Governor could help landslide victims

[The following letter was sent to Gov. Schwarzenegger.]

By Matt Lawson

I am not a big fan of big government. There are times, however,

when only government can, as Abraham Lincoln once put it, “do for the

people that which they cannot do for themselves.”

Our unfortunate neighbors in Laguna Beach, who suffered the recent

and uninsured loss of their homes as a result of the Bluebird Canyon

landslide, need and deserve your immediate attention and assistance.

Laguna Beach Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider and the other

members of our small town’s City Council (who basically serve as

community volunteers) have done their utmost to provide emergency aid

for the Bluebird Canyon victims.

Right now, the victims’ most urgent need is for a place to call

home for the next 2-3 years while they attempt to put their lives

back together. The mayor has quite sensibly proposed that the state

make available 13 existing mobile homes at El Morro Village, which is

part of Crystal Cove State Park, for use as temporary housing for

these landslide victims.

All other trailers could be removed from El Morro and the city of

Laguna Beach would pay for a new septic tank for those 13, overcoming

the objection raised by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control

Board.

These 13 mobile homes could be hidden, out of sight from Pacific

Coast Highway. Providing these landslide victims with emergency

housing at a state-owned facility on the “land” side of PCH for 2-3

years would not delay the further development of the newly expanded

State Park at Crystal Cove, a decision which I absolutely support.

I understand that there are no funds available for further park

improvements for at least 3-5 years once the cottages on the “ocean”

side of PCH have been rebuilt.

You can surely appreciate the plight of these landslide victims in

Laguna since you live in Pacific Palisades, another lovely hillside

community where I also lived during the ‘60s and ‘70s.

As governor, you have emergency authority to overcome the

obstacles being thrown in the way of this sensible solution by the

state park bureaucracy and over-ride any other objections raised by

other governmental bodies once our city has been designated as a

disaster area.

I would respectfully request that you make that designation and

act as quickly as possible to allow these Bluebird Canyon landslide

victims to temporarily live in the existing mobile homes already in

place in this state park.

* Matt Lawson is a Laguna Beach resident.