tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21526379355219369932024-03-13T23:16:13.559-07:00Ballona NewsRex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-61089894813648009552024-03-12T01:55:00.000-07:002024-03-12T01:55:30.425-07:00BALLONA LAWSUIT UPDATEThe battle over the California State-owned preserved 600-acre Ballona wetland park in Los Angeles moves to the LA Appeals Court this spring. The case is focused on the CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife's decade-long industrial-scale bulldozing alleged "restoration" proposal which seeks to scrape bare 75 percent of the site and wipe out three native habitats and replace them with an expensive habitat that was never there before, watered with filthy urban runoff, and with closure of all long-used public trails for 9 years minimum. The lawsuit alleges it has been falsely "sold" to the public as a beneficial restoration when it is really not. <br /><br />The appellants advocates a simple, inexpensive wildlife-friendly, non-disruptive 1-year TRUE AND ACTUAL RESTORATION to add clean freshwater creeks and clean up weeds and trash without the $200 million cost of the State's plan. Such a truthful restoration conforms to a restoration consensus study, called The Ballona Historical Ecology Study, directed by biology department experts at USC and UCLA. It is readable at ballonahe.org <br /><br />The opening brief filed by attorney Todd Cardiff on March 8th for the Ballona Ecosystem Education Project (BEEP), which was founded in 1993, covers 5 issues that were rejected by the lower trial court. The project was overturned by that court in May of 2023 on two issues, inadequate analysis of flood control system impacts, and inadequate assurance that project impacts would be fixed. That victory is not affected by this appeal.<br /><br />You may ask, Why did CDFW choose such a destructive project given that an accurate restoration project would have obviously resulted in so much less impacts? Lurking in the background at project hearings since the early 1990's were representatives of politically influential wetland developers and engineering corporations seeking to use the Ballona Wetlands as a compensatory "mitigation credit site" to replace what is destroyed by their own off-site projects. These exploit a loophole in state wildlife protection law that allows destruction of habitat if it is "replaced" elsewhere, EVEN IF A FUNCTIONING HABITAT IS ALREADY THERE. <br /><br />The loophole allows existing preserved habitat to be expensively and destructively re-engineered. Mitigation credits projects result in the destruction of two sites with one being developed and the other being converted into the same type of habitat destroyed at the developed site. Mitigation credits create a perverse incentive to do maximum destruction at our state's rare and fragile wetlands .The more costly and destructive the impacts to the "restored" site are, the more destruction "credits" the developer gets and the more development is possible at the first site. This results in more natural habitat loss not less. The State claims it is not seeking mitigation funding sources for their project now. BEEP contends, however, that the State's $200 million non-native Ballona habitat conversion plan mimics other wetland destruction credit projects constructed in Southern California over the last 30 years. <br /><br />TO READ THE APPPEAL BRIEF: <br /><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nAkkKYsgO0F9UFjR7Fl3N2u7A_zuYAmn/view?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nAkkKYsgO0F9UFjR7Fl3N2u7A_zuYAmn/view?usp=sharing</a>Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-6767506511472112902023-07-17T22:09:00.003-07:002023-07-17T22:09:37.036-07:00We Won! Bulldozing is Stopped!<p> </p><p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>BALLONA
WELANDS LAWSUIT VICTORY STORIES:</b></span></span></p>
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<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Judge
orders halt to Ballona Wetlands restoration project</b></span></span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">BY
LOUIS SAHAGÚN, STAFF WRITER</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">MAY
30, 2023</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-30/judge-orders-halt-to-ballona-wetlands-restoration-project">https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-30/judge-orders-halt-to-ballona-wetlands-restoration-project</a>
</span>
</p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">A
California Department of Fish and Wildlife plan to introduce tidal
flows into the Ballona Creek wetlands has come to a screeching halt
after a judge ruled recently that the agency’s environmental impact
report on the project failed to adequately account for flood risks.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">In
a May 17 decision, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James C.
Chalfant ordered the agency to set aside its certification of the
final EIR for the project because it “failed to disclose and
analyze flood control design parameters” associated with proposed
levees and other infrastructure.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">In
response to four lawsuits filed by environmental groups, Chalfant
ordered the agency to suspend any project activity in the 600-acre
West Los Angeles ecological refuge and prepare a new “legally
adequate” environmental impact report “if it chooses to proceed.”</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Despite
the setback, state officials said they intend to correct the EIR and
move forward with the controversial project, which is sandwiched
between Marina del Rey and urban development upstream of
Ballona Creek.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">This
restoration project remains the best mechanism to revitalize the
Ballona Creek wetlands for many future generations of Angelenos,”
said Jordan Traverso, a spokeswoman for the Department of Fish and
Wildlife.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Combatants
on both sides of the issue, however, suggest that a series of recent
events left the fate of the wetlands area uncertain.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">On
Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a decision that significantly
reduces the scope of the Clean Water Act and reduces the federal
government’s ability to protect thousands of miles of rivers,
streams, creeks and adjacent wetlands throughout the western U.S.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The
court said the law’s protections for the “waters of the United
States” are limited to wetlands and streams that are directly
connected to navigable waterways — a definition that some fret
might not include the Ballona Creek wetlands.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Separately,
Gov. Gavin Newsom a week ago unveiled a proposal aimed at shortening
the contracting process for bridge and water projects, limiting
timelines for environmental litigation and simplifying the permitting
process for complicated developments in the Sacramento-San Joaquin
River Delta and elsewhere.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">It
remains to be seen how these actions may affect the Ballona Creek
wetlands — the focus of one of the longest environmental battles in
Southern California history.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">In
the meantime, opponents of the state project — which was originally
scheduled to begin in 2024 — say the judge’s ruling has provided
them an opportunity to press for the withdrawal of what they regard
as an ecologically unsound proposal.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Chalfant’s
ruling applies to lawsuits filed against the Department of Fish and
Wildlife by Protect Ballona Wetlands, Ballona Wetlands Land Trust,
Grassroots Coalition and Defend Ballona Wetlands.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">We
welcome the ruling,” said Marcia Hanscom, a community organizer for
Defend Ballona Wetlands. “It gives the mosaic of habitats at the
ecological reserve a reprieve from facing utter destruction and
upheaval by state officials who — shockingly — favor sending
bulldozers and other heavy equipment into these fragile wetlands.”</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">She
fears that dozens of struggling species, and much of their habitat,
would be sacrificed by restoration-related excavation, and the
addition of 10 miles of bike paths.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Under
the state’s plan, more than 2 million cubic yards of soil would be
repositioned to create earthen levees up to 20 feet high for flood
protection from Pacific Ocean tides.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Exposing
the wetlands to tidal influence would be a mistake, opponents argue,
because higher salinity levels could wipe out flora, fauna and
habitat that currently rely on seasonal rains and brackish water.
Beyond that, they say, it would make the area vulnerable to
potentially destructive flooding.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">In
his ruling, Chalfant sided with the petitioners in ordering the state
to commit to specific performance</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">criteria
in the event that its activities harmed wildlife and habitat.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Once
owned by industrialist Howard Hughes, the property sits just north
of Los Angeles International Airport and is home to
ring-necked snakes, great blue herons, South Coast marsh voles and
the federally endangered El Segundo blue butterfly.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The
state paid $139 million in voter-approved bond money in 2003 to buy
what was left of the Ballona Wetlands from Playa Capital, the
developer of Playa Vista. The deal made the highly degraded expanse
of marshes, mud flats and salt pans off limits to development.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The
restoration project is supported by nonprofit environmental groups
such as Heal the Bay, the Bay Foundation, Friends of Ballona
Wetlands and David Kay, a former senior manager at Southern
California Edison’s environmental department.</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">In
a recent Patch article, Kay pointed out that Chalfant rejected 24 of
the 26 arguments presented in one of the lawsuits. “The
judge’s ruling,” he wrote, “represents a spectacular failure by
the opponents to achieve their long-stated goal of stopping the
restoration project altogether.”</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">For
Kay's post:</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://patch.com/california/marinadelrey/ballona-wetlands-when-winners-are-really-losers">https://patch.com/california/marinadelrey/ballona-wetlands-when-winners-are-really-losers</a></span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Hanscom,
however, said Kay misses the point. “In fact,” she said, “the
judge gave us what we wanted most: Invalidate the EIR and halt all
state work at the reserve.”</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">This
fight is far from over,” she added. “We’re not giving up on
defending the wildlife that clings to survival in these precious
remnant wetlands.”</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">…<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">........</span></p><p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></p><p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFLNJiD2fcy7CAzWknxz4J5L-WH_-u62eokHVxSzGmdCbECNAz2l3kWbzI5dlKAaMR-rqSHRkjS6vaeWMdnJGM6wiD9GR_P80LEgZiDfBpbVZUZqEPBEG2fZ-RJk-z-I7t85oTkgCmAsIe4GMVLy2qKzZRfPMgz07i49GwFRNsdpNQHCszvcw0ipEl/s3111/IMG_20230717_214804.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3111" data-original-width="2879" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFLNJiD2fcy7CAzWknxz4J5L-WH_-u62eokHVxSzGmdCbECNAz2l3kWbzI5dlKAaMR-rqSHRkjS6vaeWMdnJGM6wiD9GR_P80LEgZiDfBpbVZUZqEPBEG2fZ-RJk-z-I7t85oTkgCmAsIe4GMVLy2qKzZRfPMgz07i49GwFRNsdpNQHCszvcw0ipEl/w592-h640/IMG_20230717_214804.jpg" width="592" /></a></span></div><p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2018/09/not-o-kay.htm">http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2018/09/not-o-kay.htm</a>l</span><p></p><p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br />..........</span></p>
<p style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">Court ruling halts
controversial Ballona Wetlands restoration project</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Environmental activists
win case against state plan to bulldoze part of wetland, move 2M
cubic yards of soil</b></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">By CLARA HARTER charter@scng.com</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">PUBLISHED: May 20, 2023</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://www.dailynews.com/2023/05/20/court-ruling-halts-controversial-ballona-wetlands-restoration-project/">https://www.daily<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">news.com/2023/05/20/court-ruling-halts-controversial-ballona-wetlands-restoration-project/</span></a></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">In
a major development in the battle over the Ballona Wetlands, a judge
has reversed approvals for a state restoration plan to
bulldoze and reshape vast areas of the sensitive habitat which
borders the sand dunes that separate it from the ocean to the west,
and the upscale Playa Vista development to the east.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The
opinion filed on May 17 by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James
Chalfant found that the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the
California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s proposed restoration
project used incorrect flood risk standards and didn’t commit the
organization to specific enough performance criteria for preserving
wildlife.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The
Ballona Wetlands Ecological Preserve is a 577-acre area of salt and
freshwater marshes just south of Marina Del Rey that is home to
birds, coyotes, fish, lizards and butterflies, including at least
seven endangered species.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The
state’s plan called for excavating more than 2 million cubic yards
of soil to allow tidal flows to penetrate more areas, and
construction of nearly ten miles of bike and foot paths. That project
cannot proceed until the department submits a new EIR that addresses
the concerns highlighted by Chalfant.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Jamie
Hall, a lead attorney who represented Protect Ballona Wetlands, one
of four environmental groups that filed suits against the state plan,
said, “This EIR was not ready for primetime. They just did not have
the necessary information in order to evaluate, and disclose, and
mitigate the environmental impacts.”</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">California
Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) stands behind its restoration
plan.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">This
restoration project remains the best mechanism to revitalize the
Ballona Wetlands for many future generations of Angelenos. It will
bring outdoor space for connection with nature to a city center where
it is deeply needed,” said Jordan Traverso, CDFW deputy director of
communications, education and outreach.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Although
the court’s decision is disappointing, the bottom line here is that
CDFW prevailed on the majority of claims brought by the petitioners.
