Taxpayers evicted from Public Land for Private Enterprise

[sbd]

What is the name of your state? California

For over 40 years my parents have enjoyed the public beach at Bahia Point with the exception of the harassment every few years by the police directed by the Bahia Hotel and its owner. This year seems to be one of those years and the signs were immediate to any frequent beachgoer to Bahia Point. The first sign was an actual sign that mysteriously changed the Parking Hours at Bahia Point by closing 4 hours earlier from 2:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M. On the face of it, there doesn't seem to be an issue and there wasn't until the week of the fourth of July.

It started around June 30, 2005 when the police decided to show their presence of force in cars, on horses, and on ATV's through the sand in front of the tents of the law abiding citizens. When nightfall came, the police drove around Bahia Point informing everyone that 10:00 was approaching and the parking lot was being closed. They also informed us that if any cars remained, they would be ticketed. So, as the law abiding citizens that we are, we left to a more welcome area of the Bay.

A little after 10:00 P.M., one of the people in our group decides to go and see if they were really handing out tickets to all the vehicles still in the lot and what did he find? All the cars that belonged to your average citizen all had tickets on them except those cars that had a Hotel Parking Pass on their rear view mirror. Upon discovering this, He called the police station and asks for the call to be recorded as the Police department was discriminating against him and every citizen in San Diego in favor of a Private Enterprise. He asked and received a meeting with a Sergeant who arrived less then thirty
minutes later. The Seargant said that the Hotel had permission from the City to use a small portion of the Public Parking for his Hotel. Not buying into this line of reasoning, he insisted they issue tickets to the cars or remove all the tickets from the non Hotel cars in the lot. The police finally issued the tickets and the incident was over, for that night anyways.

This same scenario continued every night until the most outrageous night of them all occurred on Saturday, July 2, 2005. It makes me mad to even write this as it is so wrong, I become livid. Before the witching hour of 10:00, the Police came to make their announcement that everyone must vacate the parking lot, but this time they were extra loud in their demands to empty the parking lot. What they should have said was empty the parking lot, only if you are a law abiding citizen that pays your taxes for this place
and my salary. As usual and expected, all of the citizens left Bahia Point before 10:00 as demanded.

At around 10:30, four from our group, including my father, took a drive back to Bahia Point and what they saw was very hard to swallow. A real sense of betrayal filled their bodies as they looked out at both parking lots at Bahia
Point and saw a sea of cars filled to capacity. Apparently, the Bahia Hotel had booked two wedding parties that night and used the prohibited Public Parking of the tax payers of San Diego for his own private enterprise and with the help of the San Diego Police Department. In other words, the police through out the law abiding citizens in order to enrich the owner of the Bahia Hotel and did so knowing that they were discriminating against the public which has more of a right to be there then the wedding patrions.

This is just outrageous and if this is not taken care of in a just manner, I would like to file a lawsuit against the City of San Diego, the Police Dept, and Hotel for violating our Civil Rights. To make matters worse, the Sergeant came back again and tried to spin an incoherent justification for his actions for over two hours. Part of his justification was that his predecessor told him it was okay. If there was any equality in his decision, the City stood to gain financially with that pot of gold they call parking tickets.

There should be an investigation into this matter and the Hotel should have to pay for each of the times they have ever had an event for the use of the Public Parking paid for and maintained by the tax payers of San Diego. Someone should be held accountablefor allowing a Hotel to secretly use Public Parking for their private enterprises instead of using a portion of their land or leasehold for a parking garage and using the San Diego Police to enforce these acts.

Anyone have any advice as to how I should approach this matter?

 

[FarmerJ]

Go to your local media and see if they can embarrass your PD and city hall into either ticketing all or dropping the parking time back to what it used to be. Other wise you will have to talk to a atty about your wish of suing . Try the links up top to consult with a atty.

 

[sbd]

Thanks for the advice, I will submit it to the link at the top of the forum.

Here's a little salt to add to our wounds!!

It appears that the City Council voted in 2002 to extend the lease to the hotel for an additional 15 years on top of the 15 years still left on the original lease. The Managers report states that the current rent the City receives is around $800,000 per year. It goes on to state that in order to grant the ammendment to the lease for an additional 15 years, the rent must be brought to market rates which will increase the income to the city by 37%. The new rent increase will bring an additional $300,000 to the City bringing the rent to $1,100,000 per year.
Link to Manager's Report

Here is the link to what was actually passed by the City Council which reduces the rent to $500,000. So they justified the lease extension by claiming a rent increase, but instead gave the Hotel a rent decrease.

This City never seems to learn it's lesson!!

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state? California

For over 40 years my parents have enjoyed the public beach at Bahia Point with the exception of the harassment every few years by the police directed by the Bahia Hotel and its owner. This year seems to be one of those years and the signs were immediate to any frequent beachgoer to Bahia Point. The first sign was an actual sign that mysteriously changed the Parking Hours at Bahia Point by closing 4 hours earlier from 2:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M. On the face of it, there doesn't seem to be an issue and there wasn't until the week of the fourth of July.

It started around June 30, 2005 when the police decided to show their presence of force in cars, on horses, and on ATV's through the sand in front of the tents of the law abiding citizens. When nightfall came, the police drove around Bahia Point informing everyone that 10:00 was approaching and the parking lot was being closed. They also informed us that if any cars remained, they would be ticketed. So, as the law abiding citizens that we are, we left to a more welcome area of the Bay.

