por Jay Wilson

In February, you were invited to participate in a project to replant the median in front of Hearst Elementary.  Unfortunately, after working on this project for five months, the city put a halt to our plans. The median we were to work on is under the jurisdiction of the Park and Recreation Department’s Open Space Division and they were never informed about SDG&E’s new gas line placed in their median. Staff from this department stated that there should be a clause in SDG&E’s contract with the city requiring them to replant the median and maintain it for 25 months. Thus, until city departments can figure all of this out, the median project is temporarily on hold. 

A great number of hours have been spent in planning the replanting of the median, particularly by our resident landscape architect Doug Livingston. Working with Councilmember Sherman’s staff, complying with the city’s requirement to only plant native vegetation and laying out a plant pallet for the median between Capri and Theta Place, Livingston has donated a great number of hours on behalf of our community. In addition, Liz Saidkhanian from Councilmember Sherman’s staff has spent hours working with city staff, SDG&E, and with Recon, the firm supplying 546 plants. The Allied Gardens-Kiwanis Club scheduled work parties from their club, their Key Club at Patrick Henry, and their Circle K at SDSU for both Saturday, March 12 and 19. Hearst parents were also ready to lend a hand. Don Teemsma, a Del Cerro resident and president of Ideal Plumbing, had also arranged for a group of Mormon Elders to participate on both weekends.

Depending upon how long it takes to work out the details, our project may be postponed until the fall. It is getting late in the season to put native plants in the ground as they go dormant in the summer. Stay tuned.

There is no update on the ColRich project for 26 homes south of the Chevron service station. There will probably be a couple more submittals by ColRich to the planning department before a plan is finalized. Then they will return to DCAC and the Navajo Community Planners.

The contractor hired by the city to reline residential sewer laterals continues. If it was difficult to locate the cleanout in a yard, a new one was installed. The new cap is about 12 inches across and at ground level. The final stage in any neighborhood where they are working is to replace sidewalks that were torn up because it was easier to install a new cleanout there than have to replace extensive landscaping.

The next meeting of the Del Cerro Action Council is scheduled for Thursday, April 28 at 7 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El. The main topic will be an update on a proposed maintenance assessment district. DCAC president Mark Rawlins will make the presentation.

We also have news from the San Diego Police Department’s Eastern Division. It appears that Adam McElroy, our Police Community Relations Officer for the past two and a half years, is moving to police headquarters to work with the Vice division. Lt. Mike Swanson, who has been responsible for the Navajo Area, is moving on as well. His new assignment will be with the Police Department’s recruiting division and related matters. Officer McElroy and Lt. Swanson have been a real asset to the entire Navajo Community and on behalf of Del Cerro we say:

“You are certainly going to be missed, and we thank you for serving the entire Navajo Community so efficiently. We wish both of you the very best with your next assignment.”

If you have a child or grandchild going to school within the Patrick Henry Cluster (this includes all schools in the Navajo Area and Hardy Elementary by SDSU), please encourage them to participate in the Henry Cluster STEM Foundation’s third annual Mini Golf Challenge to be held on April 16 at Pershing Middle School. It is free to enter. With a team of two to six students, they will design and build a mini-golf challenge hole. The starter kits (a sheet of plywood and two two-by-fours) are being provided by the Grantville-Allied Gardens Kiwanis Club and San Carlos Hardware. Go to hcstemm.org/minigolf for more information.

Keep in touch with Del Cerro at delcerroactioncouncil.org

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