High Price of Park Shopping

Encinitas’ Parks Commissioner Nancy Orr’s justification for spending $25 million for new parks employs about the same logic as if she were going to spend an afternoon shopping at Nordstrom.

FACT: To pay for the park bonds, our property taxes will be raised based on the assessed values of our homes. Because of Proposition 13, those who have lived here for several years have lower assessed values and will pay much less. However, those who bought their homes more recently have higher assessed values and will pay much more--as much as five to 10 times more. That’s discriminatory. Newer residents could wind up paying for as much as 75% of the new parks. Yet many live in areas that already have parks that were paid for in the cost of their homes. Should they be expected to pay for parks twice?

FACT: Ms. Orr claims we are “deficient” in parks because the city only owns 40 developed acres. That is false and misleading. There are hundreds and hundreds of acres of beaches, parks, trails and open space in and around our city. The city doesn’t include that in their totals because they don’t own it. But most is still publicly owned land and there for all of us to use. And, regardless of what public agency maintains it, we aren’t deficient in anything (except maybe a parks commissioner with some bottom-line common sense).

Ms. Orr needs to figure out how her Parks Department can improve and pay for what they already have. And until they do, the voters can’t afford to give her a $25-million blank check to go shopping.

GEORGE H. WARDNER

Cardiff