The ad hoc group of local residents who formed recently to campaign for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 30 foot height limit, has just launched their website.
It’s at keepthecoast30.org and is in its beginning stages of having material and news. One of their slogans is:
Vote No on Measure C, the Repeal of the 1972 Citizens’ Initiative
Here is its introduction:
What’s Going On?
Like much of the world during the 1960s, the City of San Diego was facing real-estate developers eager to profit off of our coastal areas, by turning them into the same copy-and-paste, exclusionary waterfronts as they have from Miami to Waikiki.
Unpaid volunteers gathered over 36,000 signatures — 10,000 more than required — to bypass corrupt politicians and put protecting our beaches on the ballot. This Citizens’ Initiative was approved by 63% of voters in 1972, and enacted a 30′ Coastal Height Limit Overlay Zone for all construction west of the 5 from Laurel Street to the south and Del Mar to the north.
However, it would take years of fighting legal actions by developers and their bought politicians — all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court — before it was finally enforced in early 1976.
But real-estate interests have never given up trying to undermine the Citizens’ Initiative. And this time, with the collusion of another generation of corrupt politicians, they’ll be successful — unless you vote NO on Measure C this November.
Why Does It Matter?
For nearly fifty years, the Citizens’ Initiative has protected the right of San Diego residents and visitors to have free access to and unobstructed views of our beaches. You don’t have to be wealthy to be able to enjoy our natural wonders.
There are already ways to build higher than the 30′ limit along the coast — but only by including affordable housing. Measure C would remove all limits on height — and with it any requirements for affordable housing. And it would finally break the Citizens’ Initiative, setting a precedent to remove it beyond the Midway-Pacific Highway area, from Point Loma to La Jolla. This is why the big-money interests are behind it. Don’t get fooled otherwise.
For updates on events and other news, sign up below and/or follow us on Twitter. And for more background on the history of the Citizens’ Initiative — and the past fights to keep it — check out our Info & News page.
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