For almost three decades, John Francis has been a planetwalker, traveling the globe by foot and sail with a message of environmental respect and responsibility (for 17 of those years without speaking). A funny, thoughtful talk with occasional banjo.
California's native salmon, steelhead and trout species face extinction this century without quick action to provide proper habitats. 20 of 31 species of prized fish are in sharp decline, including the Sacramento River winter run of Chinook salmon, coastal Coho salmon and the Sierra Nevada golden trout.
The San Onofre Foundation is a California non-profit 501(c) (3) public benefit, charitable corporation, whose mission is to provide for education and interpretive services regarding all aspects of the natural, cultural, historical and biological diversity of California State Parks at San Onofre and San Clemente State Beaches; promoting environmental awareness and ethics; and enhancing the quality of recreation experience at these unique coastal parks.
GOALS
The Foundation will work co-operatively with California State Parks to develop and promote a strong image that San Onofre State Beach is a “World Treasure” that must never be compromised; will provide quality education and interpretive panels developing and sharing a complete story of the park units; will seek to facilitate a safe pedestrian railroad crossing to Lower Trestles surfing beach and develop an environmentally friendly raised boardwalk above the marsh at the Lower Trestles beach access trail; and will expand operations of the San Clemente State Beach Historic Cottage Visitor Center.
The Foundation provides support by sponsoring, publishing, purchasing, distributing, or selling appropriate items which increase visitor understanding and appreciation of State Park System values and purposes. The Foundation may receive funds from donations, membership dues, grants, special event sponsorship and other park-related activities. The Foundation may acquire materials, equipment and other items for use in the educational and interpretive programs of the parks. The Foundation may sponsor, support, and assist docent programs, environmental educational activities, resource management projects in support of such programs; provide seminars, lectures and other activities that contribute to the mission. The Foundation may plan, organize and implement fundraising programs to acquire contributions in support of State Park interpretive and educational activities.
VISION
The Foundation shall endeavor to incorporate the many viewpoints of those who share the “Park Experience” at San Onofre and San Clemente State Beaches, while capturing the rich cultural and natural history of this magnificent coastal zone.
San Onofre may become the home of a world class visitor center and museum where the many stories of this region are presented to students of all ages. The Foundation shall endeavor to create viewpoints and exhibits, improve recreational trails opportunities, help create a viable outdoor amphitheater for exhibitions and educational activities, provide staffing as well as docent and volunteer opportunities.
The parks of San Onofre and San Clemente have national and worldwide significance, and threats to their integrity and existence shall be defended through a unity of rational, contemporary, intellectual discourse. San Onofre may become known as “The Great Coastal Park”.
QUICK FACTS
San Onofre State Beach was created by Presidential Decree in 1971. The current park acreage is just over 2,000 with five and a half miles of coast line. The property is leased from the Department of the Navy for 50 years. The park is among the top five most visited State Parks in California with annual attendance exceeding 2 million. San Onofre “Surf Beach” is the most popular surfing beach in the United States. More than 12 million people live within a 2 hour drive from the parks. San Onofre contains two of the most popular campgrounds in California. The surf break at “Trestles Beach” is considered the best year round surf break in America.
San Clemente State Beach was acquired in 1933 and was home to a three hundred man CCC camp during the depression years. The park is 90 acres with 1.1 miles of beach frontage. The CCC’s built the San Clemente campground and developed the State Park at Doheny, six miles to the north. San Clemente is also one of the most popular campgrounds in California. The small visitor center at San Clemente State Beach is an historic Ole Hansen era cottage which now hosts special events on a charming Spanish style courtyard with ocean views.
INTERPRETIVE TOPICS
The history of the San Onofre Coastal zone includes discussions and elaboration on the Geologic and Natural topics of watershed, hills, valleys, coastal terrace, beaches, inter-tidal and surf zones, and sub-marine environment dating from pre-historic to modern time.
The Biologic Diversity topics (all living organisms), will likewise be presented from pre-historic to the present, and shall include discussions regarding endangered and extinct species, human impacts and protections.
The Cultural topics will include the First People’s story (the Acjachemem), Western man and California exploration and development, Saint Onophrius, the Mission period, Land Grants and Rancho’s (Rancho Santa Margarita), transportation (roads and railroads), commerce (farming), Forester City, San Clemente (Ole Hansen, Hamilton Cotton), Civilian Conservation Corps, San Clemente State Beach 1933, Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base 1941, San Onofre and Surfing, the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Richard Nixon (Western White House), San Onofre State Beach 1971 to the present, proposed transportation topics, the value of Parks and Recreation to mankind, and environmental stewardship and ethics.
