The California Dream

Last night I had the California Dream. In my dream I woke to a sun drenched sky and the sound of ocean waves echoing in the distance. As I sat down to breakfast a cool breeze slipped through an open window. When I rose and looked out onto the street below I saw children playing a game of pickup football, calling timeout for the occasional car. In my dream the world was beautiful, safe, and quiet. In my dream I was in Oceanside, California.
Oceanside is a small town approximately 35 miles north of San Diego that has been filled with thousands of people looking for their own version of the California dream. Now, before I’m accused of wide-eyed optimism, Oceanside is not heaven (unless heaven has an unemployment rate), but for residents like Mike DeLeo it’s the closest thing to it they’ve ever found.
“I work inLos Angeles and have been commuting for eighteen years, not because I couldn’t afford to live in LA, but I enjoy the quality of life,” wrote DeLeo in a recent letter to the city council, a letter he was compelled to write because he fears his beloved Oceanside home is in serious danger.
Unfortunately residents have good reason to fear that their dream of peace will be taken from them in a cloud of construction and noise, and the culprit will not be some monolithic oil company or faceless governmental bureaucracy, but that most beloved of American institutions, professional football.
For the past several years the San Diego Chargers have been conducting ongoing negotiations with the City of San Diego to enable them to rebuild their aging and outdated home, Qualcomm Stadium. The Chargers, owned by Alex Spanos, wants the city to grant him approximately sixty acres of public land for free, upon which he plans to build not only a 450 million dollar stadium but also residential and commercial complexes. The city, perhaps learning a lesson from other metropolises that doled out millions in public benefits to professional teams and are still waiting for the benefits they were promised to manifest, has largely resisted Spanos’ demands. In frustration the Chargers have officially stopped negotiations and have turned their attention to other smaller towns in the surrounding area, towns which may be more easily taken with lavish promises of development. In short, towns like Oceanside.
There is no doubt that football, from the Friday night-lights of high schools to internationally known professional teams, serves as a common bond for a large percentage of America. There’s a reason more people watch the Super Bowl than the President’s State of the Union Address. But make no mistake, football is also a business, and beneath the images of courage and teamwork lay a foundation of dollar signs. Spanos and his Chargers have enjoyed recent success on the field, but in the boardroom they remain relative failures. Last year Forbes magazine valued the team at $731 million, ranking them near the bottom of the NFL, and Spanos blames their finacial shortcoming largely on an outdated stadium. For Spanos the equation is simple: new stadium equals more money.
Nothing is as simple as black and white, and the Chargers are not an evil empire only interested in increasing their checking accounts. It is true that the both the teams and its players, most notably NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson, have used their resources to help the San Diego community and public schools. The team makes a concerted effort to engage in charity activity and according the team website, “The San Diego Chargers have been a proud partner with the San Diego community for more than 40 years. The Team and its players annually contribute time and resources to make San Diego County one of the best places in the country to live and work.”
In the coming months the measure of the Chargers dedication to the people of San Diego will be truly tested. It’s one thing to put together a blood drive or textbook donation, quite another to truly listen to the voices of communities when millions of dollars are on the line. Because it’s not just game day that concerns the residents of Oceanside, it’s the thousands of cars and the resulting smog pouring into the town. It’s the never-ending passing of trailer trucks on their way to put up or break down that night’s rock concert. It’s the end of a town that according to city press releases prides itself on being “a thriving community that provides all the conveniences of a modern city without the disadvantages.” If the San Diego Chargers build their proposed stadium Oceanside residents will know only too well every disadvantage a major city has to offer.
Mike DeLeo ended his letter by writing, “I hear some council members say Oceanside is a jewel, after working in Los Angeles they are so right. So why do they want to destroy it with crowds and traffic? What happened to enjoying life?”
Unfortunately for DeLeo and his fellow residents some people measure the goodness of life by the strength of their family and community, and for some happiness is measured by the size of their wallets. Here’s hoping that Spanos and the Charger’s truly measure up and let Oceanside keep dreaming in peace.