Toll Road Would Cut a Wicked Swath

* I read with dismay an advertisement in the Sunday issue of The Times placed by the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency. In the advertisement, the agency claims it will be spending $67 million to protect the environment. I consider this claim to be grossly hypocritical in light of the tremendous, permanent environmental damage that will be done to the affected areas.

The agency would lead us to believe that it is doing everyone and the environment a favor by blasting a toll road through pristine canyon and coastal areas. A toll road that few people in the county want. A toll road that a recent traffic survey showed that more than 80% of those currently using the Newport Coast Road, which will be incorporated into the toll road, will no longer use and will detour through Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach to avoid.

Furthermore, I find it reprehensible that the agency would use funds coming from state bonds that the taxpayers are financing to run this hypocritical advertisement. If the public support were there for the toll road, the agency would not need to run an ad to convince us how environmentally sound it was going to be. Boycott the toll road! It’s not too late to stop it!

RICHARD G. PLAVETICH

Laguna Beach

* Long ago I learned that the quality of our democracy depends upon its informed citizenry , which relies largely upon an unbiased and responsible press. As an adult I have relied upon The Los Angeles Times for much information. Thus, when last weekend The Times failed to cover a rally at which people protested the construction of the San Joaquin Hills tollway within the fragile greenbelt located along the Laguna Coast, I was aghast. One thousand men, women and children lining Laguna Canyon Road in peaceful protest was another in a long panorama of demonstrations. These people express relentless respect and affection for the urban wilderness found in the canyon and concomitant revulsion for a system that would irrevocably destroy it!

There is no doubt that “Hands Across the Canyon” was a newsworthy event. For one thing, what sustains these die-hards? The answer is revealed in remarks made at the rally. As Orange Countian Lida Lenney passionately proclaimed, “Laguna Canyon is our rain forest!” If the tollway is allowed to proceed through this land, a concrete swath will fragment the unique system of coastal parks and reserves whose central link is Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. This park system is the people’s land, fought and paid for, directly or through development mitigation, by citizens. Informed and responsible, they should question the judgments of planners who would propose a toll road through this land, relying on 20-year-old data, to justify it.

When today California’s urban wilderness--our precious natural and recreational resources--are being paved over at an alarming rate, defiant people deserve the dignity of your attention. Shame on The Times for failing us.

SHAREN HEATH

Laguna Beach