When I arrived at the Del Mar Fairgrounds last month for Del Mar II -- the second massive public hearing on the fate of the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) proposed 241-toll road that would permanently disfigure San Onofre Beach State Park -- I was hopeful. According to Joel Reynolds, Senior Attorney and Southern California Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the hearing was,
"Only the latest chapter in a long-term war against the toll road -- one of the most destructive projects in the recent history of the California coast."
Little did I know that not only might the private toll be approved by the feds but that U.S. taxpayers might help pay for the project.
As soon as I entered the cavernous hall the hearing took place in on the morning of Sept. 22, a space suitable for livestock exhibitions that felt like the inside of a steam bath, I realized that the fix was in. The hearing was a Bush administration show-trial, presided over by Jane Luxton, general counsel for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (whose role as judge and jury involved calling up speakers, enforcing an arcane list of invented rules, and maintaining a waxy smile for more than 10 hours of public testimony). Red-shirted private security guards enforced Luxton's ad-hoc rules. They even threatened to eject my two sons ages 10 and 12 for carrying a homemade sign that was apparently a few inches too large.
The two anonymous aides that shared the dais with Luxton could have been transferees from the Minerals Management Service or just lottery-picks from the offices of NOAA ("free trip to San Diego -- see Jane"). Or they might have been interns fresh out of Bob Jones University. This almost surreal atmosphere caused Surfrider CEO Jim Moriarty to tell me as we took a mid-day fresh air break, "I just hope they don’t put the testimony into a report somewhere and make the decision they already planned on making."
My own doubts about the validity of the hearing and the entire process were reinforced by my own experience presenting to Luxton et al. I had asked seven young surfers or groms from Imperial Beach to accompany me to the speaker podium to demonstrate the importance of preserving San Onofre State Beach Park as healthy open space for children.
While gathering together in the speaker "staging area" to the right of the podium, an agitated bouncer informed me that the groms were verboten. I informed him that NOAA officials had approved their presence (none of the hearing rules made any mention of a prohibition on kids). The guard ignored me and ordered the children to stand down.
After I politely declined his request, the agitated guard rushed over to the NOAA officials and argued that I was in violation of rules he had invented at that very moment. After the NOAA staff calmed the guard down, I was able to speak while the young activists stood silently behind me.
In theory, Luxton and her aides will review the testimony from the hearing, sort through the 35,000 public comments that have already been sent to Washington D.C. and then advise Commerce Secretary Carlo Gutierrez (the former CEO of Kellogg), on the most appropriate course of action. Since the hearing, anti toll road activists have learned that the TCA has decided to up the ante on its "private-sector" project and request the same type of federal bailout that the financial sector has recently received. In June, the TCA requested a $1.1 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Transportation to consolidate $4.6 billion in debt.
On Oct. 7, Senator Barbara Boxer wrote a letter to Secretary of Transportation Mary Peter expressing her concern about the loan application. In the letter, she argued that the program that would finance the loan, the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, was not meant to "stabilize the finances of... existing toll roads.”
If Gutierrez approves the toll road and the Secretary of Transportation issues a loan to the TCA, environmental groups are ready to continue their "Save San Onofre" campaign. According to Reynolds of NRDC,
"If the Bush Administration overrules the California Coastal Commission, we will take them to court -- and we will win.”
Given the groundswell of public opinion against the new road to nowhere and the thousands of activists against the toll road who showed up for Del Mar II, it would be hard for the U.S. Department of Commerce to overturn the California Coastal Commission’s decisive February rejection of the toll road plan. I can only hope that the tattered blueprints for the toll road to nowhere will end up abandoned in a desk drawer in an empty office in Washington D.C. after President Bush and his cronies, who have devastated our nation’s economy and our natural environment depart for Texas.
The Save San Onofre Coalition today released a letter to Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters outlining significant concerns with the Transportation Corridor Systems' (TCS) unprecedented request for a $1.1 billion federal loan to bail out its existing network of toll roads in Orange County.
The loan application, submitted under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA), is now pending at the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The Coalition was formed to oppose the extension of one toll road, the 241, through San Onofre State Beach, the 5th most popular state park in California. The Coalition has become the TCS's primary watchdog as part of its fight to stop the toll road extension and save the park. The Coalition strongly criticized the TIFIA loan application and expressed the following concerns:
1. The TCS's loan request would pay for the consolidation of two underperforming toll road agencies and allow them to refinance their $4.6 billion in existing debt. Contrary to the purpose of the TIFIA program, the loan has no direct connection to and would not require the agencies to construct any new transportation facilities.
2. The $1.1 billion loan, if approved, would be the largest in the TIFIA program's 10-year history, would consume roughly half of the annual loan capacity for the program and would divert funding from other projects here in California and throughout the nation that are a high priority for producing new transportation infrastructure and jobs.
