The decisive rejection last Wednesday by the California Coastal Commission (8-2) of the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) proposed 241 toll road that would have obliterated much of San Onofre State Beach Park was one of the most significant decisions in the history of the agency. The vast and overwhelming coalition that assembled to defend one of California’s most popular state parks and one of the world’s best and most famous surf spots was historic. The more than 3,000 people who assembled to defend San Onofre were the largest crowd in the history of Coastal Commission hearings.
Since the environmental movement is not accustomed to such overwhelming victories, we do not always analyze our successes or failures. But due to the scope of the landmark movement to preserve San Onofre and the diversity of the coalition that came together in the “Woodstock of the surf movement” last Wednesday, it is critical to understand why the Save Trestles-San Onofre Coalition won.
Here is a very brief and preliminary synopsis of the Super Bowl size victory:
Coalitions Matter: While the Surfrider Foundation did a brilliant job of mobilizing the masses and creating the coolest marketing campaign in the history of the environmental movement (kudos to Surfrider CEO Jim Moriarty and Matt McClain, Surfrider’s savant marketing and communications director), the Save Trestles/San Onofre coalition included the best and brightest of California’s environmental community. The Sierra Club, through the Friends of the Foothills alliance used the best tactics of grassroots organizing and direct mail to get the public to take action and organize key advocacy trips to Sacramento for grassroots campaigners (including myself).
NRDC, Endangered Habitats League, California Coastal Protection Network, California State Parks Foundation, The City Project, and a host of other organizations and consultants also provided the political and legal savvy to help derail the toll road. Additionally elected officials such as Susan Davis, Christine Kehoe, Lori Saldana, Pam Slater Price and a variety of California elected city officials provided their strong endorsement and created legislation to ensure the protection of San Onofre. Overall this was as sophisticated environmental coalition and campaign I have seen.
Diversity Counts: One of the most cogent arguments made to the Coastal Commissioners was that obliterating San Mateo Campground and San Onofre Beach State Park was an issue of environmental health and justice. The recreational users of San Onofre State Beach Park are among the most culturally diverse of any coastal state park in California. On any given day in San Onofre State Beach Park you can talk quad design with Chinese-America surfers from Irvine, admire the grace of multi-cultural cross-county high school running teams from San Clemente traversing the park’s trails, marvel at the prowess of some of the world’s best Hispanic surfers, and listen to conversations “In about four different languages” according to Pat Zabrocki of Surfshot Magazine in an interview with Treehugger Radio.
At the commission hearing, Los Angeles civil rights and environmental attorney, Robert Garcia and Acjachemen activist Rebecca Robles and other Native American leaders, provided a moving and passionate defense of San Onofre as a critical site for providing access to open space and recreational resources for underserved communities. The San Mateo Creek watershed is actually Panhe, a key Acjachemen religious, historical, and ceremonial site. The involvement of Latino, African American, Asian-Pacific Islander and Native American organizations in the Save San Onofre coalition only underscores the need for the environmental movement to dramatically expand its attempt to reach out to underserved communities and people of color. This is not just an issue of tactics and strategy but a moral and ethical imperative that will help us reclaim the heart and soul of the environmental movement.
The Surf Industry Flexed its Muscles: The multi-billion dollar surf industry is relatively young and just starting to flex its political muscles (please note that WiLDCOAST the organization I run receives financial support from a number of surf companies and the SIMA trade association). The surf industry was an active participant in this campaign and was out in full-force for the Commission hearing. This is a very positive and welcome sign for the future of the coastal protection movement in California and worldwide.
The TCA’s Arrogance: Alex Brant-Zawadzki, a feisty writer The OC Weekly said it best in a recent blog (“Why the Toll Road is Dead”).
..the root cause of the Transportation Corridor Agencies' failure to gain Coastal Commission approval for their Final Solution to San Onofre State Beach: ARROGANCE.
The TCA overreached by attempting to ram a private toll road through one of California’s most beloved state parks and global ground zero of the surfing world. The secretive agency must have believed that surfers and the people of California would sit idly by while it paved over paradise. The TCA blew it.
This battle is far from over. The TCA will take it case to the U.S. Department of Commerce, but the decisive nature of the Coastal Commission decision proves that in California, it is a bad idea to mess with our state parks.
-- SERGE DEDINA
8 Comments so far on this story...
Why can't you just tell what happened without making stuff up. Cultural diversity? San Clemente is one of the most vanilla communities south of Santa Ana. Oh wait, you used a song by mana, the abba of mexico, in your video of some tow heads. I'm convinced.
Glad to see the masses of people showed up. I don't care if they white, brown, purple or polka dot. How come the San Diego council rep didn't show up??? Anyhow, the fight isn't over until you ARNNNNNNNOLD to say NOOOOOOOOO.
I'm very glad to see that the Coastal Commission used common sense in this decision. And that's all it was, common sense. This "miracle" you proclaim is nonsense. All you surfers and hippies could have stayed home and the result would have been the same. Sometimes, government really does make the right choice.
"The Woodstock of the surf movement." That's rich. What I find most interesting is the contrast between the activism by surfers and enviros on Trestles compared to the Carlsbad desalination project. This is more proof that Marco Gonzalez and Bruce Reznik are flying solo in their battle to deny San Diego a new drinking water supply. Public hearings on the desal project have been packed with supporters and only a handful of paid opponents, many off whom leave before the end of the meeting. Maybe Surfrider should learn to pick and choose its battles and maintain its credibility.
This is a terrific article but you may wish to know about another highbly cogent argument. This land is dedicated parkland, via Ronald Reagon, because it is coastal mitigation land for the environmental harm caused by San Onofre Power Plant. Can you imagine having to fend off all private industry from taking over all of our parkland? That would set a dangerous precedent and this was amply discussed at the hearing by the Parks Foundation and many others. Can you imagine when we are all out of mitigation lands in the coastal zone? If the commission had supported this private toll road, don't think this couldn't happen to parkland by you.
Sorry I missed the comments on the desal plant. Water intakes such as those that will be needed by Poseiden do cause environmental harm. The argument against approval is about the environmental mitigations and whether or not the studies were complete and scientifically adequate. I fully support Surfrider and Coastkeeper in their quest to ensure the Commission considers and has all the facts before them prior to approving a project.
"Save Trestles" versus "Save the marine larvae likely to be devastated by a co-located desalination plant" - and people wonder why it's easier to get out the masses for the Toll Road heaing? Give me a break Thirstyin Diego.
I loved that video, until those beautiful kids shouted "Stop the Toll Road" toward the end. Surfer dudes are supposed to be laid-back, like when the kid points to the sign "All Features Protected" with the tip of his board. He can read! It's the "Yes We Can" video for saving Trestles.
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