Don’t Go With the Flow of Proposed Ballona Restoration Plan
Re: “It’s Back to the Future for Ballona Restoration Effort,” News, Dec. 26
The recent story about the extremely expensive and destructive plans to remake the Ballona Wetlands says “The state’s preferred Ballona restoration plan would naturalize the flow of Ballona Creek.” That is factually incorrect. The historical records clearly show that for at least the last thousand years the natural state of Ballona Creek has been closed at the mouth aside from brief seasonal clearing post-rainy season.
What the state plans to make is both unnatural and dangerous to our local community. It will greatly increase the likelihood of flooding, especially as sea levels rise. Let the erosion and damage caused by the state’s “restoration” of Malibu Lagoon be a warning to us all. State entities prefer to engage in big, ego-driven building projects rather than do the gentle, long term work of genuine restoration. The result is far from natural or prudent. Do we really want to spend many millions of dollars to not only destroy endangered habitat but increase flooding in our area?
Kathryn Campbell
Marina del Rey
Keep the Marina Boater-Friendly
Re: “Boat Central Developer Sues County for Abandoning Project,” News, Jan. 2
My thanks to Supervisor Janice Hahn for her opposition to this terrible project. Many members of the Marina del Rey community were opposed when it was first proposed and discussed at local meetings. Boaters objected to the equipment that would be used to move their property and to the 45 minutes estimated for putting a boat in and out of the storage facility. The building was way out of scale for the recreational facilities along Fiji Way.
Supervisor Don Knabe objected to none of the overdevelopment that has occurred in the Marina and will result in heavier traffic than is appropriate to a recreational and residential community. If this facility is allowed and a large parking structure is also permitted in the area as part of a Ballona Creek redesign, nature and Fisherman’s Village will be destroyed for good.
Lynne Shapiro
Marina del Rey
Fight Back Climate Change One Small Step at a Time
In dealing with climate change, the small stuff matters too!
Is anyone else appalled by the long rolls of paper that come with every CVS receipt? Where is there a climate change consciousness and environmental responsibility?
June Kailes
Playa del Rey
Ms. Kathryn Campbell’s letter on Ballona is factually incorrect. Her statement that “the historical records clearly show that for at least the last thousand years the natural state of Ballona Creek has been closed at the mouth aside from brief seasonal clearing post-rainy season” is not supported by historical documents, nor by modern hydrological modeling or beach dynamics science. Ms. Campbell is simply parroting a fictional narrative propagated by the opponents of the state’s restoration project. Neither the facts nor law are on their side, so they just make stuff up.
David Kay
Playa Vista
Ms. Campbell is essentiallty correct in her description of Ballona. It was a natural wetland, and the basis of a thriving fishing industry. The Corp of Engineeers crearted the channels and the flood gates in order to dry it out at the request of the County. (The tidal flow originally stretched almost all the way to the 405) .The Friends of the Wetlands were employed by the developer to support the Playa Vista Project with a Settlement Agreement. Audobon was paid a fee and was told to ignore it, ,and local politicians were the usual beneficiaries. The first lawsuit was paid for by the developers to eliminate some potentially troublesome Causes of Action so that they could not be raised in the future.