Shea Homes Flood Insurance Promise in Doubt, Letters Show

By John Earl
OC Voice Editor

One of the primary reasons the Huntington Beach City Council accepted the California Coastal Commission’s recommended modifications to the Parkside housing project on the upper mesa of the Bolsa Chica wetlands (June 16) was the developer’s promise to repair the Wintersburg flood control levee up to FEMA standards along the property’s southern border, which Shea vice president Ron Metzler and city staff repeatedly assured the city council would lead to a FEMA certification and the elimination of flood insurance for 7,000 homes located all the way to the 405 freeway and north of Edinger Avenue.

They pointed to a 2002 FEMA letter as proof that the flood map for that area would be changed after Shea’s mandated improvements are made. The letter confirmed that the improvements would lead to lower or zero flood insurance premiums for an unknown number of people.

But Bolsa Chica Land Trust director Flossie Horgan tried to tell the council about a recent request to the city by Shea Homes to “consider a design alternative that would limit the improvement of the levee along the C05 Wintersburg Channel to the developed frontage in lieu of the entire length of the property as originally required under the conditions of approval for the project,” according to a Jan. 23, 2007 letter from City Engineer Travis K. Hopkins to the Coastal Commission.

Saving Trestles: A broad coalition of activists saved San Onofre State Park - for now

By Serge Dedina
Special to the OC Voice

“Abuelita,” the eager grom asked his gray-haired grandmother as they saw around the campfire at San Mateo Campground after a long day surfing a late-season southern hemi at Uppers. “Tell me again about how you saved Trestles. Tell me about Big Wednesday.”

The abuelita smiled. She could still see the thousands of people at Wyland Hall. Still feel the tug of the hand of her youngest daughter as they watched the crowd with awe. She could still hear the excited voices and screams of joy as the Coastal Commissioners overwhelmingly voted to protect San Onofre State Beach Park and Trestles. It was one of the best days of her long and joy-filled life.

In the annals of surfing history, there has never been another day quite like Feb. 6, 2008. That is the day when more than 3,000 surfing pioneers, media celebrities, politicians, bureaucrats, biologists, bird-lovers, Native Americans, surf-moms, grommets, pro-surfers, surf industry CEOs and abuelitas from East L.A. Came together at Wyland Hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds to stop what Mark Massara, the Sierra Club’s Coastal Program Director, calls “the devil child of all coastal development projects.”

Global Warming: Fix the problem, not the blame

By Dr. Amer El-Ahraf
Special to the OC Voice

Amid the controversial problem of global warming and its potential impact on human health, there is a rush to fix the blame-either on human activities or natural weather cycles. But the issue is too important for that. We must develop rational strategies to fix the problem rather than fixing the blame.

Over  600 international scientists conclude that human activities that create carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides and chlorofluorocarbons-known as greenhouse gasses-are likely to cause an atypical increase in Earth’s temperature, which, in turn, creates a sequence of ecological changes that are harmful to human health and wellbeing.

A scientific study by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted that the Earth’s average surface temperature has increased beyond normal range since1861.

While the exact impact of global warming is uncertain, scientists agree that it will vary according to the severity of the environmental changes it causes and the vulnerability of a certain populations, based on age, nutritional status, health standards, economic development and their use of technology.

No Crap Tap: Recycled sewage water helps solve water shortage and tastes good!

By John Earl
OC Voice Editor

If you live in Orange County, pat yourself on the back the next time you sit down on the toilet with your copy of the OC Voice, because you’re helping to solve California’s water shortage.

Think of it as one way of giving back to nature what you take from it when you water your lawn, hose down your drive way, fill your large swimming pool, shower for 1 hour or flush your toilet 10 times a day. It may be the one way in which “wasting” water helps to ensure your future water supplies

Water problems aren’t unique to California, or course.  Drought induced by climate change, as well as poor resource management, including inefficient water use by agriculture and residential homes, linked with population growth have created water shortages in at least one-third of the world.

The Tipping Point ~ Part II: The Descent of Tom Harman - Born Again Immigrant Basher

By Vern Nelson
OC Voice Columnist

In the first Naked Gun film, Lieutenant Frank Drebin, while impersonating an umpire in a major league baseball game in order to prevent an assassination, finds himself at a loss what to do when the batter swings and misses. After a long, uncomfortable silence, feeling a thousand expectant eyes fixed upon him, he finally stammers, hesitantly, “…Strike one?” And the crowd erupts into cheers.

