Minutes for Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Normal Heights Community Center/Zoom
4649 Hawley Avenue
Attendees:
X = in attendance
| Paul Coogan (C) | X | Kenny Patrick | X | Emilie Colwell | |
| X | Allan Harjala (VC) | X | Dan Soderberg | X | Jacob Koopman (P) |
| X | Sami Burrows (S) | X | Eydie Kaufman | X | Brian Adams |
| X | Frances Prichett (T) | X | Nancy Lawler | X* | Madison Stevens |
| X | Julia Corbett | X | Scott Kessler (AABA) |
Allan called the meeting to order at 6:03 and read the opening reflection. Then Allan gave a brief overview of the meeting procedure.
Board introduced themselves and their association with Normal Heights.
Community Attendees
Estimate: 6 zoom participants, 50+ attendees in person.
Action/Decision Items
Approval of previous meeting minutes
January 7 Regular Meeting
Jacob motioned. Kenny seconded.
Unanimous approval of the Board in attendance.
Treasurer’s report
Francis reported that $332.36. No change in financials.
Agenda modifications
Sara will provide her update before Non-Agenda Public Comment.
Board Election Planning – Present candidate list, accept nominations from the floor and finalize candidate list for March 4, 2025 election.
All five are running for reelection, two other candidates who have declared interest, Mark & Arthur.
Non-Agenda Public Comment
- Adam Deutsh: Parks and Rec Department has a habit of closing the joint use field, depriving the community from being able to use it, kids at the schools, community members at having open space. 16 weeks. Asked the board to advocate for something that doesn’t close the park for 16 weeks annually.
- Jim Baross: mentioned this comes up many times in Community Recreation meetings on the 4th Tuesday of the month. Part of the reason the field is down is because of the weather and the Adams Avenue fair.
- Scott: Said Street Fair does not ruin the park and is just from general use of the field.
- Susan: Advocating for creation of the Fire Safe Council in Normal Heights. Currently working on coming up with a logo and can put logos on the table for ticks if people have any interest in certain logos. Reach out to Susan and Madison Stevens for fire safety.
Presentations
Public Comment – sharing experiences of traffic safety and mobility
Floor was open to the public to share their experiences walking and biking in Normal Heights (2 mins per person). General comments below, but verbatim verbiage can be accessed via the recording.
- Jacob: Survey on NHCPG NextDoor account asking if it’s safe to bike in NH, 28% value life too much, 12% not really, 26% depended on time of day, 25%, mostly, watch out for potholes 9% said it’s great. Shared personal experiences from people who posted on NextDoor. General consensus was dedicated bike lanes, then led to argument of parking versus bike.
- Ramie: Mtv View Drive 1.3 miles does not have any kind of stop, race track around here. No less than 7 neighbors that use mobility scooters or walkers and people fly down the street at twice the legal limit. Told they would not do anything to Mtv View as it would push people to other side streets.
- Saw flyer at BLAH, University Heights resident. Eye doctor, Burn All Books, I would bike here more often if I felt safe. But I don’t feel safe to bike or walk. 34th crosswalk and want to zoom past. Give my business to North Park because there are bike lanes.
- Kim Pham: Resident in Normal Heights, worked as traffic engineer for a decade, why I chose Normal Heights, wanted a vibrant community. Trends are consistent with a large population interested in riding bikes but concerned about their safety. Anyone should be able to walk or ride a bike and feel safe doing so.
- David Noa: Resident of Normal Heights, concerned with Mtv View, dangerous for pedestrians, bikers, and incredibly wide and encourages people to drive faster and needs traffic calming measures. Bike lanes become garbage lanes. Daylighting, several roads are not abiding by regulations.
- Paul Jameson: Resident of Kensington, but in Normal Heights often, rode on Adams and experienced the speed on Adams. Some drivers do 40mph and pedestrians/cyclists are more likely to have an injury at that speed. Adams Avenue has red zones that people park in often. Curious if meters on Adams to help fund more enforcement. Dedicated bike lane on Adams. 30th Street has been a huge driver.
- Chris Litvin: Resident of Normal Heights, 10 years. Most rides start/end going up Adams and get to experience it at all times of day. Seems in the last couple years, have felt less safe, speeds are up, people are more distracted. Big fan of Meade and traffic calming measures. Something to calm the speed.
- Adam Deutsch: One car family live on Bancroft/Meade, child goes to school, story of NH is of disconnect. Meade bike lane, technically Adams is Class 3 bike lane, but painting is not bike structure. If you feel safe, only because drivers are getting less mean. Slow speeds on Adams Avenue, what about barrier on 35th.
- Audra: Resident of Normal Heights for 12 years, all of which involve cycling and walking. Lots of close calls. Prioritize safety, it’s a win for everyone. Encourage people to imagine a community built for people and not cars.
- Tyler Shank: Hillcrest resident, bikes down here all the time. Sharrow on Adams Avenue doesn’t work for biking. In the door zone or middle of the road. Creates a dangerous environment for pedestrians and bikers.
- Arthur: Room is full with bikes, is that the only issue that considers residents? They don’t feel safe but Arthur feels safe in San Diego. What are the statistics? Normal Heights reducing in population and aging?
