por Jay Wilson

Adobe Falls update

Adobe Falls continues to be a thorn in our side. If you saw the KUSI news story on Dec. 9, you saw Del Cerro resident and SDSU professor, Dr. Eric Frost’s comments on Adobe Falls at the San Diego City Council’s Environment Committee, where he emphasized the negative impact social media is having. He presented an extensive overview of Adobe Falls to the committee. One point is that more young women are visiting the site than men, and the majority are not SDSU students.

There are thousands of photos on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and videos on Youtube; all are telling the world this is a place to visit. This is in spite of the fact it is not on public property and that accessing Adobe Falls is negatively impacting a great number of residents living adjacent to them.

We know the upper Adobe Falls is owned by Caltrans and the lower Adobe Falls — the one frequently referenced — is owned by SDSU. The university has taken a few steps, including the several hundred feet of fence they recently constructed to curtail access adjacent to their property in Del Cerro, but the popularity of Adobe Falls has not diminished.

We are waiting for an update from the city regarding the SDSU property and Adobe Falls. Dr. Frost also gave a PowerPoint presentation at the December meeting of the Navajo Community Planners.

Holiday safety

With the holiday season upon us, a few friendly reminders from our police and fire-rescue departments: Keep those holiday presents out of site while you are out shopping by putting them in the trunk of your car; also, great holiday displays are tempting to some individuals and each year we have reports about decorations in front yards being removed. Other targets of opportunity are homes with large windows facing the street which allows anyone to easily view in as they walk by and they can see all the presents. Close your curtains when you are not home and keep your doors and windows locked. The criminal element is often looking for that easy opportunity. Don’t help them out.

And the city’s Fire-Rescue Department wants to remind everyone to not overload outlets which often happens when homeowners plug in string after string of lights and holiday decorations into a single circuit. Make certain electrical cords can handle the load. Also, a real Christmas tree can easily become a violent torch if a spark from any source is able to ignite dry needles on the tree.

Biblioteca San Carlos

As virtually everyone knows, a new San Carlos Library has been in the planning stages since 1995. The corner lot at Jackson Drive and Golfcrest Drive has to be declared contaminant free by the county of San Diego before the land can be purchased by the city of San Diego. For those who do not remember, that site was an ARCO gas station and there was a fuel leak that contaminated the soil. Hopefully, one more test of the soil will finally allow the county to issue a notice that the soil is safe and the property can be purchased.

At the January meeting of the Navajo Community Planners, David Pfeifer, the architect with Domusstudio Architecture who has designed the library, will give a PowerPoint presentation on the final design of the library. None of us who have been members of the new San Carlos Library Committee dating back to initial meetings in 1995, had grey hair at the time, and now we all do.

The next Del Cerro Action Council meeting will be on Thursday, Jan. 26, 7 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El. Visit delcerroactioncouncil.org for more information.

From all of the Del Cerro Action Council board members, have a safe and enjoyable holiday season.

—Jay Wilson is secretary of the Del Cerro Action Council. Reach him at [email protected].