Traffic and parking<\/strong><\/p>\nSeveral residents raised issues involving traffic and parking in their neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
A resident who lives on Pomona Avenue said that after he complained about speeding last year, for a while things were better when there were stepped-up patrols, a trailer with a speed indicator, and officers ticketing drivers near Stanford and Pomona avenues.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the flip side, I have to say, it\u2019s gotten worse,\u201d he said, adding that apps like Waze, Uber and Lyft have increased traffic along neighborhood streets. \u201cOur street is getting so bad that I would venture to bet that traffic is busier on Pomona than it is on Harbinson.\u201d<\/p>\n
City Councilmember Bill Baber added that an improving economy also puts more cars on the road.<\/p>\n
A man named Edward brought up the long pauses the trolleys take near Severin Drive and how that causes unnecessary waiting at the light. City Councilmember Guy McWhirter explained that the pauses are guided by federal government regulations due to the trolley tracks\u2019 proximity to sidewalks.<\/p>\n
A Yorkshire Avenue resident named Dave took issue with the traffic lights in his neighborhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cI work in La Mesa and 1.6 miles is my furthest commute,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes that takes me 14 minutes because of traffic lights.\u201d<\/p>\n
Resident Lee Sandvick offered an idea to ease parking and traffic in and around the Village by proposing electronic trams, like the kind that are found in Downtown San Diego, which would cart residents and visitors to and from the Village from homes and parking lots.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a win-win for visitors and residents alike,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mayor Arapostathis said that cost would be a concern in starting such a program.<\/p>\n
Another woman commented that there would be more parking in neighborhoods if residents used their garages and driveways for parking cars, rather than storage.<\/p>\n
A resident named Kevin complained about parking tickets he received because of street sweeping along Nancy Drive, where he lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t move your vehicle on the third Tuesday of the month, you will get a nice $42 ticket. I have four,\u201d he said, adding that the tickets themselves are less of an issue than the city\u2019s uneven rules on street-sweeping tickets. Janfred Way, Poppy Street, Water Street and Wolf Court have streets swept, but because there are no signs put up, there are no tickets given and the street sweeper drives around the cars, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re going to give $42 tickets to people who don\u2019t get up at 9 o\u2019clock in the morning after getting home at 3 in the morning to move their car, can you please have the same rule for everybody in the city?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re absolutely right, it needs to be consistent,\u201d replied Arapostathis.<\/p>\n
Angela, a resident on Sisson Street, complained about the city\u2019s lack of enforcement on trailers and motorhomes parked on streets.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou guys need to decide; you need to make the ordinances for this community and get rid of them,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are not El Cajon. You drive down Horton at any given time, there\u2019s boats, there\u2019s trailers. On Sisson Street, there\u2019s two motorhomes. You need to change the ordinance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sin hogar<\/strong><\/p>\nCulbertson Avenue resident Donna Marie Tol said she has noticed an increase in the area\u2019s homeless population.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know the cost of housing is out of control and services are inadequate across the county,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not looking for an end-all answer to homeless, but what is the city doing to get homeless services?\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilmember Colin Parent acknowledged homelessness as a \u201creal and growing issue\u201d in the city. He said La Mesa recently joined the Regional Continuum of Care, Regional Task Force for Homeless after a county grand jury faulted the city for not being part of it.<\/p>\n
Parent said the city is also taking steps to address housing affordability and pointed to a recently-adopted affordable homes bonus program, which gives incentives to developers that build subsidized affordable units. The city also formed a subcommittee to look at other affordable housing options in La Mesa, including easing restrictions on homeowners building \u201cgranny-flat\u201d rentals on their properties.<\/p>\n
Councilmember McWhirter added that regional programs, like East County Transitional Living in El Cajon, will be where most of the help comes from.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know the county, that has the money for a lot of this, needs to step up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Resident Carol Biederman suggested offering more public toilets to combat potential health risks caused by homelessness, such as the recent outbreak of hepatitis A. She also suggested that the city build a homeless shelter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it would be suitable for us to think about having some kind of place where people can get in out of the rain and off the streets,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Transitional housing<\/strong><\/p>\nA group of residents raised concerns about a recent transitional home for drug rehabilitation patients that recently opened on Joel Lane.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had this facility operating for about a month and it is causing a considerable amount of stress to a lot of the residents,\u201d said a woman named Ellen, who added that parking, traffic, smoking, noise, lack of privacy, change to the overall feel of neighborhood, property values and worries about potential criminal activity are the biggest concerns of the neighborhood. She wondered how a drug rehabilitation home could open on a cul de sac.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe manager told us these people cannot interact with us. They don\u2019t look up at us; they don\u2019t wave to us; they don\u2019t smile. We were asked to not interact with them, so why do they need to be on a residential street?\u201d<\/p>\n
City Attorney Glen Sabine said that if the facility has six or fewer residents, then there is nothing the city could do under current law.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the unlicensed homes, or if there are more than six [occupants], then we have some use-permit controls that would apply, but then we\u2019d have to find out if that is in fact the case,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Kristine Alessio said this is an issue that she has been working on with state representatives to change or amend laws, to give cities more flexibility in the locations these businesses can operate. Alessio also offered to help mediate with the owner and neighborhood to address problems stemming from the rehabilitation home.<\/p>\n
Air traffic noise<\/strong><\/p>\nMarie, who lives near Helix High School, said that noise from airplanes has suddenly become an issue in her neighborhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey fly nonstop from about 6:30 in the morning to about 11:30 at night,\u201d she said. \u201cThey fly very low. I\u2019m thinking we get about 60 to 100 of them a day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arapostathis said that three years ago, the city was notified by the FAA of a change to flight paths around San Diego.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey now use GPS so instead of the planes flying south over [state Route] 94, they are flying in a more tight pattern. They notified us after the decision was made,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The city of La Mesa doesn\u2019t lobby the federal government, but was one of 18 cities who went to the county\u2019s Airport Authority and lodged complaints and started contacting senators and members of Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cI send a monthly letter and I make the phone calls to the Airport Authority,\u201d Arapostathis said, adding that he learned the Airport Authority doesn\u2019t like the decision either.<\/p>\n
Marie mentioned that some cities are suing FAA and asked if La Mesa had plans to do the same.<\/p>\n
City Manager Garrett said the city could consider that, but in the meantime, he said there is a local FAA advisory council with local representatives, which meets regularly, and that would be a good place to start advocating.<\/p>\n
Other business<\/strong><\/p>\nA woman who lives on Texas Street said a neighbor in a rental is growing pot in his yard.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt stinks to high heaven,\u201d she said. \u201cMy neighbors walk by and they\u2019re reasonably na\u00efve and say, \u2018Kathy, you have a skunk in your front yard, this is terrible!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
City Attorney Sabine said the city cannot prohibit cultivating six indoor plants, but her neighbor is probably violating city ordinances.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis city has taken action to prohibit the outdoor cultivation of marijuana,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Other issues raised by residents included problems with coyotes, the Climate Action Plan, requests for reports on progress made by the city\u2019s various subcommittees and the air quality in the city.<\/p>\n
- Comun\u00edquese con Jeff Clemetson en jeff@sdcnn.com<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jeff Clemetson |Editor<\/p>","protected":false},"author":778,"featured_media":224945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11548","_seopress_titles_title":"Residents voice concerns at city town hall meetings","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11548,11551,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-mesa-courier","category-news","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/778"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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