A little after 10:00 P.M., one of the people in our group decides to go and see if they were really handing out tickets to all the vehicles still in the lot and what did he find? All the cars that belonged to your average citizen all had tickets on them except those cars that had a Hotel Parking Pass on their rear view mirror. Upon discovering this, He called the police station and asks for the call to be recorded as the Police department was discriminating against him and every citizen in San Diego in favor of a Private Enterprise. He asked and received a meeting with a Sergeant who arrived less then thirty
minutes later. The Seargant said that the Hotel had permission from the City to use a small portion of the Public Parking for his Hotel. Not buying into this line of reasoning, he insisted they issue tickets to the cars or remove all the tickets from the non Hotel cars in the lot. The police finally issued the tickets and the incident was over, for that night anyways.

This same scenario continued every night until the most outrageous night of them all occurred on Saturday, July 2, 2005. It makes me mad to even write this as it is so wrong, I become livid. Before the witching hour of 10:00, the Police came to make their announcement that everyone must vacate the parking lot, but this time they were extra loud in their demands to empty the parking lot. What they should have said was empty the parking lot, only if you are a law abiding citizen that pays your taxes for this place
and my salary. As usual and expected, all of the citizens left Bahia Point before 10:00 as demanded.

At around 10:30, four from our group, including my father, took a drive back to Bahia Point and what they saw was very hard to swallow. A real sense of betrayal filled their bodies as they looked out at both parking lots at Bahia
Point and saw a sea of cars filled to capacity. Apparently, the Bahia Hotel had booked two wedding parties that night and used the prohibited Public Parking of the tax payers of San Diego for his own private enterprise and with the help of the San Diego Police Department. In other words, the police through out the law abiding citizens in order to enrich the owner of the Bahia Hotel and did so knowing that they were discriminating against the public which has more of a right to be there then the wedding patrions.

This is just outrageous and if this is not taken care of in a just manner, I would like to file a lawsuit against the City of San Diego, the Police Dept, and Hotel for violating our Civil Rights. To make matters worse, the Sergeant came back again and tried to spin an incoherent justification for his actions for over two hours. Part of his justification was that his predecessor told him it was okay. If there was any equality in his decision, the City stood to gain financially with that pot of gold they call parking tickets.

There should be an investigation into this matter and the Hotel should have to pay for each of the times they have ever had an event for the use of the Public Parking paid for and maintained by the tax payers of San Diego. Someone should be held accountablefor allowing a Hotel to secretly use Public Parking for their private enterprises instead of using a portion of their land or leasehold for a parking garage and using the San Diego Police to enforce these acts.

Anyone have any advice as to how I should approach this matter?

**A: I agree.

 

[sbd]

I posted the case to an Attorney, but it returned no Lawyers in my area qualified for this type of case.

I did find the areas of Law I think are being violated.

Because beach property is held by a political subdivision and the State in trust for the common use of all people, a municipality must not discriminate unfairly among different users of the beach. However, a municipality is permitted to differentiate between beach goers so long as the classification is reasonably related to a proper governmental objective and implemented in a non-discriminatory manner consistent with equal protection and due process.

The public trust doctrine, which is premised on the common rights of all citizens to use and enjoy tidal land seaward of the mean high water mark, dictates that the beach and the ocean must be open to all on equal terms and without preference and that any contrary state or municipal action is impermissible.

Equal protection claims under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution are analyzed under a three tier approach. A statute that regulates a "fundamental right" or a "suspect class" is subject to "strict scrutiny." A statute regulating a "semi-suspect" class or substantially but indirectly affecting a fundamental right will be subject to "intermediate scrutiny." All other statutes are subject to rational basis scrutiny, meaning it must be rationally related to the achievement of a legitimate state interest.

The public trust doctrine dictates that trust lands must be held, protected, and regulated for the common use and benefit.

 

[CdwJava]

However, even in the case of public lands, the guardian of that land can make special arrangements for private parties and interests. Whether this is proper or not really depends on how it was conducted and what the true contractual arrangements were.

A hotel can book a wedding in an otherwise closed facility or park so long as the policies of the city permit such an exception to the rule. Whether this took place here, I can't say.

Given the recent shenanigans of the S.D. city council and mayors (indictments all around) I would lean toward some shady dealings.

It sounds like what the end result here will be is that everyone will be booted from the lot.

- Carl

 

[sbd]

However, even in the case of public lands, the guardian of that land can make special arrangements for private parties and interests. Whether this is proper or not really depends on how it was conducted and what the true contractual arrangements were.

A hotel can book a wedding in an otherwise closed facility or park so long as the policies of the city permit such an exception to the rule. Whether this took place here, I can't say.

Given the recent shenanigans of the S.D. city council and mayors (indictments all around) I would lean toward some shady dealings.

It sounds like what the end result here will be is that everyone will be booted from the lot.

- Carl

The land is in Trust to the City from the State on condition that Public Access is the best use over anything else. Also, they can't boot everyone out of the lot because the Hotel barely has enough parking for their guests, let alone their ballroom that seats about 600. The Hotel owner is a big campaign contributor and has been given a sweetheart lease from the city and on top of that, he uses the public parking lot for free. He has been trying to get rid of the public from the point so he can make the entire peninsula into a private beach. He almost got his wish back in 1995 when the City Council gave it to him without giving adequate notice to the public. We caused a scene in City Hall when we found out and began protests, etc to overturn the decision. In 1997, The California Coastal Commission finally overturned it and the Hotel was out of luck, so now the Hotel does everything it can to get rid of us.

SBD