Encinitas Parks

On Sept. 30, I participated in a focus group, costing the taxpayers $35,000, concerning the $25-million Proposition A bond issue for Encinitas parks, to be voted on Nov. 7.

Those running the study group gave us very little information on where or how our money would be spent, but seemed anxious to elicit our approval of the bond issue.

According to our hosts, 150 acres are to be acquired for parks in Encinitas. These 150 acres are all to be developed, though to what extent they could be after land acquisition was paid for was not made clear.

“Improvements” to the recreational facilities of six elementary schools are also scheduled. I question the use of park money to improve school facilities when the schools have their own budgets. Of course, if such expansion and improvements were so that school parks would have an after-school life, in lieu of the other park development in the bond issue, it would cost less, probably not require an expensive bond issue and make more sense.

Furthermore, no demographic or other studies were produced to show the projected use of these parks. Meanwhile, residents of areas such as Village Park, where parks were included as part of the land development, would be expected to pay again for parks in other areas.

The city government has embarked on a program to expand the city government. More money seems to be spent on surveys than on real action, while the city government has grown from 10 employees to 110 employees in the short time since incorporation. We residents are being saddled with a new layer of government bureaucracy that has a life of its own. This was foreseen before incorporation by many of us. It is now coming true.

ROBERT PFEIL

Encinitas