Diver Surfaces to Protest Plan to Bar Parking : La Jolla: Neighbors say the lot lures rowdies and criminals at night; scuba veteran says it gives divers access to underwater wonders.

Sometimes Lee Olsen feels like an innocent bystander caught in the cross-fire between two armed opponents. Sure, the bullet wasn’t meant for him. It just hit him squarely between the eyes.

The battleground is a palm-lined parking lot in La Jolla, next to the sea at Kellogg Park, that neighbors would like to see barricaded after 10 p.m. to discourage the party-goers and the criminal element they say congregate there after dark.

Olsen is a scuba diver who, like other divers, uses the parking lot during night coastal excursions to enjoy an underwater environment that he calls one of the most spectacular in Southern California.

Several feet off the La Jolla shores lies an ecological reserve and underwater network of canyons where divers are treated to an array of surface and deep-sea marine life--the winter squid spawning runs, the schools of halibut and odd-looking goby fish that come out only at night.

Closing off the 408-space parking lot between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., as neighbors have proposed, would block divers from use of a valuable resource, Olsen says. Even though they could park on nearby streets, much of their equipment--especially the heavy oxygen tanks--is too bulky to carry long distances, he says.

John Berol, chairman of the La Jolla Shores Assn., sees things differently. He’s tired of bearing the brunt of parties--the drinking, screaming, tire-screeching, drag racing and violence lasting deep into the night.

“I’ve seen large, unruly crowds there at night,” says Berol, who lives near Kellogg Park. “Late at night, I’ve followed the sirens home to find the (emergency helicopters) hovering over a young man on a stretcher.”

There have been rapes and assaults, auto thefts and break-ins. Neighbors say the problem started about three years ago and has worsened ever since.

“The parking lot has become an attraction in itself, for young people who enjoy tailgate parties and drink themselves into a stupor,” Berol said. “The gates will keep them out.”

In recent weeks Olsen, president of the San Diego Council of Divers, has actively opposed the city’s plan to erect 4-foot-high gates at either end of the lot. The gates would be opened and closed by patrolling police officers. Despite the appeals, the city Planning Commission last month voted to approve the measure.

This afternoon, the San Diego City Council is scheduled to decide whether to hear Olsen’s appeal. Although it is unlikely that he will address the council (if granted, the appeal hearing will take place May 26), he’ll be there to answer questions, to ensure that the voices of scuba divers are heard.

A diver who has plumbed area waters since 1951, Olsen refers to himself as an “old barnacle” who has seen divers’ rights to coastal access erode little by little.

“It’s like somebody’s nibbling away at something you value,” he said. “We’re really sensitive to beach access in California. Even if it’s something that’s seemingly meaningless to most people--new metered parking, red zones or a barricaded parking lot--to the people who regularly use the ocean, it’s a serious thing.”

The homeowners’ claims of high crime, however, are buttressed by police statistics showing that a majority of violent crimes in the area occur after 10 p.m.

“There are crimes in this area that you don’t normally associate with La Jolla,” said Terri Williams, San Diego deputy parks and recreation director. “We’re not really sure what attracts everyone to this particular area.”

Last fall, the citizen group approached the Parks and Recreation Department, looking for a solution to the crime problem. At first it favored a greater police presence, but was told that San Diego police were too understaffed to step up patrols in the area.

La Jolla Shores resident Carl Dustin said the controversy has been created by the few divers who are “too lazy” to carry their gear across a parking lot.

“I’ve lived in the area since 1958, and I’ve never seen a night diver off La Jolla Shores,” he said. “My son, who’s a diver, says there’s probably only 50 divers in all between Point Loma and La Jolla who night-dive at all--and then only on the first two nights of lobster season.

“If they scuba dived every night, and there was 2,000 of them, that would be a different story. But they don’t. They’re not around 365 nights a year like most residents.”

Berol added that Olsen and the divers--or anyone else who wants to use the beach--can park on nearby streets and take the short walk to the sand. There’s also a place outside the park where divers can dump their gear before parking their vehicles.

“It’s a problem of inconveniencing a few in order to deal with a problem faced by many,” he said. “I mean, there are people on the freeway who are competent to drive at 70 miles an hour who are forced to drive at 55 so that it’s safe for everyone. The same thing applies here.”

If the council declines to hear the scuba divers’ appeal, Williams says, the gates could be installed within a month.

And that possibility leaves Olsen shaking his head. Although he has no immediate solutions, he thinks the matter deserves more discussion before the gates close.

“I’ve been there lots of times at night, and the place is dead quiet,” he said. “These homeowners live in the area, so they certainly have a right to enjoy it. But, as visitors, we have just as much right to enjoy a public place.”