4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Del Mar Fair asks Orange County Fair for bail-out

$5 million loan up for discussion at June 25 meeting

“The fair started decades ago when the county was much more agricultural. Those times are gone."
“The fair started decades ago when the county was much more agricultural. Those times are gone."

Del Mar Fairgrounds executive director Tim Fennell has blamed COVID-19 as the key reason why his 160-employee district, now $20 million in the red, could implode and leave the future of the Del Mar Fair and its 340-acre prime seaside property in the lurch.

Lesa Heebner: "Highway 101, Stevens Avenue, and Via de la Valle are so clogged that at times you can’t move for 45 minutes.”

The fairless fairgrounds set up its own website urging denied fairgoers to say nice things about the fair to their elected officials.

The Union-Tribune ran two front-page articles in three weeks about the fragile financial state of the fairgrounds. The first was headlined the “Fairgrounds may close if no financial aid received.” The latest, a June 16 article, claimed the floundering district is operating in “Survival Mode.” Both cited the pandemic and declining interest in horse race wagering as the reasons why the state-run enterprise is upside down.

But some longtime elected officials and an Orange County watchdog say there is a systemic dysfunction that has torpedoed the Del Mar Fairgrounds – officially known as the 22nd District Agricultural Association.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Pam Slater-Price: "Why use this very precious land for that purpose?"

Shortly after he asked the governor for a $20 million bailout, Fennell appeared before a teleconferenced meeting of the Orange County Fair board May 28 asking for a $5 million emergency loan to help its sister district to the south. Reggie Mundekis says she has attended every monthly meeting of the Orange County fair board since Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested selling all of the state-owned fairgrounds in 2008.

“The Del Mar Fair is fond of bragging how it is the largest fair in the state and the sixth largest in the country, so why would they be in financial problems,” asks Mundekis about Fennell’s appeal for financial help. She noted how the Orange County board maintains a $53 million surplus. “And we don’t even have horse racing. How can Del Mar have no reserves? This all just doesn’t make sense.”

She said Fennell was not forthcoming. “At the May meeting they show these beautiful power-point slides showing how beautiful Del Mar is and how beautiful the beach is, but they are giving absolutely no financial information. That’s when the board said maybe it was not such a good idea to make this loan decision today. It made me think maybe there are things that are not being disclosed.”

The Orange County Fair board maintains a $53 million surplus.

Mundekis did her own digging. She says Fennell avoiding telling the Orange County board key information like how its nearly $40 million in 2015 revenue bonds used for new grandstand seating and other infrastructure was downgraded by the Fitch Rating service in April from a BB-minus “stable” rating to a BBB-minus or “negative” rating. She says she tried to get other details on two other loans for $18.5 million and $15 million that the district secured in 2018 to transform the Race Place wagering facility into a concert venue, but that that data was not provided to her or available on the fairground’s website.

“I told them they have over 150 people on payroll who are doing nothing right now because the place is closed and they can’t find these loan documents? These are things that should be kept in a file.” While Mundekis admits she is not a concert-industry specialist, she asks, “How will they ever make that concert venue money back, especially now with the concert industry the way it is? The Orange County Fair doesn’t have all these bonds and debt. This has a good opportunity to come crashing down unless they start making good decisions.”

Mundekis claims that a state audit of a Bakersfield fair board uncovered mis-uses including “state credit cards for lobster dinners” and “state employees working for private companies…They had to put in new procedures.”

But “new procedures” is an understatement for the Del Mar Fairgrounds says former county supervisor Pam Slater-Price who for 20 years oversaw the 3rd District that includes the fairgrounds.

Slater-Price says over the years the fair has morphed from a two-week exposition celebrating local agriculture to a four week-long carnival. “It started decades ago when the county was much more agricultural. Those times are gone. Now it’s more of a month of carnies and junk food…a glorified flea market. Why use this very precious land for that purpose? It just doesn’t make any sense to me.”

She says it’s time for a complete overhaul of how the fairgrounds is governed, and that those who live nearby need a bigger say in how the fair is run.

