Not AGAIN… Dog Park Hit for 3rd Time in a Year at Notorious Park/ElCajon/Normal Intersection
The fencing was only recently repaired from the last accident – thanks to an amazing job by our City’s Parks & Recreation department – when just after 2am on Friday, April 11 another car plowed through the fence at the UH Off-Leash Dog Park on the Brucker Education Center. The car apparently went through the bike lane, the fence along Washington, and hit the fence on the far side of the area. Tire marks indicate a lot of spinning, and a Nissan front grill remained on the site as of Saturday April 12.
This is the third time in less than a year the dog park has been hit and damaged requiring closure: last July, this February, and now. After the February incident, the City was exploring adding bollards as a protective measure, but that decision hadn’t even been finalized in time to prevent this crash. There is no estimate as of the time we went to press when repairs will be completed and the park reopened.
Numerous angry posts on the UH Facebook group from residents decried the state of this intersection, which is the site of near daily fender-benders, near misses, accidents, and tragically a pedestrian death when Cheers bartender Joshua Gilliand was struck down and died in June 2023.
UHCA is supporting efforts by the Uptown Community Planning Group and North Park Planning Committee to get a traffic study and immediate fix. To help that effort please go to the city web site and fill out a Traffic Service Request and ask for a traffic study and immediate fix. The more people who do this the faster it will get done! https://www.sandiego.gov/transportation/tools-resources/traffic-service-request
We reached out to Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, who told us, “I thank the residents of University Heights, the UHCA, and the planning groups for making it clear that the entire community wants this intersection improved. Pedestrians, bicyclists, families, and their pets all deserve to feel safe, and the City must make it a priority to reduce the number of crashes here.”
