Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi has just fragged Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger over the 241 (Foothill-South) toll road. The road, proposed by the Irvine-based Transportation Corridor Agencies, would cut through the Donna O'Neill Land Conservancy, itself mitigation for the Talega development, and the inland portion of San Onofre State Beach, not to mention disturb a site sacred to the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians.
In Vietnam, it was not unheard of for unhappy soldiers to toss a fragmentation grenade into the tent of, or "frag," the lieutenant or commanding officer. The enemy could always be blamed, and while it did not guarantee superior leadership in the future, at least it made for a nice change of pace.
Garamendi, along with State Senate President pro tem Don Perata, Senate Natural Resources Committee Chairman Darrell Steinberg and Senator Christine Kehoe, signed a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez. (Download file)They made three simple demands:
1) You reject TCA’s appeal and uphold the California Coastal Commission’s legitimate authority to deny consistency certification for the Foothill-South Toll Road; 2) Should you take up the issue, hold a public hearing in Southern California and extend the public comment period accordingly; and 3) You prohibit federal agencies from meeting or negotiating with the TCA on this matter while the appeal is pending.
The last politicians who vocally opposed the toll road, Santa Monica City Council Bobby Shriver and his former colleague on the State Parks Commission Clint Eastwood (that's right, Dirty Harry fights to protect dirt), were not asked back to their seats on the Commission. But luckily these new politicians are not the Governor's appointees, and cannot be unjustly sacked in such a fashion.
Governor Schwarzenegger remained publicly undecided about the toll road for years before sending the Coastal Commission a letter of support for the project in the run-up to their February meeting in Del Mar, at which they soundly vetoed the project to the tune of an 8-2 vote against as well as a ruthless grilling and embarrassment of the TCA's new Grand Poo-bah, Tom Margro.
Margro recently penned a Sacramento Bee editorial purported to be a response to the Bee's criticism of Schwarzenegger's replacement of Shriver and Eastwood, but in fact it amounted to little more than the same tired old lines TCA hacks have parroted for decades.
What is much more intriguing is the request that the TCA not meet or negotiate with federal agencies until this is all over. Watch for more on THAT juicy piece of meat.
(Digg this post HERE)
April 8, 2008 04:59
As I read this blog, I was reminded of another, infamous Austrian--Adolf Hitler--and how his top commanding officers, attempted to assassinate him with a brief-case bomb.
This attempt was done, when the commanders realized Hitler's insanity in continuing the war in Europe.
Unfortunately, the attempt failed, and as the old expression goes, "Heads rolled".
Hopefully, this "political bomb" that has been set off by Garamendi & other, top, state & political officicals, will help begin unravelling the political aspirations of that other Austrian, who's been trying to set up "The 4th Reich" here in "Kahlifonia".
April 8, 2008 16:00
Props to Garamendi, Perata, Steinberg and Kehoe for standing up for CA, it's citizens, and our state parks system instead of caving in to the greedy and inept TCA as Schwarzeneggar apparently has. The matter has been decided; the TCA got their collective ass handed to them by the CA Coastal Commission. Their appeal to the Feds is just their one last desperate attempt to keep their doomed project afloat for a few more months.
April 11, 2008 21:01
Dude, I surf Trestles and look forward to keepinmg it for locals so that it will be there for future generations, but I need to tell you -- your repeated stories about the toll road are getting pretty stale.
Are you obsessed or something?
Take a breather and find a new topic, huh?
April 15, 2008 09:51
Keep up the great civic journalism! Eduation is the answer! Rational planning is a never ending endeavor. The battle to save the best of what is left of California is on and will last for a 1000 years, (or more!). We just need a million more environmental soldiers.
BD
La Habra
May 3, 2008 18:27
Bob: Excellent demonstration of Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies - but come on. Schwarzenegger is far, far from Hitler. For one thing, he's a damn sight closer to the supermensch the German eugenics were aiming for. Seriously, what kind of people listen to a short brunette dude espouse a theory of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed master race? Blatant self-loathing, anyone? Oh, yes, please, we're German!
WWSURFS: For one thing, the only people I know who say they want to save Trestles from outsiders are TCA plants. For a second, I don't surf at all; I'm much more concerned about the destruction of legally protected wildlife and legally protected Native American sacred sites. I don't want to protect Trestles as much as I want to protect California law.