Immediately Drebin is transformed by the crowd’s approval into a super-umpire. Inspired, he begins shouting and singing out calls with dance moves and acrobatics, driving the delighted fans crazy:

“STEERIIIIKE TWOOO!!!” There is no middle ground or gradual change as there would be for you or I; the public’s roaring approbation transfigures him instantaneously from mute uncertainty to no-hold-barred showmanship, wallowing in the fans’ adulation for the rest of the game.

It was just like that for Senator Tom Harman when he first discovered the awesome crowd-pleasing power of anti-immigrant rhetoric in mid-2006: the assemblyman known most for his solid environmental record, who had never before been noticed to mention immigration, transformed himself overnight into Orange County’s foremost defender of Anglo-Americans from the encroaching brown hordes. “It is the single most hot-button issue in the district!” he enthused to Laguna Beach’s Coastline Pilot.

California Coalition for Immigration Reform president Barbara Coe, whom I met at a small Mayday Minuteman rally in Santa Ana, tells me, “Tom is the greatest! He not only says the right thing, he gets out there and does it.” Pooh-poohing the appearance of insincerity in his suddenly discovering this issue in the heat of a nailbiter primary against wingnut Diane Harkey, she attributes his metamorphosis to a “very convincing presentation” her group gave him at a meeting around that time.

Coalition asks Coastal Commission to Revoke Brightwater Development

From a press release:

Concerned Native Americans, the California Cultural Resources Preservation Alliance and the Bolsa Chica Land Trust have all signed on to the attached letter to the Coastal Commission requesting a revocation hearing on the archeological issues surrounding the Brighwater development project at Bolsa Chica Mesa.

June 2, 2008

California Coastal Commission
Teresa Henry, District Manager
200 Oceangate, 10^th floor
Long Beach, CA 90802-4416

RE: Brightwater / Bolsa Chica Permit 5-05-020

Dear Ms. Henry:

We, the undersigned ( petitioners) along with over 500 interested citizens who have submitted signatures, request an immediate investigation by the California Coastal Commission with respect to Permit 5-05-020 Brightwater , approved April 14, 2005

( Condition of Approval 23 attached as Exhibit A).

If any of the following allegations are discovered to be true we request that the Commission immediately revoke or suspend this permit.

The petitioners want to preface the above request by noting that over decades the petitioners have come to believe that the Bolsa Chica sacred site is being systematically destroyed or, at a minimum, placed in grave peril. The petitioners do not fault the Coastal Commission or any other public agency for this state of affairs. However, we believe the following presents such a clear case of improper action relative to the Bolsa Chica sacred site that specific action must be taken immediately.

H.B. 4th of July Board Needs Parade Sponsors!

Media Contact: Barbara McMurray

McMurray Marketing Communications

949-494-5388 office

949-233-9548 mobile

mcmurray@mac.com

Sponsorships Available for

2008 Huntington Beach 4^th of July

Parade & Pier Festival

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., April 28, 2008 - The Fourth of July Executive Board for the City of Huntington Beach has announced that it is offering eight levels of sponsorship to fund the city’s largest annual celebration, now in its 104^th year. Individuals and businesses can choose the right package to fit their budgets, from $100 to $75,000, with customized packages available.

“Anyone who sponsors our July 4^th events is not only helping us — they are making a shrewd marketing investment that will place their name and logo in front of three-quarters of a million people,” said Pat Stier, executive board chair for the events. “The parade is the largest 4^th of July parade west of the Mississippi. It is seen by 250,000 people along the route, with hundreds of thousands more nationwide who see it telecast public television via KOCE, one of our sponsors. Then the weekend-long Pier Festival attracts at least 300,000.”

Each year, the Fourth of July Executive Board’s Sponsorship Committee is charged with raising the money to produce the 4th of July Parade & Pier Festival. The volunteer committee works year round to meet the ever-rising costs of presenting the event.

Stier added, “But our attendance and the number of activities and events grow every year, too, so it’s an excellent deal for sponsors who want to reach a desirable consumer demographic. People know and love this event, and they return year after year, bringing their families and friends. It’s a patriotic-themed weekend of family-oriented events in one of Southern California’s loveliest ocean communities. Sponsors will definitely get a lot of bang for their buck.”

