McColl Taken to Task

The City of San Diego is now facing its greatest challenge to growth management. This time the threat is aimed at the Mid-City communities of Normal Heights, Kensington, Talmadge and North Park. These communities represent the heart of the City of San Diego and literally hold its future in hand.

Development forces are positioned for a great rezoning of these formerly peaceful single-family home communities into multifamily units. These communities have neither the infrastructure nor the public facilities to accommodate a higher density of apartments or condominiums. This is the greatest threat to the quality of life in San Diego, and this is exactly what happened in Los Angeles, the rezoning of residential neighborhoods into apartment neighborhoods.

Furthermore, there is no need for more apartments in these communities. A quick glance at the Sunday classified ads will tell you that there already exist some 70 “For Rent” apartments in Normal Heights and several hundred in North Park.

The inevitable question arises as to why anyone in their right mind would add any apartment complexes to these communities: Profit!

(City) Council member Gloria McColl is in deep trouble with this issue because she supports the building of more apartment complexes in these neighborhoods. She voted to approve the Greater North Park Community Plan on Nov. 5 and also voted for the emergency ordinance that implemented the residential densities and zonings recommended by the adopted plan. Nothing short of a miracle will stop the further development of Normal Heights, Kensington, Talmadge and North Park.

The final question is who is to blame. The answer is painfully obvious, council member Gloria McColl. She is the one individual entrusted by these communities to protect their long-term interests. In spite of the good work she has performed in the past, she has apparently failed us in the most important issue that counted, growth management. This brings to question where her true colors lie and whether or not she should continue representing our district.

M. LAWSON MacKENZIE

Normal Heights