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By Susan Mournian, Bay ParkSaturday, Oct. 10, 2009 | The annual arguments over the Winter Shelter have dominated much of the local press in the last weeks with the mayor offering potential sites in all of the council districts. Two sites were overlooked. Fiesta Island offers space, views, and a short walk to the trolley and County Mental Health Services on Rosecrans. The overflow parking lot near Interstate 5 and Seaworld Drive is suitable. In my area of Bay Park/Clairemont, an abandoned shopping center named Bay View Plaza might work if the developer CW Clarke needed the money. Apparently he does not as this project has languished for over 8 years. We will soon have a monument sign in the median near the site which proclaims "Welcome to Clairemont". Some residents wanted the sign to say "Welcome to Bay Park" but I am relieved that Clairemont will be taking the rap for the blight.
13 Comments so far on this story...
I, too, live in Bay Park. The Bay Park Plaza has been a blight on the area for years. The Clark organization should be held accountable if they are not going to move forward with the project approved years ago. If one does a Google search on Bay park, California...this community is identified. Maps list the area as Bay Park. Businesses advertise the area as Bay Park. Bay Park has it's own zip code. Houses for sale are listed as being in Bay Park. If one looks on Wikipedia, among the "Neighborhoods of San Diego" (in the north section of the city) Bay Park is listed ALONG WITH Clairemont, suggesting they are two distinct and separate areas. What is so important about an expensive sign being installed in Bay Park and labeling it "Clairemont"?? Why not "California" or "USA". Off topic, but I saw your letter in the UT. It's you who are confused. Sean Hannity is a commentator and host of Hannity; not a news show. With all of the other pressing issues of the day, all I could think about when I read this is, "who cares?" Really, what a petty thing to worry about. My thought -- and I am willing to wager that of a majority of people who read these comments -- exactly. The city is falling apart and this is what stirs irate emotions? Go figure. A better question is: why can't the City get its act together and build the PERMANENT shelter. Until such time as there is a permanent shelter for the homeless in San Diego, the homeless will be found sleeping on church lawns, benches, the sidewalk, and other public spaces. Not only should the general public not be subjected to walking over people on the sidewalk, but the homeless of San Diego should not be dehumanized by forcing them to resort to such measures. They are human beings, and deserve to maintain at least a minimal amount of dignity. They are someone's parent, child, or friend. Come on Mayor, where's the shelter? I'm having trouble sorting out a coherent point this letter. Is it a sincere or sarcastic suggestion dealing with the homeless shelter? Is it a dig at CW Clarke? Or is it a roundabout expression of disapproval of the "Clairemont" sign that some think should say "Bay Park"? All of the above? I'm going to guess it's about the sign. Where exactly is this sign in the median? Growing up in "American Park/Clairemont", we always considered Bay Park to be: South of Clairemont Drive, East of Morena Blvd., West of Sam Snead Golf Course and North of Napa Street. So, where is the sign's proposed location? See link The city has Mission Bay Dr as the demarcation of it's western boundary the mayor is on his way out and wants to leave a legacy that shows him in a good light. I guess that would be building a city hall or some other huge monstrosity that will bear his name for his future grandchildren to see. Yes, even with a huge budget problem the mayor will find the money to build a city hall. Then he will lay off all the workers so the city hall is vacant and can be rented out to special interest groups. get a grip folks. The city is not broke. They just don't want to move the money from all the rich and overflowing funds to the broke general fund. it takes a vote from the public. force our officials to put this on the ballet. do you want a new city hall or to fix the broken budget? While a good idea because of its isolation from complaining neighbors, the irony of housing homeless people on a place called "Fiesta Island" is priceless. The fact that our collective municipal society can't find its way to help the most vulnerable among us is shameful. Even more so given the outsized percentage of homeless who are vets: a group that is revered in San Diego unless, apparently, they are indigent, at which point they are reviled. So much for the ballyhoo of a uniform. Spend that money to buy each one of these people a seat on a bus back to Kalamazoo, or Mystic or wherever the 99 percent of them come from (it certainly isn't San Diego). Yes, I know San Diego is a nice place to spend the winter, especially when you live outside, but we have had enough of you now. So, bye bye. I see it all now!!!!!!!! A gated community!!!!!!!!!! Fiesta ISLAND IS PERFECT. The proposed monument sign is directly across from "Bayview Plaza" on the median at the boundary of Bay Park and Clairemont according to the map. There is a Clairemont sign located on Balboa Avenue near the Moraga Medical site. Further north on Balboa stands a Kearny Mesa sign. For Linda Vista and Mission Valley there are also community signs. Fiesta Island houses the Boy Scout Aquatic Center, an off leash dog fenced area and hosts Over the Line. It is not a horrible spot to locate a homeless tent. The overflow parking lot at Seaworld Drive and I 5 would also work. CW Clark has made many representations over 8 years to the community about what will be built at Bayview Plaza with specific dates for demo and construction starts. Nothing has happened. The permits are good for 3 more years which means nothing may happen in that time frame. The blighted Bayview Plaza site is part of the total San Diego decline profile. An interesting note is that North Bay Redevelopment may pick up the tab for the monument in the median sign. The irony remains that the "Welcome to Clairemont" monument will be directly located across from a dead project. I think it would more appropriate to say "Welcome to Enron by the Bay." I am sure all of the good readers would not like to see this grim edifice with tagging, weeds, and decay in their neighborhoods and have no end in sight. It drags down the local image of Bay Park/ Clairemont and is an example of San Diego's failures on so many fronts. Reader feedback
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