Trolley Noise Critics Gearing Up for Stronger Efforts in 2012, Leader Says

Rhonda Ciardetti promises to be a “squeaky wheel” in 2012 over trolley noise in her Water Street neighborhood near Grossmont High School.

After being rebuffed at a Nov. 8 City Council meeting, Ciardetti said she had submitted petitions signed by 82 people in 44 parcels to Sharon Cooney, chief of staff of San Diego Metropolitan Transit System.

“The MTS board chairman said that the Public Utilities Commission is to review [noise complaints] in 2012,” Ciardetti said Thursday. “We plan to keep pursuing this request.”

Petitioners live on streets including Loren Drive, Severin Drive, Water Street, Amaya Drive, Campina Drive, Gregg Court, Janfred Way, Milden Street, Monona Drive and Urban Drive, she said.

The petitions call for a Quiet Zone and “for a solution to screeching.”

She said her group, Noise Trolley, submitted petition information to all MTS board members and copies to the La Mesa Community Development Department.

“We plan to deliver petition signature information to the La Mesa council … when they resume after the holiday,” she said via email.  

Since her appearance before the council last month, Councilman Ernie Ewin, an MTS member, “has not communicated with us,” she said. “We also have requested to be on the MTS board agenda but have not received a response regarding when this might occur.”

According to council minutes of that meeting, “Ewin provided background information on the issue and explained existing state and federal regulations and standards that require train operators to sound an audible warning on the approach to all grade crossings. ... Ewin also discussed the mandatory process that was required to establish a quiet zone and spoke about safety issues at grade crossings.”

Following council discussion—which included an estimate in the millions of costs of building a tunnel or other barriers—“Ewin requested the issue be tabled,” said the minutes.

In 2011, she said, her group has been busy educating those outside the area “because they do not understand the excessiveness.”

“That lonesome train whistle of the past is not applicable; nor is a ‘you should [have] known better then to live there’ attitude,” she said. “The area has not been protected as other areas.”  

She pointed to San Diego city areas with Quiet Zones and “even areas in La Mesa have screeching lubrication systems in place and noise solutions protecting residents.”

During a 24-hour period in September, she said, the trolley passed the Severin Drive crossing 280 times, with “excessive horns and screeching. There are Orange Line, Green Line and freight [trains]."  

Ciardetti called the process of seeking a noise cure “interesting as it appears to us that some authority figures are trying to make our claims invalid. There are laws regarding noise, the quality of life and developments.”

She said Quiet Zones are allowed under the Federal Railroad Administration.

Many petitioners have lived in the area since the 1960s and 1970s, she said.

“Residents have provided plenty of evidence that a problem exists,” she said. “We believe our area deserves fair treatment and expect that we will have success due to the overwhelming evidence. We trust that we will be protected soon as our burden of proof that a problem exists was delivered in a timely manner.

“We have submitted a letter to La Mesa City Community Development Department requesting that our area is on the La Mesa General Plan for the noise element study. A draft of the new general plan is expected for public review early 2012.”

In 2012, she said, “I will be blowing our request horn and continue being the squeaky wheel for the residents.”