Trestles Saved!!!
PETE THOMAS / ON THE OUTDOORS
Surfers 1, toll road 0
Environmental groups and common sense also prevail in Coastal Commission vote against expressway through San Onofre State Beach.
Pete Thomas
Outdoors
February 8, 2008
Surfers are basking in glory after the California Coastal Commission on Wednesday dealt what might be a death blow to a proposed toll-road extension that would have blazed a six-lane expressway through pristine San Onofre State Beach.
And deservedly so.
Surfers did not win the decade-long battle, of course. Environmental groups were also on board and, ultimately, common sense among the commission panel prevailed in the form of an 8-2 vote of disapproval.
But surfers were by far the more vociferous and passionate opponents of the Foothill South project. Of the estimated 2,500 antagonists at the marathon Del Mar hearing, most were wave riders.
Clearly, the Transportation Corridor Agencies chose the wrong location to erect their toll road.
Surfers enjoyed home-turf advantage. San Onofre, as Surfing magazine editor Evan Slater pointed out, is "the hub of the surf world in Southern California."
Lower Trestles, the legendary point break within the park, is site of the only World Tour pro surfing contest in the continental United States. It hosts the most prestigious amateur national championship series in the world.
Several top pros -- Taylor Knox, Rob Machado, Mike Parsons, Pat O'Connell, Shane Beschen and others -- were bred for success on the perfect right-handers at Lower Trestles.
"It's kind of the ultimate playing field," Slater said, comparing it to Lambeau Field of Green Bay Packers football fame. "It certainly has a lot of lore and prestige behind it."
A football reference also appeared in a headline above a Surfline.com story: "It's been a week for the record books. Super Bowl Sunday rolled into Super Tuesday and finally, Big Wednesday."
It was the day the well-meaning bureaucrats weren't entirely defeated -- the CTA has vowed to appeal -- but it was one during which they were forced to punt from deep in their end zone.
The commission's decision represents far more than a victory for surfers, of course.
A 16-mile addition to an Orange County toll road few people use -- I travel that road often, at $4-plus per pop, simply to enjoy the rare feeling of having a lane to myself -- would jeopardize the 3,000-acre park's fragile ecology, including a creek that supports endangered steelhead trout.
Moreover, it would set a horrible precedent.
If a freeway can be built through one state park, why not others? How about a 30-mile thoroughfare through the Santa Monica Mountains to relieve congestion on the Ventura Freeway?
These parks are our only proximate salvation from not only clogged freeways, but cluttered communities caused by development projects that lure thousands more people to this region every day.
"We can go walk on the dirt instead of walking on concrete all the time," says Courtney Conlogue, a budding surfing star from Santa Ana. "Having to go through all the bamboo sticks [to get to Trestles] is really nice."
Our state parks serve as refuge for birds, insects, reptiles and mammals, small and large. They should be perceived as sacred ground. No earthmovers allowed. Ever.
San Onofre State Beach is a unique blend of coastal and canyon wilderness, all of it vulnerable to encroachment.
This includes even the composition of shoreline beneath waterline, which allow waves from all directions to wrap so beautifully around Lower Trestles' subtle point.
Lowers and nearby breaks were formed, over the millennia, by sediment entering the ocean via the creek within the estuary. It's debatable how or whether the toll-road project would alter these waves, but, as Surfline founder Sean Collins said, "Whenever someone's going to start messing with the source of that kind of world-class wave . . . as surfers, we're going to get pretty nervous about that."
Nerves have settled for now, but a new swell is due by Saturday, so excitement mounts. Trestles will be packed all weekend. Or should we say gridlocked?
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-outdoors8feb08,1,2595208,full.column
money from the LA '06 shows help fight this......RIDE THE BIG WAVE!!!!!!
:D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZltXCojYEb0
Surfers 1, toll road 0
Environmental groups and common sense also prevail in Coastal Commission vote against expressway through San Onofre State Beach.
Pete Thomas
Outdoors
February 8, 2008
Surfers are basking in glory after the California Coastal Commission on Wednesday dealt what might be a death blow to a proposed toll-road extension that would have blazed a six-lane expressway through pristine San Onofre State Beach.
And deservedly so.
Surfers did not win the decade-long battle, of course. Environmental groups were also on board and, ultimately, common sense among the commission panel prevailed in the form of an 8-2 vote of disapproval.
But surfers were by far the more vociferous and passionate opponents of the Foothill South project. Of the estimated 2,500 antagonists at the marathon Del Mar hearing, most were wave riders.
Clearly, the Transportation Corridor Agencies chose the wrong location to erect their toll road.
Surfers enjoyed home-turf advantage. San Onofre, as Surfing magazine editor Evan Slater pointed out, is "the hub of the surf world in Southern California."
Lower Trestles, the legendary point break within the park, is site of the only World Tour pro surfing contest in the continental United States. It hosts the most prestigious amateur national championship series in the world.
Several top pros -- Taylor Knox, Rob Machado, Mike Parsons, Pat O'Connell, Shane Beschen and others -- were bred for success on the perfect right-handers at Lower Trestles.
