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 recently had the dubious pleasure of attending a
North Coastal Transportation Policy Advisory Committee meeting
for the San Diego Association of Governments. This SANDAG committee
is made up of representatives from Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas,
Carlsbad, Oceanside, and the County. The meeting was a clear
example of government at it's most surreal.
 On February
11th, a small crowd gathered to address the North Coastal Transportation
Policy study group regarding agenda item #5. At issue was a letter
signed by SANDAG representatives Marion Dodson, Joe Kellejian,
Matt Hall, and Betty Harding. The letter took issue with the
SANDAG decision -- supported by the committee majority, SANDAG
staff, and ample public testimony -- to eliminate from further
consideration new arterial roads connecting Camino Ruiz across
the San Dieguito River, to either Melrose or Twin Oaks Valley
Road, or both.
Never once
in this letter was it mentioned that SANDAG staff found that
environmental impacts, primarily habitat, would be considerable
if this "Y" configuration was bulldozed through habitat
set aside by the Multiple Species Conservation Program. It also
did not mention that several state and federal agencies have
voiced their opposition to any roads bisecting these endangered
habitats.
At the
meeting, when it came time to discuss the letter calling for
an expanded regional committee and a new round of studies, Joe
Kellejian stated that he would like to limit discussion of the
"Y" alternative letter -- without mentioning the road's
configurations mentioned -- in the desperate attempt to keep
the ghost of Highway 680 on the table. Did I mention that this
letter was typed on City of Solana Beach letterhead?
The letter
was an embarrassing attempt at double talk, which was very clear
in its suggestion that more studies and a larger committee were
needed. Joe Kellejian, trying to manipulate public input, showed
exactly where his allegiances were. The question we should ask
ourselves is: why are Solana Beach councilmembers Marion Dod-son
and Joe Kellejian are so intent on resurrecting Highway 680?
What has native habitat done to draw such contempt from these
elected officials? And do the citizens of Solana Beach realize
what their SANDAG representatives are doing on Friday afternoons?
In my humble
opinion, Marion Dodson explains it best. In the County of San
Diego voter information pamphlet, Candidate Mar-ion is quite
candid about her priorities. "The second thing I will do
is put an end to the county eliminating roads from transportation
plans. We need more roads, not less!" Marion goes on to
complain about unchecked growth, even while encouraging in her
words an action to see that urban sprawl spreads to unincorporated
areas reserved for species preservation.
Doesn't
Ms. Dodson understand the arterial roads she is advocating will
only provide infrastructure to support future growth? With roads
will come strip malls and convenience stores, $tarbucks and McMurder
King. And Ms. Dodson and Mr. Kellejian must think everyone stupid,
not to see that as soon as the roads are built, SANDAG will call
for homes to be built along these new transportation corridors
to accommodate the million new residents SANDAG is planning for.
Unwilling
to play Dodson and com-pany's game any longer, the meeting ended
for lack of a quorum when Del Mar Coun-cilmember David Druker
and Encinitas representative Chuck DuVivier left the meeting.
Hopefully the "roads at all cost" crew will get the
hint, give up their quest, and realize that spreading cement
throughout the county is no longer an option. Talk about out-of-touch
with reality, Marion and Joe seemed nothing more than poster
children for cluelessness.
Writing
this column I came across something completely unknown to me,
something I have yet to hear mentioned whenever SANDAG representatives
talk about the inevitability of growth in the region. At the
website for the San Diego Association of Governments, www.sandag.cog.ca.us,
I discovered evidence that proves this governmental agency is
actually in the business of promoting unsustainable growth. Talk
about conflict of interest.
Since 1982,
SANDAG has operated SourcePoint, a nonprofit corporation offering
specialized information services and analyses to private business
and other agencies. Services provided by SourcePoint corporation
include tailored growth projections, market studies, fiscal and
transportation analyses, demographic profiles.
Managed
by a board of directors composed of three locally elected officials
and two business leaders, SANDAG staff performs the work for
SourcePoint, with revenue being reinvested into both SourcePoint
and SANDAG programs.
Intrigued
by the thought of three elected officials presiding over a corporation
responsible for growth projections, I had to know who. Low and
behold -- and not surprisingly -- Marion Dodson is on the Source
Point board of directors. So this is why Marion is so determined
to force arterial roads onto county-owned land that is designated
MSCP open space. It seems she is no longer working for the people
of Solana Beach; she has set her eye on a bigger piece of the
pie. 
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