3. The TCS has mislead the public regarding its toll roads by claiming that they would support themselves financially, and that taxpayers would never be asked to assume the risk of their failure. Now it is clear that the toll roads are falling far short of projected usage and revenues. TCS has responded by seeking a massive federal bailout that would put more than a billion dollars of taxpayer money at risk.
The Coalition's letter follows an October 7, 2008 letter from U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), where the Senator raises serious concerns about the TCS's loan request. Boxer wrote:
"It is my understanding that the funding provided by this loan would be used to stabilize the finances of the TCS's existing toll roads, a purpose that was not originally intended by the TIFIA loan program. With limited financing available for the many existing highway projects, I believe it would be more prudent at this time to focus on projects that provide new improvements to the nation's surface transportation system."
"The Bush Administration should not approve this loan to a toll road agency that has boasted that it does not depend on public funds," stated Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the California State Parks Foundation. "Serious questions surround this request for a bailout. The brakes need to be applied to this billion dollar loan boondoggle immediately."
"Now, as TCA's existing toll roads have failed to perform as promised and sharply declining revenues raise the possibility of a default, the toll road agencies are turning to taxpayers to pay off existing private bondholders and have the public assume a substantial portion of the risk of the toll roads' failure," added Goldstein.
The TIFIA loan program is designed to provide limited financial assistance to help with the construction of critical new transportation facilities. To minimize federal exposure to risk, the TIFIA statute requires that loan proceeds not exceed 33 percent of the "eligible project costs," which are limited to the cost of constructing and financing new transportation facilities. The Coalition's letter highlights that nowhere in the TIFIA statute's definition is the refinancing of existing debt listed as an eligible project cost.
"Even with the combined cost of all TCS's proposed projects over the next 40 years, TCS's $1.1 billion request far exceeds the TIFIA program's one-third requirement," commented Michael Fitts, staff attorney with the Endangered Habitats League. "Congress never intended that TIFIA funds be used to bail out private investors in failed toll roads."
The $1.1 billion loan, if approved, would be the largest in the TIFIA program's history and consume already scarce transportation funds. TIFIA loans are subsidized by the Highway Trust Fund, which faces imminent depletion due to declining federal gas tax revenues. The TCS's proposed loan would substantially deplete the TIFIA funds available for new transportation construction projects in California and nationwide. "Under the TIFIA program's current annual subsidy limits, it has approximately $2 billion per year available for project assistance," concluded Fitts. "The $1.1 billion request by TCS would consume more than half of a year's total loan amount."
Background: The San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency (SJHTCA) operates State Route 73 and the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency (FETCA) operates State Routes 241, 261 and 133. Both are joint powers agencies under California law with overlapping but distinct local government members. In 2003, the two agencies formed a third joint powers agency, the TCS, for the purpose of exercising common powers. About the Save San Onofre Coalition & the Toll Road Issue: The Save San Onofre Coalition is a diverse coalition of individuals and groups that includes four former state parks commissioners, local, regional, state and national environmental organizations, cities, counties and elected officials statewide.
For more information about the Save San Onofre Coalition, visit www.savesanonofre.com.
The Foothill-South Toll Road is a proposed multi-lane highway that would run through the heart of San Onofre State Park, one of California's most popular state parks. Home to the world famous surfing spot, Trestles Beach, the park encompasses the last pristine watershed in Southern California and receives roughly 2.5 million visitors a year.
San Onofre State Beach was created by former President Richard Nixon and Governor Ronald Reagan more than 30 years ago with the intent that it would be preserved as a park in perpetuity.
The Toll Road project was denied Coastal Certification by the California Coastal Commission in February 2008, but this denial is currently under appeal by the FETCA. The project cannot move forward unless the Department of Commerce, under Secretary Carlos Gutierrez "overrides" the Coastal Commission's decision. The decision will be made during the current Bush Administration with a statutory window of October 24, 2008 to January 7, 2009.
SOURCE Unpaid San Onofre Surfers,
& other AutoClub & COX San Clemente Former Subscribers. .
Cox.Net Rep JIM LEACH wants to Bulldoze Our State Park, We Vote with our pocketbooks Cox.Net,
DUMP THE LEACHES OF THE WORLD NO MORE CORPORATE BAILOUTS! MORE BIG AIRS!
22 Thank you very much. My name is
23 Jim Leach and I represent Cox Communications. We
24 provide cable TV, Internet, and phone service to a
25 quarter million residents in South Orange County. It's
1 one of the largest cable and telecom service providers
2 and one of the largest employers in the area. I want to
3 emphasize my company's strong support of the completion
4 of the 241 toll road. (MORE MONEY FOR US!)
