By Margie M. Palmer | SDUN Reporter
Hillcrest
The Hillcrest Business Improvement District (HBID) is currently in the process of manufacturing a new façade for the Hillcrest Sign, located just west of the intersection of University and 5th avenues.
HBID executive director Ben Nicholls said that the sign, currently 28 years old, has been turned off for the past three months because the central electrical components have been failing. The refurbishment cost approximately $45,000 and was paid for through funds raised at the 2010 City Fest. The project will be complete and the new sign will be premiered at this year’s City Fest, which will take place from noon until 9 p.m. on Aug. 14.
Nicholls further stated that a waterslide and an additional stilt walker, the Tempo of Hillcrest, will be added to this year’s City Fest lineup.
“The Tempo of Hillcrest, which represents the spirit of music, dancing and culture, is a bit more shy than his flamboyant stilt walker counterpart, the Spirit of Hillcrest,” he said, “but attendees are still encouraged to say hello.”
Normal Heights
The Normal Heights Planning Group may have been off for the month of July, but the group’s chair, Jim Baross, said that’s not to say that there hasn’t been a lot going on.
“We have three exciting projects that the city has finally moved through the formal process and [is] now in the process of starting,” Baross said. “The first will be an upgrading of the roadways paralleling highway 15. In addition to signs and directional markings, it looks like there will be some sharrows going in.”
A “sharrow” is a contraction of the phrase “shared roadway marking”—a marking placed in the center of a roadway’s travel lane to remind passenger vehicles to share the road with cyclists. The markings consist of a white bike symbol with two Chevron-type markings above it.
The second project, Baross said, is the mid-city promenade along the western side of highway 15 that will widen sidewalks and add trees.
Lastly, and perhaps most significant, is the “road diet” that will be taking place along Cherokee Avenue at the intersection of East Mountain View.
“This is a very strange intersection which has been a problem for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists because one, it’s a very wide street for pedestrians to have to cross and two, it’s also confusing for motorists and cyclists because it’s not clear where you’re supposed to stop, not to mention that the sight lines are terrible,” he said. “Through the road diet, the lane width will be reduced, which will help decrease vehicle speeds and make the area more friendly to cyclists and pedestrians.”
Mission Hills
The Mission Hills Board of Trustees is working on a number of projects. Although its biggest effort continues to be the Concerts in the Park series, it has also been working closely with District 2 Councilmember Kevin Faulconer on community improvement projects.
Mission Hills Town Council Board of Trustees President Mark Felhman said that perhaps the most notable project in the works is the removal of parking meters that “are on the business core, on Ft. Stockton and Goldfinch streets,” he said.
“There is a series of parking meters that obstruct the sidewalk so that people with strollers can’t really walk through there, and as I understand it, within the next month those meters are all coming down and multi-space pay stations will be installed.”
Residents should note, however, that although the meter change is taking place, the number of parking spaces currently available will be maintained.
Other upcoming improvements to Mission Hills, he said, include the installation of a Mission Hills sign at the bottom of Washington Street and the installation of two banner poles on Goldfinch Street.
“We’ve been working on getting a Mission Hills sign in for about five years, and it appears that within the next six months we may get that in,” Felhman said. “The banner poles on Goldfinch will be used to string banners across to tell the community about events. The money to install the banner poles has been given to the Mission Hills BID by the County of San Diego.”
Although that money, $25,000 in total, will pay for the poles and installation, it will not cover the various permitting fees, that will need to be paid to the city in order to have the project move forward. Felhman said that the Mission Hills BID, the Mission Hills Town Council and the Garden Club have all made commitments
of $8,000 toward payment of those fees.
“What’s been great is that Councilmember Faulconer’s office has been working with us to try to get those fees minimized,” Felhman said. “Because if our money doesn’t need to be allocated to fees we can use [it] for additional concerts in the park.”
