Before I start, let me assure you that I have been here for 30 years
and still am an advocate for a public, marine-oriented recreational use
at Las Arenas Park and Las Arenas Beach on the Balboa Peninsula.
I can't believe the "From the Newsroom" piece I read in the Daily
Pilot Monday ("Sounds out of Marinapark echo those of a certain cove."
But then again, maybe I do. That ringing Editor Tony Dodero hears isn't
from "a bell," but probably from a blow to the head he's forgotten about.
Indeed, as he asks the readers, have you ever been to the Marinapark
Mobile Home Park? I think not, or he wouldn't have drawn the ridiculous
parallel to Crystal Cove.
Marinapark occupies about one-third of the tidelands or uplands
property that is Las Arenas Park and Las Arenas Beach, between 15th and
19th streets. There are three public access routes by which pedestrians
can get to the beach, only one goes through the mobile homes property.
There is one access at each end of the 10-foot-wide bayfront walk and one
using the tenants' entrance driveway. No nonresident vehicles are
permitted inside the Marina Park, as there are no public parking spots,
but pedestrians are not prohibited passage.
Once inside the tenants' entrance, there are 11 paths to the
945-foot-long beach. Your "unsightly chain-link fence with a locked gate
that guards this little haven" is one of two utility gates intended for
moving mobile homes in and out in the days when such was once, but is now
no longer, necessary. Parking is abundant at Las Arenas Beach and Park,
compared to your "gated" Crystal Cove or any other peninsula bay beach.
At Las Arenas, there are nearly 300 public parking spaces, over 100 of
which are not metered, as in "free to the public." Of the 300, half are
located where it is not necessary to cross any street to get to the
bayside beach.
Did someone in Marinapark kick Dodero's dog? Why else would he go to
such lengths to demonize the folks who have been, in retrospect, the
beneficiaries of a lease that was not unusual and served the needs of the
city as well, when it was drawn. If the term was too long, or had no
five-year step-up provisions over its 15-year life, whose fault was that?
Former City Manager Bob Wynn got his credit for "affordable housing," the
public kept the park and the beach and bay access we have, the city
revenuers received what rent was reasonable until property values went
through the roof, and the tenants got a deal. Geschaft ist Geschaft.
