UT Supports the Wrong Team

RE: UT Editorial "A Good Development for Escondido ' April 5, 2014

Your presumably unsolicited editorial supporting Michael Schlesinger’s attempt to convert the Escondido Country Club into a concrete jungle of zero-lot-line, entry-level homes once again mischaracterizes the whole situation.

You state “His land essentially was taken.” Not true.

He bought, and received, a golf course. He still has a golf course, which, by the way, is located in North County San Diego, offering the longest golfing season of almost anywhere on the planet. North County San Diego is a golf mecca. Golfers come from all over the globe to bask in the temperate climate of San Diego, just note the green fees at Torrey Pines, La Costa, Aviara, or Maderus. Maybe that is why Pacific Hospitality Group is investing nearly fifty million dollars in Warner Hot Springs Resort, including a complete overhaul of the resorts 18 hole championship golf course.

Schlesinger’s claim that the golf course was economically defunct is unsupported. Like an automobile, sometimes you have to provide some upkeep to keep it running, you can’t just run it bone dry of oil, and then complain about it being obsolete. No question, the golf course had been neglected, but it’s fundamental appeal, the beautiful weather, the serena country-like setting, and the proximity to numerous attractions like North County beaches, San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park, the California Center for the Arts, Stone Brewery and numerous award winning wineries, several top flight Casinos, and LegoLand, among many other awesome amenities defies his claim that the golf course was untenable..

Michael Schlesinger is not offering a product anyone wants. He is simply trying to exploit a fortuitous circumstance and walk away with a multimillion dollar windfall profit.

Escondido voters have spoken. It is time that the Editors at the San Diego Union Tribune start listening.