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Press Article San Diego Business Journal Critical Mission Bay Report Sparks Call for Special Fund By Lee Zion The April I8 grand jury report on Mission Bay Park noted the park suffers from a number of problems, from poor water quality to the lack of coordinated management of the park, said James T. McCarthy, grand jury foreman. The report also said it's difficult to determine if the city is violating its own mandate that no more than 25 percent of the park land area be used for leases. The city has relied on a 32-year-old aerial survey of the park, McCarthy said. One of the biggest problems is funding, McCarthy said. Last year, the Mission Bay Park generated $16 million in lease revenue and $7 million in transient occupancy tax on operating costs of $15 million -- an $8 million surplus in addition to sales tax, property tax and other revenue, he said. However, only $3 million in surplus revenue has been reinvested in the park to pay for its $171 million in unmet needs. The rest has gone into the city's general fund paying for projects elsewhere, McCarthy said. City Councilman Byron Wear, whose 2nd District encompasses Mission Bay, said the grand jury report proved what he's been saying all along -- the park needs an enterprise fund to keep Mission Bay Park generated money in the park and help fund improvements. "I've called for it. The San Diego Union-Tribune has called for it. The environmentalists have called for it. The Mission Bay lessees have called for it. And now the grand jury has called for it," he said. Land Usage As to the question of whether the city has exceeded the 25 percent mark in leases, Wear believes the city probably has not. That question should be answered once the city conducts a new survey, which may happen in the near future, he said. Bill Evans, chairman of the Mission Bay Lessees Association, was glad the grand jury report was released. But the situation isn't as dire as the report states, he said. "We like any report that spotlights Mission Bay, and spotlights it in the context that it is a regional asset, and not just the asset of one particular City Council district," he said. A few years ago, the city manager created a Mission Bay "czar" who serves as a clearinghouse of information on park issues. Since that time, the city's responsiveness has increased, Evans said. "There's only one person I call if there's a problem, and that is the person who organizes all the departments in the City of San Diego," Evans said. "It helps the city, it helps the lessees, and it helps the general public as well." He also felt the grand jury report "blows out of proportion" the question of whether the city has exceeded its 25 percent limit. Despite tidal erosion and filling, the land area of the park is pretty much the same as it was 20 years ago, leaving the city with a close idea of what percentage of the land has been leased, Evans said. Little Change Evans agreed that updates of park maps should be done frequently, but added that once an update is done, there wouldn't be much of a difference between the results and the city's estimates. Evans agreed that too much of the money generated by the park is diverted into the general fund, paying for other areas of the city. "That wasn't necessarily the purpose of having leaseholds in the park originally. The purpose was for those leaseholds to support the park and continue its growth," he said. As a result, the park is left unfinished, he said. Evans would like to see the eastern portion of the park completed, with more recreational uses close to the major transportation hubs -- the freeway and public transit. Donna Frye, spokeswoman for San Diego-based Surfers Tired Of Pollution, believes it's quite possible the city could have exceeded the 25 percent lease limit on its charter. "Because there is not a legal survey, the city doesn't know whether or not they have exceeded that charter requirement," Frye said. That, in turn, has led to a decline in water quality, due to what Frye calls the "overcommercialization" of the park. Increased land use, runoff that ends up in storm drains, and boaters dumping their waste into the bay all play a part, she said. Frye also feels there are too many government agencies running the park, leading to disputes over jurisdiction, she said. "One hand doesn't know what the other hands seems to be doing, which is unfortunate. So there seems to be a severe lack of coordination," Frye said. In the middle of all this, Frye noted the city is discussing even more leases, and planning to build more hotels. She said the city seems unable to think of any other means of raising funds for improving the park. Instead, the city would have the money it needed for park improvements if it managed its resources better, she said. City Response Tim Rothans, assistant to the city manager for Balboa Park, Mission Bay Park and Torrey Pines Reserve, said the city was looking into all the grand jury's findings and recommendations. It expects to have a response to the report by the middle of June, he said. Once the report comes out, he expects it to answer a lot of questions, many of which he said are based on "innuendo." "It's a well-run park. It's one of our most important tourist treasures for the city, and we get 14 to 16 million visitors to the park a year. There's a lot of good going on in the park that you don't get from reading the grand jury report," he said. Rothans disagreed with some of the findings in the grand jury report, including claims the water quality in the bay is worsening. The reason signs are posted more often in Mission Bay is that the posting requirements there are much more stringent. The water quality in the bay has actually improved, Rothans said. |
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Paid for by Re-Elect Donna Frye Web |
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