The Final Battle To Save California's Golden Parkland

This morning the Wretched Wetsuit got a very informative rundown of yesterday's Federal Hearing on the proposed Toll Road through San Onofre, from the Surfrider Foundation's Save Trestles Campaign Manager, Stefanie Sekich.

Approximately 3,000 supporters came out to the 12 hour hearing to protect Trestles. You may recall that back in March, the California Coastal Commission voted 8-2 against the proposed road. Well, the Transportation Corridor Agency asked the Federal Government to overturn the decision made by the people and government of California. Hence, at Mondays's hearing, 200 people testified to the US Secretary of Commerce. He will ultimately make the decision about the future of one of the most celebrated surf spots and natural resources we have.

Surfrider had supporters well organized. While this public hearing only allowed selected speakers to testify, surfers rallied outside with sign making, letter writing, live music, and our its speakers, including Shawn Thomson. Fellow opponents of the Toll Road joined with Surfrider, including Native Americans and the Sierra Club.If Shawn wasn't your hero before from his accomplishments alone, he should be now.

"We were basically saying, 'Please don't overturn the decision that we've made as Californians,' at yesterday's hearing," explained Sekich.

The first to speak were elected officials, an overwhelming number of whom also serve on the TCA Board of Directors. Why does that sound lopsided?

They were followed by representatives of organizations — cultural, environmental, and recreational. This is when Jim Moriarity, Surfrider's Executive Director, stepped up to the plate, as well as Bob Mignona, representing SIMA.

Mignona explained to Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez, that Trestles brings an estimated $8 to $13 million to the city of San Clemente. There you go, Bob, speak his language! Good call to bring up the economic impact of this resource to a commerce guy.

The last group to testify was 25 selected members of the general public. Basically 23 people, of the 25 who spoke, were against the toll road. Even so, this 25 is a small number of everyday men and women who got a chance to voice his or her concerns, when you think that there were 200 speakers total.

"I've never seen the Federal Government make it as hard for the general public. It was so unprecedented to have thousands of people come out like that. They really went out of their way to make the forum very cumbersome," said Sekich.

As at the CCC Hearing in March, there were some laborers in support of the Toll Road. It was common knowledge that certain Union members were paid to come out to the last hearing. While it wasn't made public this time, there were an awful lot of toll road "supporters," who got up and left at 3 p.m. Very interesting. Perhaps they don't get overtime for filling a seat.

So now Gutierrez goes back to DC to ponder whether he should completely disregard the clear voice of the people of California, or support the CCC's decision. He has from October 24th to January 7th to make his decision. A period of public comment will be open until October 2nd.

SaveTrestles.org will have an Action Alert, where you can make your voice heard. I don't think I need to remind anyone that this is not simply a California issue. It is a landmark case where we have to demand that the government recognize surf spots (and recreational resources in general) and gives them the respect they deserve. I will link to them as they are developed.

A lot of people have worked very hard on this movement. This is the final battle. Spread the word and Save Trestles now.

Labels: san onofre, trestles

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posted by NeoN @ 9/24/2008 08:05:00 AM