City to Sell Massacre Site, Erect Small Plaque

In a move that left families of victims of the San Ysidro McDonald’s massacre angry and tearful, the City Council voted, 5-3, Monday to sell the property where the fast-food restaurant once stood and to leave only a small portion of the land for a memorial.

The council approved City Manager John Lockwood’s plan to sell all but a 200-square-foot corner of the 75,000-square-foot lot.

The small plot will be used for a modest “park-like” memorial that will include a plaque fastened to a boulder in commemoration of the 21 people killed by gunman James O. Huberty in the July 18, 1984, tragedy.

Create Another Park

The land sale is expected to net the city $265,000 to $350,000, said Deputy City Manager Jack McGrory, who presented the plan Monday. He said the city plans to use that money to buy three to five acres nearby to be used as a park. The San Ysidro community will benefit because the area lacks parks, McGrory said.

But two women whose children died in the massacre said the plan shortchanges the memory of those who died at the site.

Maria Flores, who lost her 11-year-old son, David, said: “On the anniversary of my son’s death, I don’t want to go to some other park. My son died here (the site of the former restaurant, 522 W. San Ysidro Blvd.). That’s where I want to be. And for them to leave just a portion of it is too small. Too small.”

Adelina Hernandez, who lost her 11-year-old son, Omarr, appealed to the council members as parents, pleading for “just a simple recognition for the tragedy. Nothing elaborate.”

Hernandez, assisted by a translator, said later with tears rolling down her cheek: “It is so hard to accept this decision after three years of fighting for it. How can we have faith in a system that denies us this wish?” The news picture of Omarr lying dead beside his bike has become a widely remembered symbol of the slayings.

“That land is sacred and holy,” said Tom Arena, a concerned citizen who first commemorated the site by building a statue there. “Twenty-one people paid for that land with their lives. For the City Council to even consider selling it for commercial purposes is reprehensible.”

Alternate Proposal

Councilwoman Celia Ballesteros asked that the entire site be turned into a memorial park.

Ballesteros was backed by Mayor Maureen O’Conner and Councilman Mike Gotch. Councilman William Jones was absent for the vote.

After the vote, Ballesteros tried to comfort opponents of the land sale.

“The work the people in my community have done has not been in vain,” she said.

“But it is wrong for people to think that this was a callous decision. It was very tough. There were many things that had to be kept in mind.”

One concern was the suitability of placing a large memorial park at the site of the former restaurant--a busy commercial area surrounded by a post office, a nightclub and Interstate 5.

City Council members feared that such a park would increase the chances of children being struck by automobiles.

“We’ve already had one tragedy. We don’t want to have another one,” Ballesteros said.