Facts matter: Petitioners raised 10 claims and CDFW won completely on
eight of them,” she added.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Chalfant’s decision
settles four similar lawsuits that all sought to halt the state’s
proposed restoration plan due to concerns about how it would impact
the environment, wildlife and habitats.</span></p><p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Attorney
Hall noted, “One of the things that disturbs me most is that it was
not going to be realistically possible for them (the state) to
achieve what they said that they were going to do—i.e. relocate or
trap animals to ensure that they didn’t perish—while they’re
bulldozing and grading this land, in order to create artificial
habitats.”</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Sabrina
Venskus, another lead attorney who represented the non-profit Ballona
Wetlands Land Trust, said she was satisfied that Judge Chalfant ruled
that the state’s flood calculations were incorrect.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">My
firm … appreciated his recognition that use of the wrong flood
conveyance standard in the project designs posed not only a potential
flood risk, but also a potential risk of further fragmentation of
critical habitats” in the Ballona Wetlands, she said.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Traverso,
who is a spokesperson for CDFW, said the organization plans on
resolving the flood control issues in the next design phase and
“welcomes the Court’s instruction on this limited part of the
ruling.”</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The
state’s restoration plan was released in 2017 and was immediately
divisive, with some environmentalists lauding it and others
lambasting it.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">At
the time, its supporters included several prominent environmental
organizations including Heal the Bay Foundation, Los Angeles
Waterkeeper and the Surfrider Foundation.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Supporters
praise the state’s restoration plan to create greater public access
to Ballona Creek–the last</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">surviving
major undeveloped wetland in Los Angeles County—as well as what
they see as ecological benefits by increasing tidal flow to more
habitat areas.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Ben
Harris, staff attorney for LA Waterkeeper, said that the organization
maintains its strong support for the restoration project as outlined
in the environmental impact report.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">This
project is one of the best opportunities we have to restore critical
wetland habitat in all of Southern California,” said Harris. “While
we are disappointed that the project will be delayed by this court
decision, we support the principle that the environmental review
process should be thorough.”</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">We
hope the parts of the environmental review that the court found
insufficient can be addressed quickly to allow this needed project to
move forward as expeditiously as possible,” he added.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Heal
the Bay Director of Science and Policy Katherine Pease, Ph.D, said
the organization is currently reviewing the court ruling to
understand its implications.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The
need for restoration of the Ballona Wetlands is clear and supported
by science,” she said. “Heal the Bay continues to advocate for a
healthy, functioning coastal wetland ecosystem.”</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Detractors
believe that the plan is too heavy-handed in its manipulation of the
natural environment and seek a restoration strategy that would be
less disruptive and could be implemented faster.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Walter
Lamb, president of the Ballona Wetlands Land Trust, said he is
worried that the CDFW’s plan will take too long to complete and
wants the state to pivot to near-term conservation strategies.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">With
urgent issues of sea level rise, environmental justice, and declining
biodiversity, we can’t wait another ten or 20 years waiting for an
overly massive project that is not likely to ever be implemented,”
Lamb said, referring to CDFW’s plan.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Community
organizer Marcia Hanscom, who has worked to protect the Ballona
Wetlands since 1995, was surprised and delighted by the court ruling.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">We’ve
been up against some very challenging and powerful forces, including
some environmental groups who were somehow persuaded that it’s okay
to bring bulldozers into a fragile wetland ecosystem,” Hanscom
said. “I’m just gratified that the court listened to us.”</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The
debate over how to best care for Ballona has been ongoing for more
than three decades.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">During
the 1990s environmental activists campaigned for the state to acquire
the land, which it did in 2003. Then in 2004 the State Coastal
Conservancy began convening stakeholder meetings to discuss
preservation efforts, and in 2005 the wetlands were officially
designated a State Ecological Reserve.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Since
then many visions for the land have come and gone including a
controversial 2013 proposal to build a pet hospital on the site. CDFW
came forward with its vision for restoration in 2017 and its EIR was
certified in 2020, but that plan was put on hold when the four
lawsuits were filed.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Chalfant
issued his ruling on March 17. The state’s plan will be on pause
until a revised EIR is certified.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">We
are hopeful that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife will
reset the process for future management of this special place, truly
involve all stakeholders, and determine a new baseline of what the
ecosystem includes,” said Hall, “especially since so many more
rare species have returned to Ballona since this plan first was
considered.”</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">There
have been improvements in the health of the wetlands in recent years.
But challenges remain, such as the spread of invasive species and
pollution from RV encampments on the edge of the wetlands, said
Venskus, the attorney for the Ballona Wetlands Land Trust.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The
environmentalists in the Defend the Ballona Wetlands group have put
forward their own 20-point gentle restoration plan. Their plan
calls for convening an indigenous tribal council for guidance on
conservation efforts, improving and expanding walking trails,
targeting habitat restoration for endangered species, fostering
animal breeding sites and removing invasive species.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Next
up we are calling on the governor,” said Marcia Hanscom, who helped
develop the gentle restoration plan and was part of the lawsuits. “We
would like to see him withdraw the project and have his
administration work with the stakeholders who are here, who love this
place, to figure out together what is really needed.”</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">CDFW
has expressed no interest in significantly altering its plan, which
the state department maintains is the best way to revitalize and
preserve the Ballona Wetlands for generations to come.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">=====================================</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://www.westsidecurrent.com/news/environmental-group-victorious-in-legal-challenge-to-ballona-wetlands-project/article_3592dbc2-f546-11ed-9168-9363c8a19df7.html" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">https://www.westsidecurrent.com/news/environmental-group-victorious-in-legal-challenge-to-ballona-wetlands-project/article_3592dbc2-f546-11ed-9168-9363c8a19df7.html</a></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://yovenice.com/2023/05/23/judge-rules-against-bulldozing-plan-in-ballona-wetlands-ecological-reserve/" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">https://yovenice.com/2023/05/23/judge-rules-against-bulldozing-plan-in-ballona-wetlands-ecological-reserve/</a></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://www.argonautnews.com/news/what-happened-to-the-ballona-wetlands-restoration-project/article_88917e16-7bff-11ed-8f24-e7aa47bf467c.html" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">https://www.argonautnews.com/news/what-happened-to-the-ballona-wetlands-restoration-project/article_88917e16-7bff-11ed-8f24-e7aa47bf467c.html</a></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In
2021, Grassroots Coalition and Ballona Ecosystem Education Project
filed a lawsuit trying to overturn the certification because the
project falsely advertises itself as a “restoration,” when, in
fact, it is nothing of the sort.</span></span></span></span></span> </span>
</p>
<p style="border-bottom: 1.10pt double #000000; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-bottom: 0.03in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://www.argonautnews.com/community/petition-to-protect-court-issues-injunction-against-cdfw-s-ballona-restoration/article_a5dcbb00-fa82-11ed-84c2-df3a223aae73.html" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">https://www.argonautnews.com/community/petition-to-protect-court-issues-injunction-against-cdfw-s-ballona-restoration/article_a5dcbb00-fa82-11ed-84c2-df3a223aae73.html</a></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 31pt;">Petition
to Protect: Court issues injunction against CDFW’s Ballona
restoration</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">By
Morgan Owen, Argonaut Associate Editor </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">May
25, 2023</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Los
Angeles Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant overturned the
California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Environmental Impact
Report's certification for the Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project
in a ruling seen as a victory by environmental groups opposing the
project. This decision prevents CDFW from continuing any work on the
restoration until it regains certification and complies with the
California Environmental Quality Act.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This
ruling comes as part of four lawsuits made by environmental groups
against CDFW, who alleged the Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project
would fail to protect wildlife in the area and that the project was
misrepresented as a restoration effort when in fact, it would have
devastating effects to the local ecology. In light of the lawsuits'
similarities, Chalfant ordered he would address all complaints in one
hearing. His decision applies to all four cases.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">According
to a summary of the Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project published by
CDFW, the objective of the initiative was to “focus on restoring
wetland and other ecological functions within the reserve,
maintaining existing levels of flood risk management provided by the
Ballona Creek channel system, and providing public access for
compatible recreational and educational opportunities.”</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><strong><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Issues
identified</b></span></span></span></span></strong></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
court identified two issues with CDFW’s Final Environmental Impact
Report, saying the department failed to adhere to the California
Environmental Quality Act. The ruling concluded that the project used
an incorrect figure when determining a flood conveyance capacity
detailed in the Draft EIR. The opinion also emphasized that CDFW was
aware of this error before publishing its Draft EIR and failed to
adequately disclose or analyze the environmental impacts of the
correct flood conveyance standard.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;">“<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">My
firm appreciated the thought and effort that the court clearly put
into this detailed ruling, and also appreciated his recognition that
use of the wrong flood conveyance standard in the project designs
posed not only a potential flood risk but also a potential risk of
further fragmentation of critical habitats that could result from
constructing levees and berms designed for the correct flood
conveyance capacity,” said Sabrina Venskus, who represented Ballona
Wetlands Land Trust throughout the case.</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
second issue identified in the opinion is that the project does not
commit CDFW to specific performance criteria and permits CDFW to
reduce restoration goals “based on disturbance to other habitats
without any supplemental environmental review.” The court deemed
this qualifies as “improperly deferred mitigation” based on
precedent from Preserve Wild Santee v. City of Santee, where a
similar issue occurred regarding mitigation for the endangered Quino
Butterfly.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
light of these two issues within the Final EIR, Chalfant granted
environmental groups’ request to overturn all approvals and
certifications for the Final EIR. As a result, CDFW will have to
correct the errors and bring the EIR back into compliance with the
California Environmental Quality Act. Chalfant also issued an
injunction to suspend all activity on the project until that point. </span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<strong><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Larger
implications</b></span></span></span></span></strong></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Chalfant’s
decision will have broader implications for the Ballona Wetlands
Restoration Project, likely delaying the project originally set to
begin in 2024, by years. The most significant effect of this ruling
is that the EIR may need to be reopened for public comment, although
that point is not made entirely clear in Chalfant's opinion paper. </span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;">“</span><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Depending
on what needs to be revised in the EIR and to what extent it needs to
be revised will dictate to what extent the analysis will be subject
to public comment,” Jordan Traverso, the deputy director of
communications, education and outreach for CDFW, said.</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">After
CDFW published the initial Draft EIR in 2017, the public had until
2018 to submit letters in support or opposition of the project,
ultimately totaling more than 7,500 responses referencing 3,000
different issues. CDFW was required to respond to all public
comments, causing another two years to go by before the Final EIR was
approved. Chalfant's ruling noted that in the Final EIR,
“CDFW’s responses to public comments were dismissive, conclusory,
evasive, confusing or otherwise nonresponsive.”</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
other implication of this ruling is that restoration efforts for the
Ballona Wetlands have ostensibly been delayed until CDFW resolves the
issues identified by the court, jeopardizing the habitat and wildlife
while humans fight over the best course of action. </span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Walter
Lamb, president of the Ballona Wetlands Land Trust, said he hopes
CDFW will view the ruling as an opportunity to consider how community
stewardship could improve the ecological health of the wetlands while
the EIR is being revised. Lamb has been a staunch opponent of the
project and a firm advocate of community stewardship in the wetlands.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;"> “<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">It
is long past time to find common ground on near-term management
policies for this critically important ecosystem,” Lamb said. “With
urgent issues of sea level rise, environmental justice, and declining
biodiversity, we can't wait another 10 or 20 years for an overly
massive project that is not likely to ever be implemented.”</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Defend
Ballona Wetlands, one of the environmental groups named in the
lawsuit hopes this development will inspire Gov. Gavin Newsom to
withdraw the project. Opponents of the project have already created a
petition, numbering 11,510 signatures. </span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<strong><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>How
will CDFW proceed?</b></span></span></span></span></strong></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It
is not certain how long this setback for CDFW will delay the Ballona
Wetlands Restoration Project, if CDFW decides to proceed with the
project at all. The ruling states, “A writ shall issue
directing CDFW to set aside the Final EIR and any project approvals,
prepare and certify a legally adequate EIR for the project if it
chooses to proceed.”</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">However,
the possibility that CDFW abandons their initiative does not appear
likely, as they have already spent more than $12 million producing
the Final EIR. What’s more, Traverso said the department does not
characterize Chalfant’s ruling as a rejection of the EIR and
asserted that the opinion largely favored the department over
concerns raised by environmental groups. Traverso said that of the 10
claims brought against CDFW, they won eight, only losing concerning
the two issues identified earlier in the article. </span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Traverso
stated that CDFW is under the impression that “of those (points)
the petitioners did win, none require CDFW to revise the analysis
already contained in the EIR or to do anything we hadn’t already
identified as something that might become necessary in the future.”</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #444444;">“<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
restoration project remains the best mechanism to revitalize the
Ballona Wetlands for many future generations of Angelenos,”
Traverso said.</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 0.28in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
next step in this process is for the petitioners named in the case to
prepare a proposed judgment and writ of mandate. They will present
that to CDFW for review and state their objections. All parties will
then present themselves to the court for judgment on June 29.</span></span></span></span></span></p>Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-22738173870767335962023-04-25T23:49:00.002-07:002023-04-25T23:49:34.093-07:00Trial Date is Set!<p> We go to trial on May 9th, 2023 at 1:30 PM in Dept 85 at the Downtown L.A. Superior Court</p><p><br /></p><p>Please read pages 5 to 8 of our Closing Brief</p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t6PCNNRIB_7UtRHMLax3gmluykjJyvWA/view?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t6PCNNRIB_7UtRHMLax3gmluykjJyvWA/view?usp=sharing</a></p><p><br /></p>Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-26555594365110140522023-02-02T23:17:00.010-08:002023-02-02T23:24:42.847-08:00'Restoration" Project Goes to Court in May of 2023<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">BEEP'S OPENING BRIEF:</span></b><br /><br /><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FE6xFUPlzcs7bDRYFkxW3PXXOlVyfJ1F/view?usp=share_link">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FE6xFUPlzcs7bDRYFkxW3PXXOlVyfJ1F/view?usp=share_link</a><br /><div>PAGE 30-36, 45-46<br /><br /><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RNgccNJrAnBgDhGqj_rtfEKjopvCBB22/view?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RNgccNJrAnBgDhGqj_rtfEKjopvCBB22/view?usp=sharing</a><br />PAGE 2, 24-26</div>Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-64141849989520577122022-06-03T22:33:00.000-07:002022-06-03T22:33:20.108-07:00We're heading to the Courtroom!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRC7UZ5VpP1OxHoj0rgSOK1WwmxirTpgD84fQ6Jwrg0Oo30oP3FmyCsN7tMc4pDf90uIINDVdc252_Rbn4GEfF-vVj3Gybo9C16Mj7gz7B0DrcL1hviLTUj95rMuBr7UFlHkL7H133eaAjL-cVA6G7SeKbCcUEMthZBtFXgQTmY4E9-kO0W6ZX7g/s589/dontbulldoze%20b%20slagle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="589" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRC7UZ5VpP1OxHoj0rgSOK1WwmxirTpgD84fQ6Jwrg0Oo30oP3FmyCsN7tMc4pDf90uIINDVdc252_Rbn4GEfF-vVj3Gybo9C16Mj7gz7B0DrcL1hviLTUj95rMuBr7UFlHkL7H133eaAjL-cVA6G7SeKbCcUEMthZBtFXgQTmY4E9-kO0W6ZX7g/w400-h239/dontbulldoze%20b%20slagle.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>A Message from BEEP's President Rex
Frankel:</b></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>About Our Lawsuit...</b></span><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In 1985 I started fighting to save West
LA's Ballona Wetlands, which I grew playing in. Since then we have
doubled the size of the preserve, now 625 acres in public hands and
another 100 acres of bluffs privately preserved and publicly
accessible.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">For the last 11 years, I have led
educational hikes at Ballona Wetlands for the LA Hiking Meetup Group.
