Dear Beacon staff: I enjoy your newspaper and read it cover to cover. Yet, I believe you missed a great opportunity to do a serious, in-depth journalistic article on an example of what we would all like to see more often: a successful and collaborative partnership between public and private entities.
Our new Nimitz median “sprucing up” at Bernice and Centraloma (April 16) was a seven-month-long project. Discussions by PLA volunteers with a landscape architect for drafting CAD (computer assisted design) plans were initiated in September 2015. These CAD drawings are a requirement by the city to start the lengthy permitting process. Bids for asphalt removal, concrete work, soil, plantings and traffic control were obtained. The cost of the entire project was finally projected to be around $25,000. According to PLA bylaws, this money needs to be raised before the project can go forward. Grants were submitted to the city and county of San Diego. A San Diego City grant ($10,000) and a County Neighborhood Reinvestment Grant ($8500) were obtained and several generous Point Loma residents agreed to make up the difference. Thank you city and county of San Diego! After months of meetings, dozens of emails and phone conversations, visits to the city of San Diego Development Services office, discussions with city project managers about plantings, EMRA (encroachment maintenance and removal agreements), right of way issues, and traffic control, city permits were approved in January 2015. Pre construction meetings with the city engineer, contractors and the PLA took place in February and median construction started in March. Whether it is creating planters out of asphalt, picking up homeless litter on Sunset Cliffs, paying to trim the palm trees, helping advertise OB Christmas parades or pet adoptions, the Point Loma Association is team player that works hard with private and public entities to make this a better neighborhood for the entire Peninsula. It deserves support from your professional staff and newspaper. Cecilia Carrick PLA