Mayor's Press Conference a Step Toward Keeping Rohr Park Horse Arena in Place

The call came late Monday afternoon.

"Mayor John McCann is having a press conference at the Rohr Park Horse Arena . . . 9AM tomorrow . . . Be there."

Chula Vista Mayor John McCann | Photos by Sunnyside Common Sense | Click on images to enlarge.

And the horse community started to work . . . telephoning, texting, emailing, Facebooking, stopping by homes/businesses . . . any way to get the word out. Horse people are good at gathering people or signatures or whatever is needed. You could say that they have each other's back.

Most of them arrived at the arena by 8:15 or 8:30AM. And there were a lot of them, easily over fifty. I think that even Mayor McCann himself was surprised by the number of attendees in such a short time of notification.

Photos by Sunnyside Common Sense | Click on images to enlarge.

The Rohr Park Horse Arena is important to this equestrian community. It is a place to exercise your horse, practice their leads, and to turn them out to calm them before a ride. It is a stage for horse shows, demonstrations and teaching clinics. And maybe most importantly, it is a safe haven in times of fire or flood.

Photos by Sunnyside Common Sense | Click on images to enlarge.

Everyone wanted to be at the press conference to hear what Mayor McCann had to say. The media was curious also and four entities showed up: CBS 8, NBC 7, KUSI-TV and Chula Vista Live Data.

Abbie Black for CBS 8 | Shandel Menezes for NBC 7 | Ed Lenderman for KUSI-TV | Robert Johnson for Chula Vista Live Data. Click on images to enlarge.

And what did the Mayor have to say?

"Today we are here to save and preserve the equestrian arena in Rohr Park."—Chula Vista Mayor John McCann

If you want just a short 2-3 minute edited segment, here are the videos from the various stations:

CBS 8: Chula Vista mayor, equestrians fight to save Rohr Park horse arena from removal in master plan (Abbie Black)

NBC 7: Divide over longstanding equestrian arena in Bonita (Shandel Menezes)

KUSI-TV: (Ed Lederman) I was unable to locate this one so I'm not sure that it aired. I will put it here when I find it.

If you wanted to attend this press conference and could not, this next video is like being there. There's no editing, just raw data. This was filmed by Robert Johnson of Chula Vista Live Data. It is a little over 51 minutes but I'll give you a timeline to help you find what you might be looking for.

Chula Vista Live Data: Mayor McCann Rallies to Save Rohr Park Equestrian Arena 1.6.25

00:00 Crowd gathering

02:25 Mayor McCann begins his speech. Additional speakers include Sunnyside Saddle Club Vice President, Sunnyside Saddle Club President and Sweetwater Community Planning Group Chair / Sweetwater Valley Civic Association President.

16:07 Questions begin. (I'll identify speakers as best I can.)

17:15 Ed Lederman, FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News

19:15 Robert Johnson, Chula Vista Live Data

20:32 Ed Lederman, FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News

21:10 Robert Moriarity, Chula Vista resident

22:53 Stacy Jett, Bonita resident

24:56 Shandel Menezes, NBC 7

27:38 Ed Lederman, FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News

30:08 Press conference ends. Camera is still recording (live mic)

32:00 John Zarem, Chula Vista Parks & Recreation Commission, District 1

35:07 Chuck Sanfilippo, 2026 Candidate, Chula Vista City Council, District 1

37:28 Gale Moriarity, Chula Vista resident

41:39 Robert Johnson, Chula Vista Live Data

43:54 Camera is still recording (live mic)

51:39 End of video

Stay tuned and I'll try to let you know as things progress. I, myself, won't be totally at ease until the Rohr Park Equestrian Arena is back on the Final Master Plan.

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