My most recent hike at Ballona was April 9<sup>th</sup>:
<a href="https://www.meetup.com/los-angeles-hiking-group/events/285089962/">https://www.meetup.com/los-angeles-hiking-group/events/285089962/</a>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In January of 2021, the Ballona
wetlands advocacy group that I have run since 1993, called the
Ballona Ecosystem Education Project, or BEEP, filed suit against the
State of California which has owned the Ballona Wetlands since 2003.
In December of 2020, the State bureaucracy approved a ten year
bulldozing plan to allegedly “restore' this natural area to its
former state before the area was colonized by European settlers.
BEEP's lawsuit to overturn the ten year plan seeks a more
community-friendly project.</p>
<div dir="LTR" id="jsc_c_fu">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">BEEP needs tax-deductible donations to
help pay our attorney and court costs. Please email me at
<a href="mailto:rexfrankel@yahoo.com">rexfrankel@yahoo.com</a> or
text me at 310-738-0861 if you'd like to donate.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u><b>WHAT BEEP IS FIGHTING FOR:</b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Comparing the State Plan to BEEP's Plan</b><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">--DO WE REPAIR BALLONA IN 10 YEARS OR
1 YEAR?
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">--DO WE CONVERT IT INTO SOMETHING IT
NEVER WAS? OR DO WE “RESTORE” IT ?</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">--SHOULD IT BE 1 HABITAT TYPE OR 3?</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">--SHOULD THE PUBLIC BE BLOCKED FROM
HIKING TRAILS FOR TEN YEARS OR SHOULD THE TRAILS BE OPENED NOW?</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">--SHOULD IT COST $200 MILLION OR AN
AFFORDABLE PRICE?
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">--MUST ALL WILDLIFE AND PLANTS AND
ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES BE WIPED OUT</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">OR CAN WE JUST CLEAN UP TRASH, PULL
WEEDS, DO MINOR PLUMBING REPAIRS, AND
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">ADD CLEAN FRESH WATER? </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The next court hearing is August 2nd
at 1:30PM in Dept 85 at Downtown LA Superior Court. For the status
of BEEP's Ballona lawsuit, search here:
<a href="https://www.lacourt.org/casesummary/ui/">https://www.lacourt.org/casesummary/ui/</a> with this Case Number: 21STCV03657</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">see the 6th story in this blog post: <a href="https://playavistapeople.com/?fbclid=IwAR0zWkCwG-7cQWHDCMJz-M_bgCNmdbKK3W_BD4T7M6c4JKZPwUg1bs7sIsk">https://playavistapeople.com/?fbclid=IwAR0zWkCwG-7cQWHDCMJz-M_bgCNmdbKK3W_BD4T7M6c4JKZPwUg1bs7sIsk</a>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">‐‐---‐-----------------</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u><b>VIDEOS AND OTHER INFO:</b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">BEEP's Websites are:
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/">http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/</a>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="http://saveallofballona.org/">http://saveallofballona.org</a>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="http://DontBulldozeBallona.com/">http://DontBulldozeBallona.com</a>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Ballona is not so degraded to require
a 10 year bulldozing remake, 11/10/2021</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://www.argonautnews.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/letters/article_cb24f0fc-d36f-51b0-ba30-857a598d164a.html">https://www.argonautnews.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/letters/article_cb24f0fc-d36f-51b0-ba30-857a598d164a.html</a>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/rex.frankel/posts/10227846249368664">https://www.facebook.com/rex.frankel/posts/10227846249368664</a>
11/11/2021</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">UCLA-USC STUDY CONTRADICTS BULLDOZER
PLAN:</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">On the USC and UCLA scientists’
Ballona Historical Ecology Study, which concluded that a
historically accurate restoration is the opposite of the State's
plan.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/rex.frankel/posts/10228160487504421">https://www.facebook.com/rex.frankel/posts/10228160487504421</a>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Need for industrial scale bulldozing
plan is fake; 1/23/2022</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">SMMC board won't endorse Ballona
bulldozing, 1/23/2018</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/rex.frankel/posts/10228274424152766">https://www.facebook.com/rex.frankel/posts/10228274424152766</a>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">the issues in BEEP's lawsuit (5 min)
11/8/2017</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://youtu.be/Alf4YxM8R6Y">https://youtu.be/Alf4YxM8R6Y</a>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://youtu.be/rRfBRG1OBZo">https://youtu.be/rRfBRG1OBZo</a>
same video with captions</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">government agencies systematically
drying the Ballona Wetlands (4 min) Coastal Commission hearing
12/14/2017</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://youtu.be/RZx3ZfSePeA">https://youtu.be/RZx3ZfSePeA</a>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">5/08/2019 Coastal Commission hearing
on Ballona restoration (see 40:10, need for historically accurate
restoration plan)</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://youtu.be/obbl-VxFuKE">https://youtu.be/obbl-VxFuKE</a>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">10/18/2017 to Sierra Club (EDIT)
BEEP's President explaining why the Ballona bulldozing project is
not a restoration (3 min.)</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://youtu.be/qu4GBSPMR2s">https://youtu.be/qu4GBSPMR2s</a>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">10/18/2017 full Sierra Club
presentation (58 min, 0-29 speech, 29-58 audience questions)</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://youtu.be/l1g_ZPa77AE">https://youtu.be/l1g_ZPa77AE</a>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>OTHER ISSUES:</b></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">BEEP's website on Native plants of the
Ballona Wetlands, is linked to Google image search, so you can ID
what you see, or even better, choose plants for your garden that
make it a haven for local wildlife</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="http://ballonaplants.blogspot.com/">http://ballonaplants.blogspot.com/</a>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/rex.frankel/posts/10228578171066249">https://www.facebook.com/rex.frankel/posts/10228578171066249</a>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">proposed Ballona bluffs donation to
BEEP, 3/18/2022</p>
</div>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-46942398379690168822020-01-18T11:28:00.005-08:002022-06-03T22:25:16.511-07:00We support finding "common ground" on Ballona's Future: Let's all talk, not just Bureaucrats in a Locked Room...<a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-01-16/activists-cant-stop-fighting-over-ballona-wetland">https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-01-16/activists-cant-stop-fighting-over-ballona-wetland</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2019-12-23/ballona-wetlands-restoration-plan-conservationists-split">https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2019-12-23/ballona-wetlands-restoration-plan-conservationists-split</a><br />
<br />
--------------------------------<br />
<br />
To the Editor, LA Times:<br />
<br />
In welcoming bulldozers to Ballona, Jon Christensen (LA Times, 1/16)
prioritizes recreation and economic benefit for our human species, while
downplaying the damage to what remains of the natural ecosystem.<br />
<br class="yiv2397181950" />
Massive
reconfiguration of the human-degraded landscape might yield bicycle
paths, but would that be "restoration"? Or should we pursue the less
intrusive path toward wetlands recovery, "just add water"?<br />
<br class="yiv2397181950" />
Serious
decisions must be made about the recently released Environmental Impact
Report, and it's a mistake to dismiss dissident voices.<br />
<br class="yiv2397181950" />
—Santa Monica Mayor Kevin McKeown serves on the state's Santa Monica Bay Restoration CommissionRex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-55601851088877868112020-01-09T18:59:00.000-08:002020-01-09T19:01:17.649-08:00Dealing the Bay Away & Not Reading Their Own Scientists' Reports<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>...So Why Is Heal The Bay the Loudest Proponent of removing the levees and "watering" our Ballona Wetlands with polluted urban runoff from Ballona Creek...</b></span> <br />
<br />
from: 1/2/2020 Argonaut Newspaper<br />
<a href="https://argonautnews.com/l-a-is-losing-the-battle-against-urban-runoff/">https://argonautnews.com/l-a-is-losing-the-battle-against-urban-runoff/</a><br />
"At the current rate of progress, the Marina del Rey watershed would need more than 28 centuries to meet next year’s EPA target...<br />
<br />
...Marina del Rey’s watershed management program, which includes parts of Venice and Culver City, has reached just one fifth of 1% (0.21%) of its EPA target for the year 2021, achieving 1.41 acre feet of additional stormwater retention capacity since December 2012 out of a target of 671.69 acre feet — and that’s including flood control upgrades to Oxford Basin Lagoon. “If the current rate of implementation continues, the final 2021 goal will be achieved<span style="background-color: yellow;"> in the year 4877</span>,” <br />
<br />
and From <br />
<a href="https://healthebay.org/stormwater-report/">https://healthebay.org/stormwater-report/</a><br />
<a href="https://healthebay.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Stormwater-Report-FINAL.pdf">https://healthebay.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Stormwater-Report-FINAL.pdf</a><br />
<br />
page 8: <br />
The Ballona Creek Watershed Management Group: As of December 2018, the Ballona Creek Watershed Management Group achieved a retention capacity of 74.58 AF since 12/28/12, which was 3.58% complete towards the 2021 final retention capacity goal of 2,081 AF (Table 1 and Figure 2). This group was out of compliance with its 2016 deadline. There remained a retention capacity of 1,061.42 AF to be achieved by the 2019 interim deadline and a total retention capacity of 2,006.42 AF to be achieved by the 2021 final deadline. If the current rate of implementation continues,<span style="background-color: yellow;"> the final 2021 goal will be achieved in the year 2180</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">----------------------------------------</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="background-color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>(THINK FLOODING BALLONA WITH POLLUTED WATER IS A BAD IDEA, READ THIS:</b></span> OUR PLAN: PAGE 7 <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_77mAmDMAkGdEAFurhc8sLzarePIcMMi/view">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_77mAmDMAkGdEAFurhc8sLzarePIcMMi/view</a>): </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="background-color: white;">the 1-year-to-success plan: <br />HIGHLIGHTS: BEEP's Proposal features 3 parallel creek channels to restore the historical “delta” geography: the existing channel in the middle for floods, tsunamis and pollution; and 2 new smaller shallow outside channels for clean habitat. The existing Ballona Creek levees will remain where they are, protecting the wetlands north and south of the creek from polluted urban street drainage. <br /> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="background-color: white;">The wetlands and higher ground on each side of the existing Ballona Creek levees will be re-watered<br />with clean water from the Ballona Creek dry season treatment plants in Culver City (subject of an EIR last fall, construction expected in 2020); water will flow by gravity from the 3 upstream plants via a pipe on each creek levee to the restored parallel creeks. <br /> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="background-color: white;">Also, on the south side of Ballona Creek, non-contaminated groundwater pumped from underneath buildings in the Playa Vista development and sent to L.A.'s Hyperion sewage treatment plant or dumped into Ballona Creek and the ocean</span></span><span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="background-color: white;"> (pumped to keep buildings from sinking) </span></span>will instead be piped into currently-dry wetlands west of Lincoln Blvd. The wetlands habitat of 200 years ago will then largely restore itself. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="background-color: white;">As we have seen several times at Ballona in our work since 1985, when we add freshwater, remove trash and concrete and and leave the rest alone, nature will restore Ballona for us.</span></span>Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-41910313361485671132018-09-21T11:23:00.001-07:002023-07-20T12:53:23.755-07:00Not O-Kay<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Why is a Top Southern California Edison Wetlands Manager Spreading Baloney about the Ballona Wetlands?</b></span></div>
<br />
<br />
Did you know that "4 million cubic yards of construction waste" was dumped all over the Ballona Wetlands in the 1950's, necessitating now a massive 9 year project to haul all that "waste" away?<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: yellow;">You don't know it, in fact, because it did not happen</span>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l8fQpXQh7c4/W6U1pfW5UzI/AAAAAAAAS3g/rboLJVwMQu4BQcQyLIBNYNBlzQZ-AXLVACLcBGAs/s1600/Ballona%2Bw%2Bconstruction%2Bwaste%2BDavid%2BKay.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="787" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l8fQpXQh7c4/W6U1pfW5UzI/AAAAAAAAS3g/rboLJVwMQu4BQcQyLIBNYNBlzQZ-AXLVACLcBGAs/s640/Ballona%2Bw%2Bconstruction%2Bwaste%2BDavid%2BKay.jpg" width="590" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
ACTUALLY.....<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
"Marina Construction Waste"
was <span style="background-color: yellow;">NOT</span> dumped on the Ballona Wetlands, as Mr. Kay claims in the 9/20/2018 Marina Del Rey Argonaut. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Clean
healthy wetland mud, full of life, was moved around in the late
1950's in order to dig a giant hole in the Ballona floodplain for a
middle class boat harbor. Some of this clean mud was piled <span style="background-color: yellow;">higher
than it used to be and was cut off from the natural freshwater of
Ballona Creek in some cases</span>. But that is not construction waste as
most of us understand it, meaning concrete, steel, plaster, wood and
stucco chunks like we see in the many construction waste dumpsters
that dot our community from development projects.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Don't fall for the "alternative
facts" being spread by those in the wetland bulldozing industry
like Mr Kay, a wetland "re-creation" manager for Southern
California Edison Company which has been eyeing Ballona as a site for
it to compensate for its power plants' harm to sea life by turning
our home for frogs, lizards, rabbits, sagebrush and birds into an arm
of the ocean (like the habitats Edison damages) . (See excerpt BELOW from Ballona Wetlands/Playa Vista Development Coastal Commission Staff Report from 1991 detailing Edison's plans)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pnh2lpSQ9Us/W6U2CVOtGvI/AAAAAAAAS3o/58x2OxUvcd0sIRxTh74jTsNxzkk6Q4rJwCLcBGAs/s1600/SCE%2BBallona%2Bcredits.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="994" height="452" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pnh2lpSQ9Us/W6U2CVOtGvI/AAAAAAAAS3o/58x2OxUvcd0sIRxTh74jTsNxzkk6Q4rJwCLcBGAs/s640/SCE%2BBallona%2Bcredits.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-kay-38615212">https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-kay-38615212</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Some misguided State bureaucrats have
since 2008 been pushing the now-debunked proposal to turn the
freshwater delta of the Ballona wetlands into an unnatural deep hole
flooded by saltwater. This has been contradicted by peer-reviewed
science put together by scientists at USC and UCLA, titled the
Ballona Historical Ecology Study. The debunked proposal has at its
heart the goal of sucking up $200 million in tax dollars to use
hundreds of bulldozers to convert the Ballona freshwater creek system
into a below sea level arm of the ocean, killing most of the life
that now lives at the wetlands. Greatly enriched would be insiders
and construction firms that would excavate the wetlands over a 9 year
period. This is completely unnecessary as the State is currently the
co-operator of the Ballona wetlands freshwater marsh at Playa Vista,
the first restoration project at the Ballona Wetlands created on 5%
of the state-owned preserve in 2002, which is watered with
groundwater pumped to the surface and piped to the east end of the
Playa Vista "riparian corridor" creek system, which then
flows under Lincoln Blvd into the "Freshwater Marsh at Playa
Vista".
