A Chula Vista man will not take down his tattered and torn American flag until he sees action from his city’s government on a laundry list of gripes.
Luis Carreno has lived in his home for more than 50 years. He moved there before the area was annexed by the city of Chula Vista, he said.
“I bought this property for $11,000,” said the retiree who is now a deacon ministering in local prisons.
However, Carreno has developed a long list of complaints against the city that has inspired him to leave his Star Spangled Banner up in silent protest. The flag is so tattered that it looks like a faded red, white, and blue braid. Carreno hasn’t replaced it in five years even though neighbors have asked.
“That’s my, how you say, protest against the city of Chula Vista,” he said.
Carreno wants the nearby Orange Avenue to be safer.
“I keep trying to call them so they can put a chain link fence right here in the middle,” he said pointing to the median where he has seen jaywalkers get hit by cars.
Carreno wants the curbs along the corner painted red to prevent people parking and blocking site lines; he wants Chula Vista police to enforce the weight limit on his own street that prohibits the tractor trailers that he said drives through daily. He’s mad the city forced him to remove his brick mailbox because it blocks wheelchair access even though a fire hydrant is far more obstructive only a block away. And he wants the end of his road, Quintard, turned into a cul-de-sac.
“There’s a lot of stuff and I put a lot of pressure on all the departments and nobody has done nothing,” said Carreno, who showed 10News dozens of typed and handwritten letters between him and city staff.
10News shared Carreno’s long list of grievances with the city of Chula Vista. A city spokeswoman was only able to address the cul-de-sac issue before this story aired on 10News. Apparently, the neighbors voted on whether to create a cul-de-sac but a majority of them didn’t support the idea.
She added that city staff would review the rest of the list and contact him this week.
