The change from summer to fall here was nearly seamless. Maybe the only discernible difference between Sept. 22 and Sept. 23, the first day of autumn, was temperature.
But even if the difference between really, really warm and really warm is slight, there is change nonetheless. It’s part of the cycle.
And so like seasons, city landscapes change and some of those differences are slight while others are more notable because of an almost imperceptible role they have in our lives.
When the Fun 4 All family fun center hosts its last at-bat, parks its last go-kart and sinks its final putt in October, the community will be different. Better or worse is relative but different nonetheless.
For some the amusement park’s closure marks the end of a time when fun for the family didn’t rely on electronics and wi-fi signals, when kids interacted face to face rather than on FaceTime.
Others will see the park’s shuttering as a natural progression. As the simple evolution of a changing climate, where the property owner believes they can make more money by turning the parcel of property over to another endeavor that doesn’t rely on outdated modes of entertainment.
Change creates memories — old and new ones — and at times uncertainty.
With the Chula Vista City Council on Monday holding its second of two meetings about the Olympic Training Center’s future, there are concerns in the east part of the city that transfer of ownership will open the door for more people as residents, tourists or visitors.
Despite assurances that the training center is not going anywhere and there is no way the acres of land near Otay Lake will be turned into housing tracts, some are still nervous.
They can’t be blamed.
Change can be unsettling and, given that councils present and past have made promises that were ultimately discarded, the outcomes can sometimes leave witnesses feeling out of sorts or disconnected.
No doubt some will drive along Industrial Boulevard months from now and realize the amusement park they used to visit as a kid (and occasionally took their own children to) has disappeared and they’ll lament the passing of the way things used to be.
Others may come in the future and have no inkling of the way things used to be. And life will carry on as it always has — changing, sometimes subtly, sometimes with great fanfare, uncertainty and drama.
Regardless of how it happens or where, change is usually interesting.
