Laguna Greenbelt wrongly linked to trailer park plan

Elisabeth Brown

Last week, the El Morro trailer park floated a new scheme to allow

the trailers to stay in [El Morro Village] beyond the expiration of

their lease at the end of 2004.

In the packet sent to the press, the names of two nonprofit

organizations were listed as beneficiaries of supposedly excess

revenues: State Parks Foundation, a statewide organization that

supports state parks, and Laguna Greenbelt, Inc.

The board of the Laguna Greenbelt Inc. wishes to reassure our

supporters and members that we want nothing to do with this proposal

other than to see it defeated.

Our name was recklessly linked to this proposal after I

specifically told their representative, almost a week beforehand,

that we wouldn’t accept their money and that there are no

circumstances under which we would support an extension of the

trailer park lease. To include us in the press packet was a political

dirty trick.

For 35 years, Laguna Greenbelt Inc. has earned its reputation for

commitment and integrity in service of our three goals: preservation

of open space, public access to open space and public education about

that open space. To suggest that we would be willing to compromise

the trust and good will of our supporters, and the Laguna Beach

community as a whole, reveals the stay-at-all-cost strategy

apparently adopted by a faction in the trailer park.

We are totally opposed to this proposal. We and State Parks

Foundation are part of a large statewide coalition of environmental,

parks and coastal support groups who actively support the California

State Parks Department plan to restore public access and coastal

habitat in El Moro Canyon starting Jan. 1, 2005.

Steve Lopez, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, put it

beautifully:

“The coastline is one of the few great public spaces we all share,

whether we live in Pacoima or Culver City. It’s our Central Park,

only better, more immense, more fragile. It’s yours, it’s mine, it is

Southern California, and the cost of preserving it is nothing

compared to the cost of compromising it.”

We hope this letter will start to repair the damage to our name

and clarify our position on this issue.

* ELISABETH M. BROWN is president of Laguna Greenbelt Inc. and

writes on behalf of the board of directors.