Mark Your Calendar: Springtime Event at Santee Lakes

Posing with a bunny at last year's EGGstravaganza

Bring your kids and baskets to the 11th Annual Spring EGGstravaganza at Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve on  Saturday, April 19 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The event features continuous egg hunts for children up to age 8.  Egg hunts are staged at two zones: one for small children and another for kids from ages 4 to 8. There will also be games, carnival rides, a pony ride, a petting zoo, inflatables, face painting and crafts.  Primo the DJ will entertain with music and games.

Parking is $5 per vehicle. Tickets for rides and activities will be sold for 50 cents each.  Egg hunt wrist bands are also 50 cents apiece.

Last year, more than 8,000 people attended the event, including 2,700 children who scrambled for treats at 40 egg hunts. EGGstravaganza is co-sponsored by the city of Santee and the Padre Dam Municipal Water District, which operates the 190-acre preserve.

The preserve is located at 9210 Fanita Parkway in Santee. Call the event hotline at (619) 258-4100 ext. 201 for more information.

Prospect Avenue Enhancement Update

April 25, 2014

Installation of storm drain pipes continues this week, while workers install curb inlets and catch basins (places for storm water to drain) on the south side of Prospect.

Contractors will continue digging trenches between Cottonwood and Magnolia avenues to install conduit that will allow overhead wires to be placed underground.

SDG&E crews are continuing with their work lowering natural gas laterals – connections from the main line to adjoining buildings – to accommodate the new storm drains.

A new retaining wall is taking shape near Magnolia Avenue.

Work days and hours will continue to be Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6  p.m.

Project manager Toby Espinola urges motorists to observe the 25 m.p.h. speed limit in the construction cone zone.  Espinola can be reached at (619) 258-4100 ext. 174.

Prospect Avenue Enhancement Update

The first two of seven structures slated for removal were demolished last week.

This week, the project passed the 50-day mark as workers began installing underground conduit that will replace unsightly overhead electrical wires. Work started near Cottonwood Avenue and will move east toward Magnolia Avenue.

Meanwhile,  SDG&E is moving natural gas lines to accommodate the new storm drain system. Work days and hours will be 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Motorists should heed the 25 m.p.h. speed limit within the “cone zone,” and remember that traffic fines are double inside construction zones.

Questions or concerns about the project can be directed to Senior Civil Engineer Toby Espinola at (619) 258-4100 ext. 174.

Bird of the Month: Western Tanager

 

This female tanager is more drab than her male counterpart, which has a bright red head and bright yellow underside. Tanagers, which spend the winter in Mexico, are migrating north this time of year. We found this one foraging for bugs and berries at Town Center Community Park.

El Nopal: Speed is the Problem

El Nopal curves in Lakeside

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but not to their own version of the facts.

Fact One: A section of El Nopal  in unincorporated Lakeside near the boundary with Santee has two sharp curves that have contributed to a higher-than-average accident rate over the past decade.

Fact Two: An overwhelming majority of those accidents were caused by speeding motorists.

Fact Three:  Traffic models by SANDAG engineers show that vehicular traffic on El Nopal  in the county’s jurisdiction will increase over the next 25 years regardless of whether or not Mast Boulevard is extended from Santee into Lakeside.

Fact Four: Of the 46 traffic accidents occurring at the curves over the past decade, less than 6 percent involved serious injuries; 87 percent of these
mishaps were the result of unlawful driving actions such as speeding, driving on the wrong side of the road or driving under the influence.

Barring any improvements by the county to straighten the curves, the only thing that will make El Nopal safer is for motorists to slow down and observe the posted  20 m.p.h. speed limit through the curves.

The city of Santee cannot solve a safety problem on a road outside its jurisdiction where the leading cause of accidents is unsafe driving.

In February, the Santee City Council voted 4 to 1 to create a new pedestrian and bicycle trail rather than a paved connection into Lakeside at the eastern end of Mast Boulevard.

The proposed trail will enable Santee to become a more walkable and bicycle friendly community, a key goal embodied in a draft update of the city’s General Plan Circulation Element.  Children in the area will have a new, safer route to walk or bicycle to schools in Santee.

An added bonus is that the trail project will also improve a blighted corridor that has been used for illegal dumping.

Free Service Aids Stranded Freeway Motorists

If you’re stranded on State Route 52 or some other local freeway, call 511 and ask for roadside assistance.
This is the simple solution if you’ve run of gas, had a flat tire, or have mechanical problems.

The Freeway Service Patrol, a free service funded by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), helps more than 50,000 stranded motorists annually.

Stranded drivers who don’t have a cell phone can use any of the more than 1,200 yellow highway call boxes at any time day or night.  The call boxes can connect you to police, fire, ambulance or even a family member or friend.

Visit 511.sd.com/aid for more information.