People living in the South Park neighborhood are frustrated after they said the City of San Diego is not maintaining a city-owned lot that has now become a weed-infested fire danger.
“There were some succulents there. It was just kind of like a bare ravine,” Jannee Campero told NBC 7 while she thought back to what the lot looked like when she first moved into the area in 2020. “Then the rain started. It just kind of started to overpower the space and now we can’t even use the sidewalk.”
According to the city-owned property map, the lot is referred to as Site 320 and is .04 acres in size. It is on A Street in between homes, including Campero’s, and has become a patch of thick, dry brush that, at some points, is nearly 10 feet tall.
“It’s an eyesore, first and foremost, but really it is a fire hazard and so I’m concerned that anybody who walks by, puts a little cigarette or something, it’s going to cause a fire,” she said.
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Campero said she has tried to file for help through the city's Get it Done app multiple times with no apparent success. NBC 7 looked at all reports in reference to the overgrown lot made through the city’s tool since 2020 and found seven. Of the seven, one that was filed in February 2020 was marked as closed in September 2021, meaning it had been resolved. However, there were no specific actions listed on the report that had more information on what was done to resolve it. There have been five reports submitted from April 2023 to June 2024 that were referred to the, “appropriate department or agency.” The seventh report is listed as new and has not been reviewed.
“It’s not our space and we have talked about like OK, do we need to put the money in? What can we do? But, ultimately, this is the city and their property and they should be taking care of their residents,” she said. “They should be taking care of their space.”
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She told NBC 7 she is both frustrated and worried that she will not be able to get help until it is too late and her neighborhood, like residents in southeastern San Diego, will face tragedy.
“[They were] notified, they were telling people, they were letting the city know and yet nothing was done and look what happened,” she said. “That’s my fear here, you know, I don’t want it to get to a disaster. I don’t want it to get to a fire. That’s not what I want to happen so the city needs to do something about it.”
NBC 7 reached out to the city for a response, but did not hear back. We also reached out to San Diego City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn’s office, but have not heard back.
