Cajon

October 16, 2008 Meeting

Oct 17, 2008

We had a meeting last night with 20+ in attendance. We had one member renew their membership.

The meeting began with a salute to the flag.

We had a representative from Omnitrans, Dave Rutherford, Community Relations Manager, who gave a presentation on the sbX E-Street Corridor BRT Project. The presentation brought up a good discussion of how this new system will help in the revitalization of downtown and surrounding areas. Discussion items such as the design of the proposed stations, parking and fee issues, the number of passengers, how it will affect traffic in downtown. Overall, it was a great presentation and we hope that other groups will invite Omnitrans to come to their meetings.

We also had representatives from the Police Department. Police Office Diane Holmes spoke on the new reorganization taking place in the department as it relates to the closing of the policy community centers. We will also have a new Crime Prevention Office, Sharon Crawford, effective Nov. 3, 2008. Her contact number is 909-384-5742 or email at crawford_sh@sbcity.org. Debbie Alvillar will be moving to a new assignment in the North Eastern District.

We have posted files of the handouts from the above special speakers for your review. They are posted on the right-hand side of our website under community links.

We also had the privilege of having representatives from Spellacy and Associates, Ken Scott and Grace Machado, to talk to us about vacant homes, and what we all need to do to help keep them from vandals and property damage. We were asked as residents, that if we see damage or vandalism taking place on a vacant property to contact their office, regardless if it has a different realty sign, they will ensure that the appropriate overseers are notified. The main thing is to try to keep the vacant homes safe and free from further damage that can occur in a vacant. The city has over 600 foreclosed and bank-owned homes, so the realtors needs out help, there are just too many to keep track of.

Nick Gonzalez visited our meeting, and we had the opportunity to hear some dialogue on Electric Street maintenance and the proposed project. A concerned resident requested that the area be maintained the same way we residents are required to maintain our homes, and that it is an embarrassment to see this piece of property be neglected for . . . this resident said they have been in the area for 34 years, and that's a long time to neglect anything!

Overall, we had a great meeting with some good speakers.

We continue to encourage our neighbors to support the neighborhood groups by attending our meetings and becoming a member.

Above written by Dena Peters