Gentlemen,
I
live adjacent to the Hall Property, just on the other side of the wall
from Raspy Growers. This past summer, I noticed the city was digging in
seemingly random spots on the property and phoned City Hall to inquire
about it. I was told that they were testing the soil for contamination.
When I asked why they were doing this again, had the EIR expired, I was
told it was simply routine and it was done at all park locations.
Granted, this was the woman who answered the general line, so it seemed
obvious she wasn't in the know. I assume, now,
that they were at the time testing the level of contamination in the
'hot spots' to determine what level of clean up would be required (i.e.
residential, recreational). Given the current situation with the county
and the city at odds over the required clean up methods, it seems like
this was a logical explanation.
Several
weeks ago, I noticed that they were once again digging up the property,
but this time large trenches and covering portions of it with tarps.
Most of the workers did not appear to be wearing any safety gear, I
didn't see any soil being watered down or taken away. Having heard
through the rumor mill that SDGE was planning on 'conversion'
(underground power lines) of the existing lines, I assumed this was what
was going on. However, I'm pregnant,
with a preschooler and a toddler at home who play outside on a near
daily basis, so I was concerned about what kind of dust was being kicked
up and inhaled by my family. After calling the city and SDGE, I finally
spoke to both Mara and Stephanie (both listed on this mailing) who told
me the following:
- They had already dug up a 'hot spot', had the remaining soil tested and found that they had excavated and hauled away all contaminated soil and none remained in that particular spot (behind Vons)
- They were planning on digging up the second 'hot spot', meaning an area contaminated above levels determined to be above the California Human Health Screening Levels, on the Raspy Growers property, that coming Thursday, January 19th and Stephanie promised to phone me a day in advance to let me know so I could ensure we minimized our time outside and kept windows closed. She did phone and leave a message.
- The city had both County and Water Authority supervisors on hand to ensure proper handling of the toxic soil.
I
was pleasantly surprised that the City was willing to share this
information with me, although they had not told my neighbors (I informed
them) and assumed (wrongly) that this would be the last of it.
I
received the attached letter on Friday, February 3rd. Reading through
the
letter, if you had no prior knowledge of what had gone on at the
property, it implies that they are beginning work this coming Monday, to
be completed Tuesday, and that there is no reason to be concerned about
the soil because they won't be grading in those areas, that they have
not been working in those areas and if they should need to during this
one week time frame, all proper procedures will be followed.
I
was so enraged at this letter - it's as if they waited until they were
sure they had exposed my entire neighborhood to the soil (which was
caked all over my car, parked outside) and then sent a reassuring notice
with a false sense of security to mislead the community into thinking
they have our health at the forefront of their intentions. (When in
fact, they
have already taken it for granted). They have been working on the
property for WEEKS without any notice to the surrounding homes affected.
I
don't know if this is the kind of story any of you are interested in
publishing, but I hope, if anything, that this information can help to
alert the community around the park of how conscientious we all need to
be about protecting ourselves against the environmental contamination we
live next to and the City and utilities who have no concern for our
well being.
Regards,
ECP Neighbor
In related news: The city is posturing to do another one of these $20,000 surveys. That means, less money available for the seriously underfunded Hall park!
Have you sent this information to the city council?
ReplyDeletecouncil@encinitasca.gov will go to all five councilmember.
What did the City Manager say when you called him; please don't try to blame this all on the Mayor again!
ReplyDeleteWho does #2 work for?
ReplyDeleteI didn't speak to the council or the city manager, but the engineer at the city who is overseeing the project and mentioned in the mailing, Stephanie.
ReplyDeleteShe also phoned this morning to discuss any questions I might have, as they saw the blog postings and wanted to clear up any misunderstandings.
To clarify, the City and SDGE have been working together for several weeks, digging in preparation for SDGE's underground conversion of the overhead power lines. During this time, they dug in two 'hot spots' (contaminated above human health levels), where they tested and hauled away the toxic soil.
My issue with this notice is that it came AFTER the initial disruption of the hot spots. After speaking with Stephanie at the City (listed on the letter), their motivation in sending this notice is that SDGE is now constructing a temporary access road to the park property and they were concerned that the neighbors would see this construction and have questions.
If you had no prior knowledge of these digs, this letter seems to imply that this is the only soil disruption that went on.
Personally, I feel as though the neighborhood should have been notified IN ADVANCE of the digging so we could all choose to do whatever we felt necessary to protect our health on the days they were digging in the hot spots. The neighbors who did not know about this in advance (which is everyone, I am the only one who called and inquired) had no chance to make these decisions.
It's a situation where a resident and the city are at odds over what level of education the neighborhood and community around the park property should be provided with.