6 San Diego Reader July 21, 2016
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NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS By Reader stringers CITY HEIGHTS
Black Lives Matter under attack? Movement sympathizers march to the freeway Hundreds of protesters representing a coali- tion of groups sympathetic to the Black Lives Matter movement rallied in City Heights on the evening of July 15 before embarking on a march through the neighborhood that resulted in southbound lanes of I-15 being temporarily closed to traffic. “Black Lives Matter is under attack,” said
activist Gloria Verdieu, referring to criticisms of the group both in the wake of last week’s killings of Dallas police and backlash from detractors instead promoting an “all lives matter” mantra. “When black lives matter, all lives do mat-
ter,” Verdieu said. She urged the groups in attendance — representing causes including police brutality, socialist politics, LBGTQ rights, and others — to continue efforts to organize locally and nationally, to push for solutions like a stronger local police- review board.
guarding the bridge, the group circled around for some time until a contingent broke off and began marching down an exit ramp and onto the freeway. While others cheered from above, police
worked to corral the protesters who’d spilled onto the freeway, opening lanes of traffic after about 20 minutes. Officers continued to drive the remaining group back toward the park from which the rally originated, across the street from the Mid-City police station, where they unsuccessfully demanded an audience with chief Shelley Zimmerman. Despite the freeway incident, the rally and
march remained largely peaceful, and police did not report any arrests.
DAVE RICE
CLAIREMONT It was a perfectly healthy tree
Mature jacaranda chopped down in error Henrietta Valens (not her real name) left Clairemont for Vegas with friends on June 28. On June 30 at 8:46 a.m., her 90-year-old mother called to tell her that some guys were getting ready to cut down the tree in front of her house on the 4900 block of Mount Frissell Drive. Valens said she talked to Colton
from Robin Hilton Professional Land & Tree Maintenance. “I told him not to remove it and that
there must be some kind of mistake. When I told him that there were no signs put out to warn anyone, Colton told me that their signs were stolen from a job in Pacific Beach. He also said that if they don’t do the job, they don’t get paid. That seemed more important to him than any- thing else.” Valens then
Marchers depart following a rally outside City Heights Weingart Library “I don’t know if I should feel excited
because I’m seeing all of these beautiful, diverse faces, if I’m encouraged by the fact that you’re here today holding signs and light- ing candles,” questioned Rev. J. Lee Hill at the group’s rally. “Yet standing here today, I’m mad as hell. The truth of the matter is that if I go out and express the rage and anger I’m feeling, I might end up the next one dead.” Following nearly two hours of speeches,
the group, numbering in excess of 700, marched up Fairmount Avenue with a police escort, heading toward the I-15 overpass at El Cajon Boulevard, where they intended to display lighted signs against police violence. Met by a heavy contingent of law enforcement
called Robin Hil- ton, the owner of the tree-ser- vice company.
“Robin Hilton just said that she had a
picture of the tree and an order from the city and the tree had to go. She also told me that she put the signs out herself.” Valens’s tree was subsequently cut down. “I was really upset. I know it’s the city’s
strip, but I picked out that tree myself and we were its steward for 20 years. I knew it was a mistake because a city-hired arborist told me in April that my tree was healthy and not going anywhere after the city did some work on the sidewalk.” On July 6, Valens finally got to the bottom
of what happened when she talked to Sergio Arias, head arborist for the city. “I could hear him on the computer and
he said, ‘Oh, they made a mistake. They were sup- posed to take out the pepper tree two doors down.’ “I think the
city and DuWright Construc tion [Robin Hilton was their subcon- tractor] handled this nicely, they accepted blame and promised to replace the tree. The only person I’m irritated with is Robin Hilton. If she would have just said that she would check into it and get back to me instead of just blowing me off, this whole thing could have been avoided. Mistakes happen; it’s how you handle them that matters. And I don’t think they handled it well from the start.” On July 11, a yearling jacaranda was
planted to replace the tree cut down by mistake.
A reminder of what the fountains look like without a water shortage
OCEANSIDE Fountains on but not for long The drought is not over At 8:00 a.m. on July 12, the multiple foun- tains in front of Oceanside’s downtown Civic Center were turned back on, spraying water into the shallow pool. In September of 2014, the fountains were
Not a pepper tree, and no longer alive after 20 years on Mount Frissell Drive
On July 13, Bill Harris from the city’s
Street Division explained the city’s side. He said this type of error is rare. He said the city’s contractor, DuWright Construction, was replacing part of the sidewalk on Mount Frissell, which included root pruning, bar- rier installation, and tree trimming of the jacaranda in front of Valens’s home. “It was at this time that the subcontrac-
tor [Robin Hilton] working with DuWright misidentified the location of the work site. They determined that the tree they encoun- tered would need to be completely removed in order to complete the sidewalk work.” Did they ever cut down the pepper tree?
“No, it’s still there,” said Valens on July 13. “When the guys were here to put in the new tree, they asked my neighbor if he still wanted his tree removed. He told them yes. He’s still waiting for them to do it.” Robin Hilton said via email she would call me on July 14 but never did.
JULIE STALMER
turned off and a green construction fence erected. Leaks in the pools were causing excessive water use. The city’s plan was to eventually connect to a recycled water main that was coming from Camp Pendleton, with plans to go down Coast Highway. Before repairs were completed, in May of 2015, because of the impending drought, the governor declared a man- datory water-reduction plan. The fountain was turned off for an indefi- nite period. A blue, dec- orative, iron fence was placed around the site, but city officials said it would be only temporary,
until the drought was over. Of the water that is now gushing, “It’s only temporary,” said the city’s building mainte- nance supervisor Tony Visco. “It will only be on for about a week.” The fountain had to be operating in order
to keep the pump’s warranty in effect. An official from the pool company was on site all morning, helping in the operation. In actuality, the pools were filled about
three weeks ago by the fire department. Then the water was pumped out again and several small leaks and minor problems fixed. City manager Michelle Skaggs Lawrence
said the city must get back down to a Stage I water-usage level. Most cities have yet to be released from the governor’s Stage II water restrictions. “But we’re working on that. The city’s goal is to engage conservation,” she said, also mentioning plans to connect to a recycled-water source. When ready, the fountains can be ordered
turned back on administratively — as in, the continued on page 8
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