The Year in Review

by Councilman Scott Peters
January 2002

My first year on City Council was an exciting one for me and my staff. We've had some great opportunities to make a real difference in the quality of life for residents of District One. And with the leadership of Mayor Murphy, I think this council is on track to fashion additional progress within District One and the City of San Diego as a whole.

Probably the most well known challenge to the City Council was the effort to get the downtown ballpark project back on track. The ballpark project had stalled due to ongoing lawsuits, all of which have been determined to have no legal merit. After months of hard work, the mayor and council were able to approve a financing package that should ultimately allow construction to resume, with costs to the city's general fund nearly one third less than anticipated when voters approved Proposition C in 1998. We are now hopeful that the final legal challenges can be overcome so that the project can get back on track.

This year also marked the creation of Mayor Murphy's Clean Water Task Force. The Task Force, which I co-chair, is charged with creating strategies to implement the new storm water permit requirements and improve overall water quality. One of the Task Force's primary goals is to reduce the number of beach closings by 50 percent by the year 2004. We have made substantial progress in ensuring that sewer pipe replacement will be accelerated to avoid future disastrous spills.

Another important event in the City's history was the formation of the Mayor's Ethics Commission, which was formed to monitor ethics in local government, propose new ethics guidelines, educate the public and elected officials, and bolster public confidence in local government.

Within the district, there were also many changes that affected La Jolla directly. This year I was pleased to preside over the beginning of the process to fix the traffic gridlock at the intersections of Ardath Road, La Jolla Shores and Torrey Pines, commonly referred to as the "throat." Work on the project has already begun with the movement of several Torrey Pine Trees and the beginnings of the water and sewer work on Torrey Pines Road. City crews will soon begin reconfiguring the intersection with most of the work being done at night to allow for the minimum disruption to traffic flows and to residents in the area.

I was also pleased that the City Council recently approved a renegotiated franchise agreement with San Diego Gas & Electric Company, that will quadruple the amount of undergrounding of utility lines City-wide. There are approximately 1,200 miles of utility lines which have already been undergrounded but over 1,800 more miles are yet to be done. A good portion of those lines run right through some of the most beautiful neighborhoods of La Jolla, and I am committed to use these new resources to move as quickly as possible to remove this graffiti in the sky.

This year we were also able to complete the demolition of the former gas station site on La Jolla Boulevard near Su Casa restaurant. At the beginning of my term I found that the site had become a public nuisance due to transient encampments and drug activity on the site and needed to be demolished. Working with City staff we were able to deem the site a public safety hazard and have it demolished on September 15th with the help of the Alpha Project, a non-profit agency dedicated to helping homeless and troubled citizens get their lives back on line. Although the site could not now be described as "pretty," it will no longer be a haven for illegal activity as we await its redevelopment.

Finally, it was gratifying to see progress on many other important projects in La Jolla, including the re-alignment of Fay Avenue (with utility undergrounding) to support construction on the La Jolla High School swimming pool, the completion of the La Jolla historical study, dedication of the new fields at Torrey Pines Elementary, and the Coast Walk sea wall project.

There is still much more to do and in the coming year I look forward to continuing to serve you and all of District One in our continuing efforts to preserve and enhance the quality of life in our City. Happy New Year!