April 29, 1998

Buzzwords and more buzzwords

There are buzzwords, and then there are buzzwords. I am a member of the current Open Space Committee, which has taken more than two years to agree to some minimal corrections and changes to the original Open Space Task Force Report.

It is not easy to change even the most unfair features of the original report, which was loaded with personal opinion, biases, and, in at least some cases, untruths and semi-truths. There is one comment in the original report, however, which should be put in type three feet high and emblazoned on a billboard located on Coast Highway as it crosses Skyline Blvd. I would be happy to make it an exception to my usual "no billboard" rule. (Chris: Please put into Bold Face)

"EVERY PROPERTY OWNER HAS THE RIGHT TO ECONOMICALLY VIABLE USE OF HIS OR HER PROPERTY..."

The words 'economically viable" I acknowledge to be buzzwords, much as "sustainable development", "ecology", "natural environment", "liberal" and "conservative" are buzzwords. The late Stuart Chase and S.I. Hayakawa would recognize them as words difficult to anchor to solid ground. Nevertheless they fill a certain useful, if fuzzy purpose.

The Open Space Task Force report includes 51 separate pieces of land with over a hundred owners. Some are publicly owned. Some are outside Pacifica city limits. Cattle Hill, which used to be private when the OSTFR was compiled, is now the property of the city, and is being rushed in ungodly haste into the hands of the GGNRA, where it will be as useless as the rest of the 1400-plus acres of land in Pacifica owned by the GGNRA. The property has magnificent views.

Sweeney Ridge is the home of wildflowers and wild creatures. It is located within a short distance of millions of people, many of whom would love to drive into a park near their homes, enjoy a picnic, buy goods from Pacifica merchants, enjoy a meal in one of our fine restaurants, stay overnight in a Pacifica hotel, etc. However, it is impossible to drive these days from the rest of Pacifica directly to Sweeney Ridge. It is not allowed. Only a paltry few hundred folks, very few even from Pacifica, enjoy the use of this beautiful part of our beautiful city. If you include Milagra Ridge and the 400 acres of fish and game refuge to the east of the GGNRA, it is roughly a quarter of our entire city already, yet there are some who want to shove even more of Pacifica into the GGNRA.

But I digress. About 36 or 38 percent of all the private property that remains in Pacifica (roughly half of all Pacifica is already publicly owned and off the tax rolls) is included in the Open Space Task Force Report, originally published in the late 1980's. The original report has been a problem to a number of owners. It's mere existence may have scared away some potential buyers or lessees. Yet "the report is not intended to declare the City's intent or interest to acquire any of these parcels or to override current land use regulations." Ever try to grab an eel!

Hardly anyone, certainly few if any landowners, have read the report in its entirety. Most read only about their property. Some ignore the report. Some are resigned to it. A few fight it. None are unaffected by it.