Joe Edmiston’s Job

Serving on the board of Save Open Space, I feel compelled to respond to a letter by Glen Peterson by giving my reasons for voting to request the removal of Joe Edmiston as director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

I believe Edmiston has abused the powers of his office and has acted in direct violation of the state Legislature which established the conservancy.

Edmiston’s job is to uphold the Santa Monica Mountains Comprehensive Plan, protecting lands within the Santa Monica Mountains Zone as a single ecosystem, to be held in trust for present and future generations.

Instead, he is endorsing and lobbying for acceptance of the land-swap deal that will result in highway construction on national park land and massive urban development on protected land.

The National Park Service lists the Jordan Ranch as a highly desirable acquisition.

Development of the Jordan Ranch will mean destruction of a valuable, ecologically sensitive area, obliteration of the region’s last remaining oak forest, negation of the National Park Service’s chances to acquire the whole property, and inestimable damage to the adjacent Cheeseboro Park--both from the highway construction and proximity of dense urban development.

Edmiston seems to be operating on the premise that the Jordan Ranch development is inevitable, and that he should negotiate the best deal possible.

I cannot understand how the director of the conservancy could be operating from such a premise.

Jordan Ranch is protected under federal, state and county legislation. Edmiston ought to be fighting to uphold the laws that protect it, not advocating the developer’s position.

In direct response to Peterson’s letter, I concede that there have been positive accomplishments under Edmiston’s directorship. But Peterson can’t overlook the facts.

Recent history has exposed two glaring examples of what can happen when a public figure refuses to let the laws constraining the powers of his position get in the way of fulfilling personal ideology.

Some people actually believed that the advancements made in foreign policy under Richard Nixon’s presidency excused Watergate; some believed Oliver North’s high ideals excused his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair.

VIRGINIA M. POLLACK

Agoura