On Shaky Ground

As president-elect of the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce, I typically remain silent on issues affecting our city unless they directly involve the business community. On the Stone Steps beach issue, however, the logical solution is so clear, and so politically defensible, that I cannot understand why others fail to embrace it (Commentary, Nov. 15).

One of the primary concerns of all concerned here is the preservation of the beaches and the safety of those who visit them. One cannot ignore that unstable bluffs overhanging the beach creates a clear and present danger to beach-goers, not to mention those whose homes are built on top of the bluffs. The placement of rip-rap along the beaches will create something of an inconvenience. However, government officials have a fiduciary responsibility to promote the welfare of the public. Temporarily inconveniencing some people in order to fulfill that obligation is not a crime, or an example of showing favoritism to anyone. It is an absolute mandate of official responsibility.

The argument that we should not expend public funds for the benefit of selected individuals is valid. What makes this controversy so ridiculous is that the residents are not asking us to do so.

What we are experiencing here is not a debate over encroachment of public access by private interests; it is a rather embarrassing skirmish led by the “have nots” against the “haves.”

The opponents of the rip-rap act as if the city government was about to seize “their” property without just compensation. It is an argument completely without logical foundation. If the bluffs collapse, we will have a lot more than an “inconvenience.” If someone is under the bluffs when they collapse, we’ll have ourselves a grand lawsuit, and the “have nots” will have even less.

W. RON EDDE

Encinitas