From: La Jolla Town Council
Date: Sun, Apr 18, 2021 at 10:55 AM
Subject: Torrey Pines Gliderport
To: CouncilMember Joe LaCava

Dear Councilmember LaCava,

Attached please find a letter from the La Jolla Town Council (LJTC) regarding the Torrey Pines Gliderport (TPG). This issue, which has a long history in La Jolla, appears to be escalating. LJTC heard from residents who feel they are unable to use this park and the TPG. We invited the management of TPG to attend our meeting on several occasions; however, they declined. Upon review, one factor which may help clear up a significant number of issues is the TPG Advisory Board. LJTC voted during its April 2021 meeting that the reconvening of the TPG Advisory Board would provide solutions for the concerns of La Jolla residents. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Respectfully,

James P. Rudolph
President
La Jolla Town Council

Joe LaCava: As it said on the agenda, I wanted to come out and do an update. You all sent a letter to me a couple of months ago and time passed so quickly but I wanted to circle back on some of the issues that you raised. Um, this is not intended to be a final thought. It's not intended to answer everything that has been complained about or that I hear on a regular basis. Um, some of the more vocal folks, but I did want to give you an update, um, on the Gliderport, um, as some of you are probably well aware that the City Real Estate Department has not had its finest hour over many years on a variety of issues and the good news that I can report is that a couple of months ago we may have hired a new Real Estate Director, and who is an individual that is outstanding. I am very excited about her, and she is going to turn the corner on Real Estate Assets. She has recently got herself up to speed. She is very open and transparent and quite candid when you talk with her which is very refreshing. And that's how we solve problems where there have been challenges in the past, and how we work together to solve them. And so some of the things that we have talked about is the Gliderport is certainly an unusual animal in the City's list of assets, in the sense that it is an historic venue, and provides a unique opportunity for those who enjoy glider all aspects of what a gliderport can offer. It is also well outside the capacity of the City of San Diego to operate it which is why they have looked to outside vendors as all of you I think know that many public lands within the City are in fact leased out to private vendors. Um, where the City kind of got I say tripped up, and that's my personal opinion is that the City got sued because if you look at the Gliderport, there's quite a bit of activity there, and it is on a coastal bluff, and issues of drainage and erosion have been highly problematic out there and the City did get sued. So you have to kind of clean up the act there. And um, back in 2012, as we are today, the City doesn't have the money to do that. What the City did do, for some of you with longer memories, is uh, organize an Advisory Board, um and created what the City calls a general development plan, essentially a master plan to do park improvements that would deal with drainage, make it friendlier to the public to be able to use, reduce erosion, actually maybe even pave that parking lot. Um which is quite the roller coaster if you've ever used that dirt parking lot. Um, and then once that got that, they had no money to actually implement that, so um, they shut down the Advisory Board because that's the job of an Advisory Board was to bring the plan, and then oversee the construction. But that wasn't going to go anywhere. And so what the City decided was that they were going to issue an RFP to find the new vendor and one of the conditions of the new vendor was to construct the park. [interruption by Ernie getting a visitor] Um, the um, as you can imagine, a park of that size, the scale there is a multi-million dollar operation. And when the first RFP went out nobody said they would be able to afford to build the park. So the City sat down, kind of scratched it's head a little bit, and went out with a new RFP with the same result. No surprise. Nobody could afford to build that park on the City's behalf. And so the City's been kind of frankly been stuck. Uh, they let the lease continue month to month wondering what to do. Now I've been on this for six months now. I talk with folks behind the uh, some of the more vocal folks, uh, we know, I know they're in this meeting. Um, before I got elected, and I met with them after I got elected. I got their email which I read. Um, I hear their testimony at almost every City Council meeting. And so what we're trying to do is figure out a new way to get past this requirement to build the park so that we can do an RFP and we can throw away the old lease and put together a new lease based on what we've learned over the years. And actually recoup revenue for the City. Um it's been widely reported the old lease doesn't require anything because way back when, I don't know how many years it's been now, the City just wanted somebody to operate that, to try to operate that. So that's kind of where we're at. We're trying to look at what our options are up there. Um, and as Mr. Kuczewski said, I agree, there is no need to build the park. But that's where the City's been stuck, and I'm getting it unstuck. And we have a new Director, and we are going to get there. Um, with the new Director and the new Mayor. Um, but as you know, as most of you that have worked with the City, as I have over the many many years, nothing happens very fast. But I have committed myself, it is one of the top things on my white board that I look at every morning to be able to navigate this and push the City to fix this. I want revenue out of that Gliderport. I want it to be safe. And eventually my wildest dream is to have actually improve the park so that we have the ADA access that we have protected erosion, that we control the drainage, that we fix the parking lot. Um, and um, but that's a long ways away. We have a lot of infrastructure problems to solve. So um, the City will not reconvene the Advisory Board because the Advisory Board does not intervene in between a private vendor, and a lease holder and Real Estate Assets. An Advisory Board advises Park and Rec. There's no park there to really speak of, so um, that's kind of where we're at. So, um, from what I can tell, um, at this time, I've made more progress on this than anybody, um anybody else, so um, I wanted to be respectful of the Town Council taking the time to look at that. And the trivia, the park is actually in the University community plan. It's not in the La Jolla Community plan. Is that relevant? I don't know, but when the Advisory Board was convened many years ago, no La Jollan was invited to sit on that although we did get Ken King and Mary Coakley on there. I remember those conversations back in the day. Um, but um, that's kind of where we sit, I'm not happy with it. I've been briefed on it. Um, I don't need any more input because I know where we're at, what the problems are. I will thrown in because I committed myself, as many of you heard, during the campaign um that I'm going to be rather blunt because I don't want to waste your time. If you think there has been corruption. If you think there is um something funny going on, there's a lot of mechanisms to use. We have a City auditor that has a hot line. We have Grand Juries. We have the District Attorney. Don't call the Councilmember. Don't call the police because that not within our perview. Those organizations are. Um, if you think there's criminal activity, don't go after our CRO, uh, that's not his job. File a complaint. Um, that's how you get the police involved. If you want a restraining order because you think you're being attacked or threatened, um we have a legal system that deals with restraining orders. Um the other thing that I will add is that our City Auditor is actually looking at City leases especially ones in terms of how we renew leases and how we hold over old leases which is clearly the case here. To say that we don't that um we have not done a very good job. We've let things languish. That's not good for the City. That's not good for taxpayers. So um, they're going to be looking at that. I don't have time frames. The City Auditor when they're going to do that audit. But if you watch the City Auditor, they do a pretty amazing job and independent audits of our City operations. So um, so that's, as I said, my intention was only to come by and give you an update. I'm happy to answer any questions, um that you might have. I think I'm making more progress on a number of issues in District one that the conversations have been poisoned somewhat and um, I'm picking them up. And I don't dump it on my Community Rep to convey those messages. I come out here. Um, we've got a long way to go, but we're working on it, and um, hope to get a resolution sooner rather than later. And I'll try to check in as we make meaningful milestones, so I'll stop there James, and happy to take any questions on this or anything else that you have an appetite for.