5 About a third of our customer base resides in
6 North Camp Pendleton, San Clemente, and other coastal
7 areas. We could reach these customers more efficiently
8 if the toll road were completed. They would save us and
9 more importantly our customers a lot of time, money, and
10 wear and tear on surface streets that we're forced to
11 use now. ( WE ARE NO LONGER COX.NET CUSTOMERS! )
12 We've been speaking out in favor of the toll
This is where we call bullshit Mr Leach, and Cox.net, if that was the case we would have dumped your asses long ago.
13 road for the better part of a decade, and it's finally
14 time to approve it and get it built. A recent survey of
15 south Orange County shows that residents support
16 completion of the toll way by a two to one margin.
Untill you mention that it will destroy San Mateo State Park, You guys are just as fast and loose with the facts as the hated TCA is.
17 Those numbers have gone up even more once citizens
18 learned that the reality is this road will not go to the
19 beach or obstruct any camp sites or campgrounds.
Last I heard the State would close San Mateo, I guess your $2000.00 suit has never visited this park?
20 Opponents claim the road will harm endangered
21 species, but two independent government agencies, the
22 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and your agency, the
23 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, stated
24 clearly that this road will not harm any endangered
25 species.
Funny we went to the California Coastal Commission hearing and our states scientists came to a completely different conclusion.
1 Opponents say the bridge for the 241 that
2 crosses San Mateo Creek will destroy the watershed. Yet
3 only four columns less than 70 square feet at the base
4 will be in the creek. That's far fewer than the number
5 of columns from the I-5 that are in the creek and less
6 than 1 percent of the total of 500 columns from the
7 Trestles train track that are in the watershed.
8 Opponents say this is a pristine area, but
9 there are existing roads including Basilone Road,
10 Christianitos Road, Old Highway 101 and, of course, the
Ah yes! Lets Talk about Christianitos Mr LEACH! Where was Cox.net when the TCA and its cronies were battling AGAINST the LA PATA extension??? If San Clemente was connected to the rest of the county, With La Pata, La Paz, Christianitos, like any other county in the OC, this "toll road" would not be needed.
11 I-5 freeway in place on the park. The park is also home
12 to power lines coming from San Onofre Nuclear Generating
13 Station, the Camp Pendleton officer housing south of
14 I-5, the San Onofre security gate complex, Camp
15 Pendleton training areas, percolation ponds, paved
16 parking lots, the Marines training beach and, of course,
17 the train tracks for which Trestles is named.
18 Simply put the roadway is needed and wanted by
19 most of the residents and businesses throughout this
20 area. No other option is realistic. We urge the
21 Commission to approve the completion of the 241.
And we urge any and all Cox.Net customers to Visit the ATT store on El Camino Real in San Clemente and Say SAVE TRESTLES! for the supper dupper new Dump Cox.Net Save Trestles Package, DETAILS IN THE STORE!
On Feb. 6, the California Coastal Commission voted 8-2 to deny the Transportation Corridor Agencies' (TCA) application for a Coastal Permit to build the Foothill South (Highway 241) toll-road extension. This was no surprise, as troubles with both the road and the TCA are legion. Now, this symphony of crap may yet have its coda: The TCA has appealed the decision to the Secretary of Commerce. But for now, here are 10 major reasons behind the road's downfall:
1. DOLLA DOLLA BILL, Y'ALL.The Coastal Commission calls San Mateo Creek "one of the most, if not the most, undeveloped and pristine coastal watersheds in Southern California." Rather than consider it priceless, the TCA offered a $100 million package to the California Department of Parks and Recreation to soothe the chafing-$30 million for various good works and $70 million to extend the San Onofre State Park lease from the Department of the Navy. Two problems: 1) The lease doesn't expire until 2021, and 2) there's no reason to suspect the Navy will charge the Department of Parks and Recreation any more than the $1 they charged for the first 50-year lease. So it's really a $30 million offer to destroy a state park.
2. FOOTHILL-SOUTH TRAFFIC SANCTUARY.The toll road might have succeeded if it stood a chance to reduce traffic. But as the 73 (San Joaquin) toll road proves, toll roads generate, rather than relieve, traffic. Land near interchanges becomes extremely valuable, as traffic is always light on the toll roads. Thus, lush office and commercial space opens up alongside sprawling multicar single-home developments (like the 14,000 homes planned in Rancho Mission Viejo). Where do you think all those cars go when they're not on toll roads?
3. FROM SUCK TO BLOW.Congressmen Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar) and Ken Calvert (R-Corona) once fought for riders and earmarks for TCA, gaining the agencies exemptions from state law and millions in taxpayer dollars for so-called "environmental studies" that we now know to have been useless. Calvert also let a prostitute study the environment of his lap in Corona one night, until the cops arrived. Now the congressmen are too busy with their own problems to help the TCA; both have ties to convicted ex-Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham and the under-investigation current Congressman Jerry Lewis (Lewis, Calvert and Miller form what the California Democratic Party calls the "Triangle of Corruption"), and both were listed in Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington's "20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress" report in 2006.
