UNION-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL
It was just another day at the green pulpit for Douglas, who
thinks government powers should be used to coerce individuals to “care with
mind and heart for Gaia and all life she sustains.”
Unfortunately, Douglas is in a position to use coercive powers
in pursuit of his extremism. He is the longtime executive director of the
California Coastal Commission, an institution whose hostility toward property
rights makes the typical eminent domain-abusing redevelopment agency seem like
pikers.
Consider the case of San Luis Obispo engineer Dennis
Schneider, who hoped to build his dream home on a cliff above the ocean in a
remote area north of Cayucos. Incredibly by normal cognitive standards,
typically by Coastal Commission standards, the agency blocked his plans on the
grounds that the home would be such an aesthetic affront to passing kayakers,
boaters and surfers that it would violate their rights. We are not making this
up.
Thankfully, on June 28, the 2nd District Court of Appeal said
this was nonsense in a brisk 12-page decision that seemed perplexed at where the
Coastal Commission comes up with stuff like this. The answer, of course: from
the untethered imagination of its executive director.
Schneider's ordeal isn't over yet. After pondering Gaian case
law and the need for kayaker empowerment, Douglas is pushing for an appeal.
But of course he would – if the Coastal Commission doesn't
feel obligated to take the U.S. Constitution seriously, why should it take a
state court seriously?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060708/news_lz1ed8middle.html
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