- Ben Hayes: long-term resident of Normal Heights, meeting not well publicized. This is an issue that matters to him. Commute to bike 3 times a week, and almost got hit by a car. Sidewalk and fire safety is great, this is why people are here. Stop light sensor of Felton/Adams doesn’t work South bound. Enforcement, bike lane on Meade awesome, but cars parked on it. Submitted many Get It Done.
- Kyle: Lot of us are here because it is life or death, nearly hit by a car. All of us have that happen frequently. Bike lanes can help save our lives.
- Sami: Started attending meetings and joined the board because of the crosswalk on 34th and Adams and felt unsafe at many of the crosswalks on Adams Avenue. As a biker, have also experienced hostility riding on Adams by drivers not understanding sharrows.
- Scott: Comments about biking in the area, and the ratio of what percentage bike versus population. Shared business perspectives and impact on parking with bike infrastructure.
- Emilie: Mid-City Community Planning Draft Existing Conditions Mobility Assessment – highlights the current state of mobility in Mid-City, covering infrastructure, demand, safety, and performance across all transportation modes – pedestrian, bicycle, public transit and vehicular. Great opportunity. Please provide your comments before Feb.28, 2025.
- Brian: What has been our history with the board and the city for traffic calming?
- Peter Holberg: Currently live in OB, learned to love and ride bikes regularly in this area. Meade is my lifeline to get to my house. If we improve the conditions, make it safe and accessible, ride use will go up.
- Randy: University Heights, and seen SF has changed its city into biking city. The change in the last 8 years, families with big cargo bikes riding around and made a huge difference in the community.
- Zander: Live on Monroe, economic impact of bike lanes, to date no study that there are negative impacts, only positive impacts. More people are out eating, using restaurants, stopping for small businesses. Economic impact of less parking, actually having more people.
- Ramie: our roads are being treated like race cars, what are we going to do for the city? Are we then going to do something on our own and do something as a community?
- Jacob: more voices documented, propose and make a motion to create a summary elaborating on what he heard and send a letter to District 9 Representative so it’s on their radar. Be the squeaky wheel. Motion we send the same summary to Mid-City Community Plan Update. Motion to put it on next agenda, to vote to create a summary of information and send out
Jacob motion. Kenny second to put on the agenda. - Francis: believes there is an enforcement issue, need to consider fire safety.
- Eydie: It’s a complicated issue. Every action taken on behalf of some has a reaction in that it affects others Example is Meade traffic circles caused increased speeding on Monroe.
Presentation and Q&A on Bike Infrastructure & Safe (Bike SD)
Jim Baross
Jim Baross gave a presentation on bike types in CA, and bike safety. Covering all the classes of bikeways, bike routes. Full presentation is available on https://normalheightscpg.org/
Anar Salayev, Executive Director
Anar gave a presentation for Safer Streets in Normal Heights, highlighting instances in Normal Heights, legislation that has been passed and ways for the board/community to help make a difference. CTA: Request for board to send letters to City to prioritizing pedestrian safety in the Street Design Manual.
Adams Avenue Complete Street – would like voices on how to make it happen. Full presentation is available on https://normalheightscpg.org/
Reports/Updates
Elected Representatives
Sara Al-Agha from District 9 Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera’s office
Ward Canyon Park demolition of the mock building has been pushed to early March. Asked the engineering department why, this was just due to the fact that there’s a lot of paperwork processing time. Likely due to asbestos and negotiations and contractors that take time. District office is organizing a cleanup of the site of the mock building and park after the building is removed–volunteers are welcomed to join. PATH workers are still doing outreach at the park, and outreach of the homeless individuals and should be wrapping up sometime this month. Community members expressed concerns over curve accessibility on Boundary/35th, CalTrans land and big piles of sand and trucks by Adams/15.
The Office of Child and Youth Success is having a series of workshops focused on how youth can take an active role in shaping the future of San Diego. They’re having one on Thursday, February 13th from 4:30 to 6:30 PM at the City Heights Rec Center. More information at sdd9.info.
Mayor’s Office – Fatima Maciel
No representative present.
County Supervisor Montgomery Steppe or representative – Katherine Llagan
No representative present.
State Senator Atkins – Toni Duran
No representative present.
Assembly Member Ward – Christopher Gris
No representative present.
District 51 U.S. Congressmember Jacobs or representative
No representative present.
Chair Report
No representative present.
Adams Avenue Business Association
Scott – AABA hung up 136 new banners with native plants and birds on lamp posts in the neighborhood on Adams Avenue.
Adams “Community Recreation Advisory Group”
Jim – Provide advisory information and support to recreation activities in the community. Next meeting is the 4th Tuesday of the month at 6PM, Adams Avenue Rec Center.
Normal Heights for Smart Growth
Paul – No updates.
Joint Mid-City Communities Plan Update Committee
Emilie – Mid-City Communities Plan will take years. Existing Mobility Conditions Report has been released and comments are due at the end of the month.
Historical Review
Dan – Dan reported that there was one property but it had nothing historical.
Joint Mid-City Communities Plan Update Committee
Emilie – Sending out postcards regarding whether people want decorative lamp posts in block 3DD.
Traffic Issue Taskforce
Allan – No report made.
Community Engagement/Financing Committee
Jacob – Met with Alexis Wall for SD Wildlife Humane Society, who will speak at the meeting next month.
Adjournment
Allan called the meeting to adjournment at 8:18.