Poway’s Mayor and City Council Broke a Big Promise To Me and My Neighbors 

By Patricio J. Diaz

It has been almost 35 years since the Poway City Council promised us that our neighborhood park, Starridge Park, would never be turned into a sports complex. Last week, before we could notice or respond, city crews installed commercial-grade generators and stadium-style lighting so it can host softball league games. A few days later we received a Special Notice letting us know about the changes.

If you've ever been to Starridge Park, you know that it is a small park with a parking lot barely big enough to fit the cars of one sports team. It’s surrounded by homes built in the late 1970s. In 1987, the city promised us to not host any competitive games at the park. It agreed to: 

• Reduce size of playing fields to discourage the use by organized sports

• Not install field lights now or in the future

• Establish a park curfew at sundown

We’ve been through something like this before, and the city respected our agreement.

In 2004, the City was under pressure to add more sports park space. Just like today, they decided to make Starridge Park a sports park. At the time the Mayor of Poway was Mickey Cafagna, a man of high reputation (Poway’s new community center is named in his honor.) Like today, some Poway residents didn’t remember the promises made, but their neighbors had kept those records and the evidence was presented to the City. I remember City Councilmember Bob Emeri standing in the middle of a crowded Poway High Auditorium where he said he had read the documents provided by the neighbors and couldn’t in good faith approve the changes to the park. The Council listened and voted unanimously to keep the park as it was promised. 

Today, instead of reaching out to us, the people most affected by this, the City Council sidestepped us. By sending us a notice while already working on changes to the park, it acted with arrogance towards its constituents. They say the move is temporary while they work on the water treatment plant, which led to the closure of a local park. It's important to know that temporary means several years (the water treatment plant is supposed to be completed in 2 to 3 years, but delays are common).

Starridge Park is now suitable as a sports park, even for night play. We neighbors have been blindsided. The City is ignoring that housing is very close to the field and the impact of lighting, noise, parking and crowds will be high. We are concerned that the quality of life will change dramatically.

We have sent letters to City Council members and received responses from councilmembers Dave Grosch, Barry Leonard and Caylin Frank. Mayor Vaus has not responded so far. None of them want to acknowledge that they are in violation of the promise the city made to us.

We urge the City to reconsider its proposed changes to the park and comply with the promise made to residents in 1987 and reaffirmed in 2004.

This new chapter of the story finds us with a new lighted sports park, a promise broken and the realization that we can no longer believe what the City says.

Patricio J. Diaz is a retired mechanical engineer and local soccer coach who has lived in Poway since 1980.