Diamond in the rough
Clairemont Today
When I was looking at houses 10 years ago I noticed that from the house I eventually purchased I could see 5 homes being fixed up. That was a good sign that people cared and were improving things. 10 years later those same houses are still under construction. The residents managed to run most of the RV's out of town, thank you, so what about the boats. They live in the driveways and in the front yards, ugh, towering over everything. Why?
Seems like every yard is a dirt lot where once a lawn may have held down the dirt and looked nice but only reminds me of some urban dust bowl. Has anyone tried to keep their car clean for more than a day in Clairemont? The wet air covers the car in a layer of dirt attracting water that the consistent winds will no doubt pick up deliver to you car by midday.
Shopping carts. Pot holes. 20 people subletting rooms in homes that park 10 cars on the street. Driveways so short pedestrians have to walk into the street to get around them. Landscaping from the apocalypse. Litter everywhere. Loud motorcycles at 2 AM. Issues. We got some issues.
What can we do to show some pride and help ourselves in the process?
Boats - I don't own a boat so easy for to say. Store it somewhere. Is you can't afford storage you can't afford a boat.
Shopping carts - ask the next person you see pushing a shopping cart where they plan on leaving it when they are done and suggesting perhaps they should make other arrangements.
Litter - I take evening walks with a bucket and pick up litter. My little kids come with me and we make it a game. If you have kids - talk to them about litter. Instead of throwing a piece down, pick a piece up. The city will come pick up couches and other adult littler that ignorant people think is okay to leave anywhere but in their house.
Pot Holes - report them to the city. Often times they fill them.
20 people to a house - don't rent to 5 different families if you don't own an apartment building. Is there some city agency we can report that sort of thing too?
Driveways too short - why doesn't the city force people who built a permanent wall where their garage door used to be to make their garage a garage again? Ticket cars that impede the sidewalk - can we report that to a city agency?
Loud motorcycles at 2 AM - why don't the police hang out near the bars in Clairemont around 1:30 and perhaps pull over the guy drag racing down the street after having a few drinks? I'd be happy to sit out there and video tape for them. Better yet ask the bars that are woven into the neighborhood to request their patrons not drag race home. Be a good neighbor.
Apocalypse Landscaping - for me the biggest stumbling block to improving my lawn was not knowing where to start. What goes with what. What grows good here. What gets too big. I don't see a lot of folks hiring a landscape architect and planning out their lawn so maybe we can take a group approach here. What if we got some college kids learning about landscape design or I would even be willing to hire a landscape architect to come up with a half dozen "San Diego" native plans. Provide those plans with plant lists free to anyone interested. Maybe we can work with Home Depot to have a few different Clairemont Kits. Make it stupid simple for people to do something, anything with their property. I would volunteer to organize a landscaper to do groups of properties at a time to reduce costs.
Apocalypse Landscaping Part 2 - Trees. We have so few street trees. So many tree lawns have just been cemented over. The Urban Corps of San Diego will not only give you free trees for your tree lawn but they will blast the holes to put them in and plat them as well. As someone who has planted about 50 trees in Clairemont I know just digging the hole is $50. The trees are a no lose for Clairemont. They make the ugly car filled streets a little nicer, they capture some of the dust, produce oxygen, shade the ground to reduce the radient heat AND help hide some of these power lines we have while we wait for them to be buried, 2041 in my case. Go online and print the application out and hand them to everyone on your street.
Is anyone with me?
Will Dawson
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Clairemont Today
It appears Sandawg is not with me. While I have been to Chicago and Alabama I chose not to live there, as I stated I choose to live in Clairemont. I vote, got my sample ballot in the mail yesterday, I pay taxes. I am not sure how my dislike for boats on the lawn translates into me not paying taxes, voting or moving. 10 years. 10 years is enough time to observe Clairemont and San Diego. I agree San Diego has plenty of problems but I am interested in Clairemont and once we fix Clairemont I can put some effort into San Diego. Transient taxes are good, I rarely plan my vacations based on a room tax. Better than a half a percent tax here or there lets grab the bull by the horns; how about we get rid of Prop 13 and Sandawg can pay what I pay for property taxes. If we took everyone who had lived here for 30 years and quintupled their property tax, we could fill the potholes with gold instead of asphalt. Why should I pay 4 or 5 times what my neighbor pays when we use the same streets, same libraries, same facilities and the kids throwing their litter on the streets attend the same schools? The come back to that is always I've lived here for a long time, my kids are grown up so I don't need schools..... well my kids go to private school so my property taxes go to the Clairemont schools while my children do not, 70 years in San Diego I am guessing your kids don't go to the schools either but your grandkids might - you're welcome.
I am not looking for someone to tell me if I vote or if I pay taxes or if I should move because I don't belong here. I am looking for people in Clairemont that want to make it a nicer more appealing place to live. I am willing to donate my time, effort and money to do so. Anyone out there want to help or have something constructive to add? My e-mail and name are above and below if you don't want the Internet backlash.
