Mission Beach resident alleges safety violations, wrongdoing at Belmont Park

The Giant Dipper isn t the only attraction at Belmont Park in the spring File photo courtesy Belmont Park MISSION BEACH Belmont Park s iconic Giant Big Dipper Roller Coaster is unsafe one Mission Beach resident says Kevin Payne a water-damage technician living near Belmont Park made the contends at the Mission Beach Town Council meeting earlier this month He also presented numerous other accusations to the council of alleged wrongdoing at the popular oceanfront amusement park Payne notified the MBTC he has established a website outlining alleged violations at the park that he insists the city is refusing to enforce Afterward Payne s charges were branded as being entirely without substance by a Belmont Park official Steve Thomas Belmont Park s president and general manager explained of the century-old Giant Dipper Roller Coaster We have a dedicated maintenance club working on it non-stop re-profiling the track replacing its patronage structure and making sure it is within engineering tolerances because it gets lots of wear and tear throughout the year Being a wooden roller coaster it takes a lot of maintenance it s very normal He added that third-party inspectors come out to look over the rides for safety issues annually In another allegation Payne claimed Belmont Park s lease is very clear I have it right here for anybody to read and the concerts are prohibited period He added This isn t just about another concert It s about corporate profit and greed overriding constituents access population safety and basic decency I m asking the council to put this matter on a citizens agenda and to take action before this situation gets worse In excerpts from his website Payne maintains of the Giant Dipper that they re Belmont rushing to fix the rotted wood that I exposed on a Fox news account in January But one of the new primary help columns is already fractured on multiple sides and instead of replacing it again they re just going to plan to hide it with paint There s so much on there Thomas explained of the site A lot of what I see is him taking photos and harassing our band members who are just doing routine maintenance on the property He s been regularly seen photographing and bullying our employees He has a history of this Thomas added he s uncertain why Payne is targeting Belmont Park in particular but that all of his maintains are fully baseless My attorney is finalizing a lawsuit to be filed next week or soon after Payne declared I ll ask the court to appoint a monitor to enforce the lease and bring in a Big Four firm for a full forensic audit This is a revenue-sharing lease and the city s audit unveiled Belmont Park s operators are concealing revenue and withholding key financial records Concerning Payne s accusations about overly loud Belmont Park concerts and accusations of masses space being hijacked for profit Thomas revealed that the park invariably works with the city on getting all necessary permits together in advance During COVID the City forced us to shut down for a year Thomas disclosed We paid our rent even though we weren t allowed to operate When we took over the property the boardwalk restaurants had burned down They were boarded up with people living inside them We have done our best to turn this property into something special that San Diego can be proud of And we re excited to be celebrating our th anniversary this year Thomas added