SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Walking through Southcrest Trails Park is no walk in the park. Plants have overtaken the space — some standing taller than Harrold Roberts at 6 feet.
“Now this is over my head. Look — you can barely see my head," he says.
Harrold lives just across the park on Beta Street.
“They could’ve gotten a lawnmower and rode down here and ate this stuff up," Harrold says.
The park is managed by the City of San Diego and includes a part of Chollas Creek. It’s supposed to act as a storm water drain for Beta and Birch streets; however, the drainage pipe is surrounded by thick brush.
Harrold is concerned it may not work the next time heavy rain falls.
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“How frequently have you seen city crews out here, cleaning this area?” I asked.
“Not much, not much at all,” Harrold said.
The community says maintenance around the creek has been neglected for several years. They've watched it overflow with water during heavy rain.
ABC 10News was there on Jan. 22 when neighbors say that neglect turned into catastrophe; the flooding ruined homes all around southeast San Diego.
We came back three days later, when city crews cleared more than a hundred tons of debris. At the time, things looked okay, but a wet winter led to more growth. So, I checked in with Harrold in July. He feels this area has been forgotten once more.
“The grass is almost as high as the bridge already," Harrold says.
In July, the city told me they were working to address the problem, but Harrold says nothing changed. So I reached out again, one month later.
“Here’s what they responded: 'A plan is in place to conduct repeat maintenance on the channels that were cleared following the storm emergency.' Does that feel reassuring?” I told Harrold.
“I think they’re just blowing smoke. They’re talking loud and saying nothing. Because they haven’t done nothing as you can see," he says.
The city’s storm water department has more than 300 employees. Crews recently cleared out a channel in Encanto and the city says they do annual inspections of storm drains. Harrold says it’s not enough.
“Right now, it’s so bad, they need to be out here everyday," he says.
This week, after we spoke to them about the issue for months, the city sent crews to clear out that area of the creek. We will continue to follow through with them to ensure that area is not neglected.
