By JAY WILSON
The winter rains have begun and SDSU and Adobe Falls have already felt the impact. The heavy rains of Nov. 28 and 29 were so powerful they ripped the gate off the entrance to the flood control channel that runs under Interstate 8 from SDSU to Adobe Falls. This time, the power of the water in the channel bent the gate off its hinges. This is the third time the gate has failed, and each time the gate was secured in a stronger manner.
Dr. Eric Frost sent me a photo of the gate taken at 2 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 29, with the following text: “The photo shows vegetation, mostly of arundo, going up about 6 feet above the cement tunnel, suggesting that the water was about 24 feet deep when deepest, as the tunnel was completely covered in water and forming a major whirlpool adjacent to off ramp of Interstate 8 at College Avenue. You can see the gate is still connected on right side, but ripped out of the cement on the left side and where the gate was once locked to the cement wall on the right side of the structure.”
A committee headed by Jackie O’Connor, the president of the Friends of Del Cerro, continues to work with SDSU staff to establish a plan for developing the Adobe Falls property owned by SDSU that will not negatively impact the residents adjacent to the property.
“Now that we have defined the total area in question, as everything adjacent to Alvarado Creek between SDSU and SDSU West, and confirmed the key players, we will be moving forward to define viable uses for the area adjacent to Adobe Falls and how to control the flow of water,” O’Conner stated.
San Diego’s Fire and Rescue Department is reminding everyone to be very careful with all your electrical connections during the holidays — both inside and outside your home. John Steffen, our Police Department’s Community Relations Officer, urges everyone to keep valuables out of sight when shopping. Put those presents in the trunk and do not leave curtains open so presents are visible to anyone walking by or specifically looking for a target house.
There is no update on the All Peoples Church, although they plan to have an update for us at our January meeting.
The city is continuing to work on catching up on the several applications ahead of Del Cerro for establishing Maintenance Assessment Districts (MAD). We are most likely several months away before all the information will be available for the property owners to review and then vote against or for the MAD.
Our next Del Cerro Action Council meeting will be Thursday, Jan. 23, 7 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El.
— Jay Wilson is secretary of the Del Cerro Action Council. For more information, visit delcerroactioncouncil.org.
