Save San Mateo Creek (Trestles)

This is going to be huge. So if you’re reading this blog, I’m asking you to do something. The toll road through this delicate, beautiful space is proposed by a private contractor to serve an affluent Orange County clientele at the expense of the camping, surfing, birding, San Diegan, etc., public. They are literally trying to bulldoze it through, since I, with a lot of other people, have already taken a day off work to influence the Coastal Commission. The result: Don’t do it, they said. But here we are again, staving off the bulldozers.

The precedent is frightening. If you’ve never walked the trail to Trestles, it’s stunning: sycamores and twittering birds and soaring hawks and ribbons of water and cotton wood, among other things, spilling out to a wide open beach. And the wave—but let’s not over emphasize that. Yes, all of this in Southern California, where we suffer sufficiently for our concrete and traffic, our numbers. Let’s save a little peace for our children.

The old 1 freeway passes over it like an antique. Over the 1 passes the 5, an overwhelming and mighty disturbance, but a fact of life. How could anyone want more concrete and noise here? How could anyone stand on this trail, beneath the rumble of the 5, and think more freeway an improvement? And, not to get away from the topic too much, but it must be asked: Does our population swell because of our infrastructure, or does our infrastructure swell at the service of our population? In other words, is “growth” a sustainable policy? Who does this serve?

This is a democracy, so ironically we must fight with our numbers. We must frighten the Gubinator with our sheer volume. This is concerns much more than a perfect wave. Otherwise, say good bye to other campsites and natural spaces as inconveniences to the rampant march of More/Faster.

Sept. 22, at the Del Mar Fairgrounds’ O’Brien Hall 10:30 a.m.–8:30 p.m. For more information, check with your local Surfrider or Sierra Club chapter.