Save Newport Real News in Newport Beach
THE HISTORY YOU KNOW:
As many people know, last year on December 8th– her first day as mayor– Diane Dixon floated a poll asking whether or not to get rid of Dog Beach. This set off a firestorm.
Between “voting oddities” with the city’s own poll and the outpouring of support for Dog Beach, I started a petition right here on SaveNewport. It went viral. Today, we have the support of about 6,000 people who have signed up– but first we had to fight some battles to defend our zero-dollar amenity from being destroyed.
On March 1st, there was a Dog Beach meeting scheduled for Newport’s Parks, Beaches, and Recreations Commission. We rallied and we showed up en masse. The vote was 7-0 to not just keep the dog beach– but expand it. Sadly, despite what everyone heard, city staff actually re-wrote history on this, and removed the part where they voted to expand Dog Beach. Thankfully, we got it all on film.
Then, the County of Orange got involved, as it is technically their land (not the city’s). On tax day– a day where most people feel oppressed by government– County Supervisor Michelle Steel held a press conference with Assemblyman Matt Harper and promised to push forward for an area where the dogs can be free.
On April 26th, we had a meeting at the Board of Supervisors, where the board voted 5-0 to make this an off-leash area for dogs.
Sounds good, right?
THE HISTORY YOU DON’T KNOW:
Well, that was the first of two readings, and then things got messy. Normally scheduled for just two weeks from that day, the second and final reading got pushed back. Here’s why:
Someone reported to the Dept of Fish & Game that the Board of Supervisors was going to expand Dog Beach into Huntington Beach and onto the least-tern preserve (that double-fenced enclosure). These birds are endangered birds, so suddenly the state and federal governments came breathing down everyones neck due to bad information. Once it was explained that we were not actually expanding dog beach, but merely codifying into law what had been there the whole time, the most bizarre request of all occurred. The state and federal governments wanted to do a survey and produce documentation that dogs wouldn’t change their behavior due to us creating a codified Dog Beach. Yes, seriously. They wanted proof to show that what has never once occurred in the 99-year history of Dog Beach would also not occur after it was codified into law. So, the county has spent the last 6 months doing paperwork to prove that dogs don’t change their behavior because of human laws. I seriously wish I was kidding. This is the world we live in.
Scheduled on Tuesday, October 25th, will be the second and final reading for Dog Beach. Once this is completed, we will finally have our beach protected by the County of Orange against insane Newport Beach policies which set out to destroy it.
One item that must be addressed, as it is a tragic event: Recently, a dog named Rupert died in an event where he was sucked into a flood control valve north of the bridge. If this process hadn’t taken so long to complete, signage could have gone up to clearly delineate the safe borders of Dog Beach. Thanks to one person who has launched an attack on Dog Beach itself, we have suffered delays in getting this officially approved. Those signs could have saved Rupert’s life.
SO WHAT CAN YOU DO? Right now, we need people to write in to our Board of Supervisors, thanking them for creating a full-time off-leash dog area from the bridge to the main ocean area. We need to thank them for getting on this and staying on this since Day 1.
They have joined forces with me, fellow activist Jon Pedersen, and countless others to fight local, county, state, and federal governments back at nearly every corner in order to accomplish what on the surface seemed like a relatively simple goal: To give dogs a 300ft stretch of land to run on in a city with 22 miles of coastline.
I can’t stress the importance of emailing. This is last and final step after nearly a full year and after pouring in 2,200 man-hours of work just between Jon Pedersen and myself– not to mention each and every one of you. This will be a huge victory for everyone. The email addresses are:
- Write the press:
- dailypilot@latimes.com
- christopher@firebrandmediainc.com
- peakins@ocregister.com
- Write our county offices:
- Michelle Steel, OC Supervisor – Michelle.Steel@ocgov.com
- Colby.Cataldi@ocpw.ocgov.com
- leon.page@coco.ocgov.com
- Lisa.Bartlett@ocgov.com
- Audra.Fishel@ocgov.com
- Todd.Spitzer@ocgov.com
Also, VOTE MIKE GLENN (that’s me!) for Newport Beach City Council! 🙂