For sponsorship information call Pat Stier at 714-968-0321 or e-mail pstier@socal.rr.com. Preview all sponsorship levels and benefits by visiting the official 4^th of July website at www.hb4thofjuly.org; click on “Sponsor Info.”

The Board meets year-round to plan the annual event that includes the Surf City 5K Run, Pancake Breakfast, the parade, the weekend-long Pier Festival at Pier Plaza and the 4th of July Fireworks Show.

The three-day slice of hometown-flavored Americana includes fireworks set off from the municipal pier at 9 p.m. — simulcast to stirring music by K-EARTH 101 Radio — a Pancake Breakfast from 6:30 to 10 a.m. at Lake Park hosted by the Kiwanis of Huntington Beach, and a 5K Run & Fitness Expo from 6 a.m. to noon at Worthy Park. The parade starts at 10:00 a.m.  The accompanying Pier Festival runs through Sunday at 6 p.m. and offers live daily entertainment, a 28-foot-high climbing wall, food vendors and dozens of unique exhibitors. Started in 1904, the Huntington Beach 4^th of July Parade & Pier Festival is the city’s longest-held community tradition. www.hb4thofjuly.org

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Tipping Point: What happened to ‘Tommy’ Harman? Part 1

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” -Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night

By Vern Nelson
OC Voice Columnist

Huntington Beach environmentalists who remember the 1990’s and the struggle to protect Bolsa Chica Wetlands, who still refer to State Senator Tom Harman as “Tommy,” express puzzlement and dismay over what became of the genial councilman who once seemed to care about his district’s natural resources.

The “moderate” Assemblyman who was such a valuable ally to local greens as recently as 2005, helping bring the wetlands under public ownership, has, since ascending to the state Senate in 2006, become one of the most malign Sacramento politicians on environmental issues, earning a 19 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters this past year.

Peak Politics: Mayor’s oily investments grease the press

By John Earl and Lisa Wells
OC Voice

Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama accuse each other of bowing to “big oil,” and Huntington Beach mayor, environmentalist and Democratic candidate for congress, Debbie Cook, has taken hits in the local media for having large investments in oil corporations that many people blame for the global energy crisis that she has warned the public about for years.

Cook’s corporate investment records have always been on file at City Hall and open to the public, as required by law, but they have gained attention lately due to her desire to be the opponent of incumbent Dana Rohrabacher, and be elected in November to represent the 46^th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Cook’s fossil fuel related investments, including natural gas, totaled between $72,000 and $710,000 from March 2007 through March 2008.

As an investor, she probably made the right choices: ExxonMobil, which made a record $40.7 billion last year; BP, the world’s 2^nd largest oil producer; and, CanArgo Energy Corp, Chevron, El Paso Corp, Schlumberger Ltd Netherlands, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and the Brompton Oil and Gas Income mutual fund.

But Cook’s alleged hypocrisy was the main topic of analysis in news accounts and editorials by the Orange County Register and the Huntington Beach Independent.

The Independent excoriated Cook for investing in oil companies that harm the environment-instead of companies that “make money off of environmentally friendly technologies.”

And Register opinion editor Steve Greenhut wrote in his blog that “It’s just funny when environmental advocates preach one thing, then do another with their own dollars.”

Editorial cartoons in both papers showed Cook greedily awash in oil stocks while advocating energy conservation.

Poseidon’s Delay: Coastal Commission waits 2 years for desal answers

By John Earl
OC Voice Editor

An environmental scientist for the California Coastal Commission says that the cost of water to be produced by a desalination plant approved by the city of Huntington Beach has been greatly underestimated by the developer and that proposed mitigation measures for its impact on ocean marine life are inadequate.

The project was approved by the H.B. City Council (including current councilmembers Don Hansen, Keith Bohr, Cathy Green and Gil Coerper) in Feb. 2006.

The remarks were part of a letter to Poseidon Resources Inc., the multi-national corporate water corporation that will oversee construction of the plant that would suck in 100 million gallons of ocean water every day and convert it into 50 million gallons of drinking water. Poseidon plans to co-locate with the AES power generating plant on Newland Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway to take cost-saving advantage of the plant’s “once-through cooling” system to gather the ocean water it needs for conversion.