Speaking up

A Beef with the Facts

There is an article about Albie’s Beef Inn. My husband is the owner. All of the information is not true. I need some clarification about the details in the article.

• Sofia Samouris
• via voicemail

SD on the QT is the Reader’s almost factual news feature. — Editor

Where Is the Tax Money Going?

Thank you for writing the article (“Two Talmadges,” November 4 cover story) about what we deal with: the bullies from TCC-TMAD. They constantly enforce their viewpoint without public vote. They have their own agenda and run you over with it — even if you attend their meetings; it’s no use.

Next, I would love to see you do a piece on the ECBBIA — the El Cajon Boulevard review board, another group with an agenda that concerns their own interests and the property they own. No residents on the board, but we pay 60% of the taxes.

Compare Little Saigon with North Park. Little Saigon is a third-world eyesore compared to North Park. Nothing’s been painted or cleaned in years. Why? Where is the tax money going? What are the boundaries? Who is on the board?

What those business owners need is a citation for pollution/litter, and disregard for public concern about our community. I live in the middle of it. It’s really dirty and nasty along the boulevard from Fairmount to Euclid — sidewalks broken, oil and grease coming from dumpsters — and the flies ... OMG — nothing ever cleaned or washed in that area ever. Go for a walk sometime in Little Saigon. Compared to North Park, it’s a slum. It’s not right.

• Andy T.
• Talmadge South

Just Doing What the Boss Told Them

Thank you for the article on the plans for my street. I was aware of some of the problems around Aldine Drive, but wasn’t aware of the plans to make my street a dead end, or to put in a bike lane that no one will use. I think they want to connect Monroe with Collwood on the way to SDSU.

I’ve lived here since 1987 and I’ve never seen anyone using the bike lane on Collwood. Any east-west bike traffic uses El Cajon Boulevard. I think the bike lane is an excuse to try and slow the seedy elements that are slowly moving north into Talmadge from El Cajon Boulevard.

Should the residents of South 47th Street and the commuters that are fed up every morning trying to get down Aldine Drive be late to work because a few Talmadgites want to protect their property values? Should the taxpayers of San Diego pay for a bike lane that will only make the problem there and the traffic worse?

San Diego has a history of making plans that not only cost taxpayers but inconvenience them. When they were selling speedbumps on 47th Street, I asked the guys doing the work if they were aware there were plans to replace the sewer pipes. They said they were just doing what their boss told them. Less than six months later, those speedbumps were torn out for the sewer pipes. They also tore up the repaving that was done a few years ago as well as the signs painted on the road for bike lanes.

Your article reported that the bike lanes would run east and west on Monroe to the west of Aldine. Those houses west of Aldine have higher values than my street, but the street is so narrow that when people are parked on both sides, it’s already one lane before any bike lanes have even been constructed there.

I hope the citizens of Talmadge find a way to protect their property values that doesn’t inconvenience me and my neighbors.

• Susan B.
• Talmadge