A good Samaritan started clearing the sidewalk before City of San Diego crews arrived, NBC 7’s Dana Williams reports.
People living in the South Park neighborhood are relieved after a city-owned lot that became a weed-infested fire danger was cleared out and is no longer an issue.
“I’m really surprised. It’s beautiful,” said Jinger Snapp, a neighbor who lives on the same block as the lot. “We were all concerned about it. It was overgrown. It was a mess.”
On July 6, NBC 7 did a story with neighbors who were frustrated that the City of San Diego was not taking proper care of the space.
“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.”
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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 had become a patch of thick, dry brush that, at some points, was nearly 10 feet tall.
Campero said she tried to file for help through Get it Done 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 had 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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Days after the story aired, Campero told NBC 7 that a good samaritan came with their own tools and spent hours working to clear the sidewalk. They shared they had dealt with a similar situation with the city in the past, and felt compelled to help after seeing the coverage, but did not want any credit for it.
Then, Campero said about one week later, the city began to work on clearing the brush, trimming back the trees and pulling weeds. A spokesperson confirmed the work had been done and NBC 7 revisited the street on July 27 to find a transformed, well-groomed lot with a few large succulents and smaller trees that are nearly unrecognizable.
“I thought to myself maybe someone had cleared it,” said John Dewald, a neighbor who frequently walks in the area. He used to have to avoid the sidewalk during his walks and take a detour into the street. He shared he was surprised that the city let it go as long as they did, but that this was a refreshing change.
“There are so many beautiful homes here,” he said. “You see vacant lots that people that live next to them have taken the time to landscape them, keep them up, keep them weeded. I mean, you know, there's a lot of pride in this neighborhood.”
