Bird Rock Community Council update

At the Bird Rock Community Council (BRCC) meeting Oct. 2 at Bird Rock Elementary, Coastal Overlook Committee co-chairs Don Schmidt and Mary Lynn Hyde updated the board on a suggestion formulated at their monthly meeting: have a friends-of fund under the BRCC umbrella temporarily perform overlook maintenance.

But ultimately, Schmidt said, it’s the City’s job to maintain these places, and to do a better job picking up trash in the summer.

“If it stays like this, people will stop coming here,” Schmidt told the board. “We had tourists from other countries picking up garbage in the Shores this summer. And they all come to the overlooks because they want to see the ocean.”

Schmidt urged all Bird Rock residents to attend a facilitated workshop at Oct. 22 La Jolla Parks & Beaches’ (LJP&B) meeting at the La Jolla Rec Center, at 4 p.m., in which the City will solicit suggestions for their Parks Master Plan.

“Basically, for Bird Rock, we didn’t identify any major capital projects,” Schmidt said. “We don’t need any structures, we just need landscape and maintenance. And they really want to hear from us.”

Hyde added that LJP&B has a vacancy coming up on its board “and they were hoping to get someone from BRCC to represent our area.”

Committee-committed

During public comment, resident Sharon Wampler suggested forming two subcommittees under the purview of BRCC. One is an ad-hoc subcommittee to establish a gated, off-leash dog park in Bird Rock, which Wampler said would improve compliance with leash laws at Calumet Park. (BRCC president John Newsam said he would schedule a meeting for interested members of the public and announce it on the Nextdoor app.)

City Council member Barbara Bry representative Mauricio Medina suggested that a dog park would also be a good suggestion to bring to the Oct. 22 LJP&B meeting

Wampler’s other suggestion for a subcommittee was inspired by the discord at the Sept. 6 La Jolla Community Planning Association (LJCPA) meeting, after which Wampler said she spoke to 12-15 residents opposed to the mixed-use building that LJCPA green-lighted at 5785 La Jolla Blvd.

Wampler stated: “What if, instead of reacting project by project, we actually get together as a community and have a vision plan — engaging people and asking what they would want to see in one year, five years, 10 years in Bird Rock as a commercial area? Then we could actually come up with some ideas and try to be proactive. Then, when things are happening, they would actually be aligned with what the people would like, and it would benefit the people developing it.”

Schmidt countered that this is the jurisdiction of both the La Jolla Community Plan and the Planned District Ordinance (PDO) and “you don’t want to remake the whole thing.”

Wampler replied: “We’re trying to be proactive rather than reactive, and we’re trying to engage the larger community who doesn’t necessarily come to PDO and La Jolla’s Community Planning Groups.”

Splash For Cash

Updating the group on the Bird Rock Foundation’s annual fall giving campaign, “Splash For Cash,” president Kirstin Nielsen said all the proceeds go toward enrichment opportunities that Bird Rock Elementary students otherwise would not receive.

“This year, it’s looking like performing arts, visual arts, dance and theater,” Nielsen said. “We’re funding additional science enrichment above and beyond what teachers would normally have in their classroom.”To donate to the fund, visit birdrock foundation.com

Driven MAD

BRCC treasurer Barbara Dunbar reported “an unusually bad month” for accidents and drive-overs involving the Maintenance Assessment District (MAD) property. “Unfortunately, all of them were hit and run accidents,” she said, citing the traffic circle at La Jolla Mesa Drive as particularly active. (A “no pedestrian crossing” sign was struck and knocked over on three separate weekends.)

At the Southeast corner of Midway Street and La Jolla Boulevard, a hit-and-run driver late on the evening of evening Sept. 7-8 drove through the traffic circle, causing extensive damage to the guard rail and irrigation system and sheering off a yield sign.“If anybody happens to know any information about that, we want to know how it happened and who did it,” Dunbar said, adding that, after the irrigation system was repaired, it was damaged by another driver during another incident.

Dunbar said several City departments were notified of the accidents and repair requests were sent. She said she thought the accidents resulted mostly from drivers distracted by texting on their cell phones.

Events

* BRCC Holiday Party will be 6-7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4 at Wayfarer Bread & Pastry, 5525 La Jolla Blvd.

* Halloween Window Painting is set for 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21. Merchants and residents who would like their windows painted and for the parents of K-6 children who would like to paint them can register by email info@birdrockcc.org

* Bird Rock Homes Tour sponsors and 5-6 homes are still needed for the annual tour, Jan. 26.

* Bi-annual Bird Rock Cleanup took place Sept. 11, Newsam reported: “I won’t say how many people participated, but it wasn’t a massive number.” The next one is slated for April 22, Earth Day.

— Bird Rock Community Council next meets 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6 at La Jolla Masonic Lodge, 5655 La Jolla Boulevard.