From the Monterey County Herald
Serving Monterey County and the Salinas Valley

May 29, 2006

L E T T E R S

Editor:

It is really tragic that the Pebble Beach Co. wants to put in yet another golf course and destroy the last remaining Monterey pine stand. When did corporate greed get in the way of common sense?

Paving the world, destroying the last pristine places and the last grove of trees, animals, the last of anything, is outrageous and disgusting.

We don't think we could ever watch another Clint Eastwood movie, watch another golf program, buy a Lexus or even drink a Coca-Cola product. Our conscience would scream. The Pebble Beach Co. and all its "corporate sponsors" should be ashamed of themselves.

Kim Kinney
Monterey

April 3, 2006

Editor:

I studied landscape horticulture in college and am a certified master gardener. I know a lot about lawn care. I have driven by some of our local golf courses late at night have have seen the workers in those head-to-toe plastic suits they must wear, and I know why. Lawn care, and care of golf courses in particular, is a very toxic affair. Golf courses must use huge amounts of nitrogen-based fertilizers as well as herbicides, weed killers, etc. These toxic chemicals leach into the ground water and end up on our rivers, creeks and the ocean. This creates algae bloom which kills wildlife and has even been responsible for killing more than one puppy swimming in the Carmel River a few summers ago.

If yet another golf course is built in Pebble Beach, there will be even more toxic chemicals leached into the waterways there and into the ocean. I don’t think our fragile ecosystem can take much more

Pam Joyce
Carmel Valley

March 27, 2006

Editor:

Thank you, Joe Livernois, for your factual and objective coverage of the Coastal Commission review of the Pebble Beach Plan/Measure A.

The campaign to pass Measure A was very clever in promoting the initiative under the guise of an environmentally sensitive proposal, supposedly vastly superior to its previous plans. The true scale and impacts were hidden and voters were swayed by star power and slick campaign promotion and literature. Only now has the real plan unfolded. What is the Pebble Beach Co. really proposing? What else but another golf course, a driving range, a new large equestrian center and the loss of 17,000 trees and other sensitive habitat?

Measure A, like other developer-proposed initiatives, attempted to achieve development goals by circumventing the normal governmental review processes. It is disingenuous for the Pebble Beach Co. to now claim that because voters approved the plan there is constitutional protection making it unassailable.

Melanie Billig
Carmel

March 26, 2006

Editor:

To save 17,000 regal Monterey pines from being felled by giant plows and ax, we who love them need to write a petition and collect lots and lots of signatures in support. It would be great to get 17,000 signatures. Even a thousand signatures might save these priceless trees.

The peninsula is a beautiful place. Perhaps there is another piece of land for an additional golf course. Not only old men with money pursue golf. Young men and women do, too. Between golfers and folks who love threes, there ought to be a compromise.

Ilona Richardson
Carmel

From the Monterey County Herald
Serving Monterey County and the Salinas Valley

March 26, 2006

L E T T E R S

Editor:

Thanks to the many residents from the forest, Monterey County and all over the state who took time to speak up with concerns about Pebble Beach Co.'s Measure A plan at the Coastal Commission hearing. Let's continue to let the commissioners know that changing the Del Monte Forest Local Coastal Plan/Land Use Plan with new zoning to allow excessive commercial development is not the way to preserve the forest.

Ted R. Hunter
Pebble Beach

March 26, 2006

Editor:

I strongly oppose the proposal to build an additional Pebble Beach golf course, which would destroy 17,000 pine trees. Not only would it destroy an environmentally unique habitat containing endangered species, but the pine forests on the western slopes of the Peninsula mitigate the climate of the Peninsula as a whole and produce oxygen by reducing carbon dioxide in the air.

The aesthetic effect of this forest is very important. When this coastal pine forest is gone, we can never get it back for future generations. I hope the Coastal Commission will rule against this project.

Phyllis Hilton
Monterey

March 22, 2006

Editor:

A cartoon I hardly ever read caught my eye Thursday in The Herald. "Mutts," by Patrick Mc Donnell, depicts a deer lamenting about development. I quote: "One day there were trees, bushes, streams, then one night nothing but bulldozers and trucks. I could not believe it, I just stood there, like a deer in the headlights. I need help. I see you can build big malls, huge mansions, giant office buildings. Can someone please build me a forest?"

This corresponds directly to the controversy over the Pebble Beach Co.'s desire to build yet another golf course, hotel, luxury homes, etc. and sacrifice the forest. When is enough finally enough?

The owners of the Pebble Beach Co. are greedy men who have millions more than they could possibly spend in their lifetime. Why not keep the land in its natural state? The owners could leave a legacy for future generations to enjoy and appreciate. Let us preserve the forest and not get caught like a deer in the headlights.

Christine Pekin
Monterey

March 14, 2006

Editor:

   The Pebble Beach Co. would have us believe that Monterey pines are "the most populous tree on the planet" and "can be easily replanted." Even if true, these statements miss the point. It's not Monterey pines that are threatened. It's native stands of Monterey pine forest, the Monterey pine as part of a natural ecosystem.
   The unique combination of factors--soil, moisture, flora and fauna--has evolved in concert at least since the Pleistocene and cannot be replaced by planting Monterey pines in Australia, Santa Cruz or Seaside.
   Monterey pines growing in Australia, void of acorn woodpeckers, are essentially weeds, much like eucalyptus trees without koala bears in California.
   I am an educator, biologist and golfer. I've played the P. G. links, hiked the Del Monte Forest, and enjoy equally the sound of a well-hit golf ball and the songs of juncoes among the pines. We're not in danger of losing golf courses. We are in danger of losing what's left of the native forest. Informed citizens understand the distinction between saving trees and saving a forest, and are not misled by the Ueberroth-Eastwood camp that tells us "we have plenty of trees."

Chris Tenney
Monterey