FROM GONCTD.COM


6 San Diego Reader February 9, 2017


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NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS By Reader stringers


CLAIREMONT Trolley-stop talk “We need to work on that last mile.” Although it’s not yet funded, project manag- ers for the planned trolley station at Balboa Avenue (just east of I-5) have started gath- ering information for what people want to see there — what will compel them to use


At the meeting, conversation and suggestions went long — and some people wanted answers rather than stick-ons.


the trolley and what will make using mass transit more inviting. An ad hoc committee of Clairemont and Pacific Beach residents came together February 1 to give their ideas on what the station should offer. While the San Diego Association of Gov-


ernments (Sandag) and city representatives were thinking more about amenities for the station — electric car chargers and bike lockers — community members spoke more about the big picture: how both neighbor- hoods could get to the station and how trolley riders could reach their destinations after they got to the station. “We need to work on that last mile,” said


Brian Curry, chairman of the Pacific Beach Planning Group. “It’s not enough to get a mile away from your destination — people who are heading to the beach have a long way to go from the trolley station.” Awkwardly placed because it’s being ret-


rofitted into an area built more than 60 years ago, the proposed trolley station is going in on a triangular piece of Caltrans land south of Balboa and east of I-5. To go to Pacific Beach, riders have to cross the freeway somewhere and many weren’t crazy about using Balboa Avenue.


Sandag representatives also talked about


the possibility of on-demand shuttle service from the trolley, though it wasn’t clear who would pay for and operate it. “It’s very dangerous to get from there


over to De Anza Cove,” one planning group member said. “Clairemont doesn’t have good access to this,” said George Henderson of the Claire-


mont Planning Group. “None of our pedes- trians can walk to the station on sidewalks because they don’t exist.” At present, there’s no controlled and safe


way to cross Balboa/Garnet to the north side, but Sandag expects to put in pedestrian crosswalks with traffic signals, according to Miriam Kirschner, Sandag’s project manager for the station. The meeting format was supposed to


be people placing stick-on dots on their preferred options shown on poster boards around the room. But conversation and suggestions went long — and some people wanted answers rather than stick-ons. “The community has been providing feed-


back for years — I have provided feedback I don’t see reflected in what you’re showing us today,” said Karin Zirk, a member of Friends of Rose Canyon. “So I’m wondering why we’re here starting from scratch.” A representative from Mesa Community


College said he was disappointed that the col- lege was left out of the trolley plans: “There’s a mini-city in Linda Vista called Mesa Col- lege — it’s the largest [commuter] college in California,” he said. “We have 16,000 people who go there and we can’t get them to the trolley. I think we need to figure out how we can use this funding better,” he added. MARTY GRAHAM


CAMP PENDLETON, ENCINITAS New transportation situation Bus drivers look forward to management change and...raises? The North County Transit District has announced a new firm, MV Transporta- tion, will operate and maintain its regular bus routes, paratransit, and special transportation services. The contract includes the hiring, training, and employment of bus drivers.


drivers, they have been criticized for major incidents relating to safety, training, and hir- ing policies. In 2013, on Camp Pendleton, three


cyclists were hit; one died because the bus driver reportedly got too close to the cyclists and didn’t slow down when passing. In 2010, a Route 309 bus driver was arrested for DUI at the corner of El Camino Real and Encini- tas Boulevard. In April of last year, the threat of a bus-


drivers’ strike against First Transit’s wage proposal left a bad taste in the mouths of some local officials who oversee the district. (Each city served by the transportation dis- trict has one councilperson representative on its board.) Some riders felt the wage dispute should


have been handled privately between First Transit and the bus drivers rather than instill- ing worry among riders over the thought of losing their bus service. On February 3, a day after the new con-


tract announcement, a driver at the Encinitas bus-transfer station said he was confident all the current First Transit drivers would be rehired by the new firm and all seniority would stay in place. “Rumor is that we’re supposed to make


more money,” said the driver. “Of course, that’s just a rumor.”


KEN HARRISON PACIFIC BEACH


This calls for National Public Safety Lawless behavior to be addressed by cop lookalikes A new Pacific Beach program will include private security patrols and a program that hires the homeless to sweep sidewalks, the area’s business improvement district Discover Pacific Beach announced on February 3. Funded in part by a $20,000 grant from


North County Transit District was privatized in 2010 to no great result.


This may come as good news to many


North County bus riders and the 300 drivers for the district’s Breeze, Lift, and Flex buses, who’ve become weary of the current opera- tional firm, First Transit. It was in 2010 that the transit district first privatized its buses and drivers by awarding an operational con- tract to First Transit. Following the privatization, bus riders


and drivers claimed new hires would not be trained properly, fares would go up, and the for-profit company would lower driv- ers’ wages. While fares remained fairly constant and First Transit hired most of the former district


city councilmember Lorie Zapf’s office, Dis- cover will work with the Pacific Beach Street Guardians to conduct homeless outreach, connecting locals with assistance and offering them employment in cleanup and other beau- tification projects along the Garnet Avenue shopping and dining corridor.


“What have you done to the Ramona!?” someone dead from the 1920s might be saying about 3020 University Avenue.


transitioning from being a representative of another district into District 2, which includes the beach areas. She told assembled media that participating in a police ride-along exposed her to “a lot of the lawless behavior going on in the beach areas,” which motivated her office’s participation in the program. One component of the district’s new


Clean and Safe program is the hiring of a pri- vate security force to be supplied by National Public Safety. The company, which employs green-uniformed security personnel dressed to resemble police, created some controversy when it was brought in to serve in a similar fashion in Ocean Beach’s business district. DAVE RICE


NORTH PARK Ramona who? Former movie theater gets spiffed up The long-empty storefront at 3020 Univer- sity Avenue in North Park may at last find a lessee. The building has been an eyesore for several years in the ever-growing, popular foodie district of North Park (in the vicinity


The Ramona Theater, c. 1920s


of 30th and University). Edwin Lohr, president of the North Park Community Association, said the building site “definitely has been a blighted corner for years. To be honest, I think anything would be better than what was there.” But Lohr warned the rent amount could be a challenge. “If it is not a big money-maker, [it’s] hard to afford the rents,” he said. The property recently changed ownership,


Councilmember Lorie Zapf and Pacific Beach business owners at the launch of Discover PB’s new Clean and Safe program on February 3.


Zapf: “I started getting a lot of complaints about the rise in aggressive transients.”


“I started getting a lot of complaints about


the rise in aggressive transients here in the PB community, along with a lot of rowdy behavior,” Zapf said of her early experiences


as well as its commercial realtor. The graffiti tags are gone, and the exterior was spiffed up with a new paint job. Nate Benedetto, principal with Next Wave Commercial, said, “We started marketing the space around the holidays, and we have had a fair amount of activity thus far. We are optimistic that we can bring a very exciting offering to the North Park community…. continued on page 65


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