Parking, pier and pancakes in OB all hit by San Diego funding fallout

The city of San Diego’s financial problems are having several notable effects in Ocean Beach, as people attending the Ocean Beach Community Foundation’s meeting Aug. 14 learned.

The two-hour meeting was barely enough time for the packed agenda.

Parking fees

Randy Reyes, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s representative for City Council District 2, which includes Ocean Beach, said the city will introduce parking fees at city-owned beach lots sometime after the adoption of parking fees at Balboa Park for the first time, which is expected around October.

Spirited objections ensued.

“These are insanely unpopular policies,” said one resident. “Paid parking at the beach! … I don’t understand. The rationale for this seems to be to soak the people who live here.”

Spurred by a projected $258 million budget deficit for the current fiscal year, the city merely was following trends long established in cities of similar size across the country, Reyes said.

“For years, things have been free,” he said. “If you go to Orange County and you go to the beach, you’re probably paying for parking. We’re not doing anything that nobody else is doing. We’re doing what everyone else is doing.”

OB Pier

Upset over increased fees across the board, OBCF board member Phil Cenedella proposed that the city suspend special events permit fees in Ocean Beach until it replaces the dilapidated pier, which currently is closed and planned for a rebuild.

“We haven’t had a pier in OB for 22 months,” Cenedella said. “Our [holiday] parade is in jeopardy because of how much permits cost. So we don’t have a pier but they’re raising the rates on everything. It’s crazy.”

Citing a figure of 1,370 daily visitors to the pier when it was open, Cenedella estimated that 904,000 people haven’t stopped in OB since the pier’s closure and said that has had negative consequences for the community.

“The businesses are affected. The parking lot has riffraff because there’s not a stream of new people coming in there,” he said. “All the other piers [in the city] are fine and functioning. … I’m getting mad.”

But with the price tag for replacing the OB Pier estimated at nearly $200 million, Reyes said the project is on hold because of the city’s financial problems.

The city is continuing to apply for environmental and other permits and drawing up plans for sanitation and maintenance as pelicans commandeer the pier in the absence of humans, Reyes said.

It also is working with U.S. Rep. Mike Levin (D-49th District) for potential federal funding assistance.

However, Reyes said, the financial problem currently is insurmountable.

“We’re working on maintaining what we have now and figuring out next steps, but the big part is the money,” he said. “We’re open to public/private partnerships. Anything we can get so we can get this going.”

Pancake breakfast

Because of an increase in city special events permit fees, OBCF board member Karen Froehner said the foundation has put its annual pancake breakfast fundraiser — a September tradition since 1998 — on hold.

“It has made it financially unfeasible for us to break even this year,” she said. “We do not want to jeopardize the ability to fund other important community events.”

She added that the breakfast hasn’t been canceled yet as the board seeks alternatives.

“We are proactively exploring partnerships with local entities to possibly host the pancake breakfast in the near future,” Froehner said. “We really do appreciate your understanding and ongoing support. If you have any suggestions, any private venues, we’d love to hear it.”

Other OBCF news

OB Library: Manny Reyes, Ocean Beach representative for District 2 Councilwoman Jennifer Campbell, had some positive news, saying the city’s Engineering & Capital Projects Department expects to award a build contract for the planned Ocean Beach Library expansion by this winter.

The city has the $12.8 million needed for the project.

Groundbreaking is anticipated next summer.

Immigration enforcement: Asked about San Diego Police Department policy toward federal agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arresting people suspected of illegal immigration for deportation, Community Relations Officer James Harris said “We do not enforce immigration. We don’t ask. We don’t care. That’s our stance on it.”

“We’re not going to assist the enforcement,” Harris said. “We’re there to keep the peace and that’s it. … We’re not going to allow people to be attacked, whether that’s an ICE agent or anyone else on the scene.”

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