Politics & Government

Connect the Mast Boulevard Gap for a Safer Walk to Santana

Quinn and Jennifer Johnze: "...the Mast Extension should be put back on the City's priority agenda and our children should have the safe thoroughfare that they deserve."

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Editor's note: There is a gap in Mast Boulevard- it currently dead-ends in Santee at Los Ranchitos Road and begins again about 1,000 feet away in Lakeside. Connecting this gap has been on the city's project list since the inception of Santee as a city, but seems to no longer be a priority.

, and even said the city had at one time put money aside for the project, waiting for state funds that won't be coming since the .

Find out what's happening in Santeewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"The cost of completing the hook up of Mast Boulevard is $5.4 million dollars. Santee's portion would be $4 million dollars for 600 feet of roadway and the County would be $1.4 million for the other 400 feet of roadway," Voepel wrote.

"In this case, connecting Mast to Lakeside will continue to be delayed (probably for a very long time) as we scramble to take care of our own roads in Santee."

Find out what's happening in Santeewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

To the Editor:

As residents in the Pinery Grove subdivision we were told of certain changes that we could expect as a resident. The first was the completion of the . We were also told that when the 67/52 connection was completed the City of Santee would finish the road work and (Approximately 600 feet of roadway) so that Mast would run uninterrupted between 52 on the west end and Riverford Road on the east end.

In addition, we were advised that Grossmont Unified School District would be looking to restructure the attendance boundaries and that our children most likely would attend . 

Well, everything but the Mast extension has come to fruition and while we are very excited and relived that our children will have the it leaves one very serious question to be addressed. How are our children supposed to get to Santana with no completed Mast?  We are left with little choices, which include having them walk along El Nopel, which has no sidewalk and is dangerous even under perfect circumstances, or they can walk illegally through the fenced off dead-ends of Mast and deal with the sketchy that like to make that area their home as well as their go to “drug” spot.

Our understanding is that the City of Santee has taken the and has chosen to focus those funds on .

We wish to raise awareness of what a potential risk this could be to our youth.

Simply said: We believe the Mast Extension should be put back on the City’s priority agenda and our children should have the that they deserve.

-Quinn and Jennifer Johnze

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Comment: What do you think about city spending priorities and connecting Mast?

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