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The City of Los Angeles is planning
right now to build three Ballona Creek water cleansing plants which
will make possible allowing Ballona Creek water to flow once again
into the rest of the Ballona Wetlands. (The water in the creek now
is quite dirty) These water treatment plants will be 50 feet higher
in elevation than the slightly higher than normal wetland mud piles
near Lincoln Blvd. Thus, with piping and creek flapgates of the type
similar to that used at Playa Vista's creek and marsh system, we
could restore the natural historically-accurate freshwater creek
wildlife habitats at the rest of our State's Ballona Wetlands without
the need to bulldoze it for 9 years and waste hundreds of millions of
our tax dollars on a non-restoration industrial-scale enrichment
program for construction firms disguised as a wildlife habitat
re-creation. We have a choice here.: Unnaturally bulldoze and kill
the Ballona Wetlands for 9 years to benefit Edison and construction
firms and turn it into what it never was. Or return clean water to
the wetlands now, restoring willow groves and sagebrush habitats for
native wildlife that is now there, avoiding defiling 9 Tongva
archeological sites, and saving hundreds of millions of our money.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Rex Frankel, Director, Ballona Ecosystem Education Project,</div>
Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-5317384217762381302018-02-28T21:36:00.001-08:002018-02-28T21:37:31.778-08:002/22/2018<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Bureaucrats Want to Speed Up Sea Level Rise's Harm to the Ballona
Wetlands: </b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Why the "un-natural" levees along the creek are actually good
for the Wetlands</b></span></div>
<br />
re:<br />
"California's Salt marshes will vanish in less than a century if seas keep rising..., study finds"<br />
<a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="asynclazy" data-lynx-uri="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Flocal%2Flanow%2Fla-me-salt-marsh-climate-change-20180221-story.html&h=ATMzLbK5ru057vy7pSCTS-Vlnijzrmv2qLh12BJF5b5jTd8-XH6dIfYNHNBHtDaNRCQOHr6M10e36XPUpFPKWeNzMYTNgLJLRVrUyV6T3D2WX4QKuuhlzblcekv5a-kVFNjBCzPOXn5ixSdI" href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-salt-marsh-climate-change-20180221-story.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.latimes.com/…/la-me-salt-marsh-climate-change-20…</a><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="asynclazy" data-lynx-uri="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fadvances.sciencemag.org%2Fcontent%2F4%2F2%2Feaao3270.full&h=ATN2snS9uztNCplxaVLU0cOR1Aw-QdVdhoVdpS443mr1ndt-QbpTAKVB7eYBQWfccQwDRAG1oXFe09k5HFdhbY9AI_XWFeGtso5xyByGYXlpShgNv9WOPVX573epXkCb5ReDbcpBMJPYwsjD-PXdPU6DnhwFdA" href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/2/eaao3270.full" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/2/eaao3270.full</a><br />
<br />
Dear Editor, LA Times<br />
<br />
LA's 600 acre State-owned Ballona Wetlands currently sit safely
protected behind the levees of Ballona Creek. Un-natural as they are,
the levees keep the rising sea from drowning out the homes for thousands
of rare animals. Our State's engineers say the levees are adequate to
continue protecting the wetlands at least until the year 2100. The levees
also keep polluted upstream urban drainage in the creek from pouring
into the fragile homes for wildlife.<br />
<br />
So why is the California
State Wildlife department pursuing an alleged "restoration" plan, which
they admit is mostly not a restoration at all, to demolish these
already-paid-for wetland protectors and submerge Ballona under the sea?
Why do they want to spend $182 million or more to bulldoze Ballona and
scrape it bare for years? Ballona is a fragile and biodiverse ecosystem
that is now and was historically full of wildflowers, butterfly habitat,
lizard-hideaways, freshwater ponds and muddy salt marshes. Why do state
bureaucrats want to turn Ballona into exclusively an arm of the ocean, a
biological mono-culture which your article and the new study warn
against?<br />
<br />
Construction and engineering firms may benefit from this
boondoggle. Not the public. Alternative proposals that would actually
restore the wetlands and preserve its biodiversity at a fraction of the
cost were summarily rejected by the state bureaucracy. Google the
Ballona Wetlands Restoration Plan and read about the rejected
Alternatives 10 and 11. There is still time to change the bureaucrats'
minds.<br />
<br />
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span><span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span>Even
the loudest two supporters of the state's bulldozing plan have rejected
the bureaucrats' plans for the wetlands south of Ballona Creek. And the
Coastal Commission, which is one of two state agencies that must
approve any plan for it to happen, is similarly skeptical. So, behind
the scenes, the state plan has big problems.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
Rex Frankel<br />
President and Legal Director<br />
Ballona Ecosystem Education Project<br />
<a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="asynclazy" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fsaveallofballona.org%2F&h=ATM4zPTDKsURNW3u-TPTk1bUOmxIZkBjzDLIVICB_Uj_qeVpDkQacpLRhEdprR0YC0QU-8qyThd9ab8jD33bO1W6rJcVyRPYQI6TrMMLK3c6jDqxyr9Ucqio4Qxn-vvPAGqo_1ej0_-4ZJVe" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://saveallofballona.org</a></div>
Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-55620733987180804082018-02-28T21:30:00.007-08:002018-03-01T10:09:00.010-08:002/5/2018<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Our Comment Letter on the 8000-Page Restoration Plan Report </b></span></div>
<br />
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_77mAmDMAkGdEAFurhc8sLzarePIcMMi/view">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_77mAmDMAkGdEAFurhc8sLzarePIcMMi/view</a><br />
<br />
and the attachments:<br />
<br />
2/5/1991 DFG letter:<br />
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sQd8ifVouLUpv-YrG7QX3nH3T6jB_Pi3/view">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sQd8ifVouLUpv-YrG7QX3nH3T6jB_Pi3/view</a><br />
<br />
Bay Foundation and Heal The Bay stretch the limits of good science to claim Ballona is "trashed": <br />
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/11K7E7hS_ds_lqQEkBKnLnxk5sZQ60_Z1/view">https://drive.google.com/file/d/11K7E7hS_ds_lqQEkBKnLnxk5sZQ60_Z1/view</a><br />
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CeFyb6LNyyz4qDKaEc4tsOEBuouRkthb/view">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CeFyb6LNyyz4qDKaEc4tsOEBuouRkthb/view</a><br />
<br />
North Ballona is not all "fill":<br />
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IKFG5mnzFQ2teh553-sYYqz0bmXuIKXu/view">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IKFG5mnzFQ2teh553-sYYqz0bmXuIKXu/view</a><br />
<br />
10 Archeological Sites ignored, to be bulldozed or buried?:<br />
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5SGRAMv8RXuS3FMZl84V01CRU0/view">https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5SGRAMv8RXuS3FMZl84V01CRU0/view</a>Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-64384923927865210682018-02-28T21:20:00.001-08:002018-02-28T21:20:03.953-08:00Photos of all the cute critters at risk from the bulldozing plan<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>WILDLIFE OF BALLONA </b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/18NcQrj_XZUnh4fhCGEvg64t68JHW5FXQ/view"><span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">https://drive.google.com/file/d/18NcQrj_XZUnh4fhCGEvg64t68JHW5FXQ/view</span></span></a></span>Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-33655952557432866202018-02-28T21:18:00.001-08:002018-02-28T21:18:20.726-08:001/22/2018<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> A Big victory for fans of the Ballona Wetlands<span style="font-size: x-small;">: </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">the governing
board of LA's revered parks creator, the Santa Monica Mountains
Conservancy, unanimously rejected endorsing the industrial scale, 9-years of
earthmoving, wildlife- wipeout fake restoration plan despite heavy
lobbying by state bureaucrats eager to blow $180 million of our taxes on
a project rejected by locals, the Sierra Club and the LA Audubon
Society. Here's the audio: <a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="async" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Frex-frankel%2Fsmmc-meeting-01-22-2018&h=ATPkr4r2IUIxJtF1RF8sfX19aoyj8SFmZD1FbJHUCEsnhYn3_TirMcUwp1ZoxTCdwJPGq82U_fviMDlPm4HfqHgWgGG6N7BPokX58SKWyDXGNAG7sla-3dmMIOksxzc0Yqk6aP-iCBLpRRFlOa-b0lERqs-6a0S82uVk8GRJsHV6tqBOJMfYd-L_ZoxmOuA3ogzLHafygQQRj5NBz5T5nmS1VHwF819-rtJVdneTVBS5E0drgB3eb-RKDeCwwu0L08hWn4rmuz0PwoFUfx-DFcggPBbO5QkuFoNs2otpIbH8QIyCyWNgrBEI-w" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://soundcloud.com/rex-frankel/smmc-meeting-01-22-2018</a></span></span></span>Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-52284968219505266652018-02-28T21:16:00.002-08:002018-02-28T21:16:58.875-08:0012/14/2017 Coastal Commission Hearing on Illegal "Drying" of the Ballona WetlandsCA Coastal Commission Slaps Around Developer For Illegally Drying Up Our Wetlands <br />
<br />
A 4 Minute video, 12/14/2017<br />
<br />
<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RZx3ZfSePeA?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
photos and maps:<br />
<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZCMg227x57HJzA3m2">https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZCMg227x57HJzA3m2</a><br />
Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-28835537272596079712018-02-28T21:14:00.002-08:002018-02-28T21:14:31.017-08:0011/8/2017 Public Hearing on Ballona Restoration PlanOUR STATEMENT AT THE 11/8/2017 PUBLIC HEARING ON THE BALLONA WETLANDS RESTORATION PROJECT: <br /> <br /> <br />
TO: the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the US Army Corps of Engineers,<br />
<br />
<br /> "Of all the alternatives, if #3 eliminated the dredging of Parcel A and featured historically accurate small creeks in it, there would be something I could endorse. Unfortunately, the current Alternatives 1, 2 and 3 are intolerable and are not restorations by any credible standard. <br /> <br /> My message to you is this: YOUR PLAN SIMPLY SWITCHES THE LOCATIONS OF THE PARCEL B WETLANDS AND THE PARCEL A UPLANDS. <br /> <br /> THIS SWITCHEROO IS A HUGE WASTE OF OUR MONEY. <br /> <br /> RESTORE THE BALLONA WETLANDS...WHERE THEY ARE NOW. <br /> RESTORE THE BALLONA UPLANDS...WHERE THEY ARE NOW. <br /> <br /> YOU DON'T NEED TO DESTROY BALLONA IN ORDER TO SAVE IT <br /> <br /> <br /> THERE ARE MANY LEGAL DEFICIENCIES IN THIS DRAFT EIR. <br /> <br /> --YOUR PROJECT VIOLATES THE COASTAL ACT. Because it's not a restoration and that's all the Coastal Act allows. <br /> <br /> <br /> --YOUR PROJECT VIOLATES THE U.S. CLEAN WATER ACT: because it floods the wetlands with polluted street runoff, with no plan to clean it up. It is illegal to degrade the water quality in federally delineated wetlands, which is what the Ballona Wetlands are. <br /> <br /> <br /> --YOUR PROJECT ALSO VIOLATES CEQA, in that it fails to include or analyze an essential part of the project, which is the Clean Water Act-mandated street runoff cleanup plan that must be implemented before you can tear down the levees and flood the wetlands with water from Ballona Creek. <br /> You have no plan to clean up 99% of the flow of Ballona Creek (which comes on rainy days), no EIR, and no analysis of its impacts or whether it will ever happen. <br /> The only plan that exists is to clean up flows in the dry season, which is not when most of the pollution and trash flows down the creek. This plan will mostly dry up the creek in the dry season by pumping three quarters of creek flows to Hyperion which will dump it in the ocean. A WASTE. Then your own EIR says it will be too difficult to provide freshwater to the wetlands, so you dismiss all freshwater alternatives as “MECHANIZED” OR HIGH MAINTENANCE. But that problem of lack of freshwater is created by your partners in the Wetlands restoration project LA City's Sanitation Department which chairs the SMBRC, which created the Bay Foundation, and the LA County Flood Control District, BY THEIR “MECHANICALLY” DRYING OUT BALLONA CREEK during most of the year. (As stated in their Ballona Creek Bacteria TMDL Project DEIR released August 2017, CA State Clearinghouse number 2017021047) <br /> <br /> <br /> So you dismiss reasonable alternatives by using a “straw man” argument. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> YOU CAN FIX ALL THESE LEGAL VIOLATIONS THIS WAY: <br /> <br /> give us a historically accurate project, thus it will fit the definition of “restoration” and comply with the Coastal Act.<br /><br /> Don't flood our wetlands with polluted cruddy Ballona Creek stormwater which may never be cleaned up. INSTEAD: Pipe the clean flows during the dry season from the new Ballona Creek dry season treatment plant in Culver City to restore the historical freshwater marshes of the Ballona Wetlands.<br /> <br /> Because you won't be flooding the wetlands with pollution, you won't violate the US Clean Water Act. Because upstream polluted stormwater will not flow into the Ballona Wetlands, an upstream rainy season creek water cleanup plan is not an essential part of your project, thus, you will then not violate CEQA by deferring analysis of what is no longer an essential part of your project. <br /> Finally, by leaving most of the land at Ballona where it is, (leaving the wetlands where they are now, leaving the uplands where they are now), you will avoid destroying thousand year old archeological sites or desecrating graves as the Playa Vista developer discovered. You will avoid evicting the wildlife while engineering firms and their friends “Heal Their Wallets” at our expense. <br /> <br /> <br />Please listen to the groups who saved over 600 acres when others were willing to let it be paved. This current plan is not “Bringing Back Ballona”. Let's actually restore Ballona, not turn it into something it never was."<br />
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-65495355738452862052015-07-09T20:58:00.000-07:002015-07-09T20:58:16.308-07:00When polluters and funders design a wildlife preserve's restoration plan, what do ya get?<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Three Competing Visions for the </b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Ballona Wetlands</b></span></div>
<br />
Under the law in California, (the California Coastal Act), the Ballona Wetlands cannot be developed, only restored. <br />
Here's a pretty long article on the question of what the word "restoration" means:<br />
