August 9th, 1998
With Friends Like These, Who Will Need Enemies?
By Jackie Giuliano, Ph.D.
The threat to our salvation is the clash of peoples:
Jews and Arabs,
offspring of a single father,
separated in youth by jealousy,
in adolescence by fear,
in adulthood by power,
in old age by habit.
It is time to break these habits of hate
and create new habits:
habits of the heart
that will awake within us
the causeless love of redemption and peace.
-- Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro
Last week, this column reported on the destruction of the Ballona Wetlands, a 957-acre
remnant of the last of Southern California's once-rich estuarine ecosystem. (The link to
last week's article is in the Resources section below.) Examining some of the players in
this drama provides a striking example of how difficult it is to tell your friends from
your enemies in environmental politics.
Some of the last remaining wildness of the Ballona Wetlands Photos (c) Jackie
Giuliano 1998 except where noted
When the bulldozers are finished, this area that was once filled with life will contain
13,000 condos and apartments and six million square feet of commercial space. Who is
advocating for the preservation of this wetland? Very few, as it turns out.
Let's look at the politicians first. U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, a liberal
environmentalist who won her first term in office because of her efforts to save the Mesa
Wetlands in Northern California, has chosen, said one of her own staff members, to sit on
the fence for this one.
The Los Angeles City Council member whose district contains the development, Ruth
Galanter, actually won her way into office by attacking the development plan. Once in
office, her position quickly changed. Records show that she accepted sizable contributions
from the developer's lawyers and consultants. Galanter actually got the city of Los
Angeles to create a special city office known as the Playa Vista Planning Office. Using
taxpayer dollars, this office is filled with city workers who are working openly for the
developers' organization.
Well, you expect that kind of behavior from politicians. At least the environmental groups
are sticking together, aren't they? Sadly, no.
 Gail
Feuer, wife of L.A. City Councilman Michael Feuer - who voted for developing the wetland
without requiring an Environmental Impact Statement - works for the Natural Resources
Defense Council. Last year, she informed the Wetlands Action Network that, "We would
never go against DreamWorks." DreamWorks is director Steven Spielberg's movie studio
that wants to build on the wetland. But the most surprising environmental sellout of all
comes from Friends of the Ballona Wetlands which, for many years, was an advocacy group
for preserving the region.
In 1994, however, the Friends somehow got to speak for all of us in a court decision with
the California Coastal Commission. In this decision, the Friends got the developers to
agree to preserve about 70 more acres of the wetland. In exchange, the Friends would, for
all intents and purposes, be transformed into little more than a public relations vehicle
for the developer.
Under the terms of the agreement the Friends are required to voice support for the
developers. This even includes writing responses to anyone who criticizes the development,
even "Letters to the Editors" in local newspapers. Even the legal budget of the
Friends of the Ballona Wetlands is paid for by the developers.
This aerial view of the area says so much. This last remnant of nature is
surrounded, trapped by the encroachment of civilization. Ballona Creek, a once lush
tributary that carried water from the Los Angeles River to the ocean, is now a concrete
lined drainage ditch for the toxic flotsam and jetsam of our society.
What a shame that so many people consider the land valueless and "undeveloped"
unless it is cleared and structures are placed on it.
The fact that the affluent communities that are so influenced by the presence of Hollywood
welcome this project is no coincidence. The presence of Spielberg and his megabuck
partners David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg in the project is indicative of the special
effects mindset of the players.
These people turn deserts into landscapes of other planets and use
computers to create entire worlds that do not exist. After all that
intense stimulation, day in and day out, the simple beauty and peacefulness
of a verdant wetland must seem very barren and boring.
What a shame that just leaving things as they are is insufficient for those who have
dedicated their lives to the collection of money at all costs.
We cannot assume that others are protecting our future for us. We must each take our own
power and act to protect what is important to us. Take a moment for yourself and quietly
reflect. What kind of world do you want to live in? What action can you take now to make
it happen?
We who have lost our sense and our senses -
Our touch, our smell, our vision of who we are;
we who frantically force and press all things,
without rest for body or spirit,
hurting our Earth and injuring ourselves; We call a halt.
We want to rest.
We need to rest and allow the Earth to rest.
We need to reflect and to rediscover the mystery that lives in us,
that is the ground of every unique expression of life,
the source of the fascination that calls all things to communion.
We declare an Earth Holy Day, a space of quiet:
for simple being and letting be;
for rediscovering the great forgotten truths.
-- Daniel Martin
RESOURCES
1. See last week's "Healing Our World" Resources at http://www.lycos.com/envirolink/news/stories/3512.html
for ways to learn more about the wetland and how to help the groups that are fighting for
its survival.
2. Contact L.A. City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter and tell her you want her to fully support
preservation of the Ballona Wetlands. You can email her at galanter@c06.ci.la.ca.us
3. Contact Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan at Rriordan@mayor.ci.la.ca.us and tell him to
get out of bed with the Playa Vista developers. Ask him to intervene to help preserve this
vital resource.
4. Find your Congressional representatives are and e-mail them. If you know your Zip code,
you can find them at http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html or you can search by
state at http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html
5. Express your displeasure with U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer position by contacting her at senator@boxer.senate.gov
6. Learn about the issues. Seek out books on the subject. A good source for used (and new)
books is Powell’s Bookstore in Portland, Oregon at http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/associate?assoc_id=212
where you will find a wonderful alternative to the massive chain bookstores taking over
the market. |
