摘要：A significant key to San Diego’s development
has been its Spanish legal heritage—not
because of its mission, presidio, or ranchos,
but because of its pueblo lands.1 When San
Diego’s Chamber of Commerce was formed
by a small group of citizens in January 1870, it
could point with pride to some eleven square
leagues or 47,324 acres of municipally-owned
lands—its inheritance from Spain’s practice
of preserving ample lands for city purposes
and the common benefit of all settlers. Fortunately,
certain Old Town residents and the
Chamber’s first treasurer, Alonzo Horton,
promoter of San Diego’s New Town, knew
what they had. With a farsightedness hardly
equaled by today’s most ardent planners,
they set aside 1,400 acres for a public park.2
