From the Email Inbox: What is Missing in this Picture

Looking at the "Plans" presented to the public during Jacobsens' proposal to the City Council with regards to the Savon Building Construction we must ask the following questions in the prospect of future developments being proposed by Jacobsen Family Holdings, and the CJUSD, and the Corporation for Better Housing.

Are the Plans Presented, the ones that will be delivered? The Savon Building is not what was presented at the public meeting. In addition to the building being different, the ugly block wall on Mt. Vernon was never indicated in the plan, and it has a significant visual impact on the center of town. The scale of the building is inappropriate for the space and location. Take a drive to Pico Rivira and drive down Whittier Blvd if you want to see more of the same type of "Redevelopment". On one side of the road you have quaint individualized unique buildings, on the other side you have fake adobe boxes.

When a Civilian, Property owner approached the City Council for a map change dividing a large piece of land into three plots for their children. The Council insisted that a map change could not be done unless the road improvements were funded prior to the change. This raises the next concern.

Jacobsen Family, Grand Terrace Partners, and CJUSD have not been held to the same standard. The roads they intend to use are not sufficient for the increased loads of traffic use and weight. Who is going to repair these roads? Who is going to provide the side walks, lights, and street widening that would be required to make life and travel less dangerous, and costly to the average citizen. Are these contractors/developers/ and agencies being held to the same standard of the Private Citizen wanting to subdivide for their children?.

The answer is NO. There are not plans, no funds, not even a realistic traffic study done for any of these projects, yet they go forth.

How many more pedestrians, cars and heavy truck would have been the result of a family sub dividing a piece of property for the benefit for their children. Perhaps one could say MINIMAL. How many more pedestrians, cars and heavy trucks will be the result of the Town Center/Lowes Plan, the High School, and the Out Door mistyping Project, (what ever that may be in the future)?

Expect potholes, crushed pedestrians, more traffic as parents are forced to drive children to and from neighborhood schools.

When the city decided to have a City Image, rather than the Country Image they should have put in City Wide Street improvements (Sidewalks) all through Town. The original plans did not include sidewalks as a design element in an effort not to look like a "City" but rather maintain a rural atmosphere. One can question that design choice however it is what it is. Now that the "City" is moving to being a "CITY" with big stores, increased traffic, and all that brings Sidewalks, and roads are part of that requirement.

Odd isn't it what the City Council will require of an individual and a family, and not to a Developer or Agency. Is it the intent of the city to require these improvements be fully funded prior to the Plot Map being redrawn, as they required of a private citizen, subdividing the farm on paper alone?