Solana Beach does not need a costly election to establish a private party policy for FCCC

You may have seen the paid signature gatherers around town asking you to sign a petition to “Save the Solana Beach Community Center.” These folks get paid for every signature, valid or not, and are willing to say anything to get you to sign. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is a grassroots campaign to “Save” the Community Center — this is more like a hostile takeover!

The City

does

have a new policy in place for rentals of the Fletcher Cover Community Center (FCCC) for private parties on weekends. It is a compromise policy that the City Council worked thoughtfully to develop after listening to all concerns. The neighbors living near the FCCC support the compromise, but it’s still not enough for some members of the Civic & Historical Society (C&HS). Three of its members are pushing a voter Initiative to force the City to hold a special election just to decide on a party policy! The cost to taxpayers for that election will be a whopping $300,000!

The Council set reasonable rules for frequency, hours, number of attendees, fees and the amount of alcohol that can be served at FCCC private parties. But the C&HS group is opposed to every single one of the new rules except the $50 per hour fee to rent the FCCC. This small group still wants

more

1. And they are pushing for more with their Initiative.

So why is the Initiative so bad? If passed, it forces the City to permit the most extreme, most intensive use of the FCCC. The group’s Initiative allows for private parties of 100 people on two days every single weekend until 10 p.m. with no exceptions for holidays or other special events, amplified live music and unlimited consumption of alcohol. That’s 100 private partiers looking for parking spaces on weekends when the demand for parking in the area is highest! And here’s the clincher, if the Initiative is enacted and problems are created, the City Council cannot fix the problems without a public vote at

another costly election!

Great way to set a policy, eh?

Solana Beach does not need a costly election to establish a private party policy for FCCC. It’s time for the general membership of the C&HS to ask the three Initiative sponsors to set aside their demands and accept the City’s compromise policy.

Victoria A. Cypherd

Solana Beach resident