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Health & Fitness

Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Near You...

Promises of anti-hiding hedges, surveillance cameras and anti-illicit-behavior lighting no panacea for this anti-7 Eleven neighborhood.

Tuesday night dozens of La Mesa residents gathered in a front yard near the proposed 7-Eleven site at Gateside and Spring to voice their opposition to what appears to be the store’s inevitable opening in their neighborhood.

In attendance were members of La Mesa City Staff including Community Development Director Bill Chopyk, Police Chief Ed Aceves, Captain Dan Willis and Detective Sean Snow. 7-Eleven also had three representatives there who displayed artist renderings of the proposed store, fielded questions and dodged poison arrows.

The neighbors have been very vocal about the crime, loitering, littering, drinking, drunk driving, congestion and devaluation of properties they believe 7-Eleven brings to communities.

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Their concerns are valid. Google “7-11” and high on the list are robbery links. The 7-Eleven on nearby Spring and Palm was robbed three times this year before it shut down. The 7-Eleven on University at Park is one of the most blighted sites in all La Mesa. 

Most disconcerting, however, were the, It’ll-be-just-fine reassurances given by the 7-Eleven guys themselves. 

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They are promising no single-serving sales (i.e. customers can’t buy just one can of beer), anti-graffiti paint, no-loitering signs, landscaping that won’t have hiding places, powerful lighting to hinder illicit activity, surveillance cameras, special criminal training for employees and so on. 

I was half expecting to see guard towers on the artist renderings! Are they opening a Slurpee/Big Bite market or Fulsom Prison South? Obviously, even corporate knows criminal activity is a real problem with 7-Elevens.

La Mesa’s new motto is “The Finest Small Town in San Diego County,” whereas the first stated goal is a “Safe Community.” Yet there is nothing “Finest Small Town” about multiple 7-Elevens and liquor stores; in fact, these establishments could be a factor in our consistant 2nd/3rd highest-crime rate ranking in the county.

So why do they keep opening their doors in La Mesa? And why in this neighborhood where they are so clearly not wanted?

Bill Chopyk, very knowledgeable when it comes to government laws, says simply, 7-Eleven has a right to be in this location. This lot owner has a right to sell his property to 7-Eleven as the lot is zoned “Neighborhood Commercial.”

But is there a loophole here?

Isn’t zoning a core function of city council? Isn’t zoning the key tool to designing a city, what gives a town its vibe, its personality?

Why do some towns have a plethora of pawn shops, strip bars and tattoo parlors while other towns have restaurants and boutiques? Why do some cities offer a Mile of Cars, while other cities have blocks devoted to hospitals and doctors’ offices?

Can La Mesa neighborhoods fight to re-zone - modify restrictions so 24-hour establishments that sell liquor cannot open within a certain distance of homes or schools? It's a question this neighborhood might want to ask of one of its elected officials. 

The people I met Tuesday evening were clearly agitated and frustrated by their powerlessness. They want to hire a lawyer for advice on stopping the building of something they are certain will denigrate their neighborhood but already I could feel their resignation.

We can be the "Finest Small Town in San Diego County" but it starts with helping people protect their neighborhoods.

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