James: Thank you Councilmember LaCava, I'm sure we probably have time for one question, so now's your chance. There is Bob.

Bob: Hello. Can you hear me?

Joe: Yes.

Bob: Hello Joe, um, I have a couple of questions. First, um, as you know, I am personally not able to fly at the Gliderport because I testified in a Court case against the Gliderport concessionaire. Are you aware of that?

Joe: Yes. You've told me several times.

Bob: Have you looked into it to believe that it's true?

Joe: Um, I have not. Um, I assert that what you're representing um, is true at the moment.

Bob: OK. And you also know that I'm not able to use the Gliderport because I have spoken to the City Council about problems at the Gliderport.

Joe: Um, you have relayed that you have not been able to use the Gliderport.

Bob: I have also relayed that it's because I have spoken before the City Council. In other words, I spoke to the City Council showing problems at that Gliderport, and those speeches that I made to the City Council were used to expel me from an organization, a private organization that I must belong to in order to use our public land. Does that bother you?

Joe: Uh, no. Uh, it doesn't bother me because when we contract out with private vendors, which we do across our city, um for the exclusive use of our public land, um, that that's something that we do on a regular basis throughout the city. We do have private vendors controlling public land as through a lease agreement.

Bob: And, and you allow those public vendors to exclude people from using public land simply because they speak to the City Council or testify in Court?

Joe: We allow the vendors, um the um, we allow that. If you think your civil rights have been violated there are mechanisms to deal with that. Um, and I know you have chosen to focus your energies in reaching out to our office, and you're free to do that. We'll read your emails. We'll listen to your testimony at City Council, but it's not the most effective way to deal with that issue. But if that's how you want to proceed, that's your choice.

Bob: Are you recommending a law suit be filed against the City?

Joe: I think you should take the action that you deem appropriate, but I can tell you that contacting my office will not help resolve that conflict that you have with the vendor.

Bob: OK, one more ...

BlueShirt: This is a personal adjudication of the Councilmember to answer these questions.

Many others chimed in and I was muted for the rest of the meeting.

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Penny Maus's appointment as the Director of San Diego's Real Estate Assets Department in 2021, combined with her background in championing equitable coastal access at the Port of San Diego, suggests she could be an advocate for public access to sites like the Torrey Pines Gliderport. Her stated goals of optimizing city real estate assets and serving public interests could align with independent hang glider pilots' hopes for open access.

However, the actual impact of her tenure would depend on several factors, including:

1. **City Policies and Priorities:** The City of San Diego’s overarching stance on managing public resources and balancing commercial interests against public access.

2. **Stakeholder Engagement:** Maus’s willingness and ability to engage with independent pilots and other stakeholders to understand and prioritize their needs.

3. **Existing Agreements and Constraints:** The terms of the current concession agreement at Torrey Pines and any legal or logistical challenges in modifying them to accommodate broader access.

While her experience in equitable coastal access is promising, her role likely involves navigating competing interests, including those of the current concessionaire. If independent hang glider pilots want to promote their cause, active advocacy, and collaboration with her office might be essential to achieve their goals.