Developers should pay for projects’ impacts
I was quite disappointed to read such a one-sided and misleading story about the University City Facilities Benefit Assessment (“FBA”) in your Jan. 17 issue (“UCPG finds hand in their honey pot,” page 1).
An FBA is an account funded by developer fees and used to pay for community projects such as roads, libraries and other community services necessitated by new commercial and residential development. Developers should pay for the impacts created by their projects, and the FBA is a way to ensure that happens in accordance with the community plan. During my time on the council I have been a tireless advocate for using the FBA to pay for new projects in University City, including the Nobel Park and Library and the Regents Road bridge, and I have vigorously resisted attempts to raid the FBA for money not related to University City infrastructure projects.
The Regents Road bridge has been a component of the University City community plan for more than 40 years. The Fire and Police Departments strongly supported building this connection to improve response time and create another way out of the community in case of a disaster. It should come as a surprise to no one in University City that FBA money will be used to pay for the project, for that is exactly the kind of community benefit the FBA was established to fund. It is inaccurate to refer to this as raiding a “honey pot.”
I am proud to support this and other important projects in University City and will continue to advocate for their completion with funding from developer fees.

Scott Peters
Council President, City of San Diego, District 1 Councilman

La Jolla, high crime area?
Our local Vons store on the corner of Pearl and Girard is announcing their new look. Frankly, all I can see are new video monitors warning customers that they are being watched and the addition of electronic sensor bars at the entrances.
Since when did La Jolla become a high crime area? I think it’s insulting, to say the least. This is La Jolla, not South Central L.A.
People in this town are too old and too rich to indulge in petty larceny. Are senior citizens sneaking out with candy bars in their handbags? Wealthy patrons pocketing pistachios?
What they really need to do is stop handing out 50,000 plastic bags a month. You can’t go through the checkout line with a stick of gum without someone trying to bag it.
But that’s another story. People who work there are great but management is missing the boat.
Yesterday at Longs next door some poor lady set off the sensors because she has a hip replacement. Customers should be valued, not humiliated.
Mark Anderson, La Jolla

Nature is a gift
Thank you, Matt Gillam, college student, for your guest commentary, “A day at the beach: We don’t deserve it” (Village News, Dec. 20, page 10).
Nature is a gift we take too much for granted. What happened to “San Diego, the cleanest city”?
I’ve lived here for 45 years and have never seen so much trash, shopping carts all over the place, et cetera. We should start being proud of our clean San Diego again.
The next time you see someone littering … say something. The city should take more action as well in the way of fines.
I’m like you, Matt. I can’t help but pick up bottles and trash, take back shopping carts for exercise ” and it makes me feel good.
Carol Reardon Grant, Point Loma

Families back at beach
I was going for my normal afternoon walk on Martin Luther King day and was startled with a couple things. First, there was a significant amount of children on bicycles and with their parents at the firepits and picnic tables. Secondly, the evening drinking and dope-smoking soccer games at the far end of the park area were nonexistent. To say the least, I was pleasantly shocked by both observations.
I hope this is a sign of things to come in the return of families and civilized behavior at our waterfronts. I would expect a significant reduction in the extra cost for police protection come this Fourth of July.
Tom Ferrell, Pacific Beach