Chief executive Fennell reports to a nine-person board which is appointed by the governor. Over the years, many of those appointees were known to be connected with campaign contributions or political connections. Slater-Price points out that only one of the nine current Del Mar Fairgrounds board of directors, Don Mosier, lives nearby. She says Del Mar and Solana Beach are overrun with traffic during the fair.

“Sometimes during the fair, traffic is so bad you literally can’t move. At least Del Mar gets the sales tax,” says Slater-Price. “Solana Beach gets nothing but the headache. The mission of the fair board seems at opposite interests with the local community. It seems the whole mission has become to just bring in as much cash as possible…They’ve got all these full-time state employees with fully-loaded benefit packages.”

Currently not in office, Lesa Heebner was elected three times to the Solana Beach city council. She says one of the reasons she is now running for mayor of Solana Beach is to make sure that locals who live near the fairgrounds get a greater say over how the fairgrounds impacts the adjacent neighborhoods.

“The fair traffic gets so bad that Highway 101, Stevens Avenue, and Via de la Valle are so clogged that at times you can’t move for 45 minutes.”

Heebner says that in her estimation all ten members of the Del Mar and Solana Beach city councils are in support of a total overhaul of the fairgrounds governing board that would mandate more input from those two cities. She says that while locals are now talking about a new fairgrounds governance, it would get complicated since it would probably involve the governor, state legislators, and the county. Also involved are the Del Mar Racetrack Authority, the State Racetrack Leasing Commission and the Del Mar Turf Club. “I would like it to be controlled by a new authority. I hope it’s not a pipe dream.”

Heebner says Solana Beach traffic, safety, and businesses all suffer during the fair. “People fill up on turkey legs and fried butter and afterwords have no appetite for dining or shopping in Solana Beach.”

Heebner says of the fairgrounds’ appeal for a $5 million loan from the Orange County fair board and the $20 million request from the state: “The financial situation is embarrassing, especially when you compare it to the much smaller Orange County fair board’s financial situation.”

She notes that when former board member Chula Vista attorney David Watson resigned from the fair board two months ago he “saw the writing on the wall.” When he left, Watson was quoted as saying the district is facing “…extreme financial turmoil.”

“I don’t think the governor is going to allow the allow fair to go away,” says Heebner. “But the place is so beautiful and so many different things could be happening there.”

A request for comment from Tim Fennell was not forthcoming.

The Orange County fair board (32nd District Agricultural Association) will again reconsider the Del Mar Fairgrounds’ $5 million loan request at their June 25 meeting. The teleconferenced meeting is viewable live in real time. For more information on the May 28 Orange County fair board meeting. For more on the May 28 Orange County fair board meeting click here.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tats and tots

A deli cool people dig
Next Article

11-year-old upright bassist Ned Hobson is making connections

“I’ve got this whole network of numbers in my head that I can chain together”
“The fair started decades ago when the county was much more agricultural. Those times are gone."
“The fair started decades ago when the county was much more agricultural. Those times are gone."

Del Mar Fairgrounds executive director Tim Fennell has blamed COVID-19 as the key reason why his 160-employee district, now $20 million in the red, could implode and leave the future of the Del Mar Fair and its 340-acre prime seaside property in the lurch.

Lesa Heebner: "Highway 101, Stevens Avenue, and Via de la Valle are so clogged that at times you can’t move for 45 minutes.”

The fairless fairgrounds set up its own website urging denied fairgoers to say nice things about the fair to their elected officials.

The Union-Tribune ran two front-page articles in three weeks about the fragile financial state of the fairgrounds. The first was headlined the “Fairgrounds may close if no financial aid received.” The latest, a June 16 article, claimed the floundering district is operating in “Survival Mode.” Both cited the pandemic and declining interest in horse race wagering as the reasons why the state-run enterprise is upside down.

But some longtime elected officials and an Orange County watchdog say there is a systemic dysfunction that has torpedoed the Del Mar Fairgrounds – officially known as the 22nd District Agricultural Association.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Pam Slater-Price: "Why use this very precious land for that purpose?"

Shortly after he asked the governor for a $20 million bailout, Fennell appeared before a teleconferenced meeting of the Orange County Fair board May 28 asking for a $5 million emergency loan to help its sister district to the south. Reggie Mundekis says she has attended every monthly meeting of the Orange County fair board since Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested selling all of the state-owned fairgrounds in 2008.

