Sure there are a few developments, events and opportunities on Chula Vista’s horizon that provoke excitement and anticipation.
With SeaWorld taking over the site formerly-known-as-Knott’s Soak City, which was formally-formally-known-as-White-Water-Canyon (which is next to the place that was formerly-known-as Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre which was formally-formally-known-as-Coors Amphitheatre but is now-known-as-Sleep Train Amphitheatre), Acquatica is expected to inject new economic energy into the local economy.
And even though UCCV (or any other iteration of a four-year university in Chula Vista) probably won’t happen before this year’s batch of kindergartners are ready to cram for their SATs, progress toward higher education in the county’s second largest city is being made.
Also, you’d have to be deaf, dumb and dead to forget what opportunities the destruction of the South Bay power plant present, not just the city’s west side but the region south of Highway 94.
But the development that has me tickled most is the news that the region’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is planning a Pride and Music Festival for the fall. Organizers say the event has outgrown its humble roots in Memorial Park and this year will be held in Bayside Park.
In all likelihood I won’t attend. Crowds, loud music, limited parking and vendors guilting me into buying hippie soap aren’t my cup of yerba mate.
But the festival’s return after last year’s hiatus signals that Chula Vista — and the rest of the South Bay — is growing in continued tolerance and acceptance.
While San Diego’s gay pride festival is decades old, Chula Vista’s is barely out of diapers. And with good probable cause. The gay population there is significantly larger and more organized.
Nevertheless it was a shame the LGBT community of South County didn’t have a party of their own. And it was equally disappointing when Mayor Cheryl Cox declined to offer a proclamation supporting the gay community or designate a Chula Vista Pride Day in 2008 — although Councilman Rudy Ramirez did provide a letter of support to Pride Festival organizers.
Despite the snubs and rough stretches, the LGBT community, its friends, family and supporters stuck around and did what they do, which is they lived their lives openly.
That they are still celebrating and that the celebration has grown is a remarkable testament not only to the community’s determination to live openly and with pride but to the growing spirit of acceptance, tolerance and love.
