Windansea street sign is replaced with temporary yellow diamond sign, perplexing some residents

The replacement of a city of San Diego street sign with a yellow diamond sign in La Jolla’s Windansea area has some residents scratching their heads.

A diamond-shaped sign “warns you of specific road conditions and dangers ahead,” according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. And while a diamond sign often displays text or symbols, this one is blank.

Part-time resident Brad Owens said he noticed that the former sign identifying Kolmar Street and Neptune Place had been missing for months before it was replaced earlier this month with the diamond-shaped sign.

“We live in Alaska most of the time but come here about five months out of the year,” he said. “I grew up in La Jolla, and Windansea is where I hung out as a kid. We came down in September and saw the sign had rusted and fallen. But then nothing happened for a long time … and when they put in a new sign, it was the yellow diamond sign instead of the street sign. I thought, ‘Why would anyone go to the trouble of putting the post in place without the street sign?’”

One block down Neptune Place from Kolmar Street are street identification signs similar to what was once at that intersection.

(Ashley Mackin-Solomon)

Owens said he would like the street sign back because “it would be helpful to those driving by.”

Though a plan is in the works to do that, a schedule is unknown, according to city spokesman Anthony Santacroce.

“The street signs indicating the name of the streets at the intersection Kolmar and Neptune are currently being fabricated and will be installed when they are completed,” Santacroce told the La Jolla Light. “City staff intentionally placed the telespar post into the remaining sign base to mitigate any potential tripping hazard that would result if just the base was left at the location. Relatedly, the diamond sign was another visual safety treatment to alert pedestrians and prevent any tripping or knocking into the post that would result if we just left the bare post in place while anticipating the newly fabricated street signs.”

Owens said he did not file a report on the city’s Get It Done app about the missing original sign, saying others had filed other requests that were not completed or not in a timely manner.

“It seems there is a lot of street maintenance that needs to be handled here,” Owens said. “It’s patchwork at best. There seems to be a lot of neglect in this particular area. The trash guys come regularly and do a good job with that, but the important stuff doesn’t get taken care of.”

Santacroce did not comment about the Get It Done issue. However, in February, he told the Light that the app “gets a lot of requests and there are only so many staffers. ... We prioritize the most important things and most requested items and the stuff affecting people’s safety, [such as] graffiti removal, which is a blight to the community, inspecting trees so they don’t fall down and repairing potholes.”

The website sandiego.gov/get-it-done features a Frequently Asked Questions section that includes projected timelines for various services, how certain reports are processed and more. ◆