Yesterday I posted a petition defending Dr. Charles Lester, the now fired Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission. Today, I posted a brief update, with a link to the hearing, I watched along with millions of Californians.
It is apparent that due to political reasons and/or commercial development pressure, the California Coastal Commission tried hard to fire Dr. Charles Lester who has been very good at his job for all appearances, including some of the 12 commissioners themselves.
Insolence on Display
On top of all this, I saw dozens of people make impassioned pleas for the commission to renege on its decision. All was to no avail. Ranging from what appeared to be an extremely conservative commissioner who tried to picture Fort Bragg as a “very rural community” (the place has multiple multi-hundred dollar hotels, “coastal” McDonalds, Shell Gas Stations, Round Table Pizzas, Motel 6s, 8s and what not), to a guy who seemed more comfortable in a Manhattan Island conference room with his swanky Mac, the commissioners spoke about how they, and not the man they were firing were the true protectors of California’s Coastline and some changes they offered to exactly ONE project was the apparent evidence.
Absent was, any public opposition to Dr. Lester himself.
Also, that one Macintosh toting commissioner led into one or two of the nonprofits working to defend Dr. Lester.
Conclusion
Today, i experienced first hand, that California may seem very environment friendly, but darker forces have a much tighter grip on the state than the voices of close to a million Californians who spoke up today. Our battle, is now long and hard, and I really hope there is a concerted effort to improve on Proposition 20, to de-fang the California Coastal Commissioners.
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