Shortly into Thursday night's town hall meeting to discuss the future of recreation at the San Diego city lakes, Park and Recreation Department Director Stacey LoMedico offered a bright message on what was a dark night for those who fish, hunt and play on city lakes.
“The reality is you still have Joe,” said LoMedico, referring to Joe Weber, city lakes program manager.
Nelson Manville, the longtime head of the city's ranger-diver program and now Weber's assistant, stood within casting distance of Weber and LoMedico, deputy director of water operations Jim Fisher and Jim Barrett, director of public utilities.
It's great news that Weber and Manville will continue to oversee recreation at the city lakes. It won't be someone from Park and Recreation, much to the relief of LoMedico, much to the joy of many who attended the meeting.
It took them two years to figure it out, but city officials finally realized that Water Department personnel, who are already handling the core duties of managing the city's water resources, are better suited to manage lake recreation. The only difference will be that the city's general fund, not the city's water rate payers, will subsidize any red ink in the program.
The hope now is that Weber and Manville, who took over when Jim Brown retired in June 2003, will continue protecting, as they have done so well, the traditional lake uses such as fishing and hunting, which have a 95-year history, and water sports, going on since the 1980s.
Weber and Manville's challenges are many.
Buried at the back of the Executive Summary Sheet that identifies the proposed changes in fees and elimination of some services at the lakes, there is a two-page item that identifies a proposed change in City Council Policy 400-03. It would give the mayor authority to set all user fees and the director of public utilities the power to, any time he chooses, “suspend any recreation activity due to water quality, security or safety issues.”
“To me, that's the scariest part of all these changes,” said bass fisherman Kelly Salmans.
In addition to that change in council policy, fees would be increased across the board for all users except youth fishermen.
Of all the fee increases, three stand out as unfair and in need of adjusting. Two are severe overcharges, one an incredible undercharge.
No one questions that the fishing and hunting experiences at Barrett Lake are special. Largemouth bass fishing can be exceptional, and waterfowl hunting can be spectacular in some areas.
But by raising fees for fishermen and hunters by 100 percent, the city will doom both programs. There will be fewer fishermen and hunters, making the programs easier to cut.
Fishermen pay $10 for a permit at Barrett, $40 for a boat and motor rental. Hunters pay $10 for a hunt fee, $20 for a reserved blind and $23 for a motorboat.
But under the proposed increases, fishermen will pay $20 for a permit, $80 for a boat and motor. Hunters will pay $20 for a permit, $40 for a reservation and $46 for a motorboat.
If two hunters share a reserved blind, that's $63 per hunter. Youth hunting permits doubled from $5 to $10.
If two fishermen share a boat, that's $60 per angler.
LoMedico promised to revisit the Barrett fees. And certainly anyone wishing to let Mayor Jerry Sanders and the City Council know how they feel may do so at the City Council meeting Dec. 1.
The other glaring deficiency in the fee schedule applies to kayaks. The launch fee went from $5 to $7 for boaters, but only from $1 to $2 for kayakers.
Before July 2006, kayakers paid the same $5 fee as boaters to launch at city lakes. Unlike fishermen who pay both boat launch and fishing fees, kayakers are required to only pay a launch fee, but no user fee.
Richard Haas, a former deputy chief for public works overseeing the Water Department, lowered the kayak fee from $5 to $1. Haas received one complaint from one kayaker at Miramar Lake and overreacted just a little by lowering a fee at a time when the city was looking for money.
LoMedico said she was surprised at the kayak launch rate and promised to revisit that, too.
The lake's concession stands will remain vacant, but LoMedico said a concessionaire may be retained later. It was pointed out that a concessionaire actually would pay the city money to be there, thus increasing revenue at the lakes.
Of all the topics Thursday night, the one that stirred the most emotion was the fact that the so-called “passive” users of the lakes – walkers, hikers, runners, in-line skaters, cyclists, bird watchers, etc. – pay no user fee or parking fee at city lakes. A city-sponsored study showed that most lakes – even nearby Santee Lakes – charge at least an entry fee for vehicles.
But don't look for that to happen any time soon at the city lakes, especially Hodges, Miramar and Murray, which draw the most “passive” use.
An entry fee, yet to be determined, will be charged at Sutherland, but that lake is in rural Ramona. The constituents there have no voting power in San Diego, thus, their angry cries, like those from county golfers who pay the outrageous visitor rate to play Torrey Pines South, don't reach City Hall.
Ed Zieralski: (619) 293-1225; ed.zieralski@uniontrib.com
