BY U-T LETTERS

SEPT. 7, 2023 12:54 PM PT

Re “The $8 million plan to revive a once-popular venue and community center, ‘boarded up for all these years’” (Aug. 31): $8 million doesn’t smell right.

Why would anyone spend that much to “rehabilitate” an unremarkable 8,000-square-foot building in Mira Mesa owned by the city that has been left to sit and rot for eight years? Why didn’t the nearby community park — which could really use more space for its programs — use and maintain the building instead of leaving the building to be taken over by rats and other undesirable pests? Why, after spending millions of dollars in the past on a failed “teen center,” are city leaders repeating themselves? Why won’t these leaders engage with the community to explain themselves, instead of having the county — which is interested in operating the facility — go around making generic presentations with ridiculous misleading renderings to select impotent community groups that are known to be megaphones for the status quo?

These are questions that the city needs to answer.

Sandra Smith
Mira Mesa