“We the people here need a park and we the neighbors are asking for a park.”
Leticia Lares is tired of looking through a chain-link fence at Harborside Park in Chula Vista. She was just warming up for a showdown with the Chula Vista City Council during Tuesday night’s council meeting.
“This is a loss of hope for us. Loss of hope,” Lares said while hopelessly gesturing towards the park behind the fence. “We are losing hope every time when we see this.”
She agreed the fence needed to go up around Harborside Park in Aug. of 2022 when a homeless encampment dominated the park, which is right next door to Harborside Elementary. The city kicked everyone out and put up the fence when crime, drugs, and sex became a fixture at the park.
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“You can see them in the morning injecting themselves. Once having sex,” Lares described.
Fast forward to May of 2023. Chula Vista Mayor John McCann declared Harborside Park was ready to reopen with promises of added security, upgrades, and fresh grass to make the park safe for families again.
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“We were waiting for that opening and then we find out that, no, it’s not going to happen,” shrugged Lares.
To Mayor McCann’s surprise, Councilwoman Andrea Cárdenas made a motion to keep the park closed and proposed investigating selling the property for more affordable housing. The rest of the council agreed, outnumbering McCann 4-1.
“Unfortunately, I was in the minority of wanting to open it back up,” said McCann.
"After continuous engagement with our Harborside community, the desire to provide a safe space for our families and children to thrive was overwhelming. As a City, it is our responsibility to explore every tool and opportunity we have in order to provide real, long-lasting improvements to the community.”
"Our growing housing crisis and unsheltered population, along with the increasing public safety crisis we saw in this part of our City is not something we can turn a blind eye to. This community deserves more than a shortsighted investment that in will lead us back to this same situation in just a few years. Analyzing all our options is the only way we will be able to help rebuild this community with the care and commitment it warrants," said Councilwoman Cárdenas in a statement.
“We don’t want affordable housing,” Lares exclaimed. “We want control on rent.”
Lares argued rent is too expensive for what should already be affordable housing in Chula Vista.
“They are very frustrated because they believe the city is now moving in the direction that they didn’t want,” McCann said. “I hope [neighbors] can convince some of the councilmembers to join me in wanting to reopen the park.”
Mayor McCann said the city planned on spending roughly $900,000 to place a park ranger station in Harborside Park, add lighting, and improve park features before the council voted to keep it closed.