"It's kind of the ultimate playing field," Slater said, comparing it to Lambeau Field of Green Bay Packers football fame. "It certainly has a lot of lore and prestige behind it."
A football reference also appeared in a headline above a Surfline.com story: "It's been a week for the record books. Super Bowl Sunday rolled into Super Tuesday and finally, Big Wednesday."
It was the day the well-meaning bureaucrats weren't entirely defeated -- the CTA has vowed to appeal -- but it was one during which they were forced to punt from deep in their end zone.
The commission's decision represents far more than a victory for surfers, of course.
A 16-mile addition to an Orange County toll road few people use -- I travel that road often, at $4-plus per pop, simply to enjoy the rare feeling of having a lane to myself -- would jeopardize the 3,000-acre park's fragile ecology, including a creek that supports endangered steelhead trout.
Moreover, it would set a horrible precedent.
If a freeway can be built through one state park, why not others? How about a 30-mile thoroughfare through the Santa Monica Mountains to relieve congestion on the Ventura Freeway?
These parks are our only proximate salvation from not only clogged freeways, but cluttered communities caused by development projects that lure thousands more people to this region every day.
"We can go walk on the dirt instead of walking on concrete all the time," says Courtney Conlogue, a budding surfing star from Santa Ana. "Having to go through all the bamboo sticks [to get to Trestles] is really nice."
Our state parks serve as refuge for birds, insects, reptiles and mammals, small and large. They should be perceived as sacred ground. No earthmovers allowed. Ever.
San Onofre State Beach is a unique blend of coastal and canyon wilderness, all of it vulnerable to encroachment.
This includes even the composition of shoreline beneath waterline, which allow waves from all directions to wrap so beautifully around Lower Trestles' subtle point.
Lowers and nearby breaks were formed, over the millennia, by sediment entering the ocean via the creek within the estuary. It's debatable how or whether the toll-road project would alter these waves, but, as Surfline founder Sean Collins said, "Whenever someone's going to start messing with the source of that kind of world-class wave . . . as surfers, we're going to get pretty nervous about that."
Nerves have settled for now, but a new swell is due by Saturday, so excitement mounts. Trestles will be packed all weekend. Or should we say gridlocked?
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-outdoors8feb08,1,2595208,full.column
money from the LA '06 shows help fight this......RIDE THE BIG WAVE!!!!!!
:Dhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZltXCojYEb0
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
http://seanbriceart.com/
yay!
Where I'm not ugly and you're lookin' at me
The TCA already has the paperwork in to appeal the decision.
This dreg could go on for another 10 years.
...signed...the token black Pearl Jam fan.
FaceSpace
10 more years of no freeway though....
And 10 more years of wasting your/my/our money on something that no one with half a brain wants.
Freedom truly isn't free.
...signed...the token black Pearl Jam fan.
FaceSpace
i know.....tis depressing....
Sir Mike McCready is....THE MASTER!!! WAHHH!!!
EVENFLOW PSYCHOS H.N.I.C~FEEL THE FLOW!!!
"Pearl Jam fans are obsessed, they'd see the boys in HELL if tickets were sold."-CROJAM95
It takes balls to put out a UKE album!
Words: Christina Chomut
Who says one dollar doesn't make a difference? How about $29,250, or $1 from every Pearl Jam ticket purchased for the band's recent sold-out show earlier this summer in Los Angeles. The band donated said portion of concert proceeds to the Surfrider Foundation to benefit the "Save Trestles" campaign in memory of band friend and Surfrider activist Dave "The Rapscallion" Russell. On February 1, at the age of 39, Russell lost his fight with a rare from of thyroid cancer.
After participating in a memorial paddle-out for Russell in Ocean Beach, Pearl Jam vocalist and San Diego native Eddie Vedder contacted the organization about raising funds in Russell's name, according to Marco Gonzalez, legal coordinator for the San Diego chapter of Surfrider.
"We wanted to do something in Dan's name that would do justice to his environmental ethic and passion for surfing," says Gonzalez. "Being a committed surfer and envirnmentalist, Dave had a long history with the San Diego chapter of Surfrider and was an inspiration to a lot of people down here."
According to Surfrider San Diego chapter co-ordinator Bill Hickman, of Ocean Beach, the "Save Trestles Fund" supports ongoing litigation and efforts to educate the general public, the surfing public, and elected official on campaign issues.
So what's currently happening with the fight to save Trestles, you ask?
Although the Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA) recently won a motion to change the venue for the lawsuit from San Diego to Orange County - The TCA's powerbase - Surfrider is planning to file an appeal and work toward securing opposition to the FTC-South.
The TCA needs to secure permits from about seven different agencies such as the California Coastal Commission, the Department Of Transportation, and the Department of Fish and Game before the toll road can be built," says Surfrider spokesperson Matt McClain. "We are trying to inform those agencies about the issue and be as proactive as possible in working to get those permits denied."
In addition to spreading the word about the campaign, Surfrider encourages supporters to fill out an online survey about Trestles (savetrestles.org) and send letters to local city council members stating oppostition to the proposed FTC toll road.
***Thanks***
a great result
stick it to the man