“The Del Mar Fair is fond of bragging how it is the largest fair in the state and the sixth largest in the country, so why would they be in financial problems,” asks Mundekis about Fennell’s appeal for financial help. She noted how the Orange County board maintains a $53 million surplus. “And we don’t even have horse racing. How can Del Mar have no reserves? This all just doesn’t make sense.”

She said Fennell was not forthcoming. “At the May meeting they show these beautiful power-point slides showing how beautiful Del Mar is and how beautiful the beach is, but they are giving absolutely no financial information. That’s when the board said maybe it was not such a good idea to make this loan decision today. It made me think maybe there are things that are not being disclosed.”

The Orange County Fair board maintains a $53 million surplus.

Mundekis did her own digging. She says Fennell avoiding telling the Orange County board key information like how its nearly $40 million in 2015 revenue bonds used for new grandstand seating and other infrastructure was downgraded by the Fitch Rating service in April from a BB-minus “stable” rating to a BBB-minus or “negative” rating. She says she tried to get other details on two other loans for $18.5 million and $15 million that the district secured in 2018 to transform the Race Place wagering facility into a concert venue, but that that data was not provided to her or available on the fairground’s website.

“I told them they have over 150 people on payroll who are doing nothing right now because the place is closed and they can’t find these loan documents? These are things that should be kept in a file.” While Mundekis admits she is not a concert-industry specialist, she asks, “How will they ever make that concert venue money back, especially now with the concert industry the way it is? The Orange County Fair doesn’t have all these bonds and debt. This has a good opportunity to come crashing down unless they start making good decisions.”

Mundekis claims that a state audit of a Bakersfield fair board uncovered mis-uses including “state credit cards for lobster dinners” and “state employees working for private companies…They had to put in new procedures.”

But “new procedures” is an understatement for the Del Mar Fairgrounds says former county supervisor Pam Slater-Price who for 20 years oversaw the 3rd District that includes the fairgrounds.

Slater-Price says over the years the fair has morphed from a two-week exposition celebrating local agriculture to a four week-long carnival. “It started decades ago when the county was much more agricultural. Those times are gone. Now it’s more of a month of carnies and junk food…a glorified flea market. Why use this very precious land for that purpose? It just doesn’t make any sense to me.”

She says it’s time for a complete overhaul of how the fairgrounds is governed, and that those who live nearby need a bigger say in how the fair is run.

Chief executive Fennell reports to a nine-person board which is appointed by the governor. Over the years, many of those appointees were known to be connected with campaign contributions or political connections. Slater-Price points out that only one of the nine current Del Mar Fairgrounds board of directors, Don Mosier, lives nearby. She says Del Mar and Solana Beach are overrun with traffic during the fair.

“Sometimes during the fair, traffic is so bad you literally can’t move. At least Del Mar gets the sales tax,” says Slater-Price. “Solana Beach gets nothing but the headache. The mission of the fair board seems at opposite interests with the local community. It seems the whole mission has become to just bring in as much cash as possible…They’ve got all these full-time state employees with fully-loaded benefit packages.”

Currently not in office, Lesa Heebner was elected three times to the Solana Beach city council. She says one of the reasons she is now running for mayor of Solana Beach is to make sure that locals who live near the fairgrounds get a greater say over how the fairgrounds impacts the adjacent neighborhoods.

“The fair traffic gets so bad that Highway 101, Stevens Avenue, and Via de la Valle are so clogged that at times you can’t move for 45 minutes.”

Heebner says that in her estimation all ten members of the Del Mar and Solana Beach city councils are in support of a total overhaul of the fairgrounds governing board that would mandate more input from those two cities. She says that while locals are now talking about a new fairgrounds governance, it would get complicated since it would probably involve the governor, state legislators, and the county. Also involved are the Del Mar Racetrack Authority, the State Racetrack Leasing Commission and the Del Mar Turf Club. “I would like it to be controlled by a new authority. I hope it’s not a pipe dream.”

