Dear Editor:

I have been a resident of Hillcrest for 12 years. I have always taken pride in my neighborhood and supported all local events and fund-raisers. For many years, “City Fest” has been a fun and entertaining event, drawing crowds from all over SD county and out of towners as well. Blocking off the streets of Hillcrest for this and other events has been pretty much a “given” and none of us have had a problem with that, especially because we are given ample notice. This year for some idiotic reason, they chose to block off the sidewalks as well! I would like to know just where the city gets off or has the right to close off public access of sidewalks? Blocking cars is one thing, but pedestrian traffic? I was cut off from my bank ATM, pharmacy, and other shops I frequent regularly and forced to walk several blocks out of my way, only to back track to get where I needed to go. And what about the disabled? They too are expected to go out of their way because the sidewalks and even alley accesses were barricaded? Though not disabled myself, I have difficulty walking long distances due to leg pain. Going home was the same thing, I was not “allowed” by the patrol person to cross the barricade to return home! As a taxpaying citizen of Hillcrest, I expect to at least have pedestrian access to the merchants in my neighborhood (even those NOT participating in City Fest.) I appreciate the revenue the festival generated for our neighborhood, and we all need to support our local businesses, however the residents of the area should not have been inconvenienced like this, nor should the disabled or elderly ever be forced to take a much longer route to get where they needed to go!

Stephen Settle

Hillcrest