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3/27/00

Observations from the Edge
Robert T. Nanninga
North County Times
March 27, 2000

 

Hell-bent on a personal jihad of greed, growth, and gridlock, Oceanside Councilwoman Carol McCauley must be stopped. Just when you think she has reached the pinnacle of voracity, she always seems to top herself. Case in point, her recent comments regarding the annexation of residential sections of Camp Pendleton. If I didn't know better I would say Ms. McCauley actually derives perverse gratification from destroying every semblance of the community she was elected to serve.

Citing a desire to increase the population of Oceanside, in order to attract more highway funding and federal development funds, city officials are quite blatant in their assurances that this annexation is fiscal in nature, and this is only about bringing more money to the cities coffers. Excuse me isn't that why the Oceanside City Council majority is bending over backwards to accommodate Doug Manchester and his ice rink. How much is enough?

Is it just me, or does anyone else see the paradox of Oceanside systematically removing businesses that cater to military personnel from it's downtown redevelopment district, while attempting to annex the neighborhoods of those same individuals. Shameless, the city of Oceanside does not want military personnel soiling their image as a tourist mecca, but are more than willing to use them as a way of securing federal money to accommodate the millions of people they wish to bring to the region.

Let's face it folks development interests in Oceanside are out of control, completely and irrevocably out of control. Not content with undermining the property rights and quality of life of residents, certain councilmembers are now intent on using residents as pawns in an attempt to profit from overpopulation at the expense of the environment.

When you look at how residential neighborhoods are situated on Camp Pendleton, you can't help but notice one of them is adjacent to Oceanside's harbor. Considering that city hall has made no bones about trying to steal the property of Jim Walkins and the Pier Property Partnership, it does not seem unreasonable that once annexed, any base housing near the harbor will be offered to the highest bidder. Can you say redevelopment district? Can you say land grab?

Councilwomen McCauley has also said that if the base is annexed it would make Oceanside the second largest city in San Diego County, as if that was a good thing. Excuse me, but common sense dictates that if current homeowners wanted to live in a big city they would have moved to one in the first place. Perhaps Ms.Carol is hoping that existing homeowners will get so fed up with uncontrolled growth they will be forced to flee, there by allowing new residents, residents without a historical perspective, to move into the "new and improved" Oceanside.

Growth at the cost of a communities integrity should be opposed at every turn. As should the future political aspirations of elected officials who care only about meeting the needs of the building industry. I should remind everyone, less than 80 years ago the Los Angeles basin was home to a few small towns, and a whole lot of open space, and little by little that chunk of southern California has morphed into the second most polluted city in America, with no discernible biodiversity, and a skyrocketing population that is so unsustainable that it could not feed itself if needed.

If this is what the people of Oceanside want, I suggest they sit idly by as Carol McCauley and her development jihad lay waste to their future.

 
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