Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
AT&T building still a “public nuisance” in North Park?
Homeless sleep on premises amid graffiti, trash, and urine
Homeless individuals sleep near the entrance and on the side of the building.
The unused AT&T (formerly Pacific Bell) building in North Park continues to have homeless transients, graffiti, the smell of urine, and trash. The fortress-like structure — a perfect canvas for taggers — is located at 4220 Arizona Street. Graffiti attacks have been ongoing for several years.
The empty parking lot is fenced and gated to keep out trespassers, but homeless individuals regularly sleep near the entrance and on the side of the building. Taggers have defaced the building and mailbox multiple times and tagged for-sale signs erected by CB Richard Ellis.
Responsibility for investigating possible violations is the Neighborhood Code Compliance Department. Enforcement and fines are authorized under San Diego Municipal Code 54.0313.
The half-square-block property is not considered “abandoned” under the city's ordinance passed last October, but under the “vacant properties program” instituted in 1996, it could be considered a “blight and eyesore to the community.” And it might “pose serious threats to the public's health, safety and welfare of surrounding residents and adjacent properties.”
Scott E. Grant lives on Arizona Street across from the building. In an interview, Grant said that police have responded to his complaints in the past about “loudly arguing” homeless trespassers, but, he said, “AT&T is ultimately responsible” for dealing with conditions there. “It's their property.”
Steve Aldana, information manager with the El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association, said, “It is obviously the responsibility of the property owner, so we would expect that AT&T would take care of it. That being said, they have a long history of ignoring these responsibilities all over the country.”
As for interested buyers, Aldana said, “We had a meeting with a developer who was in escrow on the two parcels a couple months ago but haven't heard an update. For years, we have considered the property a huge development opportunity waiting to happen.” Grant thinks the building “would make a good police substation” and suggested AT&T donate the property to the city.
District 3 councilmember (and council president) Todd Gloria was asked for comment. Gloria's spokesperson Katie Keach said his North Park representative “indicated that he received no recent complaints about the property but had followed up with AT&T.”
AT&T's San Diego spokesperson Lane Kasselman responded: “When AT&T is made aware of the occasional homeless presence by either AT&T personnel or the community, we alert the San Diego Police Department,” Kasselman wrote. “AT&T has also asked the San Diego Police Department and San Diego Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) to increase their patrols of the property and area."
In a related matter, T-Mobile currently operates cell-phone antennas on the building and has applied for a neighborhood use permit to upgrade them. That decision by the city's development services department is expected by April.
Here's something you might be interested in.
AT&T building still a “public nuisance” in North Park?
Homeless sleep on premises amid graffiti, trash, and urine
AT&T building still a “public nuisance” in North Park?
Homeless sleep on premises amid graffiti, trash, and urine
Homeless individuals sleep near the entrance and on the side of the building.
The unused AT&T (formerly Pacific Bell) building in North Park continues to have homeless transients, graffiti, the smell of urine, and trash. The fortress-like structure — a perfect canvas for taggers — is located at 4220 Arizona Street. Graffiti attacks have been ongoing for several years.
The empty parking lot is fenced and gated to keep out trespassers, but homeless individuals regularly sleep near the entrance and on the side of the building. Taggers have defaced the building and mailbox multiple times and tagged for-sale signs erected by CB Richard Ellis.
Responsibility for investigating possible violations is the Neighborhood Code Compliance Department. Enforcement and fines are authorized under San Diego Municipal Code 54.0313.
The half-square-block property is not considered “abandoned” under the city's ordinance passed last October, but under the “vacant properties program” instituted in 1996, it could be considered a “blight and eyesore to the community.” And it might “pose serious threats to the public's health, safety and welfare of surrounding residents and adjacent properties.”
Scott E. Grant lives on Arizona Street across from the building. In an interview, Grant said that police have responded to his complaints in the past about “loudly arguing” homeless trespassers, but, he said, “AT&T is ultimately responsible” for dealing with conditions there. “It's their property.”
Steve Aldana, information manager with the El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association, said, “It is obviously the responsibility of the property owner, so we would expect that AT&T would take care of it. That being said, they have a long history of ignoring these responsibilities all over the country.”
As for interested buyers, Aldana said, “We had a meeting with a developer who was in escrow on the two parcels a couple months ago but haven't heard an update. For years, we have considered the property a huge development opportunity waiting to happen.” Grant thinks the building “would make a good police substation” and suggested AT&T donate the property to the city.
District 3 councilmember (and council president) Todd Gloria was asked for comment. Gloria's spokesperson Katie Keach said his North Park representative “indicated that he received no recent complaints about the property but had followed up with AT&T.”
AT&T's San Diego spokesperson Lane Kasselman responded: “When AT&T is made aware of the occasional homeless presence by either AT&T personnel or the community, we alert the San Diego Police Department,” Kasselman wrote. “AT&T has also asked the San Diego Police Department and San Diego Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) to increase their patrols of the property and area."
In a related matter, T-Mobile currently operates cell-phone antennas on the building and has applied for a neighborhood use permit to upgrade them. That decision by the city's development services department is expected by April.
Comments