Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Port of L.A. paying to restore Batiquitos Lagoon

Making up for San Pedro havoc

Dear Matthew Alice: I was driving up PCH the other day, just south of Carlsbad State Beach, where a new bridge is being built. Out of idle curiosity, I read the “Your Tax Dollars at Work” sign and was shocked to see that funding for the bridge is coming from federal highway funds and the PORT OF LOS ANGELES! What’s the deal? Is this L.A. ’s way of getting their foot in our door? Should we put the Marines at Pendleton on alert? — Dwight Lada, Vista

Sponsored
Sponsored

Just keep driving, Dwight. The Marines are alert enough already, and old Smogfoot isn’t any pushier than usual. Actually, the sign means the Port of Los Angeles is paying us for the right to further foul its own nest. It’s a complicated and controversial program called mitigation. If you plan to screw with nature by dredging a harbor or building one of those instant cities, you must “mitigate” that destruction by financing the preservation or restoration of an equal habitat somewhere else. Scientists call it bad science, businessmen call it bad business. And project approvals seem to require debate and paper-pushing by virtually every board, commission, committee, agency, service, and department at every level of government. So bureaucrats are happier than light-footed clapper rails in a wetland or California gnatcatchers in coastal sage scrub. The booming Port of L.A. showered $55 million on us to restore the Batiquitos Lagoon area. Having paid for their transgressions in advance, the port can now get even boomier by dredging new ship channels or something. The restoration of fish habitat in Carlsbad “mitigates” the destruction of same in San Pedro. Or so the logic goes.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego's Uptown Planners challenged by renters from Vibrant Uptown

Two La Jolla planning groups fight for predominance

Dear Matthew Alice: I was driving up PCH the other day, just south of Carlsbad State Beach, where a new bridge is being built. Out of idle curiosity, I read the “Your Tax Dollars at Work” sign and was shocked to see that funding for the bridge is coming from federal highway funds and the PORT OF LOS ANGELES! What’s the deal? Is this L.A. ’s way of getting their foot in our door? Should we put the Marines at Pendleton on alert? — Dwight Lada, Vista

Sponsored
Sponsored

Just keep driving, Dwight. The Marines are alert enough already, and old Smogfoot isn’t any pushier than usual. Actually, the sign means the Port of Los Angeles is paying us for the right to further foul its own nest. It’s a complicated and controversial program called mitigation. If you plan to screw with nature by dredging a harbor or building one of those instant cities, you must “mitigate” that destruction by financing the preservation or restoration of an equal habitat somewhere else. Scientists call it bad science, businessmen call it bad business. And project approvals seem to require debate and paper-pushing by virtually every board, commission, committee, agency, service, and department at every level of government. So bureaucrats are happier than light-footed clapper rails in a wetland or California gnatcatchers in coastal sage scrub. The booming Port of L.A. showered $55 million on us to restore the Batiquitos Lagoon area. Having paid for their transgressions in advance, the port can now get even boomier by dredging new ship channels or something. The restoration of fish habitat in Carlsbad “mitigates” the destruction of same in San Pedro. Or so the logic goes.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

2024 continues to impress with yellowfin much closer to San Diego than they should be

New rockfish regulations coming this week as opener approaches
Next Article

San Diego's Uptown Planners challenged by renters from Vibrant Uptown

Two La Jolla planning groups fight for predominance
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.