<a href="https://www.hcn.org/issues/47.8/the-los-angeles-wetland-wars">https://www.hcn.org/issues/47.8/the-los-angeles-wetland-wars</a><br />
From High Country News, May 11, 2015<br />
<br />
The chief spokesperson for the massive bulldozing scheme is quoted:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"historical ecology is “only a snapshot,” she says, and she doesn’t
believe the wetlands have to be returned to what they were in 1850 for a
restoration to be meaningful."</blockquote>
<br />
Luckily, this is not what the law says.<br />
<a href="http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2014/05/is-going-back-4000-years-ago-restoration.html">http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2014/05/is-going-back-4000-years-ago-restoration.html</a><br />
<br />Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-58078884909128493062015-06-29T12:53:00.002-07:002015-10-02T23:24:49.420-07:00L.A. Politicians Get Sued When they Favor Concrete over New Parks for L.A<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, MONDAY JUNE 29,
2015</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
FOR QUESTIONS, call or text REX
FRANKEL, president of the plaintiff, Friends of L.A. Clean Connected
Creek to Peak Parks: 310-738-0861, or email at <a href="mailto:rexfrankel@yahoo.com">rexfrankel@yahoo.com</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yAZiYdaWNqQ/VZGh0zhKRYI/AAAAAAAAFjA/CDyWYbxG4DU/s1600/2014%2Bcreek%2Bto%2Bpeak%2Bplan%2Bmap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="411" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yAZiYdaWNqQ/VZGh0zhKRYI/AAAAAAAAFjA/CDyWYbxG4DU/s640/2014%2Bcreek%2Bto%2Bpeak%2Bplan%2Bmap.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>LAWSUIT FILED BY
PARKLAND ADVOCATES: L.A. COUNTY SUPERVISORS APPROVE SECRET $20
BILLION NO-NEW-PARKS TAX HIKE WHICH BREAKS LONG-STANDING PARKLAND
CREATION PROMISES AND WILL INSTEAD TURN EXISTING PARKS INTO
CONSTRUCTION ZONES FOR MANY YEARS TO COME</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Friends of L.A. Clean Connected
Creek to Peak Parks filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn L.A.'s most
powerful politicians' very quiet approval of the master plan to
“soak” the taxpayers and enrich engineering firms and concrete
pourers as part of L.A's largest public works project.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The goals of the project are good;
cleaning up the pollution and crud that flows down our rivers and
creeks with every rain storm which then lands on our public beaches.
This is being done in order to finally comply with the USA's Clean
Water Act. However, the means chosen by our politicians to accomplish
it, so far, “suck”.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Rather than give the public a choice
between the bad/very expensive and the good/less expensive way to
clean up water pollution and health code violations at our local
beaches and creek swimming holes, Los Angeles County's Board of
Supervisors on May 27<sup>th</sup> decided to endorse the bad
approach and to make it virtually impossible for concerned citizens
to protest this bad choice before their local political boards and
city councils. Already, the L.A. City public works department,
representing 40% of the land area and population of the County, has
plugged its own no new parks plan into the County plan and has done
it in a way to prevent public input and protest.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This lawsuit filed on Friday June 26<sup>th</sup>
seeks to prevent the squeezing of the public out of the
decision-making for this MASSIVE project, and to require full and
meaningful informing of the public about the costs and impacts and
alternatives to the politicians' favored plans.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
What we have termed the “Creek to
Peak” plan is the clean up and conversion of concreted creeks
throughout Los Angeles County into restored park greenways with
trails and bike paths which will connect L.A.'s existing ring of
parks that surround our developed metropolis to our communities. This
greenway plan has had many names through the years, starting first
with the Olmstead Plan,
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cityprojectca/sets/72157601130687757/">https://www.flickr.com/photos/cityprojectca/sets/72157601130687757/</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
then the Rim of the Valley plan,
<a href="http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2015/05/what-l.html">http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2015/05/what-l.html</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
also the Mountains to the Sea plan and
the Emerald Necklace.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
READ THE PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS,
FILED WITH THE L.A. COUNTY COURT 6/27/2015</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5SGRAMv8RXuVDhGa3BHU05JZG8/view?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5SGRAMv8RXuVDhGa3BHU05JZG8/view?usp=sharing</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
HOW PROMISES OF MORE PARKLAND PURCHASES
WERE MADE TO THE VOTERS AND TAXPAYERS OF LOS ANGELES AS PART OF THE
CLEAN WATER ACT COMPLIANCE PLAN</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5SGRAMv8RXudHE3MFBCTnhKQlU/view?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5SGRAMv8RXudHE3MFBCTnhKQlU/view?usp=sharing</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
WHAT A NATURAL RIVER AND CREEK
RETORATION PLAN WOULD LOOK LIKE AND HOW IT CONNECTS TOGETHER L.A.'S
EXISTING PUBLIC PARKS SYSTEM:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2015/05/what-l.html">http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2015/05/what-l.html</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
THE TWO COMPETING PLANS TO CLEAN UP
L.A.'S RIVERS, CREEKS AND BEACHES:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2007/11/two-competing-plans-for-cleaning-up.html">http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2007/11/two-competing-plans-for-cleaning-up.html</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
L.A. COUNTY ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
STUDY: COST COMPARISON OF NATURAL VS. INDUSTRIAL PLANS TO CLEAN UP
L.A'S WATER POLLUTION PROBLEMS ( hint: natural costs half as
much!!!):
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2007/11/thursday-august-10-2006-river.html">http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2007/11/thursday-august-10-2006-river.html</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
FULL STUDY:
<a href="http://ladpw.org/wmd/irwmp/docs/August%202,%202006%20Workshop%20Materials/IRWMP%20Workshop%20Presentation.pdf">http://ladpw.org/wmd/irwmp/docs/August%202,%202006%20Workshop%20Materials/IRWMP%20Workshop%20Presentation.pdf</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">-----------------------------------END------------------------------------</span></span></div>
Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-78934873425097562632015-06-18T12:32:00.002-07:002015-06-18T12:32:26.694-07:00$20 billion tax-hiking No New Parks Plan is Ok'd by State Board<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>State Water Board OK's L.A. County's Stormwater Capture Plans </b></span><br />
<br />
<br />
6/17/2015 <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-stormwater-runoff-20150617-story.html">http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-stormwater-runoff-20150617-story.html</a><br />
<br />
excerpts:<br />
<br />
Some environmentalists strongly opposed the plan, complaining that
the changes did not go far enough. And cash-strapped municipalities also
objected, saying that they could not afford the expense of new
stormwater infrastructure.<br />
<aside class="trb_embed " data-content-id="83800910" data-content-size="small" data-content-subtype="pullquote" data-content-type="pullquote" data-role="socialshare_item " data-state=" "> <div class="trb_embed_media ">
<span class="trb_pullquote_text" data-role="socialshare_sharetext"><br /></span><span class="trb_pullquote_credit"></span><div class="trb_embed_related" data-role="lightbox_metadata">
<a class="trb_sharepullquote" data-role="socialshare_information socialshare_toggleState socialshare_container" data-socialshare-content-id="83800910" data-socialshare-content="pullquote" data-socialshare-context="pullquote" data-socialshare-default-image="" data-socialshare-description="The revised draft order represents a gross abuse of power and an abdication of responsibility." data-socialshare-newspapername="Los Angeles Times" data-socialshare-slug="la-the-revised-draft-order-represents-a-gross-abuse-of-power-and-an-abdication-of-responsibility-20150616" data-socialshare-thumbnail="http://www.trbimg.com/img-55814d07/turbine/la-me-stormwater-runoff-20150617" data-socialshare-title="L.A. County's plan to capture stormwater could be state model" data-socialshare-url="/local/california/la-me-stormwater-runoff-20150617-story.html" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"> <span class="trb_sharepullquote_item" data-role="socialshare_share socialshare_setdefault" data-socialshare-type="twitter"></span></a></div>
</div>
</aside>"The
revised draft order represents a gross abuse of power and an abdication
of responsibility," said Steve Fleischli, director of the Natural
Resources Defense Council water program.<br />
Fleischli said the
approved rules allowed municipalities in certain watershed categories to
avoid the issue of rainwater reuse and also degraded the state's
ability to enforce water quality. He said he feared the regulations
would allow some cities to plan water capture systems without ever
having to build them.<br />
<br />
The Natural Resources Defense Council has
argued that stormwater capture could potentially provide more than
253,000 acre-feet of water for Los Angeles County after every inch of
rainfall — or nearly 40% of the city of Los Angeles' annual water use.<br />
<br />
...While government organizations such as the Los Angeles County
Department of Public Works voiced support for the revised permit, a
number of municipalities said they were alarmed by the potential cost.<br />
Gardena
City Councilman Dan Medina said compliance with the permit threatened
to "bankrupt our city and probably force it into a disincorporation."<br />
Medina said a consultant had told the city that belonging to an
enhanced watershed management program could cost the city $12 million to
$24 million a year.<br />
"The city's general fund is only about $50 million a year," Medina said. "Nearly 80% of that goes to public safety."<br />
<br />
...Board Chair Felicia Marcus told municipal officials that the estimates seemed too high....<br />
<br />
-----------------------------------<br />
<br />
SEE THIS DOCUMENT, AT PAGE 3, PARAGRAPH 5 FOR LA COUNTY'S OWN ESTIMATE OF THE $20 BILLION COST <br />
<a href="http://file.lacounty.gov/bos/supdocs/93934.pdf">http://file.lacounty.gov/bos/supdocs/93934.pdf </a><br />
Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-91076754027857273652015-06-12T13:03:00.000-07:002015-06-12T18:42:35.654-07:00Annenberg Listens to the other side (or at least does what we told them to do, whether they care what we think)<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Annenberg Never Needed to Build Massive Private Complex on Ballona Wetlands Preserve</b></span><br />
<br />
By Rex Frankel<br />
<br />
BIG NEWS for June 2015: I've just learned that the Annenberg Foundation has made a deal to locate their HQ and animal adoption complex in the middle of the Playa Vista office park in a developed area. This is a big turnaround from their previous plans to locate in the fragile Ballona Wetlands wildlife habitat area which taxpayers spent $140 million to purchase in 2003.<br />
<br />
The proposal to massively alter the Ballona Wetlands with fleets of earthmovers in order to do what some wrongly called a "restoration"project has seen a lot of the wind in its sails disappear recently<br />
<br />
In the last year, the state bureaucrats who secretly negotiated the deal 3 years ago to turn over a major chunk of the Ballona Wetlands State Preserve to the private Annenberg Foundation have all left the state agencies and are now off the public payroll.<br />
<br />
The director of the project resigned and set up a private website to advocate for the massive bulldozing project still: that website is empty. See it: <a href="https://accessballona.wordpress.com/">https://accessballona.wordpress.com/</a><br />
<br />
we wrote more on this here:<br />
<a href="http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2014/12/sometimes-money-is-not-enough.html">http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2014/12/sometimes-money-is-not-enough.html</a><br />
<br />
Who is actually running the project currently is a bit of a mystery, as this ad posted by the Ballona Wetlands Land Trust in the Argonaut Newspaper June 11th asks:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnpKRkmRyC3BMyp8x9g2nOuWJca2nS1yKue1QeZvj2cY5UPSGEk0-hOZ1WACD4VLrd0-M_d-Q1j6mDnDF0kzd5bxdvnDJRXb7PWhHEdrz4H36Al03_e49YwJfVf2Sm33gUVAF3kKMLiw/s1600/BWLT+6-2015+ad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnpKRkmRyC3BMyp8x9g2nOuWJca2nS1yKue1QeZvj2cY5UPSGEk0-hOZ1WACD4VLrd0-M_d-Q1j6mDnDF0kzd5bxdvnDJRXb7PWhHEdrz4H36Al03_e49YwJfVf2Sm33gUVAF3kKMLiw/s640/BWLT+6-2015+ad.jpg" width="491" /></a></div>
<br />
Regardless of who is in charge, we continue working to keep the Ballona Wetlands restoration proposals easy on wildlife and historically accurate, for recreation and wildlife, not privateers and polluters. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aBM9BUIn_C0/VXs44WIAMvI/AAAAAAAAFfI/qY8jh_P7aXE/s1600/Annenberg%2Bnew%2Blocation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aBM9BUIn_C0/VXs44WIAMvI/AAAAAAAAFfI/qY8jh_P7aXE/s640/Annenberg%2Bnew%2Blocation.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
A public hearing by an L.A. City Associate Zoning Administrator is scheduled for July 30, 2015<br />
<br />
See their brochure: <br />
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5SGRAMv8RXubERzWmVwbFpza1E/view?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5SGRAMv8RXubERzWmVwbFpza1E/view?usp=sharing</a>Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-65354252676339519062015-05-18T19:39:00.000-07:002015-06-12T13:14:16.028-07:00High Speed Hearing Endorses Bad L.A. Creeks Plan<div class="yiv6834824515" dir="ltr" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3122">
UPDATE: we got to speak after waiting 5 hours, for 2 minutes, to protest the new $20 Billion L.A. water pollution cleanup plan which was originally supposed to include restored river and creek parks but now is an engineering firm's pipe dream.<br />
<br />
MORE: </div>
<div class="yiv6834824515" dir="ltr" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3122">
