Chula Vista Set to Weather Another Storm

The name was Charles Hatfield, but people around here knew him as Hatfield the Rainmaker--for good reason.

In 1916, a desperate San Diego City Council hired the former sewing machine salesman to end a lengthy drought.

In 1990, an enterprising Chula Vista politician is trying to end a drought of another kind--one indirectly caused by Hatfield--by welcoming a nationally televised 10-kilometer run.

So what does Hatfield the Rainmaker have to do with today’s Arturo Barrios 10K run?

In 1916, Hatfield ended the dry spell, all right. In fact, he made so much rain that he washed much of Chula Vista into the bay, thereby ruining what was considered one of the finest natural harbors in Southern California, according to Chula Vista Mayor Greg Cox.

“The guy set up all these pots and started mixing some chemicals,” Cox was saying the other day. “And his timing must have been just great, because there was a deluge of rain. Sweetwater Dam overflowed; Otay Dam broke and all the sediment flowed into the bay and destroyed a very desirable sailing area.”

Ever since Hatfield the Rainmaker opened the skies, the South Bay has always been more silt than salt water, which was perfect for the California Lees Terns and Light-footed Clapper Rails who took up residence in the marsh.

But it was frustrating for boaters who couldn’t sail over the dregs and developers who couldn’t touch the bay front because the two species of birds happen to be endangered.

Now, almost 75 years later, Hatfield the Rainmaker’s legacy is finally washing away. After several years of dredging, the murky bay has once again become a harbor.

Even the Chula Vista Yacht Club, which went on a 60-year hiatus after Hatfield’s storm, has reopened.

Its home is the new Chula Vista Harbor, which in recent years has grown to include 562 boat slips, formal restaurants, a camp ground, a park and a beach. There are plans for 341 more boat slips, an off-shore nautical activity center, a Seaport Village-type development, luxury hotels and a sports complex.

There’s only one problem. Hardly anyone knows about the place.

“Even a lot of people who live in Chula Vista don’t know this is down here,” Cox said.

The solution is this morning’s 10K run, the largest prize-purse road race in the country--but one that had been searching for a host city since its inaugural running last year in Santa Ana.

The search ended at the foot of J Street, the entrance to the Chula Vista Marina.

Race promoter Tim Murphy of Elite Racing considers himself lucky to have found a home. Other races are still looking for hospitable streets:

--The city of San Diego recently chased the owners of the San Diego Marathon out of town.

--Last month, the cities of Del Mar, Solana Beach and Encinitas erected road blocks in front of the same marathon and its new owners.

The complaints are similar. City governments and law enforcement agencies are tiring of a seemingly unending stream of special-event permits for 10Ks, triathlons and bicycle races--and the costs that go with them.

In the midst of this, the city of Chula Vista stood up and yelled, “Hey, over here.”

Coincidentally, the Chula Vista director of community development is Chris Salomone, who held a similar position in Carlsbad during the mid-1980s when Murphy got the Carlsbad 5,000 off the ground.

Salomone remembered what the Carlsbad 5,000 brought to that North County community.

“It gave Carlsbad national publicity,” Salomone said, referring to coverage by ESPN, which has chosen the Arturo Barrios 10K as Road Race of the Month. “And it created a quality image for the city. It brought a lot of people from all over Southern California to see that village they have in Carlsbad--people who didn’t know that village existed. Plus the people it brought in are high-quality demographically. Runners and joggers tend to be well-educated and travel-oriented.

“I’m confident the same thing will happen here.”

So badly does Chula Vista want to take the cloak of secrecy off its harbor, that Cox allocated $15,000 for the event. Plus, the city will pay for all services, such as crowd control, traffic officers and cleanup. Such expenses are usually left to the promoter.

Cox also convinced local businesses to match the city’s $15,000 and got the Port District to contribute $20,000.

“Mayor Cox is the most incredible politician I’ve ever met,” Murphy said. “He doesn’t even act like a politician--he actually gets things done. He decided he wanted a nationally televised event in his city and he went out and did it.”

Besides being a TV event, it will be a spectator event. Murphy, borrowing his formula of success with the Carlsbad 5,000, designed a course with two goals in mind:

Keep it flat--that will make for a fast race. And use multiple loops so spectators can see the elite field go by several times.

In Carlsbad, by standing on one of two corners, you could see the runners go by three times. In Chula Vista, Murphy has designed a course that will allow spectators to view the lead pack six times.

One other idea borrowed from Carlsbad is multiple races. There will be a people’s 5K, a people’s 10K and the invitational race. In Carlsbad, staggering the races has created a unique atmosphere in which all the weekend runners hang around and cheer on the professionals.

“And that’s the key to Carlsbad,” said Steve Scott, who has set several world bests there. “We’re not running out in the middle of nowhere. Nothing spurs on a runner more than having the people there to cheer you on.”

But in 1916, there were no cheers for Hatfield the Rainmaker, who never received the $10,000 promised him by the city of San Diego, despite a 17-day downpour that dropped 11.4 inches of rain. At one point, he negotiated a reduced payment of $1,800, but later turned it down when the city insisted he accept responsibility for $3.5 million in damage suits that resulted from the storm.