HomeMy WebLinkAbout1-16-18 Item 9, KrejsaGood evening, Members of the City Council and Mayor, 16 Jan 2016
My name is Richard Krejsa. I've been a professional biologist for 63 years.
In the past 2 months, trying to prepare for tonight's eventual meeting, I've
read over 400 pages of City documents regarding open spaces and lately
I've been having nightmares about it. But last Sunday night, I had a dream
in which I came across a document that cheered me up: It told the unusual
coming of age story about how an old California city in the late 1960s
began to revive itself after reading works by two biologists:
1) Dr. Aldo Leopold's 1949 book, "A Sand County Almanac"', spoke clearly
and boldly about the need for a "Land Ethic". He said:
"The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the (human) community
to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land."
2) The other book that influenced city officials was from 1964 when Dr.
Rachel Carson2 wrote about how industrial chemicals were poisoning mother
Earth. She said:
"A healthy environment is one of the basic human rights."
At the time, that unusual mythical city was suffering from other kinds of
pollution:
1) drain pipes in multiple downtown businesses were discharging sewage
and various wastes into its city creek and a weekend breakdown of the
city's sewage treatment plant discharged around 500,000 gallons of raw
sewage into the some creek; and
2) a tanker truck lost its brakes and dumped 5000 gallons of fuel oil
into the upper branch of that creek, all at the some time as a major oil
spill had spoiled another city's beaches.
A quarter century later, 15 local professionals volunteered to help that
city's planning staff professionals re -write its "Open Space," and
"Conservation" Elements. Because they were based on ecological principles
and the Land Ethics that Drs. Leopold & Carson had helped formulate,
-these new city documents wereiru�hone�Also, those volunteer
efforts resulted in that City hiring a Manager of its Natural Resources
program and a City Biologist; Compared to now, both had PhDs.
COUNCIL MEETING: d [
ITEM NB:,.� l 1
RECEIVE-❑
JAN 16 2018
Advance another 22-23 years, three individuals who had self -described
themselves as environmentalists were elected to that City Council. As
subsequent hearings unfolded, it became apparent that two of these
officials had little or no real clue about the land ethic represented by Drs.
Carson and Leopold, or exactly what that group of local volunteers had
gifted to that city nearly a quarter century ago.
But when I woke up Sunday night, I realized that I hadn't been dreaming
at all. My story was true: I simply was dozing off and, having too many
open space documents on my desk, I accidentally picked up and began
reading from a DRAFT copy of my own written history of the Environmental
Movement in SLO Cityl Mea cu/pa.
And please excuse me for telling the truth about Item 9 in my professional
comments that were submitted earlier today: I find this re -circulated MND
as insufficient as the original one was on 17 October 2017.
(now a fast read 3 minutes!)
'[--- 1949. "The Land Ethic", in: "A Sand County A]manac."] —1
Z[--- 1964. "Silent Spring".]
Please Note:
"My previous comments on 17 October 2017 were listed in the city's
comments received but not mentioned in the list of persons speaking at that
meeting. I therefore began to wonder if the Council members had even
seen or read my previous comments. I refer to them today and ask you to
read the documentation contained therein.
Please Note Further:
My Additional Comments on the environmental impacts of this proposal will
be submitted within the 30 -day public comment period which was noted on
page 2 in the "Re -Circulation of a Mitigated Negative Declaration" for the
period 15 Dec 2017 to 16 January 2018, whose accuracy I challenged in
my January 8, 2018 letter to Natural Resources Manager Robert Hill (with
copies to City Council members). Comment of Hill's email comments today?... r k
2