Community needs unified front

With an overabundance of community groups trying to represent the interests of residents, merchants and tourist-oriented businesses, there are bound to be turf wars.

In our alphabet soup that we call La Jolla are: the Bird Rock Community Council, La Jolla Shores Association, La Jolla Town Council, La Jolla Community Planning Group, Promote La Jolla and now the La Jolla Destination Marketing Alliance. Watching out for our parks are the La Jolla Recreation Council Inc., Friends of Kellogg Park, backers of Allen Field. Then there are the art, education, environmental and philanthropic interests.

Ultimately, they all have one goal in mind: Making La Jolla the best place to live, work and play that they can. But too often they seem to forget the word “community.” It’s time for La Jolla’s community leaders to step back and figure out how to work together.

For too long now, some segments of the community have been acting like youngsters fighting in the sandbox. You know: Somebody calls the other a bad name. One throws sand, the other pulls hair. Some file lawsuits or send letters to the editor and others just carp behind people’s backs.

With the economy in such dire straits, we don’t have the luxury of splitting the pot any more. We need to find common ground and treat each other with respect. While there have been informal efforts to pull groups together, with heads of the various groups meeting from time to time maybe it’s time to look to a more formal structure to protect and improve La Jolla’s future.

If nothing else, it’s time to get out of the sandbox and find ways to solve our common challenges.