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The San Diego Municipal Golfer's Alliance (SDMGA) has put together a letter to its supporters updating recent events, actions and findings. Included are summaries of the Aguirre forum actions, the NR&C meeting, the meeting proposed by the mayor and things we know.

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Dear fellow SDMGA supporters,

This is an update to the 1172 of you who have signed the SDMGA petition and/or have written to the Mayor and City Council members to stop the building plans, fee raises and other unwanted changes to Torrey Pines and to request improvements for Balboa and Mission Bay.

In early March, City Attorney Mike Aguirre held a special forum during which the SDMGA was invited to sit at the dais. For the first time this gave the resident municipal golfer a position at the table with city officials and other interests. It was at this meeting that Mr. Aguirre revealed both Torrey courses had been pledged as collateral for bonds that had nothing to do with Torrey and that revelation has raised many unanswered questions. The Mayor interrupted the meeting and asked that no formal actions be taken by City groups including the City Council until the Mayor's staff had time to further consider the matter.

Since that time Donna Frye held a non-voting meeting of the Natural Resource and Cultural Committee, the one that oversees the golf courses, to get further public input on the issues. SDMGA made the initial public presentation and every member of the public who spoke opposed the plan; only those with a financial interest such as Bill Evans of the Lodge supported the plans. Nothing substantive was concluded from that meeting.

We are waiting for the Mayor to schedule an update meeting. Rumor has it that he will call the meeting for sometime the week of April 3. In the meantime, many of us have been working to stay informed as to any "back room" dealings that may be going on and we have heard nothing. Here's what we do know.

- The California Coastal Commission has asked the City to fully justify all of the proposed changes. Many documents required by the Commission have not been filed by the City and this is definitely a fly in the City's ointment.

- After hearing from SDMGA representatives, the University Community Planning Group (UCPG) has asked for a re-hearing of the golf course changes because they feel that the City did not give them complete information the first time.

- Rumor has it that building the clubhouse will be put on hold at least until after the 2008 U.S. Open. If this is true, it is a substantial victory for our objectives, but there is much still to be done: holding the line on resident fees, assuring resident access to prime tee times, preventing other special interest construction on Torrey Pines such as the Century Club’s office building. SDMGA will keep fighting for the public golfer to keep municipal golf affordable and accessible to all residents.

- Several people are collecting accurate tee time data to use as a basis to challenge the present tee time allocations by the city and to establish an equitable distribution of tee times to the resident golfers.

At this moment we are waiting to hear what the Mayor has to say. We will contact you again to keep you updated and to advise you of specific actions you can take to help protect the citizens of San Diego's access to our Municipal Golf Courses. In the meantime, please help us gain more signatures on our petition either online at www.sdmga.com/petition.htm or manually. To print out a manual Petition and Signup Sheet click here. Thank you for your continued support. Visit the San Diego Municipal Golfer’s Alliance website, www.sdmga.org, frequently for the latest information.