Over 80 area residents attended last night’s Hillcrest Town Council meeting with many coming because of an interest in the upcoming redo of the Normal Street median.
During public comment, Vic Randal announced his new business, located at 801 University Avenue where people can get cars converted from gas to electricity powered. Ernie Bonn of the University Heights CDC announced the second Taste of University Heights on Sunday, September 20. Joe Kocurek announced this Saturday’s California Coastal CleanUp. Courtney Thompson reported that September 23 is Historical Resources Day. Preservationists should come down to City Hall and provide input. HBA director Ben Nicholls handed out “Fabulous Hillcrest” buttons along with new “Quiet Zone” signs. SDPD Officer David Surwilo announced crime stats for 1st half of the year were down in Hillcrest. Neighbors informed him that police were dropping off homeless in Hillcrest, and the numbers are growing. Surwilo asked that if anybody saw this, to call him with date, time and police car number.
Uptown Planners chair Leo Wilson reported on the Community Plan Update. His emphasis was, if you want to keep the village and stop the “Hong-Kongization” of Hillcrest, stay vigilant. The economy is providing a momentary lapse of development, but this won’t last forever. Erik Camp made a presentation on Hillcrest bike sharing. The ideas were well received, but there were not a lot of specifics.
Julie Ballesteros, project manager for the Normal Street Median made a presentation. Neighbors had many questions, but appeared to get vague answers. Improvement will include 15 new paid spaces and one less unpaid space. The new median will not be as wide. TriGroup construction was awarded the contract which is supposed to start soon and take 50 days. There is no staging area for the equipment, which Ben said was an issue. The neighbors pointed out numerous traffic-related problems with the plan. Including: the need for a left-arrow turn from Eastbound University to Normal; and the need for a crosswalk and 4-way stop at Blaine & Normal. Many residents brought up that the plans deviated on what the city talked about with the homeowners previously. People asked if there were plans to extend northward. When the city said “no,” one resident pulled out the city’s plan from 1996 to the contrary.
Two LION Awards were presented to (1) Mike Singleton of KTUA (who coincidentally designed parts of Normal Street Improvement and answered many questions for the residents) and (2) the property owners at Robinson & Third for their xeroscaping. (For complete minutes visit the HTC website.)
