I am spitting bullets right now. Did you ever have a crappy neighbor that thought that they were so important and so all powerful that they basically did anything they would ever want to or could get away with? Well, we do and unfortunately this bully is a quasi - governmental agency. San Diego State University to be exact. They administer the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve at the end of my road (Willow Glen/North Stagecoach Ln.) in Fallbrook, California.I live in a valley at the end of a steep river gorge, two miles out on a dirt road from the nearest adjacent street. Coming home on the very narrow dirt road, perched high above a river Saturday night, I noticed a massive trailer partially obstructing the road. Fortunately I could get around it.
The next day I drove to work and noticed a small bobcat bulldozer cutting into the tow of the slope of the road near the trailer. I drove to town and waited for my wife to join me for breakfast with two other couples at Le Bistro. She called at eleven pretty frantic, the trailer was completely blocking the road with no idea when it would be cleared. I told her to hike out and at one point she slipped, but was helped by the trailer crew. I saw one of the biologists waiting in his truck observing as we met on the west side of the trailer. Unfortunately for the rest of the residents of our valley, they were trapped all day without an ability to exit. If there had been a fire or medical emergency, they were toast. I got a call from a resident in the evening that the trailer was finally out. People on the paved section of Willow Glen told me that they had an interminable wait as well following the thing out of the valley.
I fired off the following letter to the local paper yesterday and cc'd the Biologist in charge of the program, Dr. Matt Rahn.
I have lived in the Willow Glen/Santa Margarita Watershed for the last
twenty eight years. For the first two decades the local residents had
an excellent relationship with San Diego State University, the
stewards of the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve. We rode our
horses through the preserve, hiked it's trails, policed it for trash
and miscreants and sampled it's many treasures. About eight years
ago the policy changed and we were denied any access to the preserve,
shutting us off from the trail system.
This weekend the University took it upon itself to move it's large
trailer out of the valley. With no notice to residents, either oral
or written, access and egress for the families that reside in the
rural area completely stopped for over seven hours sunday while they
coaxed the cumbersome beast out of the valley. We live in a steep
river canyon. If there had been a fire or medical emergency, the
results would have been tragic. The University should have known full
and well the extent of our hardship this weekend because the same
circumstances existed when they moved the trailer in approximately six
years ago. The paved sections of our road are now coated with oil and
the trailer movers took it upon themselves to bring in a small dozer
to undercut the side slopes, all without a permit, of course. But I
guess if you are a government agency, you can pretty much do anything
you want to.
As it turned out, my wife had to hike out of the valley yesterday, at
one point actually sliding down a portion of the hundred foot
cliff. David, one of the on site biologists sat in his car and
watched when I rescued her. The behavior of the University is far
from neighborly, definitely irresponsible and borders on the despotic.
Dr. Rahn called and apologized and said that he would try to meet with me today. But upon showing up at my gallery, rather than being contrite, he and his bellicose henchman said that they had sold the trailers, they were not their concern any longer and that their lawyers said they were under no ethical or legal obligation to deal with our concerns. I asked him why none of us had any sort of notice and he said that that was a mistake. I pointed out that he should have foreseen the problems that they caused because they had similar problems bringing the damn things in six years ago.
The real kicker was that he said that we would have to undergo the same battle not only this weekend but on two more weekends because there were three more trailers sold that would have to be similarly moved, but that we should be happy because they would now have a new office location on the property. I asked him what the beneficial effect of that stunning piece of news would be and he sheepishly admitted that there wasn't one.
I have asked him for the contact numbers for his lawyer, his dean and the new buyer but have not yet received any info. Regretfully things got so heated and threatening that I had to ask them to leave my store.
I don't know where to take this thing now - I am trying to contact lawyers to see about getting a quick injunction, will contact the county supervisor's office, the highway patrol and the county about their non permitted grading. Other than that we are now hostages. God forbid there is an event that requires emergency attention. I have gone to bat for these people before in their battles against Liberty Quarry but I am through now. Their employees speed through the valley and pretty much act as if they own it. We are powerless against their muscle. Fear government.