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/rex.frankel/videos/10207133603805470/?l=8979772204025811666">https://www.facebook.com/rex.frankel/videos/10207133603805470/?l=8979772204025811666</a></div>
<div class="yiv6834824515" dir="ltr" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3122">
<br />------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
If
you support expanded parks from our Creeks to our Peaks, come to the
L.A. County Board of Supervisor's meeting on Tuesday May 26th and tell
them to Keep their promise of new parks as part of the L.A. stormwater
cleanup plan. </div>
<div class="yiv6834824515" dir="ltr" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_4789">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv6834824515" dir="ltr" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3255">
The
plan is a near complete reversal of longtime plans to turn concreted
creeks throughout L.A. into restored and expanded parts of the park
system, instead largely relying on turning existing public parks and
playgrounds into pollution catch basins. This crummy plan also features a
massive tax hike which county planners are trying to sneak past all of
us to avoid a rebellion like occurred in 2013. For what happened in 2013, read this: <a class="yiv6834824515" href="http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/12/local/la-me-stormwater-20130313" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3464" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">L.A. County to revise proposed parcel tax to fight polluted runoff</a></div>
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<a class="yiv6834824515" href="http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/12/local/la-me-stormwater-20130313" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_4890" rel="nofollow" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="image" class="yiv6834824515" src="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/fb.jpg" height="168" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_4889" style="display: block; margin: auto;" width="168" /></a></div>
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<tr class="yiv6834824515" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3486"><td class="yiv6834824515" colspan="2" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3485" style="font-family: 'Georgia', 'Times', 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%;"><div class="yiv6834824515" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3489" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.5px; min-height: 135px; width: 245px;">
<div class="yiv6834824515" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3488" style="word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="yiv6834824515"></span><span class="yiv6834824515" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3487"></span><a class="yiv6834824515" href="http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/12/local/la-me-stormwater-20130313" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3491" rel="nofollow" style="color: black; display: block; font-size: 18px; line-height: 100%; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span class="yiv6834824515" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3490" style="color: black; display: inline-block; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin: 0; max-height: 43px; overflow: hidden;">L.A. County to revise proposed parcel tax to fight pollu...</span></a><br />
<div class="yiv6834824515" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3585" style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Georgia', 'Times', 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; max-height: 81px; overflow: hidden;">
Faced
by widespread public opposition, the Los Angeles County supervisors on
Tuesday sent a proposed parcel fee to combat storm water pollution back
to the drawin...</div>
</div>
</div>
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<a class="yiv6834824515" href="http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/12/local/la-me-stormwater-20130313" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_4896" rel="nofollow" style="color: black; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span class="yiv6834824515" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3479" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 11px; max-height: 13px; max-width: 145px; min-width: 85px; overflow: hidden;"><span class="yiv6834824515" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_4895" style="color: #999999; font-size: 9px; line-height: 11px; vertical-align: middle;">View on <span class="yiv6834824515" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_4900" style="font-weight: bold;">articles.latimes.com</span></span></span></a></div>
</td><td class="yiv6834824515" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_4867" style="font-family: 'Arial', 'Helvetica Neue', 'Helvetica', 'sans-serif'; vertical-align: middle; width: 100px;"><div class="yiv6834824515" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_4866" style="font-size: 0pt; line-height: 11px; max-height: 13px; max-width: 100px; min-width: 80px; overflow: hidden; text-align: right;">
<span class="yiv6834824515" style="color: #999999; font-size: 9px; line-height: 11px; vertical-align: middle;">Preview by Yahoo</span></div>
</td></tr>
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<br class="yiv6834824515" /></div>
<div class="yiv6834824515" dir="ltr" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_4847">
The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy wrote this in their
comment letter: "There seems to be a bias against projects on private
land..." in the plan. The SMMC supports land acquisition to create new
"multi-benefit stormwater cleanup parks" that include wildlife habitat.
They stated: . We "recommend inclusion of these types of acquisition
projects and this approach in the plan. "</div>
<div class="yiv6834824515" dir="ltr" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3143">
<br class="yiv6834824515" /></div>
<div class="yiv6834824515" dir="ltr" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3146">
To read the full letter: <a class="yiv6834824515" href="http://smmc.ca.gov/pdf/attachment3990_Comment%20Letter.pdf" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3145" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://smmc.ca.gov/pdf/attachment3990_Comment%20Letter.pdf</a></div>
<div class="yiv6834824515" dir="ltr" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3169">
<br class="yiv6834824515" /></div>
<br />
<div class="yiv6834824515" dir="ltr" id="yiv6834824515yui_3_16_0_1_1432001516656_3287">
<br class="yiv6834824515" /></div>
For the hearing notice and my comment letter and other background:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/search/label/Restoring%20and%20Unpaving%20Local%20Open%20Spaces%20to%20Clean%20Up%20Santa%20Monica%20Bay%20Beaches">http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/search/label/Restoring%20and%20Unpaving%20Local%20Open%20Spaces%20to%20Clean%20Up%20Santa%20Monica%20Bay%20Beaches </a>Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-13914600516926801772015-05-16T23:20:00.000-07:002015-05-18T17:16:29.593-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>CREEKS TO PEAKS </b></span></div>
<br />
WHAT L.A.'S PARK SYSTEM COULD LOOK LIKE -- IF L.A.'S CONCRETED CREEKS WERE TURNED INTO PARKS<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EmzKFUhxYXk/VVgxEEb7KKI/AAAAAAAAFdQ/PmiZfEi7CZM/s1600/MRCA%2Bworkprogam%2B2014%2Bmap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="411" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EmzKFUhxYXk/VVgxEEb7KKI/AAAAAAAAFdQ/PmiZfEi7CZM/s640/MRCA%2Bworkprogam%2B2014%2Bmap.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
TELL L.A. LEADERS TO KEEP THEIR PARKS PROMISE!<br />
<br />
Public hearing is May 26th by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in Downtown L.A.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://dpw.lacounty.gov/lacfcd/ewmppeir/">http://dpw.lacounty.gov/lacfcd/ewmppeir/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tbTHu22G3Mw/VVqAItqjD9I/AAAAAAAAFdg/W1CM7N-PCWI/s1600/EWMP%2BBOS%2Bhearing%2Bnotice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="601" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tbTHu22G3Mw/VVqAItqjD9I/AAAAAAAAFdg/W1CM7N-PCWI/s640/EWMP%2BBOS%2Bhearing%2Bnotice.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-56489225482627744352014-12-04T10:31:00.003-08:002014-12-24T21:20:31.883-08:00Sometimes money is not enough...<div class="yiv3381887677" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_3984">
<div class="yiv3381887677" dir="ltr" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_3983" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>the Annenberg Foundation Will Not "AccessBallona" </b></span></div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" dir="ltr" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_3983">
</div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" dir="ltr" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_3983">
<br />
12/4/2014...</div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" dir="ltr" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_3983">
the
big news in the L.A. papers yesterday for us Ballona lovers is that the ranks of
supporters of bulldozing the Ballona Wetlands keeps shrinking: </div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" dir="ltr" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_3983">
<br />
<br />
HOW THE PRESS REPORTED IT:<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" dir="ltr" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_4867">
<a href="http://www.dailybreeze.com/environment-and-nature/20141202/annenberg-pulls-45-million-for-controversial-ballona-wetlands-redevelopment" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_4866" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Annenberg pulls $45 million for controversial Ballona Wetlands redevelopment </a></div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" dir="ltr" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_4895">
the Daily Breeze<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" dir="ltr" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_4895">
<a href="http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2014/12/03/heiress-wallis-annenberg-abruptly-drops-her-plan-for-building-on-ballona-wetlands">http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2014/12/03/heiress-wallis-annenberg-abruptly-drops-her-plan-for-building-on-ballona-wetlands</a></div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" dir="ltr" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_4895">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" dir="ltr" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_4895">
<a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-annenberg-wetlands-20141203-story.html">http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-annenberg-wetlands-20141203-story.html</a></div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" dir="ltr" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_4895">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" dir="ltr" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_4895">
and then have a look at the empty pro-bulldozing website which is sponsored by the former president of the Friends of Ballona Wetlands, the ex-head of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission who has pushed the mega-bulldozing scheme since 2008, the Playa Vista rep on the Westchester Neighborhood Council, and a board member of of PV JOBS, Playa Vista's charity: <a href="https://accessballona.wordpress.com/">https://accessballona.wordpress.com/</a><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
(click on image to enlarge) </div>
</div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" dir="ltr" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_4895">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipe-DVmxdFhqxhbuE-iHK8UG1Ly9PQuRq1t7MKcuVOnoNa6pD2qpf7B9EpXQg2YmYHX1OG6mtmYS1VByp-orSAVQvjkvOED4sLDOqxb02tdNMJx2G5-ysPeLuHlYkawoZxjxyvL4Cp2dc/s1600/AccessBallona+empty+webpage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipe-DVmxdFhqxhbuE-iHK8UG1Ly9PQuRq1t7MKcuVOnoNa6pD2qpf7B9EpXQg2YmYHX1OG6mtmYS1VByp-orSAVQvjkvOED4sLDOqxb02tdNMJx2G5-ysPeLuHlYkawoZxjxyvL4Cp2dc/s1600/AccessBallona+empty+webpage.jpg" height="320" width="283" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" dir="ltr" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_4895">
<br />
HOW WE SEE IT:<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_4144">
Yesterday, the billionaire heiress to the TV Guide fortune pulled back
the $50 million lifeline she had offered to the project 2 years ago,
which she had negotiated in secret with the very secretive State
managers of the land. The cash was offered to help "restore" the land in
exchange for the TV-Guidester's private foundation (ie., tax dodge)
getting to build a supermarket-sized nature center and office complex
for her group. The State managers took over the land in 2004, after the
taxpayers bought 600 acres from the greedy developers who planned to
pave it for 35 years. The State folks invited involvement of the public,
yes, You and Me, but in practically no time they started meeting in
secret and far away places and hatched a plan in 2008 to use the
wetlands to solve problems of local polluters (calling it "natural
filtration"), and to serve the non-natural needs of at least two real
estate developers and later, the TV Guide charity. They and their hired
propagandists went to great lengths to convince the public that their
project was a legally allowable "restoration". The problem here is that
you cannot restore something to what it never was. My guess is that the
billionairess figured this out and did not want to wait through years of
litigation which I and others promised them.</div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_4115">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_4145">
Two owners ago, the
Ballona Wetlands' landlord laughed at us when we told them they needed
to save at least 70% of the land as natural open space, as other big
developers in Southern California had agreed to do, if they wanted to
convert some of this area's last natural land into condos, shopping and
offices. Soon after that, we and others sued them numerous times for
violations of the law. By paying their lawyer bills instead of the
mortgage for land purchased at the top of the market, their lender Chase
Manhattan bank was forced to seize the land and write off half the
value. A new owner walked in and salvaged the project, and also agreed
to sell 2/3rds of the land to the State of California for the huge price