4. YOSEMITE v. 2.0.In November 2005, an official with the Association of Surfing Professionals told theWeeklyhow any change in the waves at Trestles, the "Yosemite of surfing" and the only stop in mainland USA for the World Championship of Surfing, would "definitely bring Trestles' inclusion on the [tour] into question." Not any negative impact to the waves-anychange.The TCA argued that while sediment flow would be reduced and water speeds increased down the river, the result would equal the same. The same, except different. Changed.
5. BIG JUANEÑO-NO.California Government Code 5097.9 makes it illegal to disturb a sacred Native American site on public land. While TCA didn't seem too worried that the entire footprint of the sacred Juaneño/Acjachemen site of Panhe is directly in the path of the toll road, the agencies have no choice but to worry about the miniscule, fenced 5-acre parcel the government allocated the tribes-the site lies fewer than 50 feet from where Cristianitos Road would be rerouted for the 241. To build without disturbing this site will be ludicrously expensive, if not impossible.
6. ECO-FRIENDLY, MONEY FRIENDLIER.The TCA advertised the San Mateo Creek alignment as the "Green Alignment," as if to suggest it was environmentally friendly. However, this was nothing but a reference to the color-coding of the specific route-alignment choice. In the end, it merely added to suspicions that the TCA wanted that particular alignment all along, choosing the colors as a marketing device. According to the Coastal Commission staff, "It would be difficult to imagine amoreenvironmentally damaging alternative location for the proposed toll road."
7. DON'T MESS WITH BIG DICK.Dick O'Neill once ran Rancho Mission Viejo along with the California Democratic Party. The 241 would carve through a significant portion of the land reserve set aside for his late wife, the Donna O'Neill Land Conservancy. The land was also set aside as mitigation for the Talega development, raising the thorny issue of mitigating mitigation. The TCA is going to pave through land already set aside to compensate for development? Not if Dick can help it.
8. IT LOOKED GOOD ON PAPER.The TCA's environmental-impact report is the cause of—and solution to—all their problems. On one hand, it seems to comply with the law-by receiving comments from all the various agencies and groups involved in the project, TCA can say it's "working" with everyone. On the other hand, a quick perusal of the Response to Comments document reveals the problem: The TCA brushes off almost every major complaint or demand, arguing that issues have been dealt with or are "not significant." Turns out the only things that aren't significant are the TCA's environmental studies.
9. CRAFTY LIKE A DEAD FOX.In "Kill the Cougar" (June 10, 2004), Scott Giffin toldWeeklyreaders of the 241's efficacy as a killer of mountain lions. In 2008, Coastal Commissioner Sara Wan described the project's management plan as a "plan to drive the Pacific pocket mouse into extinction." Camp Pendleton's planning documents describe endangered species and habitat as "encroachment threats." Maybe it's not an accident this road would destroy the environment. Less endangered species equals more potential development, right? Too bad it's illegal to kill stuff that's endangered.
10. ALL HAIL WALL STREET.Since the creation of the money pit called the San Joaquin Hills toll road in the late '90s, the biggest winner in Orange County's toll-road game has been Wall Street investment houses, who've nabbed hundreds of millions in fees for selling and reselling us massive debt. The big loser? Local taxpayers, who sat by quietly while elected officials allowed the TCA to gain "non-compete" clauses that prohibited public road improvements on Interstates 405 and 5, all in the hopes of driving miserable drivers to use toll roads. The creation of a new toll road would have brought similar insanity.
The Transportation Corridor Agency and the Coalition to "Save Trestles" both agree that the California Coastal Commission Hearing on Sept. 22, went well; it's most likely the only thing the opposing sides on the debate to extend the 241 Toll Road will ever agree on.
Surfrider Foundation Assistant Environmental Director Mark Rauscher and TCA spokesperson Jennefer (YEACH) Seaton both commented that they were pleased by their respective supporters. Both cited mass support from ordinary citizens as well as various elected officials and noted citizens as validation of their respective positions. Each felt strongly that the public's involvement will eventually lead Commerce Secretary Carlos M.Gutierrez to make the final decision in their favor.
The San Clemente chapter of the Foundation has been the spearhead of the movement to Save Trestles. According to Rauscher, the local volunteers have been the backbone of the anti-extension campaign. Rauscher is nothing less than effusive in his admiration of local citizens for making a difference, and critical critical of certain local elected officials.
