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Guest editorial: Westwood is facing a traffic nightmare

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After 30 years of living in Westwood, I have witnessed lots of normal changes: The traffic light at West Bernardo and Poblado, Starbucks where a gas station once stood, the installation of drought-resistant landscaping af the Westwood Club, to name a few. The additions of 4S Ranch, Del Sur and Santaluz were an adjustment, but these communities brought some of their own solutions through planning and the funding from Mello-Roos.

But now, Westwood is coming under siege.

Let’s start with the Waterbridge condo developers who have forced an extraordinary number of cars onto Poblado and Botero by the failed strategy of not giving buyers of 2 bedroom, 1 bath homes a second parking space. Adding to the situation, on the opposite corner, we we will see the addition of dozens of cars trying to squeeze into the Phil’s BBQ that is replacing the The Elephant Bar. Cars exiting the freeway will collide with those funneling into the restaurant, while drivers exiting onto West Bernardo will face those coming out onto that road.

This mess alone should warrant jet packs being issued to all the Westwood residents trying to get in and out of their neighborhoods. But wait, there’s more!

The Palomar College campus scheduled to open in 2016 will be dumping hundreds more cars each day onto the already jammed Rancho Bernardo Road. The new Sharp Health Center at the other exit from the school, on West Bernardo Road, will add to the traffic disaster that already exists. Up the road a piece, the new Target shopping center will be attracting an endless stream of traffic up and down both Rancho Bernardo Road and Camino Del Norte.

I ask you, who approved all of this traffic? Where are the environmental impact reports? Where are the road repairs?

As a Realtor, you would think I would be jumping up and down because of all the Westwood residents who will be moving out, and all the new folks who never knew what this community had been like, moving in. But I am mourning the loss of this neighborhood as it was.

Thankfully, people can still walk their dogs and baby carriages, but the stress level always rises with the traffic. Community meetings are popping up where beleaguered residents are crying “foul!”

Get involved. Start with the Rancho Bernardo Community Council and Rancho Bernardo Planning Board. See what they suggest. Contact our City Councilman, Mark Kersey, he has our best interests at heart.

Don’t just sit there and don’t give up and move away. This is your community, fight for it!

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