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Commentary by San Dieguito River Park Executive Director Dick Bobertz
Please act NOW to save the San Dieguito River Park. Only the Mayor has the power to continue the essential support of the City of San Diego to keep the River Park alive. Help us convince him that citizens support the River Park.
Please express your concerns in writing to:
Mayor Jerry Sanders
City of San Diego
202 C Street
San Diego, CA 92101
or email JerrySanders@sandiego.gov
Twenty years of progress creating the regional San Dieguito River Park may be lost if the City of San Diego unilaterally withdraws from the group of five cities and the County that originally established and jointly funded the San Dieguito River Park.
• On December 9, 2009 the San Diego City Council passed a mid-year budget that eliminated funding for the San Dieguito River Park (SDRP) amounting to 36% of the river Park's annual budget.
• Combined with a 14% budget cut from the previous year the SDRP will lose more than one third of its staff and most of its capacity to continue the progress of the last twenty years.
• When the City Council made their budget decision they directed City staff to investigate if the SDRP budget could legally be transferred to the City Water Department, a separate budget, on the basis that the River Park accomplished watershed protection activities necessary for the protection of water quality and quantity of City water resources.
• It has been confirmed that preservation and enhancement of land and natural resources within the Lake Hodges and San Pasqual watershed are important to the Water Department's efforts to ensure a viable water supply now and far into the future. The contributions of the SDRP fit squarely within the identified goals of the Water Department. The SDRP has raised over $18 million to purchase 2,256 acres of land within Lake Sutherland, Lake Hodges and San Pasqual watershed and is maintaining the properties as protected open space. Additionally, the SDRP has obtained over $1 million for invasive species control within San Pasqual Valley and patrols daily to prevent erosion caused by off-road vehicles.
• It has been over two months since the San Diego City Council Budget action with no answer to the Council's question on the legality of transferring the SDRP budget to the City Water Department.
Please write Mayor Sanders NOW (cc dbobertz@sdrp.org) and ask him to answer the Council's question and to support transferring the River Park budget to the San Diego Water Department. |
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