"San Clemente City Councilmember Jim Dahl is out of touch with his constituents; the vast majority of residents in San Clemente do not want the toll road in their back yard" Raucher said and continued to say "County Supervisor Pat Bates is not living up to the expectations of the voters; the people in Orange County feel that planning for open space and parks, maintains the quality of life they are interested in."
Multiple attempts to reach Councilman Dahl and County Supervisor Bates were unsuccessful, their spokespersons stating that Dahl was at a conference and Bates was on vacation.
Rauscher relates that a recent bi-partisan phone poll showed that the "Save Trestles" campaign had a 2:1 favorable rating after participants were informed that the toll road would bisect San Onofre State Park. The survey was commissioned by the California State Parks Foundation and was conducted in mid-August.
Seaton was equally effusive about the support in he pro-extension camp. "The TCA is encouraged by support from people like County Supervisor Pat Bates and the City of Tustin's Mayor and TCA Chairman Jerry Amante, in getting the Toll Road expansion finished" TCA's Seaton said.
Media outlets estimated that approximately 6000 people attended Monday's 10-hour hearing at the Del Mar fairgrounds, although Stefanie Sekich, Surfrider Foundation's "Save Trestles" Campaign Coordinator stated that no exact numbers were available. Surfrider gave away 3000 t-shirts to supporters. Sekich added that, of the approximate 25 people that spoke during the community feedback portion of the hearing, 23 were against the TCA plan and urged the CCC to reject it.
"It's a waiting game to see what the Secretary of Commerce will say on Jan. 7. Whatever the decision is, I am confident that there will be an appeal from the loosing side and potentially a lawsuit and litigation; from a legal point of view there is no justification for Gutierrez to override the Coastal Commission's decision made in February; this is an issue of states rights and the federal government should have no say in it" Rausher said.
Seaton, TCA's spokesperson, refutes the idea that the federal government should have no say in the process. Citing that the CCC hearing and vote in Feb. was for a Coastal Consistency Certification and based on the federal Coastal Zone Mandate Act. Approval on the certification is part of the CCC's decision process and therefore inherently includes the Federal Government. At that hearing, the vote was 8-2 against continuing with the extension.
Additionally, the US, Fish and Wildlife Agency submit a favorable Biological Opinion which the TCA received in April. Of the roughly 20 certifications, permits and approvals that must be issued for the TCA to continue with the expansion, the TCA has 10 of the needed approvals to date, according to Seaton.
The Bush administration has displayed a generally hostile attitude toward public parks and environmental protection. So let this serve as a reminder that federal officials are not supposed to act as a second Coastal Commission in deciding the merits or demerits of the Foothill South. Their role is to determine solely whether the road is in the national interest.Are you listening Cox.net?
This one's easy. The Foothill South is a toll road to nowhere through San Onofre State Beach in northern San Diego County, a particularly popular state park that despite its name also includes a large portion of undeveloped inland canyon. The road would traverse the length of this rustic canyon and cut through a private nature preserve in south Orange County and an ancient Native American village that is still used for ceremonies. Because the toll would be costly and the road would divert commuters away from the employment centers to which they most commonly drive, its ability to substantially reduce traffic on a chronically congested section of Interstate 5 is questionable; on the toll road most similar to this project, the San Joaquin Hills, ridership remains low. What about this is in the national interest?
True, Interstate 5 is a key north-south artery for commuter and international freight traffic. But drivers would be better served by a direct route, widening the I-5 through San Clemente with toll lanes. Residents of the city understandably deplore the idea, but this freeway already has been successfully widened through most of the rest of Orange County.
Despite arguments by the Transportation Corridor Agencies, the toll road would serve no significant purpose for Camp Pendleton, nor is it likely to provide a life-saving escape in case of an accident at the San Onofre nuclear plant. The plant has operated for decades and is scheduled to go out of service in 2022, just nine years after the earliest anticipated opening date for the toll road. Besides, why would San Clemente residents drive south toward San Onofre in order to pick up a road to get away from it?
The proposed Foothill South toll road is a throwback to outdated models of growth that have locked this region into a pattern of killer commutes, reliance on foreign oil and the production of pollutants that foul air quality and contribute to global warming, at the expense of precious open spaces and endangered species. It serves neither the state nor the nation well.
In other News Sanonofre.com Now ranking WELL for Cox.net when you do a Google search!
After all the studies, all the meetings, all the hours of lobbying and arguing and testimony and acrimony, it comes down to this: a political appointee of the Bush administration will decide whether or not a toll road cuts through San Onofre State Beach -- and through a pristine watershed. How did this happen? Our own Susannah Rosenblatt explains:
U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez -- who oversees international trade operations, economic development work, patents and the census -- will have sole discretion over the 16 miles of California 241 intended to link Orange and San Diego counties and ease traffic on Interstate 5.
