Just About Everybody Wants to Use Site of Old Navy Hospital

On Feb. 26, the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum is putting on the ritz at a champagne reception at the historic Long-Waterman House. It’s an unusual--but very special--event for train aficionados, who are using the occasion to unveil their proposal to establish a railway museum in Balboa Park.

The railway museum sees the move by the Navy Hospital to Florida Canyon and the city’s acquisition of Inspiration Point as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move into a prime Balboa Park location. In the coming months, they will engage in a fierce competition to win space in whatever old hospital buildings are left standing when the city acquires title to the land in 1988, or in any new ones that might be built on the choice 34-acre site.

The railway museum leadership is hardly alone in kicking off an early and organized public relations pitch to win the space in the soon-to-be-acquired parkland. For several months, veterans’ groups from across the nation have been inundating City Hall with post cards stating their support for a plan to convert the chapel on the old hospital grounds to a veterans’ memorial and restore the original hospital building, a longtime San Diego landmark, as a museum celebrating the history of the military’s presence in the city.

Supporters of a proposal to build a performing arts center for local community theater groups on the site have undertaken a similar orchestrated letter campaign.

“I don’t envy the City Council when it comes time to make a decision on who gets in and who is left out,” said Ann Hix, chairman of a City Council-appointed committee forming a land-use plan for the part of the Navy base that is being turned over to the city.

“There are tremendous pressures pulling from all directions. There’s a strong sentiment that all of the land should be turned into open, unstructured park space, because it’s the last opportunity we’ll ever have to add to the open space in Balboa Park. But if that happens, there would not be any new space for all of those groups who want to move into the park, and this might be the last time to accommodate them, too,” Hix said.

“It’s going to be difficult to balance both interests,” said acting Mayor Ed Struiksma, who is heading the drive for the veterans’ memorial and military museum at the site. “We’re all aware of the importance of getting back as much open space as possible after the loss of Florida Canyon. And I realize my proposal is going to leave some of the other groups feeling left out. Making the final decision is going to be very difficult for the council, and I’m sure there will be some very strong debate before we get to that point.”

Diane Barlow, a longtime local political aide who is active in the environmental group Citizens Coordinate for Century III, said there will be “a very concerted push to create as much open space as possible on the old hospital grounds.

“To a great many people, that is the top priority in Balboa Park, and the key to maintaining its integrity in the future,” she said. “We can’t lose sight of the fact that we lost some very valuable undeveloped land when the Navy started building in Florida Canyon, and that the land should be replaced,” Barlow said.

In addition to the railway museum, performing arts center and veterans’ memorial and military museum, there are almost 20 other groups on record requesting space on the old hospital land. Vying for space are proposals for a new children’s museum, a doll museum, a puppet museum, a Combined Health Agencies Drive (CHAD) office center housing various health services groups and a health museum, a home for battered women, a day-care center for the children of city employees, the New School of Architecture, a folk dancing organization, a fly fishermens’ group and the city park and recreation staff working in Balboa Park, which would like new office space.

The Friends of the Library had proposed that a new central library be built at the site, although their focus has turned to the abandoned Sears store in Hillcrest. And a group including 1968 Olympic gold medal winner Bob Seagren has approached the committee about a proposal to open a major training center for Olympic athletes in the park.

“That list probably will get longer and longer because, after all, we’re still pretty early in the decision-making process, and there will be many more public hearings before the council ultimately decides what to do,” said Hix.

With such strong competition, it is little wonder that the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum opted for an eye-catching event at which to announce its proposal. “We know the possibility of new space in Balboa Park becoming available will bring out groups from all over the county,” said Dr. Daniel Marnell, who is active with the railway museum. “We want to give this our best shot so people will remember us. To us and, I’m sure, to just about any group that wants to reach the public, the Naval Hospital is an ideal site. There probably isn’t a small museum of any kind that wouldn’t like to be in Balboa Park.”

Hix said the most finely tuned public relations push has come from various veterans’ groups hoping the city will convert the chapel to a veterans memorial and the administration center to a museum marking the military’s longtime relationship with San Diego.

“There is no suitable memorial or museum for the many thousands of veterans who have passed through San Diego during the service of their country,” said Struiksma. “I find that really shocking when you think about the large presence the Navy always has had in San Diego and the role this city has played in the defense of our country.”

Bill Fisher, an artist and Vietnam veteran, was asked to draw a rendering of a possible military memorial on the old hospital land. Fisher’s proposal includes placement of a statue of George Washington crossing the Delaware at the front of the administration center, which would be converted to a military museum, and a promenade of flags memorializing the fallen in each of the four wars fought by U.S. forces since the original Navy Hospital was commissioned toward the end of World War I.

A group of artists who are Vietnam veterans also hopes that the medical library building will be converted to a gallery where their works could be displayed.

Hix predicted that the proposal to give over the administration center and medical library buildings to military-oriented uses as well would meet with opposition. “At some point, it might be inferred by some that the military interests are trying to take over the land the Navy gave to the city in the first place. That could bring some hard feelings, considering all of the controversy when the Navy took over Florida Canyon in the first place.”

Fisher said he would not be surprised if the veterans were rebuffed. “Vietnam was really a long time ago, and we’ve always wondered why it took so long for there to be some kind of memorial for the veterans in the city, so at this point, we don’t have confidence in anybody,” Fisher said.

If the many groups hoping to move to the old hospital site share one thing in common, it is the assertion that Balboa Park would be the best location for their activities.

Victor Kops, a psychiatrist championing the proposal to use part of the administration center for a battered womens’ center, said, “There’s a significant need for such a shelter in the City of San Diego, and the old Naval Hospital, with its proximity to downtown and beautiful surroundings, would seem to be the ideal location.”

George Dooley, a spokesman for CHAD, said the group’s proposal to consolidate the offices of various health services providers in the old administration center “would serve as a clearinghouse of services that would benefit residents from around the county.” He also said an accompanying medical museum would “mark the history of San Diego’s significant contributions to the medical field.”

Laurel Johnson, representing the San Diego Community Arts Center, has orchestrated a letter-writing campaign in support of the group’s proposal for construction of a new performing arts center on the Navy Hospital property. Letters from more than a dozen local community theater groups in the county have been received by the city.

Like other supplicants for the site, Johnson is convinced that the hospital location is perfect for her arts center’s activities.

“There is a great need for more theater space in the city, to serve the many fine local organizations,” Johnson said. “And to be close to the existing performing arts centers in the city would be a tremendous advantage for us.”