of $140 million. They then proceeded to continue the condoization of
the land they kept. When they sought more condos we sued them again and
kept them stopped for 8 years until 2012. The outcome of this all is
that 13,000 condos has been cut to 6000. Numerous ten to sixty story
highrises have been cut to mostly 4 stories. Traffic generation was cut
to 40% of the original proposal. Finally: We saved 70% of the land, a
fact used as a selling point now by the developers themselves. And
finally, the company CEO told the local press that over the last 20
years, his company and 2 predecessors had lost $600 million trying to
get their way. </div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_5000">
<a href="http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2008/03/playa-vista-financial-quagmire-july-13.html" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_4999" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2008/03/playa-vista-financial-quagmire-july-13.html</a></div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_4114">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_5027">
The moral of this story, which likely has been figured out by the TV
Guidesters, is: rich people can buy off politicians and some fake
friends of the public, but when the average folks stand up to the
greedy, the greedy may win a few battles and get some of what they want, but they'll also likely walk away with empty
wallets.</div>
</div>
<div class="yiv3381887677" dir="ltr" id="yiv3381887677yui_3_16_0_1_1417716436122_3932">
<br /></div>
Rex FrankelRex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-60235931761016402182014-09-29T14:07:00.000-07:002016-12-31T14:49:43.901-08:00comments on L.A. City and County urban runoff cleanup plans (ie., wetland pollution plans)<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Get Your Comments in Today by 5 pm (September 29th) on Plan to Clean up L.A.'s Beaches: hint, the devil is in the details, which so far do not exist</b></span></div>
<br />
Comments are due today to gbegell@dpw.lacounty.gov <br />
<br />
<br />
sorry for the lateness, but I'm "swamped".<br />
<br />
<br />
Just copy and paste if you agree. <br />
<br />
<br />
the project planners' websites are here:<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://dpw.lacounty.gov/landing/waterResources.cfm#">http://dpw.lacounty.gov/landing/waterResources.cfm#</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://dpw.lacounty.gov/lacfcd/ewmppeir/">http://dpw.lacounty.gov/lacfcd/ewmppeir/</a></div>
<br />
<br />
...Rex<br />
<br />
<br />
-------------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
<br />
COMMENTS ON NOTICE OF PREPARATION FOR DRAFT PROGRAM EIR FOR ENHANCED WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS FOR L.A. COUNTY<br />
<br />
<br />
September 29, 2014, 1:30 pm<br />
<br />
<br />
From Rex Frankel, director, Ballona Ecosystem Education Project, <br />
<br />
<br />
I understand why no one but myself attended the NOP hearing on September 9th in Marina Del Rey. You have no specific projects to analyze for environmental impacts. You are attempting to analyze the environmental impact of words, not specific actions. It is impossible to analyze the impacts of no stated physical projects, just as it is impossible to analyze those unstated projects’ impacts on the environmental setting, ie., the proper baseline, because you have no specific locations for these unspecified projects. Thus all you can say is to analyze the entire county. The two most essential parts of an environmental analysis are missing here: specific projects and specific sites. You have the process all backwards here, and thus, commenting on this NOP in any specific manner is impossible.<br />
<br />
<br />
Some background: In 2002, local governments settled lawsuits and agreed to consent decrees and promised to stop violations of bacterial health codes at our beaches by 2021. This agreement gave the public agencies an extension beyond the original deadline of 2013 but only if the projects created new parkland and river corridors that could catch and clean water before it fouled the beaches.<br />
<br />
<br />
In 2006, L.A. City proposed its first big plan under this agreement, an Implementation Plan for the Santa Monica Bay Beaches watersheds. This plan was sent back for redrafting by the RWQCB as it only reached 2% of its target and thus, would not accomplish the goal in the consent decree.<br />
<br />
<br />
Also in 2006, L.A. city proposed the Integrated Resource Plan which mainly focused on building 25 Hyperion-style urban runoff treatment plants which would have cost the average homeowner ratepayer $400 a month. This plan went nowhere.<br />
<br />
<br />
In 2012, the County Supervisors tried to quietly approve a $300 million per year property tax hike to build a non-existent list of runoff cleansing and capturing projects. Howls of opposition arose and that plan went nowhere. The public wanted to know what they were paying for.<br />
<br />
<br />
Now, you are finally starting to design the cleanup plan. But how can you ask the public to weigh in on the scope of the environmental analysis of that plan, when your description of that plan contains no specifics? Your stated plan to defer the environmental analysis of specific project impacts to when each one is up for approval thus ignores the cumulative impacts and therefore is “piecemealing”, by starting major momentum of a project that is composed of many necessary parts, yet deferring analysis and the controversy to a multitude of separate EIRs and CEQA documents and public hearings, all the while public input is diffused. We never get to weigh in on whether we like the complete plan because the Program EIR has no specifics to arouse concern and the real project discussion is delayed until much later in a way that requires massive efforts by the public to keep track of the success of the big plan.<br />
<br />
<br />
The people who will pay for this plan want to see the specifics before you raise our taxes to pay for it. We want expanded and unpaved river corridor parks. We do not want the plan to include converting existing wetlands and wildlife habitat into pollution dumps and sumps. We want what we were promised, not a lame compromise that puts the cleanup burden on existing public lands, parks and house front yards. We want a complete plan for us to judge whether it will accomplish its promises and goals before you produce an EIR, not the other way around.<br />
<br />
<br />
Please put me on the notification list for all actions relating to this project. Thank you.<br />
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Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-12999382648038668852014-05-25T12:00:00.002-07:002016-12-31T16:48:44.963-08:00is going back 4000 years ago a restoration?<div class="yiv0983923140" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401039313568_26477">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span class="yiv0983923140" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401039313568_26476">What is the Correct Definition of a Wetland Restoration?</span></b></span></div>
<div class="yiv0983923140" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401039313568_26477">
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<div class="yiv0983923140" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401039313568_26477">
<br /></div>
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<div class="yiv0983923140" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401039313568_26494" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<div class="yiv0983923140" id="yiv0983923140yui_3_16_0_1_1401039313568_7470" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;">
This website might help:<br />
<br class="yiv0983923140" clear="none" id="yiv0983923140yui_3_16_0_1_1401039313568_8880" />
the
federal EPA's website features this definition of "restoration" as
stated by the National Research Council (NRC). In its 1992 report, <cite class="yiv0983923140" id="yiv0983923140yui_3_16_0_1_1401039313568_8665">Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems</cite>, NRC defined
restoration as the "return of an ecosystem to a close approximation of its condition prior to disturbance." <br />
<a class="yiv0983923140" href="http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/restore/defs.cfm" id="yiv0983923140yui_3_16_0_1_1401039313568_8900" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank">http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/restore/defs.cfm</a><br />
<a class="yiv0983923140" href="http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/restore/defs.cfm" id="yiv0983923140yui_3_16_0_1_1401039313568_8871" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank">Definitions & Distinctions | Restoration | US EPA</a><br />
<br class="yiv0983923140" clear="none" id="yiv0983923140yui_3_16_0_1_1401039313568_9756" />
The question is what year do you return to? 200 years ago or 4000 years ago?<br />
<br class="yiv0983923140" clear="none" />
I
agree in part
with Ruth Lansford (founder of the Friends of Ballona Wetlands) that some things cannot be changed, such as there
will always be roads cutting through the area; there will most likely
always be polluted water in Ballona Creek; there are older low-lying
neighborhoods in Playa del Rey that we need to avoid flooding, just as
there are new condos at Playa Vista that are
served by roads that could be flooded by future sea level rise. So in
the state's plan for flooding the wetlands full-time comes secondary
impacts that may affect all of us in the pocketbook. <br />
<br class="yiv0983923140" clear="none" id="yiv0983923140yui_3_16_0_1_1401039313568_9754" />
That
is part of the controversy in the proposals for restoring the Ballona
Wetlands. The basic engineering in the State's "preferred" plan mimics
not the conditions of "prior to disturbance", which logically is about
200 years ago when the wetlands were a low lying river delta region
which had only a limited connection to the ocean except in winter, when
floods would break through the sand bar. Instead it mimics a full time
always-connected to the ocean bay-like area which last occurred here
4000 years ago. To do this is estimated to cost $100 million.<br />
<br class="yiv0983923140" clear="none" />
To see maps of the difference
between 200 and 4000
years ago, see this link:<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://goo.gl/photos/t1danx8n7jZNvanb7">https://goo.gl/photos/t1danx8n7jZNvanb7</a></div>
<br class="yiv0983923140" clear="none" />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8Hp1FTRgIC4/WGg5SGPBJWI/AAAAAAAARlM/wS_6ykfpE6sLL5JsK29Uy4hNHcbKL6J2QCLcB/s1600/Slide15.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8Hp1FTRgIC4/WGg5SGPBJWI/AAAAAAAARlM/wS_6ykfpE6sLL5JsK29Uy4hNHcbKL6J2QCLcB/s640/Slide15.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhNp424vTqMdT-tkYUlxlbaGbJjJUyoyl3r1c9gxgp6uKiqLkqO6qEJeEjlyJyuibCyC23PqRg9caa86wj-wIpe0UhyphenhyphenTlU4UhTbPO_RQJTttN1F1djM6vNsc1K6A-VZBq4mH32t8mRqtQ/s1600/Slide17.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhNp424vTqMdT-tkYUlxlbaGbJjJUyoyl3r1c9gxgp6uKiqLkqO6qEJeEjlyJyuibCyC23PqRg9caa86wj-wIpe0UhyphenhyphenTlU4UhTbPO_RQJTttN1F1djM6vNsc1K6A-VZBq4mH32t8mRqtQ/s640/Slide17.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
These differences are described in the State's existing conditions report, which is posted here:<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://docs.ballonarestoration.org/Existing%20Conditions%20FINAL.pdf">http://docs.ballonarestoration.org/Existing%20Conditions%20FINAL.pdf</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5SGRAMv8RXub2hjTzFjN0FEMVk/view?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5SGRAMv8RXub2hjTzFjN0FEMVk/view?usp=sharing</a></div>
<div class="yiv0983923140" id="yiv0983923140yui_3_16_0_1_1401039313568_7470" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;">
<br /><br />
The
difference between these two is that 200 years ago, we had three
natural habitat types: saltwater, freshwater and upland wildflower
areas, and that 4000 years ago, the area was mostly ocean water, like is
proposed to be the dominant feature in the State's proposal. As the
site will now be mostly wet, most of the long-used walking paths will be
eliminated except for a trail around the perimeter.<br />
<br class="yiv0983923140" clear="none" id="yiv0983923140yui_3_16_0_1_1401039313568_10048" />
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401253505399_2216">
<div class="yiv7809049279MsoNormal" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401253505399_2215">
<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401253505399_2214">Some have said that the state's plan seeks to replace the lagoons at Ballona which were open to the ocean all year-round that were lost to development. </span></div>
<div class="yiv7809049279MsoNormal" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401253505399_2215">
<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401253505399_2214">For a map showing this:</span><br />
<a href="https://goo.gl/photos/CYhEZFg6T4KwNY8S6">https://goo.gl/photos/CYhEZFg6T4KwNY8S6</a><br />
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PeqJAoFS6yo/WGg6FVzU9bI/AAAAAAAARlc/6c0w1dn52Q41PG9iYZ1kNp2IJFMDSd10ACLcB/s1600/Slide19.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="404" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PeqJAoFS6yo/WGg6FVzU9bI/AAAAAAAARlc/6c0w1dn52Q41PG9iYZ1kNp2IJFMDSd10ACLcB/s640/Slide19.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401253505399_2214">I would agree that some of the western lagoon areas that are still
present in the Ballona region (Ballona Lagoon, the Grand Canal, Del Rey
Lagoon) were usually open to the sea year round, at least based on the
historical USGS maps. These are owned by the City of Los Angeles. Additional lagoons shown on this map are now part of the Marina Del Rey harbor, which, contrary to popular belief, actually has fish and seals and other creatures. So it also functions as a wetland habitat. However, most of the state-owned lands at the Ballona Wetlands were
not lagoons 200 years ago as mother nature had filled them in. Thus the
state's proposal to turn them into lagoons is not historically accurate.</span></div>
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<br />
<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401253505399_2219">As page 17 of the 8/18/2006 Ballona Existing conditions report says: </span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401253505399_2224">
<div class="yiv7809049279MsoNormal" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401253505399_2223" style="background: white;">
<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401253505399_2222">"2,000
to 200 years ago - Fluvial sediments continued to fill the lagoon.