A jumble of state and federal coastal regulations has bounced the decades-long toll road battle from state to federal hands as the clock runs out on the current administration. The decision seems to have little precedent.
"There's certainly nothing the least bit comparable to this case that one could look to for how the secretary might rule," said Mark Delaplaine, a California Coastal Commission manager who specializes in energy, ocean resources and federal matters. "There's really no case like it."
You may recall that actor Clint Eastwood was a member of a state parks commission until he opposed the toll road and got the boot from Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Proving he doesn't play favorites, the Governator also dumped his own brother-in-law, Bobby Shriver, from the panel.)
For more views, here's Surfrider's take, and here's Red County, which says the road has strong support. (HA!) And check out Karin Klein, at our Opinion blog.
Thoughts? --Veronique de Turenne
In other news AT&T on El Camino Real looks to sweeten the HOT NEW SAVE TRESTLES package, move from COX.NET to AT&T! Go in and say
The California Coastal Commission has already said no way. Now the fate of the proposed toll road foothill, toll road, san onofre, del mar, san clemente, beach, surf, Tollroad_2 through San Onofre State Beach lies with the Bush administration--and given the administration's distaste for environmental protection and near-hostility toward parks, that can't be a good thing for the "Save Trestles" crowd.
But the feds aren't supposed to just decide based on how much they like the road. The criteria are supposed to be narrow--the road's supporters are supposed to show that it's in the national interest, overriding local and state interests.
The hated Transportation Corridor Agencies have come up with some creative arguments for why the road, which would travel the length of the inland canyon that's also part of the state park, as well as running through a nature preserve in south Orange County, is in the national interest. Like it would make coastal access easier. Actually, I always thought coastal access was supposed to mean people's ability to use the beach up to the high tide line, not to provide high-speed transit from, say, the desert. Another argument involved quick evacuation in case of an accident at the San Onofre nuclear plant. Not only has the plant been operating for decades without one, but it's odd to think that residents of San Clemente, by far the closest community to the nuclear plant, would escape it by driving south to the entrance of the freeway. - rePosted from Karin Klein
In other news AT&T on El Camino Real offers a HOT NEW SAVE TRESTLES package, move from COX.NET to AT&T and they will give you $150.00 and 25% off for a limited time only so hurry in and make that switch today!!!
Don't forget to tell COX.NET WHY you canceled your service!
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Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Commerce held a public hearing regarding the proposed extension of the 241 Toll Road. Rallying opponents of the faulty road, the Surfrider Foundation and Save San Onofre Coalition were able to collectively draw over 6,000 people to the hearing, according to the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
The hearing featured public testimony from young and old, with the recurring theme that the residents of Orange and San Diego Counties do not want a toll road bisecting San Onofre State Beach, an extremely popular State Park. In addition, speakers in opposition repeatedly expressed that the toll road is not a matter of national interest or security.
”The Coastal Commission made it very clear that this road project should not be built here,” says Assistant Environmental Director Mark Rauscher. “There is no legal reason the Commerce Department should support destruction of a California State Park by overturning that ruling.”
The public comment period regarding the toll road will close on TODAY!!, Opponents of the proposed extension are encouraged to write to Secretary Gutierrez and urge him to uphold the California Coastal Commission’s February 6 decision. For additional information, or to send a letter, go to: http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/tollroadappeal0408 or SaveTrestles.org. A final decision by Gutierrez is expected by January 7.
The Surfrider Foundation
is a non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of our world's oceans, waves and beaches. Founded in 1984 by a handful of visionary surfers in Malibu, California, the Surfrider Foundation now maintains over 50,000 members and 80 chapters worldwide.
When in the course of human events, unattended grievances make it necessary for citizens to reexamine the structure of their government and bring about change.
We were once a great nation, created by immigrants from foreign lands who populated a bountiful continent.
We now witness our nation’s prestige and our domestic liberties considerably diminished.
We, who suffer the consequences of a dysfunctional system of government, seek to reaffirm our founding principles and to improve upon the structure of representative government.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all human beings are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. To secure these rights, Government is instituted in society, deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed.
However, if a Government controlled by special interests becomes unconcerned with the public’s wellbeing and destructive of the people’s rights, it is the duty of the people to change that government to provide security and happiness for its citizens.
The malevolent corrupting power of money on the body politic has caused repeated injuries to the public interest.
To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a suffering nation and a disillusioned world:
The Presidency and the Congress are steeped in the cult of secrecy that denies a free people knowledge of what their government is doing to them and to others in their name. Secrecy is the foremost destructive force to democracy.
The Presidency and the Congress have failed, after the oil shock of 30 years ago, to provide leadership to end our dependency on oil. Continued reliance on oil distorts our foreign policy and causes Americans to disproportionately pollute the environment.
