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SOHO President's Monthly Message
August 2016
By Jaye MacAskill
 August 25 is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Park Service. I'm usually not one for making a big deal out of birthdays, but surprisingly, just thinking about the nation-wide centennial celebration seems to be putting a little extra "pep in my step." Hopefully, it is doing the same for you as well! It's reassuring to know that after 100 years, our National Park System is still going strong and that we the people are still able to enjoy many of the same spectacular places and natural spaces as they were (or almost were) generations ago.
California, in addition to having 280 state parks, boasts 27 national parks including San Diego's own Cabrillo National Monument in Point Loma. Have you been there lately? If not, I'd recommend going sometime soon to remind yourself what a tremendous legacy we have inherited, thanks to the Park Service. Can you imagine if there were no Cabrillo Monument? I sure can—think coastal mega-mansions and, for the rest of us, little to no access to those million-dollar views we currently appreciate for the nominal cost of park admission.
At least from where I stand in the far southwest corner of the map of the United States, things in general seem to be going quite well these days for the protection and preservation of our country's historic sites and natural landscapes. Under President Barack Obama for the past eight years, much attention has been brought to the importance of recognizing and preserving our rich and diverse history and natural heritage. Not only has Obama set a good example as a parent by taking the first family on vacations to national parks such as the Grand Canyon, Colonial Williamsburg, and Yosemite, as president he has ensured the protection of more than 265 million acres of public lands and waters—more environmental protection gains than were accomplished by any other administration in American history. In Southern California, this year alone Obama has designated three sites as new National Monuments: Sand to Snow, Castle Mountains, and the Mojave Trails. While I may not get to visit these places very often, or ever, I'm still glad to know they won't be destroyed by development any time soon.
With all this progress going on to protect our historic and natural resources—further evidenced by the ongoing success of the National Trust's This Place Matters campaign and the continued rise in popularity of cultural heritage tourism—I sometimes feel San Diego has been "left out of the party" philosophically. We still have to fight tooth and nail for almost every preservation save, while elsewhere, people are finally starting to get it. Did some of our local politicians and business leaders somehow fail to get the memo? (You know, the memo that says: "Not only is historic preservation good for the environment and for maintaining quality of life, but it is an important economic engine that creates jobs and provides stability and growth opportunities as well.")
How is it that in San Diego, we have to go to battle over and over again, year after year, with some of the same people to try to save important buildings and places that anywhere else would be practically considered sacred? Obviously, I'm talking specifically about Balboa Park here.
Balboa Park is a National Historic Landmark and widely referred to as San Diego's crown jewel. What's not to understand about the importance of that? In this day and age, there's really no honorable excuse for the level of ignorance required to undertake a major physical overhaul of a beloved, world-famous, 100-year-old historic city park.
In light of what is happening throughout the country this year for the National Park's Centennial, it doesn't make much sense that in San Diego preservationists once again must go into battle mode to protect Balboa Park from the devastation of the mayor's proposed plan for roadways, concrete paving, and paid parking garage. If any of our national parks celebrated this anniversary by reconfiguring their historic features and adding thousands of tons of new concrete for roadways and massive parking garages, somehow I must have missed that information...but I'm pretty sure I didn't.
Anyway, to make some sense out of this uniquely frustrating preservation crisis we're experiencing in San Diego—and at least to maintain my own sanity and sense of humor—sometimes I just tell myself that some of our politicians and business leaders may not actually be "one of us." They might actually be a bunch of time-traveling, bulldozer-crazed, urban renewal-ists from the 1950s who have ventured forth into the 2000s via time machine to continue their reign of senseless destruction. Based on the laws of science and physics, I know it's not a likely scenario, but it's the only one so far that makes me smile a little and helps me prepare mentally for a dreaded "round two."
I'm optimistic that SOHO and the public will once again triumph in saving Balboa Park. But really, I just wish we didn't have to fight in the first place. As far as our society has come in the past 100 years, I just don't see how we should still have to prove to anyone that important historic places like Balboa Park simply ought not to be messed with. It's just a plain, simple and well-established fact.
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