Guest Commentary: Thanks for successful San Vicente Road project

This letter is to say Thank You to our Ramona Community Planning Group for what they have all done to contribute to the completion of the major roadwork on San Vicente Road.

This is a significant multi-generational improvement project. I raised the initial petition and raised community debate to gain the support of RCPG, San Vicente Board of Directors and the Ramona Chamber of Commerce.

We held a lot of meetings and were able to get a road tour of Ramona with many senior San Diego County Department of Public Works staff as well as Supervisor Dianne Jacob, Pat Uriell and other Ramona planning group members and even State Senator Anderson’s representative. We made a strong impression of the sorry state of our local roads.

This started many side efforts like the DPW Priority list for Ramona. This proved to be an important tool to help keep long-term projects alive through all the elements of the project cycle. This was all a lot of work to gain support over time. Pat Uriell moved on and Jim Piva took over and we all had some initial uncertainty how the new board would work. But Jim Piva won us over and worked with us, listened and learned from what we had done and did much more.

This month the road is approaching completion. Only overcoat remains and the trail and shoulder work. We not only got what the county initially offered in the plan, which stopped at Chuckwagon Road, and trail on one side. Jim Piva and the newer members worked to keep that plan not only alive, but got trails on both sides and extension to the sewage treatment plant. This extension was a critical piece as it improves the interchange and also removes both “dip sections” that regularly flooded and closed the road in heavy rains.

When the project seemed to be going awry when some members of the Estates association board of directory launched an effort to kill the project, some of us stood up for the effort. But Jim Piva not only wanted to make a mark, he ran for the board there as well. From that vantage point, Jim as director and board president, led our San Vicente community through a positive experience during the construction.

Sure it meant some slowdowns and inconveniences, but they are almost over. The contractor, FlatIron, had some folks who live in the Estates and they caught the flooding during severe rains and jumped right on the issue. They directed traffic to minimize the impact and worked with us. They were residents and they took responsibility that it was done right. Thanks guys. Thanks for also making it better at handling our flash floods than it used to be.

Note the road is now enforceable and CHP (California Highway Patrol) has already been out there enforcing and we intend to continue to ask for more. So please, use our new road safely and do enjoy what our community has achieved.

This project is a real community success. I owe Jim Piva, Dianne Jacob, our RCPG members and DPW staff the most. Thank you more than I can say in words. I get to enjoy a better safer ride to and from home. My neighbors, friends and family get to enjoy the road in our lifetimes. It seemed near impossible back in 1999, yet here we are today with a beautiful road view to drive

I am proud of what we did together. I thank you all again for allowing me to have the opportunity to do my part with this project. I learned a lot, met a lot of really great people, and learned how to speak in public. So it was well worth the effort for me, no matter the years I spent working for it. I enjoy the view as I drive it and think great thoughts now about the achievement and folks I worked with to do it. On to my next community project.

Joe Cahak is a Ramona resident living in San Diego Country Estates.