Pawns in trailer game
At first blush, the idea of allowing landslide victims to move to
empty trailers at Crystal Cove State Park seems like a no-brainer.
These people have lost their homes and are in desperate
circumstances. Who would not bend over forward and backward, if
necessary, to lend a hand?
And the trailers are sitting empty, having been vacated by the
handful of people who -- after much wrangling -- agreed to the terms
of a 25-year-old agreement that the 300-unit mobile home park would
be terminated and the oceanfront parkland on which it sits opened up
to the public.
What better use of these empty trailers than to house deserving
landslide evacuees?
But here’s the rub:
Unfortunately, the Bluebird Canyon landslide victims have become
pawns in a high-stakes game. And behind it, laying their cards on the
table, are the still-lingering residents of Crystal Cove and their
supporters.
The object of this game is to see how long these lessees of nearly
300 mobile homes, who have refused to leave the public land, can get
away with ignoring decades-old covenants and agreements and keep
their desirable roosting sites.
“Where is your heart?” cry proponents of using the vacated
trailers for homeless Bluebird Canyon evacuees. How can you put the
rights of the faceless “public” to enjoy this land over those of
hapless folks who simply need a place to live?
Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider -- who champions this idea --
now says the city won’t ask the governor to open up the empty
trailers for this use until after all the mobile homes have been
vacated.
Since the issue is still tied up in litigation, that could be a
very long time.
The question is: Who has the right to live at Crystal Cove State
Park?
The answer is not the Bluebird Canyon slide victims -- or anyone
else.
Those displaced by the landslide should make other plans than
Crystal Cove to give themselves a safe landing.
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