In February I attended the California Coastal Commission hearing scheduled to approve or reject a proposed toll road that would cut through San Mateo State Park and end directly north of Camp Pendleton. It was an excellent experience as I was one of thousands of people there to voice my support in the proposal being rejected. The outpouring of support was a beautiful example of grassroots activism at its finest and I would like to think our efforts played a role in the commission rejecting the proposal 9 to 1. Despite the victory in this battle the war, of course, rages on.
Rather quickly after their defeat the Transportation Corridor Agency began organizing in an attempt to circumvent the commission’s ruling and be granted permission to build their toll road. They have a powerful ally in Governor Schwarzenegger who despite considering himself a “green” governor seems to have an interest in destroying our national park system. Today I found this article in the LA Times that discusses the Governor’s recent decision to remove Clint Eastwood and Bobby Shriver off of the State Parks board in response to their opposition of the toll road. Eastwood was apparently surprised as Schwarzenegger has always been aware of his support for our state park system. Eastwood remarked , “You’re not going to get people who are interested in state parks who want to build freeways through state parks,” which I think points out the silliness of a state parks board made up of people committed to destroying them.
Unfortunately, I have also heard from people close to the fight that the TCA’s next move is to lobby the federal government to push the proposal through. How would the federal government have any jurisdiction you ask? Well in a stroke of evil genius, the TCA has figured out that if they frame the proposal in terms of that generous term “national security” the federal government has to help. Apparently they are going to make the claim that due to the proposed toll roads proximity to Camp Pendleton, it is in the interest of national security to alleviate traffic and provide an alternative means of entering and exiting the base. This of course makes no sense but neither does a lot of things we do in the name of “national security” so it has a chance of working.
I am not writing about this to discuss my feelings on the toll road (most of the readers know where I stand on that) or even the history of the proposal (but if you would like I can provide that), but instead to document that the fight continues on. I will try and keep you all updated of the developments and the different ways we can help fight this thing.
A few links if you are interested: Save Trestles, Surfrider, The TCA.
