{"id":249095,"date":"2015-08-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-28T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/letters-to-the-editor-aug-28\/"},"modified":"2015-08-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-08-28T07:00:00","slug":"letters-to-the-editor-aug-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/letters-to-the-editor-aug-28\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters to the editor \u2013 Aug. 28"},"content":{"rendered":"

Helping the homeless<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am a regular reader of the Uptown News and appreciated your article, \u201cWhat to do about the homeless?\u201d [Volume 7, Issue 16]<\/a><\/p>\n

I am a grandmother in my 80s, and have seen and am aware of the increase of the homeless but didn\u2019t realize that San Diego has become \u201ca destination\u201d for them, as police Sgt. Dean Thomas said, because of our weather and reputation for helping indigents. This is sad as well as a serious problem for our communities.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting to see how others are helping the homeless. I read an article in the May 2015 issue of Awake! titled \u201cHope for the homeless and the poor.\u201d I also checked out their website, jw.org, and found it to be very unique in many languages for families and children of all ages.<\/p>\n

\u2014Mrs. Joan Keeno, Rolando<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The University Avenue project<\/strong><\/p>\n

Re: \u201cTransforming University Avenue in North Park\u201d [Volume 7, Issue 17]<\/a><\/p>\n

On the whole, I consider this plan a big improvement over what currently exists. It should slow autos, make it safer and easier for people to cross University, allow for more reliable and faster transit access, and at least provide people on bikes shared space with the bus lanes. Combined with slowing auto traffic, this should be a lot safer for people on bikes.<\/p>\n

I wish there was a similar plan for Hillcrest instead of the current one that is auto and parking dominated with no dedicated bus lanes. North Park continues to look more desirable and Hillcrest less so.<\/p>\n

\u2014Greg Martin, via Facebook<\/em><\/p>\n

Re: \u201cTransforming University Avenue in North Park\u201d<\/p>\n

This plan was ill conceived and is certainly outdated. This scheme will have a negative impact on the livability we have worked so hard to reestablish in North Park. Bike use, now just treacherous, is doomed with this arrangement and walkability will suffer with no buffer. Medians are a huge mistake and will use 20 percent of the existing narrow roadway \u2014 20 percent that will remain useless and become a physical barrier. Dedicated bus lanes are also dead-wrong \u2014 50 percent of the roadway empty 95 percent of the time.<\/p>\n

Consider this: The curb-to-curb street width is only 52 feet along much of this segment, just wide enough for a section like this: 6 feet|10 feet|10 feet|10 feet|10 feet|6 feet (bike|car|car|car|car|bike). The bike lanes are the sidewalk buffer. Restrict left turns. Raised crosswalks at key locations calm traffic and eliminate need for new signals.<\/p>\n

This is done elsewhere with spectacular results. The traffic planners and engineers behind this need to travel abroad or even just to Portland, Oregon and see how the rest of the word elegantly deals with cars, bikes and pedestrians. The city of Copenhagen, Denmark, on streets generally this width, put bike lanes where parking was (against the curb\/sidewalk), slid parking over into what was the right lane, and left two lanes for traffic, one each way. This began in the 1980s and today 45 percent of the population commutes on bikes.<\/p>\n

This plan is incompetent at best and we deserve better.<\/p>\n

\u2014Vernon Franck via Facebook<\/em><\/p>\n

Go slow, save lives. It could be your own next time you\u2019re walking or crossing the street. This will enhance the neighborhood. Better than existing. Love to all the haters.<\/p>\n

\u2014Anonymous via Facebook<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh my God, stop. We don\u2019t want awful hardscape pink-stamped medians all up and down University. What are you trying to do?<\/p>\n

Contact a designer to create a beautiful street with landscaping. Please do not do not do this insane one care. This will increase traffic, reduce quality of life. It will suck having to drive down this avenue every day.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll do your design for you. This is what you do. Put palm trees all down the center of University Avenue, put in a couple of crosswalks, put nice trees every 30 feet down University Avenue that spread and build a canopy over the sidewalk. I don\u2019t let the city trim them to death and repair the sidewalks. No charge.<\/p>\n

\u2014Max Coates via Facebook<\/em><\/p>\n

No bike lanes? Yeesh, as if cyclists don\u2019t have it tough enough already. That\u2019s absurd, I already have a difficult enough time trying to not get hit by some of the crazier drivers.<\/p>\n

Also what would this do to the bus routes? I can only imagine how terrible the backup traffic would be while this construction is going on.<\/p>\n

\u2014Riley J. Gibson via Facebook<\/em><\/p>\n

This plan is now 13 years out-of-date and has major invalid assumptions and huge disadvantages that would:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Create much more traffic on University Avenue for over 90 percent of residents by forcing car traffic into one lane instead of two.<\/li>\n
  2. Make things more dangerous for bicyclists due to it including no bike lanes (yes the plan really has no bike lanes \u2014 take a look at it).<\/li>\n
  3. Remove an important buffer between traffic lanes and the sidewalk (where parking is removed) thereby reducing pedestrian safety and degrading the aesthetics and neighborhood feel of our sidewalks.<\/li>\n
  4. Inconvenience local businesses and their customers who depend on pickups and deliveries by removing all parking on University Avenue, which in fact would not be significantly offset in most cases by other parking gained on some side streets.<\/li>\n
  5. Realize no environmental benefits claimed by supporters, due to adoption rates of zero emissions vehicles already far outpacing state and local goals and estimates used to justify bus-only lanes.<\/li>\n
  6. Result in ugly medians with no landscaping due to the city being unwilling to budget a miniscule amount for landscaping. (They would likely spend more to put in pavers than landscaping would actually cost.)<\/li>\n
  7. Fail to comply with the city\u2019s own Climate Action Plan, which requires a minimum tree canopy area to be provided.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    As usual, Councilmember Todd Gloria and other bureaucrats have nothing of substance to say other than vapid generalizations that fail to recognize any of the numerous issues. There are indeed some good aspects to the plan, but the above issues need to all be thought through and addressed before we let the city go forward with this disaster.<\/p>\n

    \u2014David Gleason via Facebook<\/em><\/p>\n

    Save our historical facades<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Re: \u201cPernicano\u2019s buyer still hasn\u2019t closed deal\u201d [Volume 7, Issue 17]<\/a><\/p>\n

    I\u2019m hopeful for something great at this intersection. These properties literally make up the heart of Hillcrest and with the right uses, it could transform the neighborhood into something even more fabulous! I can\u2019t wait to hear what\u2019s in store.<\/p>\n

    \u2014Benny Cartwright via Facebook<\/em><\/p>\n

    No mention of our VALUABLE HISTORIC RESOURCES? Let us try really hard to make sure the facades of City Deli (Kahn Building) and the Spanish building on Fifth Avenue are restored and preserved. The historic charm of these buildings makes this area of Hillcrest what it is. This is why this area has charm and why people are drawn here. Compliment these buildings and PLEASE work them into any designs for the future of this block!<\/p>\n

    \u2014Gregory May via Facebook<\/em><\/p>\n

    \u2014Send letters to the editor to <\/em>ken@sdcnn.com<\/em><\/a> or make comments on our Facebook page. Letters may be lightly edited for context, grammar and style.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Helping the homeless I am a regular reader of the Uptown News and appreciated your article, \u201cWhat to do about the homeless?\u201d [Volume 7, Issue 16]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":249093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Letters to the editor \u2013 Aug. 28","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11593,11552,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-no-images","category-opinion","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249095","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\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}