SAVE RATTLESNAKE CREEK!

I moved into the Country View Condos on Feb. 5, 1996. At that time Rattlesnake Creek, the part that runs through Hilleary park, was beautiful.

BUT NOW:

Is this how a creek is supposed to look like? See the pictures that are included with this petition.

I've been told that Rattlesnake Creek is a run-off creek, a drainage ditch - but when it rains, the mud is all over the sidewalks, making it dangerous to walk there.

I was also told it was a wildlife habitat — but they are destroying all trees, plants, and habitats right across the street,- another part of rattlesnake creek, to widen the road. So it's okay to destroy the habitat to build a road, but not to clean out a creek???!!!

I'm not talking about scrubbing out the creek, just making it so the water will go through like the stream it's supposed to be, and the fish and the other animals can live there like they're supposed to be. The creek area has become a haven for illegal aliens and the accompanying problems -arson, trash, etc.

There are birds and other animals living in landfills - are they considered wildlife habitats also?

I told a newspaper reporter that if a child was to fall in the creek (this was at the time that Danielle van Dam was missing), the creek is so dirty that we couldn't even see the child!! Anyone willing to lose a child this way?

Can we do anything about it?

I was told by a Poway Chieftain newspaper reporter that if we do anything to the creek, we could be jailed.

I have pictures from 1999 to the present showing the slow, destructive growth of plants clogging the creek and making it ugly.

There are lovely stepping stones to cross the creek, but the weeds are over 6 feet tall, and making it difficult to see where you're going.

I have contacted Mike Turko of the Turko Files (on TV) and then the city put up large cement barriers between the creek and the sidewalk - certainly not attractive, and definitely not TAKING CARE OF THE PROBLEM!