During the next several days to weeks is a critical opportunity for us to restore fairness, democracy and the original proper environmental goals to the California Coastal Commission. If we and others don’t act, the currently proposed quick fix by the Legislature to just delete language which would then allow the commissioners to keep their jobs for two years regardless of their job performance will likely result in a CCC that is even more dictatorial, unjust and out of control.
As reported in the recent L.A. Times articles, the CCC commissioner selection and removal process by the State Assembly Speaker (Herb Wesson, D-Culver City) and the Senate Leader (John Burton, D-Marin County) has been declared unconstitutional by the State Appeals Court.
Also, less mention was made, but more important to us, is the unconstitutional lack of separation of executive, legislative, enforcement and judicial CCC powers. This has enabled certain commissioners and staff to rule the coast like their personal fiefdoms. Blatant examples of how unfair some commissioners and staff can be has been how their personal agendas and animosities have been so easily dictated into many unworkable, unscientific and punitive LCP rules for Malibu.
We are not alone as recipients of their disregard of science and democracy. A recent Carmel Pine Cone editorial also reported how certain commissioners ignored their city mayor and other ordinary citizens’ testimony about their LCP disagreements with the all powerful CCC staff and commissioners. And many families and would-be home remodelers and builders and would-be farmers and vintners can add their unjust and costly permit experiences.
Running parallel to this news is the terrible state deficit which will affect many good state programs and people. This is the time to make the case for a significant elimination of CCC staff and programs that are not authorized by the original Coastal Act or otherwise mandatory.
We as a state cannot afford the out of bounds policies of Peter Douglas and particular staff and commissioners who direct staff to concern themselves with the color of people’s homes, the size and nature of their landscaping, whether they can have horses and pets, and whether open fields of weeds can be converted to agricultural uses.
Nor should the State Attorney General Office have to spend so much staff time and unlimited budgets to defend the state and the CCC against so many arbitrary and scientifically unsound permit and LCP decisions that certain out of bounds and out of control CCC staff and commissioners have and continue to make.
Now is the time that we have to reorient the nature and goals of the CCC back to what we envisioned when many of us voted for it in 1976. Now is the time to demand cost effective staff and programs that truly protect the significant resources of our coast without meddling in details that are not significant that should be left to local governments and their citizens.
Now is the time to legislate or judicate a selection/removal process of commissioners that encourages them not to bow to special monied interests and environmental and property rights sloganism or to engage in petty personal agendas.
The state, now more than ever, needs to encourage the selection of commissioners who can look at permits on a site specific, scientific, objective and fair manner. Likewise, we need commissioners who work as true collaborators with local governments and citizens rather than as state dictators and micromanagers of local LCP policies and rules. If commissioners cannot work in these fair and objective ways, then they should be subject to removal, not protected by fixed terms.
There are several ways to improve a more democratic selection and removal process: Have them elected on a state-wide or regional basis; Have them all selected by the governor who can retain them according to their job performance. We can vote for or against a governor, not a Speaker of the Assembly or President of the Senate.
As originally voted for in the Coastal Act, we should expect the CCC to fade out of existence with local governments taking up the permitting actions under their LCPs. This cannot happen when certain commissioners and staff want to continue to meddle and expand their roles and personal spheres of influence. Our state budget crisis demands a change and hopefully the State Supreme Court and Legislature will curtail this out of control and out of bounds commission.
It is time to mount the phones, write the letters, etc. to make a difference. Share your ideas and commitment ideas.
Jeff Harris