CV Candidates Voted to Privatize Rohr Park Arena

This comment was made in response to the article "Bios on the Incumbents Running for Chula Vista Office" that was published on May 29, 2026. My website builder does not allow comments to be easily found on my end. I missed this one and a Common Sense reader found it and asked me to publish it. Here you go!

"It is noteworthy that all three of these candidates voted in October 2023 to grant Sunnyside Saddle Club exclusive use of the Rohr Park Horse Arena, a decision that resulted in a public equestrian facility being locked to the public. During much of the 19-month closure, the arena saw very limited use, yet the public was excluded from a facility that had historically been available to the community for decades.

Throughout this period, many backyard horse owners were characterized as "ruining the dirt," having "no skin in the game," being "freeloaders," and were told that neither Sunnyside Saddle Club nor the City of Chula Vista had any responsibility to support their equestrian activities. At the same time, cameras were installed at the arena, allowing calls to be made to law enforcement when members of the public entered what many believed remained a public park facility.

After the locks and signs appeared, some members of the public opposed the closure and removal of public access to a facility that had been openly used for approximately 40 years. As tensions grew, horse owners exercising their horses at the arena faced repeated police responses. Chula Vista Police were called to the arena on multiple occasions, and horse owners were threatened with trespass citations and, in some cases, warned that their horses could be impounded despite the arena's location within a public park.

It took 19 months before Parks and Recreation Director Frank Carson met with local horse owners and announced that the arena would once again be open for its traditional public use. This reversal came only after repeated public comments at City Council meetings, multiple police responses involving two patrol units, county code enforcement complaints that resulted in no violations, workplace violence restraining order proceedings that were ultimately unsuccessful, and court filings that many participants believed contained inaccurate or misleading statements.

When the arena was finally reopened, there was no public announcement acknowledging the change, no recognition of the burden placed on horse owners who had lost access to the facility, and no apology to those who spent nearly two years without the ability to exercise and train their horses in a public arena.

To this day, many people are still waiting for Sunnyside Saddle Club and the City of Chula Vista to acknowledge that mistakes were made and that a public park facility should never have been closed to the public without meaningful community input. Voters will ultimately decide whether the officials who supported these actions deserve another term or whether new leadership should be given the opportunity to restore public trust and ensure that public facilities remain accessible to everyone. They don't deserve a vote; they side with privatization of public parks."

Written by Horse=Life | May 29, 2026 | Bios on the Incumbents Running for Chula Vista Office

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