In order to implement this priority I joined BestFest San Diego Student Film Festival, Police Officers, Fire Fighters, San Diego Transportation Department and Walk San Diego to kick off "On the Streets Where We Live," a street safety campaign.

I am working with all of these groups to slow down drivers on our streets. Soon after I was elected into office it was brought to my attention by the constituents of District Six that pedestrian and vehicular street safety has a large impact on their everyday quality of life. That is why I have launched this campaign. I am asking drivers to slow down and respect our neighborhoods. There are two aspects to this street safety campaign, public awareness and community involvement. MORE...

BestFest 2003 Student Film Festival

What's going on in your community
Clairemont Mesa East, Clairemont Mesa West, Bay Ho, North Clairemont and Bay Park:

We are holding a series of meetings on traffic calming, addressing neighborhood concerns in the Clairemont area. Based on requests from residents attending these meetings, patrol officers from Northern Division and motor officers from Traffic Division have increased enforcement in the Clairemont area. Officers report enforcement results to citizens at these meetings.

Clairemont area residents have continued to contact Northern Division's Community Resource Officer with complaints against specific drivers in their neighborhoods. The CRO contacts the offending driver and requests cooperation in solving the reported problems, usually related to speeding in residential areas. The officer then reports enforcement efforts to the reporting party.

Members of the Police Department's Northern Division Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol have continued to set up mobile speed monitoring devices in response to citizen requests.

Linda Vista, Morena and Mission Valley West
Several Western Division officers have been trained by Traffic Division's DRAGNET team, which is dedicated to addressing illegal street racing. Officers have found that they can discourage illegal street racing by issuing citations for vehicles with modified emissions sytems commonly found on "race" cars.

Traffic congestion caused by the traffic volume at the Fashion Valley Mall continues to be primarily a holiday and weekend problem. Western Division and the Traffic Engineering Division coordinated to install "Do Not Block Intersection" signs at Friars Road and Avenida de las Tiendas and at Via de la Moda and Friars Road. The signs have reulsted in increased voluntary compliance. Motor officers have assisted Western patrol in several details focusing on red light and anti-gridlock violations. The City Attorney's Office has assisted patrol efforts to write parking citations for the anti-gridlock violations, resulting in a better enforcement tool. Officers can write more parking citations in less time than it would take to write regular traffic citations requiring complete driver and vehicle information and a signature. Fashion Valley Mall continues to monitor congestion and uses its own traffic controllers to facilitate traffic flow in the center lots.

Serra Mesa, Kearny Mesa, Birdland, Mission Valley East, and part of Grantville
Illegal street racing continues to be a concern in Eastern Division neighborhoods. Eastern Division's Bike Team has continued to work with business owners in the Kearny Mesa area regarding illegal street racers. For example, the manager of an AM/PM service station has allowed police to enforce trespass violations on this private property when a representative is not on the premises. This has reduced the number of street racers loitering on the property.

Bike Team and Juvenile Services Team officers have continued to conduct curfew enforcement targeting street racers. Officers from Western, Northern, and Northeast have assisted. The most recent curfew operation in March 2002 resulted in the detention of 72 juveniles. There have been no repeat offenders. Four similar operations have netted nearly 300 curfew detentions.

The Bike Team has continued to make arrests and issue citations to street racers. Traffic Division's DRAGNET team has filmed street racers and sought arrest warrants at a later date. The Bike Team and other stakeholders will meet at the end of March 2002 to discuss prevention and enforcement strategies.

Bike Team and Eastern Division patrol officers continue to target congested intersections in the Mission Valley area. Currently, the Bike Team is addressing all traffic-related complaints for Eastern Division. Hot spots have been Hazard Center and Friars Road; Mission Center and Camino Del La Reina. However, traffic control and citation enforcement has had minimal effect on traffic flow.

Most of Eastern Division's pedestrian traffic issues center around area schools. Officers continue to focus on pedestrian traffic safety at Angier Elementary, 8450 Hurlbut Street; Hancock Elementary, 3303 Taussig Street; Miller Elementary, 4343 Shields; and Deportola Middle School, 11010 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard. Because school safety patrol officers are unable to cover all schools, patrol officers are assigned to schools at the beginning and end of each day. Informational fliers and meetings with school staff a nd parents have had a positive impact. There have been no serious injuyr pedestrian accidents at these schools since September 1, 2001.

Traffic Congestion and Parking Around Children's Hospital
In order to enhance safety and improve traffic congestion, pedestrian safety and parking near Children's Hospital, the Division recently completed the following:

• Four Pedestrian Crossing signs on Frost Street Between Health Drive and Children's Way, both directions.
• Removed 100' of red curb on Frost Stree to provide parking for five additional vehicles.
• Installed an additional green zone at 3101 Berger Avenue (Ronald McDonad House)
• Relocated 640 feet of on street bike lane on the south side of Birmingham Way to create on-street parkng for 32 additional vehicles, expected to alleviate parking shortages at Juvenile Court.

Residential Parking near Qualcom Stadium
The California Vehicle Code allows for on-street parking on public streets for all citizens. Therefore, the Division is not considering any parking prohibitions in the neighborhoods near Qualcom Stadium.

Congestion near Entrances to Fashion Valley Mall
In addition to the signs installed at Fashion Valley Mall entrances, the Division has installed a "No U-Turn" sign for westbound traffic on Friars Road west of Fashion Valley Road. These traffice controls are expected to improve traffic circulation to and from the Mall and limit conflicting vehicular movements near mall entrances.