SDMGA Report on Mayor Sanders' Golf Plan Meeting
At the last minute, at least for representatives of the public, Mayor Sanders called a meeting of the parties involved with his proposed fixes to be implemented at the Torrey Pines and Balboa golf courses. SDMGA had forced an invitation to the Mayor’s meeting through the efforts of concerned city council members. A report of this meeting is given in the following.
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As you may have read, Mayor Sanders announced a plan to sell out Torrey Pines to special interests. With 16 hours notice (including overnight hours) Mayor Sanders called a meeting of the parties involved with his proposed fixes to be implemented at the Torrey Pines and Balboa golf courses. SDMGA had forced an invitation to the Mayor’s meeting through the efforts of concerned city council members. At the meeting, the mayor announced that he would delay building the clubhouse until after the U.S. Open, but gave away public parkland to the Century Club to build its headquarters in a significant step toward the privatization of Torrey Pines. With respect to fees and access, the Mayor plans to support the unjustified and exorbitant fee increases in the Golf Five Year Plan and added these new twists.
- Eliminate the senior rate
- Eliminate the county rate
- Institute a new charge of $25 to $40 for a resident to make a reservation; for a weekday round on the North, this would run the fees up to $64, more than double the current resident fee and quadruple the current senior rate
- Limit resident play to a maximum of 50 times per year per individual
- Limit resident play to a maximum of 2 times per week per individual
- Cut Torrey Pines Men’s Golf Club tee times by 60%
- Cut Torrey Pines Women’s Golf Club tee times by 50%
There was no explanation given about why the dramatic fee increases were necessary over the Five Year Plan’s high increases even though the $13 million in construction costs of the clubhouse was no longer in the plan. Nothing was mentioned about weekly restrictions on the number of times per week a hotel guest or other out of town golfer may play. Since the subject was avoided, the assumption is that it is unrestricted. Even though the city's gift of 280 preferential tee times per week to the Torrey Pines Hilton and the Torrey Pines Lodge are under legal attack, the Mayor plans to continue to give away tee times to these groups at below market rates. It is estimated that the Lodge clears at least $200,000 per year by reselling these tee times to its guests at the true market rates. A response to the Mayor's “Talking Points” used at the Wednesday's meeting has been sent to the mayor and city council - Click here to read our response.
In addition, Sanders violated every campaign promise he made about open government, transparency, and working with the community. He intervened and took this matter away from the community on March 1 when he stormed into a public hearing on Golf Matters being held by City Attorney Aguirre to announce that he was taking over the issue and stopping the City Council Process. He was there less than 60 seconds and did not bother to even listen for five minutes to the concerns of the citizens who came to the meeting.
Instead, Sanders and his staff have been meeting behind closed doors shutting the public out. SDMGA has made a request under the Public Records Act for the people the Mayor and his staff met with and will have an answer by April 20. We have a pretty good idea who the special interests are who seek to take Torrey Pines away from resident golfers and make it their private destination resort – Evans of the Torrey Pines Lodge and the Century Club.
Word has it that Donna Frye may be successful in getting the Mayor’s plan to come through her Natural Resources & Cultural Committee (NR&C) on or about May 17. It is important that we email, write or phone the Mayor’s office and your City Council representative to demand that we get a public hearing at NR&C on May 17 and that we strongly oppose the Mayor’s proposal.
Please go to the "News" section of this web site for all the up to date news. You will find addresses to contact the Mayor and your City Council person in the "Contact City Hall" section of this web site. Please sign our petition if you haven’t done so already. Remember, we will only change the Mayor’s plan with a massive email and letter writing campaign to the mayor's office, to the City Council Members and by a large attendance at the next public hearing, probably, May 17. Please copy any part of this report to use in your correspondence with city officials or your own words will be just as good, probably even a lot better - in any case WRITE. Thank you and we will keep you posted.
Best regards,
San Diego Municipal Golfer’s Alliance
John Beaver, co-founder
Joe Burwell, co-founder
Paul Spiegelman, co-founder