Deposited sediments resulted in coastal plain accretion in a
southwesterly direction and saltmarsh expansion west towards the inlet.
Altschul et al. (2005) inferred that a double barrier at the inlet
formed about 1,000 years ago as a result of the sediment-rich
environment and that extensive mudflats also formed within the lagoon.</span><b id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401253505399_2226"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401253505399_2225">
<span style="color: red;">By 200 years ago, sediment accumulation almost entirely eliminated the
lagoon and formed a complex of salt and freshwater marshes, ephemeral
freshwater pools and sandy islands behind the barrier.</span></span></b><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1401253505399_2227">
At this stage the marshes extended south to El Segundo Sand
Dunes and Del Rey Bluffs, north beyond Ballona Lagoon and Venice Canals
and east as far as the confluence of the Ballona and Centinela Creeks."</span></div>
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<br />
In
order to
create the state proposal, 20 feet or more of dirt must be scooped out
of 100's of acres of the marsh, and it would be dumped on the south side
along Jefferson and Culver Blvds. rising 10 to 15 feet above these
roads. These might be very conveniently beneficial to Playa Vista's
condos as Jefferson and Culver are in a tsunami zone and tall (and
un-natural) earthen walls would
prevent flooding there. But should our state-owned wetlands be filled
in so as to prevent flooding their condos which they built in a flood
plain when they must have known that climate change, or whatever you
call it, was causing the threat of sea level rise?<br />
<br class="yiv0983923140" clear="none" />
The
dirt would also be dumped in the location preferred by the Annenberg
Foundation for their supermarket-sized nature center complex near the 90
freeway, giving them an unnatural hill that will undoubtedly give them
an ocean-view site where there is not one now.<br />
<br class="yiv0983923140" clear="none" />
The
state plan also features removal of the levees along Ballona Creek,
which while they are not-natural, this would allow the heavily polluted
water in the creek to pour into the protected wetlands, leading to a
different and worse non-natural result.
The cost of cleaning up the water in Ballona Creek is estimated at
$3 billion, and that is not mentioned in the $100 million cost
estimates of a restoration plan that removes the Ballona Creek levees.
This is a good reason to not remove the levees.<br />
<br class="yiv0983923140" clear="none" id="yiv0983923140yui_3_16_0_1_1401039313568_10046" />
So
ultimately, the state's plan features an unnatural deep ocean bay
filled with urban polluted street drainage and two areas of unnatural
hills. I am sure that engineering firms would love this plan but it is
not historically accurate. So it's hard to call it a restoration. This
is why I support keeping the levees, and restoring the wetlands to a
marshy delta concept that is first, more like what the area looked like
"prior to disturbance" when development of this area began and second,
it requires less land alteration and habitat destruction with bulldozers
and will thus cost much less. Finally, it preserves more of our trails
and existing wildlife
biodiversity.<br />
<br class="yiv0983923140" clear="none" id="yiv0983923140yui_3_16_0_1_1401039313568_10044" />
To see an artist's rendering of a marshy delta restoration:<br />
<a href="https://goo.gl/photos/edDobu8JsmFzAe5p9">https://goo.gl/photos/edDobu8JsmFzAe5p9</a><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H7gqSnj3UQU/WGg6_oowppI/AAAAAAAARlo/19m0p9SIU9gPcQx4EXG7ZB6bKfzlR7xNwCLcB/s1600/Slide65.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H7gqSnj3UQU/WGg6_oowppI/AAAAAAAARlo/19m0p9SIU9gPcQx4EXG7ZB6bKfzlR7xNwCLcB/s640/Slide65.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
...Rex Frankel</div>
</div>
Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-62512607807569763382014-05-09T20:16:00.001-07:002016-12-31T15:14:38.772-08:00Destroy our Ballona Wetlands in order to save them?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Do the Ballona Wetlands Need a Big Fix?</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Frequently we read letters in the local press from the new directors
of the Friends of Ballona Wetlands who say the wetlands need major bulldozing by the owners, the State department of fish and wildlife, to fix
them, or they'll "die". </span></span></b><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Source: <a href="http://www.ballonafriends.org/blog/2013/12/restore-ballona-wetlands-now/">http://www.ballonafriends.org/blog/2013/12/restore-ballona-wetlands-now/ </a> </span></span></b></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
12/12/2013: "Continuing to drag out the environmental review process only allows the
Wetlands to further degrade (threatening species) and makes it more
expensive to restore. Second, we are fighting “Tea Party” type groups
that don’t want the government to do anything and consequently would
effectively let the Wetlands die."</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Really? </span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">In
1981: "We, (and this includes the biologists who run our monthly walks)
pointed out how rich and varied the wetlands are in their present
state, that they are NOT severely degraded....and that even if not one
cent were spent on them, they would continue to serve as an
irreplaceable resource, both for wildlife and for people." <span style="font-size: small;">Ruth Lansford, chair of the Friends of Ballona Wetlands, June 1981, Letter to the L.A Times</span></span></b></span></div>
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source: <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5SGRAMv8RXuQUFYZXRFX1JnYUE/edit">https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5SGRAMv8RXuQUFYZXRFX1JnYUE/edit</a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KkCqPlUCNfA/U22Xn3A9rJI/AAAAAAAAEm8/iHLa92hboBI/s1600/FBW+1981+letter.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KkCqPlUCNfA/U22Xn3A9rJI/AAAAAAAAEm8/iHLa92hboBI/s1600/FBW+1981+letter.jpg" width="414" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">It certainly sounds like the Friends didn't buy the claims of advocates of restoration by bulldozing. In the 1980's, the Friends were the sole environmental group standing up to protect the wetlands. In 1989, the Friends made a deal with the landowner, Playa Vista, to save more of the land. Unfortunately, the deal required them to repudiate others who disagreed with the deal. </span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">"In 1994, MTP demanded more. Friends of Ballona Wetlands were asked to
sign a supplement to their 1990 settlement agreement. Under the new
terms, MTP can require the Friends to appear before a public agency and
disavow any statement (made by a group that has at least one current or
former member of the Friends) that "criticizes the Wetlands Restoration
Plan or states that the Revised Playa Vista Plan will have an adverse
impact on the restoration of the Ballona Wetlands." After the Friends
denounce the criticism, the supplement requires the group to say that
its position is unequivocally to the contrary."from the L.A. Weekly 11/24/1995</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Source: <a href="http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2007/12/first-major-news-article-covering.html">http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2007/12/first-major-news-article-covering.html</a></span></span></b></div>
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In 2003, our state's taxpayers handed over $140 million to Playa Vista to double the size of the preserve saved by the Friends in 1989. Did the Friends retire, happy to save the wetlands that did not really need to be restored? No.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Fast forward to 2014: the organization's board of directors and managers are almost entirely new, with several being current or former top employees of Playa Vista. Others work for wetland restoration engineering firms. <a href="http://www.ballonafriends.org/about_directors.html">http://www.ballonafriends.org/about_directors.html</a></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">So now, it is intriguing to compare the Friends' revised views on the health of the wetlands:</span></span></b></div>
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"we know, based on detailed surveys and the professional judgments of
many of our members, that the Wetlands have been severely degraded"</div>
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source: <a href="http://www.ballonafriends.org/blog/2013/02/the-l-a-times-sensible-editorial/">http://www.ballonafriends.org/blog/2013/02/the-l-a-times-sensible-editorial/ </a></div>
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The Friends are very proud of their partnership with the project managers at the State bureaucracy. The State's restoration newsletters feature a prominent plug for the Friends. And on the Ballona Wetlands restoration website created by the State's project managers are several large photos of trash and homeless camps, which creates an impression that the wetlands are a mess in need of this major bulldozing job. Source: <a href="http://ballonarestoration.org/need/">http://ballonarestoration.org/need/ </a></div>
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This website is jointly run by the State and the Annenberg Foundation, according to the State's newsletter titled Baywire (April 2014 edition)<br />
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And while the Friends support the Annenberg Foundation's proposed supermarket-sized nature center and pet adoption facility on top of the reworked Ballona Wetlands, they have said this previously: "Feral cats, or free-roaming pets, hunt and kill birds such as the
endangered Belding’s Savannah Sparrow, and the South Coast Marsh Vole.
Allowing access of these animals and pets into a protected Ecological
Reserve is both harmful and illegal."</div>
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source: <a href="http://www.ballonafriends.org/blog/2012/09/dumping-your-pets-at-ballona-is-illegal-irresponsible-and-cruel/">http://www.ballonafriends.org/blog/2012/09/dumping-your-pets-at-ballona-is-illegal-irresponsible-and-cruel/</a><br />
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It is our opinion that the definition of "restoration" used by the advocates of major bulldozing is so flexible that it is junk science, all attempting to justify a project that is the most expensive for the taxpayers, and the most profitable for engineering firms. Given that we have shown already that the State's proposal is not historically accurate (<a href="http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2012/08/first-big-public-hearing-on-ballona.html">http://ballona-news.blogspot.com/2012/08/first-big-public-hearing-on-ballona.html</a>), and unnecessary, and ecologically unsound, we hope that those who claim the wetlands are "dead" give it a rest.</div>
Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2152637935521936993.post-39581053699054929642014-04-30T12:10:00.001-07:002016-12-31T15:19:03.193-08:00<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Why is Playa Vista drying up the Public-owned wetlands at Ballona?</b></span><br />
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<b>4/11/2014--California Coastal Commission Rejects Claims of No Wrongdoing by
Playa Capital LLC, California Department of Fish & Wildlife</b><br />
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<b>For years we have battled the public statements of the Playa Vista developers that the wetlands were too dry and degraded to be worth saving. Thus development of thousands of condominiums would be allowed under state wetland protection law. Later, after the State of California bought the land, we have had to combat the plans of the State's bulldozer-loving bureaucracy which believes that the only way to fix these degraded wetlands is to massively remove virtually the entire site, and drown most of it under deep water, instead of taking a gentler approach and restoring the historic shallow creeks on the land, thereby protecting a mix of water and dry land and a balanced ecosystem of wetness for fish and birds and dry land for mammals and reptiles and butterflies.</b><br />
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<b>So we have viewed with suspicion the revelation that Playa Vista actually installed a drainage system with no permits over 10 years ago that dries out a large area of their former land now owned by the state, seeing it as part of larger scheme to make the land either safe for development or so dry that a really drastic and destructive restoration plan is required.</b><br />
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<b>See the Press release from the Grassroots Coalition:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140429007307/en/Grassroots-Coalition-Announces----California-Coastal-Commission#.U2FE0XaRJiY"><b>http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140429007307/en/Grassroots-Coalition-Announces----California-Coastal-Commission#.U2FE0XaRJiY</b></a><br />
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<b>For Coastal Commission 's 4/11/2014 letter: </b><br />
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5SGRAMv8RXuaGxobDljTnFoUmM/edit?usp=sharing"><b>https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5SGRAMv8RXuaGxobDljTnFoUmM/edit?usp=sharing</b></a><br />
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<b>More information:</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.saveballona.org/playa-vista-ballona-wetlands-drainage-device-press-coverage.html">http://www.saveballona.org/playa-vista-ballona-wetlands-drainage-device-press-coverage.html</a></div>
Rex Frankelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02628414635820202044noreply@blogger.com0