Greetings Surfriders and Friends,
The next SPUR public workshop has been announced for Saturday October 29th at the Golden Gate Park Senior Center 6101 Fulton St. @ 37th Ave 10am-12pm. This meeting will cover the initial Draft Ocean Beach Master Plan. Please mark your calendars and spread the word. It is absolutely critical that we get the Master Plan on track now to feature a robust restoration plan for the south Sloat area.
In other news, local surfer and coastal attorney Mark Massara has recently filed a lawsuit against the City and County of San Francisco for violating permits issued by the California Coastal Commission. The suit, filed with The California Coastal Protection Network, claims the City's rock revetments at Sloat are out of compliance on multiple items found in Commission permits. This is a significant development that will will be sure to cover as things unfold...
See: http://oceanbeachbulletin.com/2011/08/26/environmental-group-sues-san-francisco-over-ocean-beach-rock-piles/
Last, but not least, an economic study of the future effects of sea level rise for Ocean Beach has just been released by Phillip King of San Francisco State University. Mr. King is also a member of SPUR's Ocean Beach Master Plan Steering Committee, so this information will inform the Master Plan.
http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2011/09/13/the-price-of-rising-seas/
In his report, King models the economic effects of a sea level rise of 1.4 meters by 2100 (the current projection). His findings show SF and its residents would sustain more than $500 million in damage to infrastructure and private property - if no proactive measures are taken. This is exactly why we have been calling for a Managed Retreat strategy for Ocean Beach. The only way to responsibly deal with an encroaching high tide line is to move back and to give the ocean its space. This is true even if economics are the chief driver. The alternative strategy of armoring is messy, expensive in its own right, and destructive to our precious coastline. See above for more photos of the unfortunate situation at Sharp Park.
