• About 80% of the trenching has been completed on Madra Avenue in Del Cerro.
• The first phase of residential undergrounding in Del Cerro is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2007. This includes the residential streets east of College Avenue off Del Cerro Boulevard as well as three other streets: Overlake Avenue, Ridgemoor Drive and Glenlea Lane.
  
  
  Other Community News

Construction on the irrigation system for the trees in the Mission Gorge Road median between Princess View and Margerum is scheduled to start by the end of year. I asked KD Development, the developer of The Trails Condominiums at Mission Gorge Road and Margerum Avenue, to pay for installing the irrigation system. I thank Mike Turk and his team for their dedication to the community.

We're making progress with the New San Carlos Branch Library. This past Monday, November 21, 2005, the City Council approved my request for an additional $500,000 in funding for the next phase of the new San Carlos Branch Library: design and generate the construction drawings for the new 25,000 square foot library. Upon completion of the construction drawings, the project will be ready to go out to bid. I will be convening another series of design meetings comprised of community leaders, students and interested citizens as we begin the process of finalizing the design of this wonderful branch library. If you are interested in participating in the design of the San Carlos branch library, please call my office at 619-236-6677.

The Gates Remain Open

A neighborhood issue that has been unresolved for 30 years was finally settled at the November 1st City Council meeting. As part of the approval process for the Del Cerro Heights upper gate, I called for additional traffic calming measures on Del Cerro streets.
 

Since the 1971, the upper gate at Del Cerro Heights has been an issue of contention for residents both inside and outside of this gated community atop Del Cerro. On November 1, 2005 at the City Council meeting, the decades old battle finally came to an end with the City Council voting unanimously to allow the gate to be usable for residents. Since their project was first built, the Del Cerro Heights home owners association has tried to get approval from the City to have access to their development from the upper gate. In 1976 and 1987 the City denied a request by the Del Cerro Heights HOA to have the upper gate open for use by all residents. The Del Cerro Heights HOA was cited by the City in 1983 for illegally using the gate that had been constructed by a contactor who was completing the build out of Del Cerro Heights. The City barricaded the gate with concrete barriers which remained in place until one day when an ambulance could not get in. After that incident the barriers were removed with the understanding that the gate was to be used for emergency purposes only.
 

In 2003 the Del Cerro Heights HOA renewed their efforts when, for the first time, they received approval from Navajo Community Planners, Inc. In addition, new Fire Department policy requires that projects with 100 or more units have a second ingress/egress or entrance and exit points. Construction at their main lower gate recently closed the lower gate and the upper gate has been in full use for the past several months.

A recent traffic study did not find any major impacts even with all Del Cerro Heights residents using the upper gate. The study indicated all adjoining and adjacent streets remained at the "A" Level of Service; which indicates the streets are functioning at the best operating condition. The study also said the volume of traffic on Madra Avenue and Crystalaire Drive, Pasatiempo Avenue, and Wandermere Drive is high and the City needs to implement additional traffic calming devices for the area.

I am committed to improving traffic and recently sent out a request to city traffic engineers for an evaluation to look at a variety of things: a new stop sign at Duane and Madra; radar signs; and a more aggressive presence from police. Under the direction of Sgt. Dan Hollister of the Police Department's Traffic Division, his motor officers have increased patrol of the Del Cerro area, with an emphasis on Madra, Crystalaire Drive, Pasatiempo Avenue and Wandermere Drive. Please drive safely and watch your speed!
 

Happenings

November 30 - The ABC's to Starting, Growing and Financing Your Business seminar will take place from 3:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. at the new College Rolando Branch Library located at 6600 Montezuma Road. The City of San Diego's Community and Economic Development Department, in partnership with the Small Business Development and International Trade Center at Southwestern College, is offer this free business assistance seminar to inform small business owners and entrepreneurs how to develop a small business into a successful enterprise. For more information call (619) 533-4256.

December 1 - Is the deadline to apply to Rebuilding Together San Diego to be considered for their home rehabilitation event scheduled for April 29, 2006. Rebuilding Together San Diego is a local non-profit organization that teams with local businesses, service organizations and volunteers who come together to renovate homes belonging to low-income families with children, seniors, people with disabilities and community non-profit facilities. For more information visit their web site at www.rebuildingtogethersd.org or call (619) 231-7873.

December 3 - Mission Trails Regional Park will hold their annual Arbor Day activities at 9:00 a.m. in the East Fortuna Equestrian Staging Area. The public is invited to plant trees as well as pull weeds and other landscaping maintenance. It is such a great event that once again I'm joining the City of San Diego, City of San Diego Park and Recreation Department, Mission Trails Regional Park Citizens' Advisory Committee and Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation in sponsoring it. For more information, visit the Mission Trails Regional Park web site at www.mtrp.org or by calling (619) 668-3281.

December 13 - Please join me for the grand dedication of the brand new Fire Station 31 in Del Cerro. It takes place on Tuesday, December 13th at 10:30 a.m. and the address is 6002 Camino Rico. For more information, call my office at 619-236-6677.

I wish I could include every single community event but unfortunately I have to limit it to a few each issue. We welcome submissions. For upcoming events you would like to see in the next eNewsletter, please email information to lwebb@sandiego.gov.

Thanks for reading the eNewsletter.

Regards,

Jim 

Neighborhood E-Watch Keeps You Informed

The City of San Diego's Neighborhood eWatch provides information about crime incidents in the City of San Diego to the public for free via the Internet and is updated every 24 hours. I introduced this popular service last year and encourage you to use it. The web site address is: http://ewatch.sandiego.gov.

Thanks for reading the eNewsletter.

In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to send me your thoughts on issues by sending email to jmadaffer@sandiego.gov and please forward this email to your friends who might enjoy reading it. They can always visit JimMadaffer.com/email to sign up themselves.

I welcome hearing from you at any time and rely on your opinion.

Regards,

Jim

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