Heebner says Solana Beach traffic, safety, and businesses all suffer during the fair. “People fill up on turkey legs and fried butter and afterwords have no appetite for dining or shopping in Solana Beach.”

Heebner says of the fairgrounds’ appeal for a $5 million loan from the Orange County fair board and the $20 million request from the state: “The financial situation is embarrassing, especially when you compare it to the much smaller Orange County fair board’s financial situation.”

She notes that when former board member Chula Vista attorney David Watson resigned from the fair board two months ago he “saw the writing on the wall.” When he left, Watson was quoted as saying the district is facing “…extreme financial turmoil.”

“I don’t think the governor is going to allow the allow fair to go away,” says Heebner. “But the place is so beautiful and so many different things could be happening there.”

A request for comment from Tim Fennell was not forthcoming.

The Orange County fair board (32nd District Agricultural Association) will again reconsider the Del Mar Fairgrounds’ $5 million loan request at their June 25 meeting. The teleconferenced meeting is viewable live in real time. For more information on the May 28 Orange County fair board meeting. For more on the May 28 Orange County fair board meeting click here.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Punk nirvana approached at Burning Beard Brewery

Non-toxic talk and tunes
Next Article

11-year-old upright bassist Ned Hobson is making connections

“I’ve got this whole network of numbers in my head that I can chain together”
Comments

Save the Del Mar fairgrounds! The pandemic and lost revenue from horse racing aside, the financial instability of this agency has been going on for years. I wouldn't trust them to run a ten cent lemonade stand.

June 18, 2020

For as long as I've lived in the county, and that's a long time, that agricultural district and its operations have been very strange. There's virtually nothing about it that is "transparent", and there are suspicions that various pols have used it as a source of funding along with a way to influence other governmental agencies.

One thing it does appear to do is employ some local residents, pay them well, and provide good benefits. In that way, it is doing good things. In fact, years ago there were some of the seasonal employees there who earned enough in a few weeks of work to carry them through the year, nice work if you could get it indeed. But the purpose of having the fair was originally to showcase local agriculture at a time when that was a major industry locally. Add in some rides and amusements and you had a formula for entertainment of a relatively unsophisticated rural population.

In more recent years the fair has turned into a carny operation with many out-of-town peddlers selling anything and everything, and then leaving town with the proceeds. As to the financial management of the district, and its need for an emergency bail-out, it is outrageous, and ought to be investigated for criminal conduct. If there were a real audit and a real investigation, I'd expect some very embarrassing revelations. Past governors have appointed members to the board who were shady and strange, and we all might wonder why.

June 19, 2020

This seems to be happening at many fairgrounds.

Exhibit A: Cow Palace A new bill that would decide the future of Cow Palace is raising concerns. State senator Scott Wiener introduced Senate Bill 281. He says it addresses two important issues: Housing and gun shows.

If passed, the legislation would transfer control of the Cow Palace and its surrounding property to a new authority. It would consist of members appointed by the mayors of Daly City, San Francisco and the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.

Exhibit B: The Santa Barbara Earl Warren Showgrounds The board members of Earl Warren Showgrounds changed their mission statement to remove equine facilities. This will make it easier for the Board to develop the property to exclude equestrians or make it much smaller and less desirable. Earl Warren Showgrounds is experiencing financial difficulties due to Covid19.

Exhibit C: Kern County Fair board warns it may have to close for good The Kern County Fair may soon close permanently if it cannot find enough grant money or donations to cover its financial losses during the coronavirus shutdown, members of the event's board of directors warned.

Fair officials attributed the financial shortfall to two factors: a state decision in 2011 to end direct financial support and the fair's inability to continue hosting events that would otherwise allow it to continue generating money to pay for continuing operations.

June 23, 2020

The Orange County Fair Board did not make a decision at their June 25th meeting about issuing the $5million loan to Del Mar. They could decide to do so (or not do so) at their next, July 23 meeting. Meanwhile, a committee of two from the OC Board will teleconference July 7 with a committee of two from the Del Mar Board. No decision will be made at that time. A few current Del Mar Fair employees have written in, expressing their specific concerns about how the Del Mar Fair operation is handled. We will look into it.

June 29, 2020
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
July 2, 2020
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox [email protected] — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close