50 signatures reached
To: Mayor Todd Gloria
Prioritize the Safety of San Diego Children
We are petitioning Mayor Gloria to prioritize the safety of San Diego children and find an alternative location for the safe parking site at Malcom X Library.
The City of San Diego has proposed a Safe Parking Site at the Malcolm X Library. While we applaud Mayor Gloria and his commitment to seeking safe alternatives for those who live in tenuous and uncertain circumstances, there is a cost to using the Malcolm X Library for this location – and the cost is not just monetary. The cost is one in which children in the surrounding District 4 area will pay.
Why is this important?
Adjacent to the Malcolm X Library is the Elementary Institute of Science. Both locations serve hundreds of school age youth throughout the week and on Saturdays. During the school year, EIS programs serve all 4th and 5th grade students from the surrounding 11 Lincoln Cluster community schools and after-school and summer programs serve children 2nd through 8th grades. In short, EIS is open year-round for young students in the community.
The proposed site at the Malcolm X Library is set to be activated as an overnight Safe Parking site with 120 spaces available. This is more than other safe parking sites that have 60-84 parking spots, thus creating a site almost twice the size of any other in San Diego. Combined with the newly built Live Well Center across the street, traffic will greatly increase. This will include people seeking County benefits and the influx of new employees along with library traffic, and student drop off and pick up at EIS. Thus, creating major congestion issues at the intersection of Euclid and Market.
The southeast community is sympathetic to the enormous housing crisis in San Diego and all the people and entities impacted by it. EIS works very hard to provide a safe learning environment for the students. Illegal dumping, human waste, needles, trespassing, and vandalism are already common occurrences in the area and it costs EIS thousands of dollars annually to clean the surrounding area.
We know from experience that parents value their children's safety first and foremost, more than literacy and science enrichment. If the corner where the library and Live Well Center sits turns into a hub of unhoused people, they will not bring their children to the library or to EIS for educational opportunities. Please encourage the City of San Diego to be part of the solution to the problem of homelessness...not a problem to the community.