What a Letdown

I have always admired the Los Angeles Times for the accuracy of its contents. In fact, rather than subscribe to one of the San Diego papers when we moved here, I opted for The Times.

Unfortunately, you have let me down. I am referring to the article and statistics regarding Lake San Marcos which appeared in the North County Focus section April 1.

Specifically, I am calling your attention to the doubtful statistical references to: Racial/ethnic mix, median income, education, etc.

Where did The Times obtain these figures? Can it substantiate them as being factual for Lake San Marcos? Or were they simply taken from the city of San Marcos?

If, as was mentioned in the article, the cost of a single-family home is an average of $278,000, I doubt that the median household income is only $30,289. I also doubt that with such affluence there are 12% without a high school diploma and that 32.7% were only high school graduates.

As for ethnic/racial mix, where would this statistic come from? I would imagine it might have come from regular city of San Marcos records. I doubt if the “Lake” breaks it down--what purpose would it serve in a privately developed area? Incredible!

Referring to other sections of the article, it is implied that there are no homeowners associations, when in fact there are several. I happen to be a past president of one. And our homeowners association does not “pay an optional fee for use of the amenities” as you state. In fact, we paid a mandatory fee last year of over $34,000.00.

JAMES J. McATEER

Lake San Marcos

Editor’s Note: Most of the statistics were those for Census Tract 200.04, which includes Lake San Marcos and part of the city of San Marcos. An explanation of this source was inadvertently omitted from the chart.