Last week, All Things Considered carried remarkable report on how the law is used to cut down trees to preserve citizens’ views of billboards. This is about the legal rights of billboard owners to make you look at their advertising.

It’s not a local story, but it’s a good point of reference as we discuss the conflict between property rights and public good on the Coastside.

Highway 192 [in Osceola County, Fla.] used to be exceptionally plain. It was lined by weed-filled ditches, with no sidewalks and poor lighting. It was drab.

So the property owners voted to tax themselves $29 million to make the roadway safer and prettier.

"Look at it today," says Lizasuain. "We have 10-foot sidewalks on both sides of the road. We have bicycle paths, well-lit bus shelters, information-filled kiosks. And that’s not even mentioning the beautiful landscaping that we have out here."

The landscaping included 360 palms, 300 oleanders and 1,400 loquats, among other trees. But as the county made these improvements several years ago, some people were not happy.

"We alerted [the county] that ... we’ve got a problem," recalls Craig Swygert. He heads the Orlando division of Clear Channel Outdoor, which owns billboards along Highway 192.

"The billboards were there first, and the trees started popping up, and they were done so in a way that they would block the view of the billboard," he says. He argued that by planting the trees where it did, the government was acting unfairly. "It’s like, ‘Hey, we’re going to give you a permit to be in business, but then we’re going to take it away after you’ve already invested all this money.’"

Clear Channel and other billboard companies complained that beautification projects on a number of Florida roads threatened their business, so they lobbied the state Legislature for protection.

In 2006, lawmakers drafted a bill to outlaw the planting of trees on the public right-of-way in front of billboards. Each sign would be guaranteed a 500-foot-long view, uninterrupted by a single branch of leaf.

A few months later, the state transportation agency announced that 38 of the newly planted trees were in violation of the law and would have to be cut down.

There’s more, and it’s a definite must-read or must-listen.

Surfrider San Mateo County Public Meeting
this Thursday, September 11, 2008
7:00 PM
Pacifica - Pedro Point Firehouse

Learn the latest on the Marine Life Protection Act from former Fitzgerald Marine Reserve ranger Bob Breen. Bob will advise us how we can influence the outcome of one of the most significant acts of environmental protection legislation in years. Planned legislation is a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) for the North Central Coast stretching from Pigeon Point north past Point Arena. Help gain protection for our wonderful coast! Bob has long experience with implementing and enforcing protected areas.

Bob will inform us on upcoming initiative aimed at realizing goals of the 1999 Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) directing the state to design and manage a network of marine protected areas that protects marine life and habitats, marine ecosystems, and marine natural heritage. It also improves the recreational, educational and study opportunities provided by marine ecosystems.

Join us and learn about the next steps for putting these MPAs ‘‘in the water’’ and learn how you can make your voice heard at the upcoming Fish and Game hearings in Santa Rosa on October 2 & 3.

Also at the September 11th meeting:
$1 Raffle
Membership Renewal   Drive

"Politics is the art of the possible."—Otto von Bismarck

"To open a show, I like to do one thing that is impossible.  So, right now, I’m going to suck this piano into my lungs." —Steve Martin, wielding a drinking straw

The Half Moon Bay City Council majority bet $18 million of taxpayers’ money that it could suck the piano of AB1991 through the drinking straw of the California legislature.

Now, having failed, they’re angry—at "people from outside this community", "people who had their lawyers and their lobbyists against us", and "people that don’t want it resolved".

"People from outside this community" didn’t pick this fight to hurt the city. By trying to sell out the Coastal Act as well as environmental and wetlands protections for cash, the city dared anyone who cared about the future of any portion of California coast to meet them in Sacramento for a rumble.

"People who had their lawyers and their lobbyists against us" are not at fault. Does anyone doubt that the city spent more on lawyers and lobbyists to support AB1991 than the environmentalists did to defeat it?

"People who don’t want it resolved" aren’t the problem. Those people don’t exist. Everyone who opposed AB1991 supported SB863, which was hastily thrown together to fill the gap left by the failure of AB1991. No one opposed relief for the city.

SB863 demonstrated that the city has more friends in Sacramento and the environmental community than they knew.  It’s too bad they hadn’t realized that sooner. Or yet.

Each year, the first rain event of the season washes urban pollutants off of the streets and into storm drains, eventually entering the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Critical Coastal Areas (CCA’s).

First Flush events take place up and down the coast from Carmel-by-the-sea all the way to Fitzgerald Marine Reserve CCA and Pillar Point Harbour (for the first time), tracking these pollutants. Your help is needed to collect water samples from storm drain outfalls in the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve Critical Coastal Area and Pillar Point Harbor.
 
There will be a training session/dry run taking place on Saturday, September 13, 2008 from 9:30 to noon at the Moss Beach Ranch Laboratory. 1862 Etheldore (RSVP for directions) RSVP or info:  .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), San Mateo RCD and 650-712-7765

Sampling will occur on the first rain event of the season. Volunteers will be mobilized through a telephone tree.

A. Not proving in court that Beachwood always contained wetlands.

B. Failing to appeal the Beachwood decision.

C. Not working with environmental and other stakeholders to craft a bill that could pass the state legislature.

D. Making terms of the Beachwood settlement conditional on passage of AB1991.

E. Arbitrarily adding Glencree to the Beachwood settlement the day after Keenan optioned the property.

F. Misrepresenting threat of bankruptcy to Senator Leland Yee.

G. Getting Leland Yee to sign on to AB1991 without having seen the bill.

H. Delivering a settlement that required the state legislature to set a precedent for undermining decades of coastal, wetlands, environmental, and planning protection in exchange for cash.

