Impact of I-15 on City

It was with extreme dismay that I read Councilwoman McColl has chosen to desert the interests of the people of Mid-City in favor of a few property owners along 40th Street (“Completing I-15 Benefits All San Diegans,” May 5.) Her willingness to sign a freeway agreement with Caltrans on May 14, without seeking a solution to some very grave environmental problems, is an abdication of responsibility to the neighborhoods of her district.

By choosing to favor the few property owners on the freeway path, she is ignoring the health and safety of the children who attend Central Elementary and Wilson Junior High schools. Research by the State of California has proven that children attending school in the immediate proximity of freeway noise experience learning deficiencies. The freeway proposed by McColl runs within 75 feet of Central Elementary. Are a few pieces of property worth a risk of this magnitude?

The Board of Education, in meetings with the city, has consistently stated that the one-block cover is not good enough. Though the children can be placed behind locked windows and provided with air conditioning, what will mitigate the excessive noise and air pollution during recess, after school and on weekends?

Mrs. McColl asserts that she is trying to solve the problem of blight on 40th Street. To do this, she need only address Caltrans and the 55 pieces of property it now owns on the street. It is these properties that have uncut lawns and are boarded up. The businesses and homes of the people who live there are well maintained. In fact, some have made major improvements, such as the recently refurbished Chinese restaurant.

Mrs. McColl cites the innovative recommendation of placing a one-block cover in the proximity of the schools. She has obviously failed to read the environmental reports that state that the carbon monoxide levels on a one-block cover exceed acceptable standards and “the use of these impacted areas should be limited to something other than human activities.”

In an attempt to expedite the acquisition of property by the state, Mrs. McColl has ignored the requests of every major community group and business organization in Mid-City. Leaders of these groups have conferred with her and Caltrans for nearly two years, and consistently expressed their concern that this freeway will greatly damage the community cohesion in City Heights, Normal Heights and Kensington.

Mrs. McColl states that there are those who have asked her to halt the construction of the freeway. No group has made this request. Instead, we have asked her not sign an agreement that will run nearly 100,000 vehicles per day within 100 feet of our homes and businesses. We have encouraged a freeway, but a fully covered freeway.

A fully covered freeway will be an invaluable asset to the citizens, not just of Mid-City but the whole region. A neighborhood whose blight will be escalated by a decisive scar through its core will cost more to revitalize than would the cover. These and other facts could be borne out if Mrs. McColl allowed the completion of a $100,000 design and financing study scheduled in the future.

The decision Mrs. McColl is making in signing the agreement is based on inadequate city analysis of the potential for a full cover. It is a decision that will have far-reaching consequences and should not be based on whim or on a well-meaning desire to meet the needs of a few residents who will be bought out by Caltrans. It is we who must live with the decision who ask her not to sign the agreement without assurances of a major cover.

CATHY DORIA

City Heights Community Development

San Diego