I have been playing beach volleyball for the past 10 or 11 years. Most of the time, I play at South Mission Beach. There is a wonderful park there with 12 permanent nets and lines, and a full basketball court. In that time I have gotten to know San Diego BIG and Laura Hendrickson. San Diego BIG is Laura, and she has done an incredible job of maintaining the entire park from long before I started going there. If a net gets old or damaged, she makes sure it gets replaced in a timely manner. It is a beautiful park, due primarily to her.

In getting to know Laura, I have also been exposed to some of her vision about the park. One of the things she has been trying to do for years is to get more courts at the Park.

In order to make any changes to the Park, Laura needs to get the permission of San Diego Park and Recreation which is a division of the City of San Diego. I have learned over the years that Park and Rec has insisted on getting the permission of the Mission Beach Town Council to do just about anything at the park. The Mission Beach Town Council is extremely against any changes to the Park. From what I understand, the primary reason is that they believe it is commercializing the beach. I am not going to argue that the Town Council doesn’t have a right to their own opinion. What I take issue with is the fact that the City of San Diego seems to feel the need to get the approval of this individual group in order to make any changes to the Park.

If I am not mistaken the Park is part of the City of San Diego, and in my opinion, every citizen who lives in San Diego should have an equal say in what happens to the Park.

I am bewildered as to why the City of San Diego doesn’t seem to care what anybody else in the county thinks. I don’t live in Mission Beach, and I am not a part of the Town Council, but that shouldn’t matter to the City. I, and everybody who lives in San Diego should be able to have a vote on what happens to the parks in the city we live in.

At the very least, this is a bias, and at the worst, it is outright discrimination. It really frustrates me that the City of San Diego has taken this stance. I would like to know why they think that the people who happen to own the property nearest to the park matter more than the rest of the citizens of the county. The last time I checked, we all pay taxes.

I guess it wouldn’t bother me so much if the Mission Beach Town Council offered to pay all of my taxes, but they don’t.

I am curious if the City Of San Diego takes this approach with all of its parks. Does the Park and Recreation department poll the owners of property in Ocean Beach to make decisions about what happens at Robb Field?

Every citizen who lives in San Diego, regardless of where they live, should be able to have a vote in each and every park in San Diego.