I. Allowing, or not knowing of, Keenan’s sharing of the city’s lobbying expenses.

J. Spending six months and a million bucks trying to sell AB1991 in Sacramento.

K. Slandering Coastal Commission staff, who will rule on what the city can do with its newly-acquired Beachwood parcel.

L. Claiming that ABAG’s $5 million check could not be applied to the settlement cost.

M. Having no contingency plan if AB1991 were to fail, thereby wasting all of July and most of August.

N. All of the above.

O. None of the above—the city was ambushed by the nerds from the Sierra Club.

SB863, Senator Leland Yee’s bill to compensate Half Moon Bay with $10 million to buy Beachwood for parkland, failed to pass out of the state assembly before the end of the Labor Day weekend deadline, reports Julia Scott in the County Times. The city will owe $18 million to developer Charles "Chop" Keenan on June 20, 2009.

City officials have said the $18 million would take decades to repay. Contacted on Sunday, Half Moon Bay Councilman John Muller still hadn’t heard the news and reacted with sadness.

"I was afraid of that. I’m absolutely devastated, to be honest with you. We were working so hard for this, and we were anticipating that if we had to look for other funding to pay it off or declare bankruptcy, it’s going to take a long time to do," said Muller. The Half Moon Bay City Council was expected to discuss how to proceed at a scheduled meeting tonight .

Adam Keigwin, a spokesman for Yee’s office, suggested there would still be time to pass another bill by June 30, 2009, when the legislative session resumes in December. But it would need to start again with new language, new hearings and new letters of support. It will also need at least one new sponsor — Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-South San Francisco, who championed an earlier, failed Beachwood bill, will be termed out at the end of 2008.

"It’s not an impossible deadline," declared Keigwin.

In 2007, 44% of California Coastal Commission votes were pro-conservation, according to an annual analysis by conservation groups.The score was 60% in 2005, and 76% in 1997. The analysis has been prepared annually for the past 20 years.

Of the appointing authorities, the Senate Rules Committee appointments out-scored the Commissioner appointments made by the Governor and the Assembly Speaker this year with 72% pro-coastal average score for Senate appointees, 35% for Assembly appointees, and 24% for the Governor’s appointees.

The voting chart was prepared by California Coastkeeper Alliance, Surfrider Foundation, Sierra Club, League for Coastal Protection, and California Coastal Protection Network. You can download the report, which outlines the individual issues and commissioner votes in 2007 from Coastsider.

The Coastside Land Trust is holding our monthly restoration event at our Francis Beach properties this coming Saturday, August 30th, 12:30 to 3pm.  We’re making good progress re-establishing native vegetation on these beautiful bluff top properties. The invasive species are now dry and our dry-summer adapted native species are coming into their own with blooms, seed setting and dispersal.

Lizard Tail, Purple Aster, Bee Flower, Yellow Lupine and Coyote Bushes are all finishing blooming, setting seed or starting to bloom. Once their seeds mature and dry, these natives have various methods of seed dispersal. For example the Yellow Lupine has seed pods that when dry, pop open, and the seeds are literally thrown out into the air to fall to the ground away from the parent plant. Others like the Purple Aster rely on the wind and birds for seed disbursal. We will spend the day discussing these seed disbursal methods and others, identifying native and invasive plants, and removing invasive plants.

Please join us. Check in at the Francis State Beach kiosk at Kelly and the Pacific Ocean, proceed north on the maintenance road to the maintenance sheds. Our properties are on the east side of the maintenance road. Refreshments, good humor and appreciation are provided for all ages and abilities.

Jo Chamberlain

The Montara Water and Sanitary District invites residents of Montara and Moss Beach to celebrate fifty years of success overcoming environmental challenges, together with five years of progress meeting local water needs, at a community party on Sunday, August 24, 2008 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Point Montara Lighthouse Hostel.

"The Montara / Moss Beach community has repeatedly demonstrated its determination to meet local needs through effective local government. This community party lets us thank the residents who are responsible for the continued success of our District," according to Paul Perkovic, president of the MWSD board of directors.

A barbeque lunch featuring food and beverages donated by local businesses begins at 1 p.m., followed by an opportunity to tour District facilities and read about the history of the Montara Water and Sanitary District, the Point Montara Naval Anti-Aircraft Training Center (which formerly occupied the MWSD site), and the Point Montara Lighthouse and Hostel (most recently featured in news stories across the country for its traveling lighthouse).

Former State Senator Quentin Kopp will briefly address the community about 2:30 p.m., followed by presentation of proclamations honoring the Montara / Moss Beach community and MWSD for their accomplishments over the past 50 years, cleaning and disposing of wastewater and solid waste for the community, and over the past 5 years operating and improving the local water system while keeping water rates as low as possible.

Shortly after it was formed, the District constructed the most advanced wastewater treatment facility on the Midcoast to eliminate polluting the Pacific Ocean with the community’s untreated sewage. Five years ago, the District acquired the local water system, which had been neglected during decades of private ownership. More recently, MWSD installed the first solar power system to serve a Midcoast agency.

Please RSVP using the link on the MWSD web site, http://MWSD.Montara.org/ to assist in planning adequate food and beverages. All community members are welcome to attend, whether or not you RSVP.

Click for background on the district’s history and anniversary.