|
  ision in the wrong hands can be deadly.
When working on the Theory of Relativity, Albert Einstein was
looking for answers, not weapons of mass destruction. Hiroshima
and Nagasaki were Oppenheimer's vision. When Henry Ford created
the automobile assembly line, he expected to see renewable resources
fuel autos in his lifetime. It is safe to say Mr. Ford's vision
did not include photochemical smog choking America's children
or the traffic nightmare faced by modern commuters.
 I'm
sure that if I were to ask a hundred coastal North County residents
about their long term vision for the communities in which they
live, I would receive a variety of responses. Some would be simple
in nature, others grand, all rooted in the conditions of the
culture of the time. This was probably the same a hundred years
ago. My Question is: whose vision was it to turn southern California
into a gigantic parking lot?
When Interstate
5 was first imagined, the goal concerned connecting San Diego
to the rest of the state in a significant way. Well, it worked.
We are so well connected we can barely move. More than just a
transportation corridor, I-5 has become a continuous commercial
district, bisecting the region with an ever increasing and traffic-inducing
array of shopping opportunities. A narrow view permeates every
development.
I knew the
jig was up when Car Country Carlsbad was built. Urban sprawl
needs cars to make it relevant. In a perfect world, the native
habitat would not have been replaced with flower fields and agriculture.
But scraping away the flowers to make room for cars was adding
insult to injury. We now had a name to live up to. Written off
as inevitable, the growth machine has found a home in Carlsbad,
and plenty of cars to keep pace.
Now that growth
has become the official vision of the status quo, nothing is
safe. Homes are being built faster than the infrastructure can
keep up with it. Older neighborhoods often bear the brunt of
the development industry's need to support itself. Ponto will
soon be history, old Carlsbad is fighting to keep its trees,
and Cabrillo Ranch has been all but buried under a layer of tract
homes. Where in the rules does it say vision can not include
restraint?
Also not included
in the vision promoted by the Carlsbad establishment is biodiversity.
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the City of
Carlsbad's Habitat Management Plan for Natural Communities falls
far short of ensuring that state and federally listed species
will not be jeopardized by future development within the city.
Dave Hogan, writing for the CBD, goes on to say, "the plan
will in fact jeopardize many 'covered species,' preclude recovery
of these and other wildlife and plants and will not provide for
the long term viability of sensitive habitats."
"V"
is also for Vernal pool, and according to the CBD, several vernal
pools and the endangered species they support are not a protected
part of Carlsbad's "vision." What does it say about
a species that will casually shrug off the extinction of another?
Which is what's happening, as the Carlsbad Habitat Management
Plan allows for the "taking" of endangered species.
Vision that goes no further than convenience is myopic in its
egocentrism.
One person
in Carlsbad whose vision of the future includes gnatcatchers
and fairy shrimp is the tireless Inez Yoder. A founding member
of the Canyons Network, Inez has been working to save San Marcos
Creek and Box canyon for the past two years. And if that's not
enough, she has now turned her attention to vernal pools threatened
with destruction to make room for a golf course at the west end
of Carlsbad's Palomar Airport.
Doug Chartier,
a candidate for the Carlsbad City Council, describes Inez Yoder
as a civic leader who has her feet firmly planted on the ground
and her integrity grounded in environmental sensitivity. In fact,
there is not one person I have spoken to who has not been moved
by Inez's vision for Carlsbad. Clear and inclusive, visionaries
such as Inez are needed more than ever. It's nice to know that
candidates attempting to unseat the car people of Carlsbad recognize
this. 
|
