Letters to the Editor – April 2022

I recently learned of the Plan Hillcrest project underway. Although we live just outside of the official Hillcrest area on Albatross St., these changes will have a great effect on me and my family. I am excited that this once beautiful area with wonderful residents may be seeing a transformation. But I am troubled by some things.

I have read the following documents:

1. Plan Hillcrest Existing Conditions Community Atlas JULY 2020 Prepared for the City of San Diego by Dyett & Bhatia of San Francisco
2. Plan Hillcrest Focused Plan Amendment Survey Report Prepared for the City of San Diego by Dyett & Bhatia of San Francisco
3. Plan Hillcrest brochure

Where in these documents does it address the important subject of people complying with the laws of the neighborhood, City of San Diego, State of California and the United States of America, and a real, documented law enforcement plan that includes officers walking the area in question and on bikes, please? This is a valid subject that if not addressed will doom Plan Hillcrest to ultimately failure as an unsafe and unclean neighborhood no matter how new the buildings are and the and art is. [It] will not accomplish the Plan Hillcrest goal of a “complete neighborhood that celebrates its unique identity and honors the legacy of a place that welcomes everyone.”

How can a truly responsible government look to spend this large amount of public money in the face of this public scourge that we are currently enduring daily with no serious solution in the Plan Hillcrest proposal to fix it? Let alone address it?

My question is a valid one as this once vibrant and beautiful area with its wonderful residents has been plagued with disproportional numbers of unhoused persons who are “not breaking the law by not having a domicile,” but are ravaging this area with feces, urine, an unbelievable amount of trash, overturning trash onto alleys, streets/sidewalks, not adhering to pedestrian laws, safety laws, general theft, theft of bicycles, theft of food, sleeping in the middle of sidewalks, drug use, break-in of business and residential, overuse of public emergency services, creating pedestrian hazards not to mention the daily unprovoked harassment – the list goes on too long. I should also ask what is the plan for when these folks are dumped on the street by the local hospitals or medical offices?

Let’s talk about public safety. You are talking about all of these potential public areas and wanting to get people out of these cars to use public transportation, correct?

Right now it is too dangerous for a person under 6’2 and 250 pounds to walk the streets without fear of some sort of assault, verbal or physical, or just grossed out by stench, vomit or feces. I know, because my wife and I walk approximately two miles a day in the neighborhood.

If one of your goals is to address “climate change” then you must also in the Plan Hillcrest plan, address the important subject of people complying with the laws of the area.

Extra, undue taxation heaped on the citizens in the form of attempting to create a Maintenance Area District (MAD) in Hillcrest does not address my issues either. I have read those reports too. I also know that a MAD was pursued in the downtown La Jolla area but was defeated in court.

These are real Hillcrest issues that maybe be addressed in your plan and I just missed it or need to be addressed for all of the humans involved to make for a truly successful endeavor.

Lance Pelky, Hillcrest

As a middle class homeowner, I took offense to the tone of the subject article. Sempra Energy owns SDG&E. Sempra’s CEO Jefrey W. Martin made more than $23 million in total compensation in 2020 (the latest year where salary information is available in Sempra’s public SEC filings, per a recent story from CBS8 News). I think rate changes are paying more for profit and corporate earnings vs. funding solar subsidies.

Concerned citizen