Community Leader’s View: From trolleys to water quality, there’s lots to talk about

By Supervisor Ron Roberts

County Supervisor, Fourth District

Welcome, La Jolla, to San Diego’s proud and culturally diverse Fourth Supervisorial District. As of Oct. 27, the 42,000 residents of the 92037 ZIP code, including the 29,069 who live within the 5,718 acre planning area, all moved from the Third Supervisorial District to the Fourth. The change happened as part of a mandated county-wide redistricting process that takes place each decade.

Of course La Jolla is very familiar to me. Since arriving from Boston as a small child, I have lived in San Diego virtually my entire life, the only exception being when I was away at UC Berkeley getting a master’s degree in architecture.

As you join the Fourth District, our shared boundaries now include a connection to the water that travels from your coastline to Ocean Beach and sweeps in to include Mission Bay. The district’s lines stretch south into City Heights and Encanto, encompass all of Downtown San Diego and run as far north as State Route 52 from where it intersects with Interstate 15.

All told, our district’s 100 square miles include nearly 640,000 San Diegans.

Among our landmarks are Mount Soledad, three universities, Balboa Park, Montgomery Field, a nice stretch of the San Diego River, the San Diego Zoo and Old Town.

One of the most important projects I am working on is the extension of the San Diego Trolley from Old Town through the UC San Diego campus and ending at University Town Center. This $1.8 billion effort will create hundreds of jobs, transport thousands of people and play an important role in reducing air pollution.

As a coastal community, La Jolla is keenly aware of the dangers of water pollution. I assure you that I will work hard to ensure funding is there for water testing, regardless of the state’s budget troubles.

On Nov. 10 I had the pleasure of meeting with the members of the La Jolla Town Council. We talked about much of mutual interest and I look forward to returning.

In the meantime, if you want to get in touch, call (619) 531-5544, email me at

Ron-Roberts@sdcounty.ca.gov

; visit

RonRoberts.com

or friend me on Facebook.