Landslide relief is a splendid success

It’s great that the mayor’s Adopt-a-Landslide-Family program is

bearing fruit. Four families that had not found permanent or

long-term-temporary housing since losing their homes June 1 will be

placed on donated land on Laguna Canyon Road in mobile homes that

were vacated by residents of El Morro Village at Crystal Cove.

It’s all coming together, and we should all give a big pat on the

back -- or tip of the hat -- to our mayor, Elizabeth

Pearson-Schneider, whose dogged efforts sometimes drew gasps of

opposition but in the end have panned out beautifully.

Pearson-Schneider’s original idea to have the displaced families

housed at El Morro -- which is being vacated for long-standing plans

to create a state park on the site -- was good-hearted but not in the

long-term best interest of the community.

That site has been promised to the public for decades, but the

stubborn residents are still fighting to keep their quarters on one

of the most beautiful beaches in the state.

Using the area for landslide families would have put up another

obstacle in the path of efforts to clear the site for public use.

But in a stroke of brilliance, the mayor hit on the idea of

bringing the mobile homes to the families, instead of bringing

families to the mobile-home park.

State parks officials -- no doubt delighted with the change of

direction -- readily agreed to allow the city to take some of the 20

already vacated mobile homes.

There was only one problem -- finding land available for such a

use. Enter landowner Phyllis Phillips and her architect Morris

Skendarian, who worked together to see that the property could be

used for that purpose.

It didn’t hurt that the city planning commission is chaired by

adoption committee co-chair Anne Johnson, whose panel gave the

necessary approvals this week.

This is the proverbial win-win, and we’re delighted that it looks

like these families, some of whom have children in local schools,

will be safely situated before the school year begins.

Kudos all around.