SAN DIEGO -- A proposal could once and for all resolve the dispute over the cross on Mt. Soledad in La Jolla, 10News reported.

Discussion

Keep The Cross?

San Diego City Attorney Casey Gwinn recommended Monday a new public vote to decide the future of the 51-year-old concrete cross.

Gwinn is proposing a new public vote and, if the vote passes, a new high bid process to find a private property owner who will determine whether the cross stays or the cross goes.

"The voters and taxpayers of San Diego have a right to weigh in on the future of this cross. That is why I am recommending a new public vote and then, if the vote passes, a new public sale. Whether the cross comes or goes should be decided by a private property owner, not by the City of San Diego," Gwinn said.

The recommendation to rescind the last sale and conduct a new sale of the property will be presented to the City Council on July 20 by Gwinn.

The proposal will also preserve the Mt. Soledad War Memorial Association's current memorial walls, however, the association will have no rights to the cross should a subsequent purchaser of the land want to remove the cross. In that case, the City of San Diego would bear the costs of removing the cross.

If the City Council adopts the recommendation, a proposition will be placed on the November ballot.

In 1989, Phillip Paulson filed a lawsuit complaining the presence of the cross was on city property and it violated provisions in both the United States and the California Constitutions. Since then, the cross has been the subject of a legal battle.

James McElroy\ATTORNEY] "I don't know if it's a personal agenda or what, but it seems to me the only reason to jump through these hoops is to try and keep the cross on Mt. soledad -- the thing the court has been saying for 15 years is unconstitutional," said James McElroy, attorney for Paulson.

The American Civil Liberties Union said they are disappointed with Gwinn's recommendation.