A lot of effort at City Hall recently has been geared toward opposing Sacramento’s plan to disband redevelopment agencies across California. Most of San Diego’s beach communities are not eligible to receive redevelopment dollars, but that hasn’t kept us from working together to improve our neighborhoods. All of us owe a big thank you to the community leaders and groups who helped us get to where we are today, including the Point Loma Association, the Peninsula Community Planning Board, Ocean Beach Planning Board, OB Town Council and the MainStreet Association. I have no doubt that, with your help, we will continue to protect our beach neighborhoods. Those beaches and bays — and our neighborhoods — are jewels. They attract millions of people — locals and tourists — every year, who come to surf, sun, swim, bike, walk, jog, barbeque, read and otherwise forget about life for a while. Some of our recent accomplishments include: • Opening NTC Park in Point Loma. At 46 acres, NTC Park is the largest waterfront park built in San Diego since Mission Bay Park. • Investing in the new Peninsula Family YMCA gymnasium. The grand opening was April 9. • Leading the campaign for the Mission Bay Park ordinance. This ensures that revenue generated in Mission Bay Park stays in Mission Bay Park. • Replacing the cracked and rusted storm drains on the bay in La Playa. • Undergrounding unsightly power lines in Point Loma’s Roseville neighborhood. • Making our beaches cleaner, safer and more family friendly by removing alcohol. • Repaving and replacing about 20 miles of streets, sewer lines and water pipes in Ocean Beach and Point Loma during the last two years. • Replacing old/rotting picnic pavilion on Crown Point in Mission Bay Park. • Saving the city’s firepits from budget cuts. Numerous projects are under way, including the Ocean Beach Gateway, a decorative plaza that will give pedestrians access to the adjacent Robb Field Community Park. I want to thank the Ocean Beach Community Development Corporation for its hard work in bringing this project to fruition. In Point Loma and Ocean Beach, the city is in the process of completing 13 water and sewer replacement projects. On Friday, April 29 we’re breaking ground on the new Rose Creek pedestrian bridge at Mission Bay Park. The city also is replacing lights at the Pacific Beach Tennis Club, the only public tennis courts in the beach area. I was committed to fixing the lights in 2010 but the discretionary funding source at City Hall was recently eliminated. As a result, I allocated $25,000 from my office budget. We also helped persuade the city to repair the seawall and boardwalk from south Mission Beach to north Pacific Beach. Work is scheduled to be completed by Memorial Day. I care deeply about the beach areas and I routinely visit the bays, the beaches and other places with my family. What’s most important to me, however, is you. I want to hear from you. What’s working? What isn’t? Where do we need to turn our attention? Ocean Beach, Point Loma and Mission Bay Park – these are our neighborhoods. It’s up to us to keep them looking their best. Many thanks for your ideas, hard work and support. — San Diego City Council President Pro Tem Kevin Faulconer represents District 2, which includes Point Loma, Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach and Mission Bay.