Readers React: Stop the privatization of California’s public coastline

To the editor: What a country. Entire buildings in Pacifica built on a picturesque but unstable clifftop outside San Francisco are currently falling into the Pacific Ocean. The California Coastal Commission should be protecting the coast from such developments, not trying to put more of them on dangerous ground. (“The coastline belongs to all Californians — but maybe not for long,” Opinion, Jan. 26)

The coast is too valuable a resource to be left to the lobbyists and their developmentally challenged clients. The action by commissioners to fire the conservation-minded director is shocking, especially in light (or in the obscurity) of the accusations against him.

It’s almost as shocking as the secret, undeclared trademarking of sites in our national parks.

Margaret Gordon, Sierra Madre

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To the editor: The beautiful photograph of the California Coast that was published with this piece reminded me of what we Spaniards used to see before excessive development spoiled the shores of the Mediterranean. The coast vanished, giving way to one massive project after another. Within a distance of two miles, traffic can be held up for an hour during the summer.

I am so sorry to read that this process is getting underway in California and may not be stopped in time by your Coastal Commission and your governor.

Op-ed article author Steve Blank asks the right question about your Coastal Commission, its staff and the governor: “Unspoiled for how long?” Don’t follow Spain’s example.

Guillermo Curbera, Madrid

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To the editor: From the Coastal commission to the poisonous water in Flint, Mich., there is evidence that too many government personnel do not take serious the call in the preamble to the U.S. Constitution to “promote the general welfare.”

Larry Severson, Fountain Valley

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