Monday, Aug. 13, 2007 | The Mission Bay Park Committee will be voting on the Fiesta Island Project Sept 11. Dog owners have written letters, attended meetings and presented thoughtful compromises and solutions to better accommodate all who use Fiesta Island, yet the MBPC chooses not to listen nor compromise.
The MBPC has rejected the proposed solutions and insists upon putting a road through the safe fenced area for dogs to add a beach and paddle boat storage area that will only be used during the summer months, and reduce the fence height to four feet which is hardly safe enough for dogs. Furthermore, they have reduced the safe fenced area from 97 acres to 71 acres, cut the dog owners access to the shoreline in half, and have given exclusive use of the entire shoreline around Hidden Anchorage to the Ski Club.
Dog owners, who are the majority users of Fiesta Island and have peacefully used the shoreline for decades, will no longer be allowed to even let their dogs wade in the water. However, the members of Ski Club are allowed to bring their dogs to the docks and let them wade and swim in the water. Basically, they are given club-like privileges on public land. As a taxpayer, in my opinion, this is a questionable move by the MBPC.
FIDO has offered a reasonable solution to move the boat storage area to the south shore saving the enormous cost of putting in a new road and re-fencing the area. It doesn’t seem right that we have done everything we can to work within the process and the MBPC has chosen not to listen and is pursuing a higher costing and less compromising project.