Readers React: A growing California needs more development, even along the coast

To the editor: Gov. Jerry Brown calling members of the California Coastal Commission “bureaucratic thugs” in the 1970s has a familiar ring for me. (“When it comes to the California Coastal Commission, ‘cozy’ is a four-letter word,” Jan. 30)

A friend years ago who built his own house on the beach north of Santa Barbara said dealing with the commission was the closest thing he’s seen to communist bureaucracy. By establishing a panel with the sole purpose of finding excuses to stop real-estate development, we are begging for corruption and graft.

We should either get rid of the commission or legalize bribing its members.

If Californians want their beaches undeveloped, they should buy the land. As long as the population keeps growing, development will continue.

John Gleason, Camarillo

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To the editor: I met with Charles Lester regarding some projects when he was an employee of the California Coastal Commission, before he became executive director.

Although I disagreed with him regarding the compatibility of projects with coastal protection, he was never less than scrupulously honest and unfailingly fair. He was very aware of the challenge of balancing coastal protection with property rights.

This raises the suspicion that fairness is not the goal of the commissioners who are moving to fire him, but rather a thumb on the scales weighing in favor of developers.

If Brown permits his appointees to cripple the commission, he may find his legacy is not the bullet train or the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta water project, but the privatization and destruction of California’s beloved coast.

Kat McConnell, Santa Barbara

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