The Presidency and the Congress have been complicit in permitting a small, rapacious, greedy minority of money managers and corporate titans to manipulate the U.S. and global financial markets for their selfish gain.
The Presidency and the Congress have redefined the criminal act of terrorism as an act of war in order to maintain the nation in a constant state of war, which in the words of James Madison is the worst of all evils in that it facilitates the control of the many by the few.
The Presidency and the Congress have obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing the right of habeas corpus to fellow human beings, regardless of national origin, and by transporting them to secret prisons in foreign countries to be tortured and held without knowledge of their crimes or their accusers.
The Presidency and the Congress have plundered our treasury to fund unnecessary and illegal wars and foreign military adventures based on lies and misinformation.
The Presidency and the Congress wage psychological war on their own citizens to induce unfounded and unreasonable fear of non existent threats in order to militarize America’s culture and make acceptable ludicrous defense expenditures––greater than all the rest of the world combined––when in fact there is no nation capable or desirous of threatening our security.
The Presidency and the Congress, in pursuit of an illogical “war on drugs,” export military weapons that violently destabilize foreign democracies. Their “war on drugs” ravages America’s inner cities, destroys the families of our most disadvantaged citizens, and puts more of its own citizens in prison than any other country in the world.
The Presidency and the Congress encourage and fund our self-appointed role as “the world’s policeman,” becoming the basis for American Imperialism and for distorting our nation’s budget priorities with excessive funding for the military-industrial complex.
In every electoral contest, Americans vote for change. Yet real change is never realized. Despite creative advances in the private sector of human society, our public sector––government––is mired in partisan stalemate, unable to respond to the complex global demands of the 21st Century.
The political structures of our current representative democracy were designed in the 18th Century and are not susceptible to change.
Therefore, We Citizens of the United States of America, in our capacity as the sovereign creators of our government and its Constitution, solemnly declare that we seek a greater role in our own self-governance, beyond that of merely voting and giving away our power to politicians on Election Day.
We choose freedom––the right to participate in the central power of government––the right to initiate and vote on laws––in partnership with those we elect to our governing legislative bodies. As sovereign human beings we have the innate right to collectively make majoritarian decisions on the policies that affect our lives.
We, the people, recognize that elected officials at all levels of American government have no incentive to share legislative power with the people.
Therefore, we pledge our efforts, for as long as it takes, to circumvent government inertia by directly voting to enact, as the law of the land, the National Initiative for Democracy. This federal ballot initiative amends the Constitution in a manner similar to the precedent set in Article VII. It creates an Electoral Trust, separate form representative government, to implement, on behalf of the people, legislative procedures established in an accompanying federal statute.
The enactment of the National Initiative essentially creates a Legislature of the People in every government jurisdiction of the United States, operating in a legislative partnership with elected federal, state and local legislative bodies.
Enacting the National Initiative in the United States––or for that matter in any country––continues the major advances in direct democracy begun by the Swiss in 1848 and improved upon when copied by 24 American states and hundreds of American local governments over the last 100 years.
The global impact of empowering people to vote directly on public policy issues that affect their lives will change forever the paradigm of human governance––a goal worthy of pledging our lives, our property and our sacred honor.
Cox.net rep Jim Leach, VP Government Affairs, Cox Communications, jim.leach@cox.com got up before the feds and asked them to overturn the California Coastal Commission decision to protect San Onofre, and to give public land to a private corporation.
Mr Leach (Apropos don't you think?) We Americans have been fleeced by big business to the tune of $1 Trillion this year alone.
Enough is Enough.
A East West Road, does not fix a North South Traffic issue, but it would destroy, A state park, 11 endangered species, and A Sacred Site.
Mr Leach is right when he says San Clemente should be connected to the rest of the OC, I KNOW! BUILD LA PAZ, BUILD LA PATA, BUT Where was COX.NET when the LA PATA initiative was on our city's ballot?
(NO WHERE)
Don't Like Cox.Net stance on the 241 South, think COX.NET stepped over the line in trying to overturn a California Coastal Commission finding? Do you think you should shoulder yet another government giveaway to big business on the back of the little guy? Let Cox.net know you care...
CANCEL YOUR COX.NET ACCOUNT!, TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO CANCEL THEIR COX.NET ACCOUNTS! HAVE THEM TELL THEIR FRIENDS TO CANCEL THEIR COX.NET ACCOUNTS!
Mr Leach thinks you should. That is what he told us to do as he left the hearing.
If you want to SaveTrestles And you think that Cox.net should reverse their wrong minded stance on this issue contact Cox.net and feel free to email hrd-hsi.newsgroups@cox.com your feelings.
