High-Volume Trolley to Be Put in Rose Canyon

I just learned about this only because it was in the minutes of my development's owner's organization. Just incredible. Fortunately, there's still time to do something - but not much.

Before I even get into how this would ruin the canyon - if you live anywhere near Rose Canyon, imagine trains going through every 4-5 minutes, instead of only periodically as the Coasters do now. Imagine the construction noise and dust for (how many) years. Imagine most of all what it will do to your property's value.

There's a lot more information at Friends of Rose Canyon's website, including the next (and last!) meeting here citizens can voice our concerns, coming up this Tuesday, and email addresses (which I also include below). I will be going to this meeting, and I've already sent my email. Yes, we're all busy, and yes it's a little intimidating going to one of these functions - but I've done it before and it's amazing how much impact you can have by going. But you have to show up.

Besides the damage to property values and quality of life (think about that! trains every 4 minutes!) another set of tracks will ruin the canyon, not only for our own esthetic enjoyment but for a lot of the plants and animals that live there now. There's precious little open space in San Diego set aside for our kids and their kids as it is. And the best part is, saying NO to more trains in Rose Canyon doesn't stop the line, it just moves it. The colored lines on the map below are possible lines. The yellow one goes through Rose Canyon. The others don't. This is good, because we need more public transporation - and stopping the SANDAG trolley in Rose Canyon doesn't stop us from building it; we just build it on one of the other routes.

[Update: A story in the La Jolla Light says that the MTA has endorsed the red line on the map below. This is great news - a real win-win. We get public transportation, and homeowners and and outdoors folks get to keep Rose Canyon. I don't know if endorsement constitutes the official end of the story so I'm still going to the meeting.]


Did I mention the effect on Rose Canyon property values?

If you can't make it to the meeting, please email the following people RIGHT NOW (time is running out!) and tell them you don't want more noise and trains and dirt ruining Rose Canyon:

To: midcoast@sandag.org

cc: sherrilightner@sandiego.gov

bcc: rosecanyon@san.rr.com


If you go to this meeting, I'll see you there (please come up and say hi):

Caltrans District 11 Office
Garcia Conference Room
4050 Taylor Street, San Diego, CA 92110
4-7pm
Tuesday May 25 2010
Bus stop/Transit station located at Taylor St./Juan St. & Old Town Transit Center