Barriers to Success

There are many barriers to the success of this effort to stop the zone change, including these:

  • Apathy: It's much easier to sit back and be disappointed when the City of Vista makes changes we don't like, but WE ARE A DETERMINED BUNCH OF HOMEOWNERS!
  • Time-Consuming Work: The City of Vista will make an announcement about this proposed zone change, but it only goes out to residents within 500 feet of the property. We must spread the circle wider, because it will affect far more than the immediate 500 feet.
  • Blocked Use of Tech: The City of Vista does not recognize electronic petitions, so we have to collect them by hand.
  • Money Talks: The hotel developer (Mid-Continent Hospitiality) has millions to spend and a government relations/PR firm (Intesa Communications) handling the first steps of the process. We are a grass-roots campaign with no billionaires on our block.
  • More Money Talks: City Council's #1 goal for 2018-20 is Fiscal Responsibility, which translates to making money. They are prioritizing hotel tax income over their residents and homeowners.
  • Misinformation: At least one City Councilmember has an idea about why this lot is not suitable for homes, despite the fact that there is a home there now. Additionally, the 78 corridor is lined with homes, as are the 15, 5, and every other freeway and highway in Southern California.
  • More Misinformation: At least one City Councilmember believes the City doesn't have $3,049,000 to purchase this lot and turn it into a park, as we suggested, despite the fact that the lot value is estimated at approximately $401,000.
  • Inefficiency: Certain City Councilmembers and City Staff do not return calls or emails.
  • More Inefficiency: The Sheriff's Department has taken weeks to answer our requests for data on crime around hotels and motels in North County.
  • "Vista is changing. Get over it.": Some of our fellow Vistans have expressed the opinion that we need to step out of the way and let progress happen. That attitude is what the City Council is depending on to make this rezoning easy.
  • Sex Trafficking Crime Rates Hidden: If you use crimemapping.com to look for sex and human trafficking crimes, the reports are incomplete. We need access to the true numbers, because the average San Diego County resident has no concept of the scope of the problem. Here's one study of San Diego County, but it lacks details on Vista: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/249857.pdf
  • Emotions Hold Less Weight than Facts: We have been told many times that the feelings of residents don't matter, and we are required to become experts in the fields of hotel economies, traffic studies, zoning change laws, the real estate market, human trafficking, organizing, and more in order for anyone to truly recognize that our opinions hold any weight at all.
  • Vale View and Matagual's Charm Can Be Deceiving: If you live here, you know that we love our rural feel, windy roads, no sidewalks, and no street lights. An outsider might think we want improvements, but we actually love it just the way it is! (And we wish the horse ranch hadn't left, either!)