“Information” seems to be the rationale for most people to support spending $100,000 of taxpayer’s money to initiate a study of the Long Beach (Federal Owned) Breakwater. This $100K I feel will be a mere drop in the bucket before any conclusive study is ever completed. The outcome, I predict, will engender a lot of disappointment and waste a lot of our hard-earned taxpayer’s money.
As a former Councilmember, I was recently interviewed regarding the potential outcomes of the breakwater being removed or “reconfigured.” There wasn’t the time nor the space to address all of the concerns in the interview. So, I feel it is my civic obligation to at least point out a few, since for eight years I learned first hand just about everything there is to know about the breakwater, including taking a trip to Vicksburg, Mississippi (home to the Army Corp of Engineers).
To start, what our City Council and Mayor have now agreed to, is to use our city’s allocation of State oil revenue dollars to commence with a study of a huge wall of stone that belongs to and was erected by the Federal government (the Army Corp of Engineers) during war times to create a safe harbor for the Navy and our national defense. A secondary benefit is to deter further beach and sand erosion off our city coastline.
As you are well aware, State tidelands oil dollars are not free. What was allocated and designated as seed money for the breakwater funding are funds that are no longer available to continue support for local necessities; the marine patrol, our art museum, beach cleanup, storm pollution diversion, wetlands restoration, and our aquarium, to name a few.
Additionally, while the presence of the Navy is no longer an integral part of the port landscape, the port on its own has become the largest economic job generator in our region. Close to 45% of all US trade cargo is handled in the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports. The port’s dependence on the breakwater is incalculable.
While on the City Council I, along with many others, strongly supported Congressman Horn in his efforts to increase the size of the levees on the Los Angeles River in order to relieve hundreds of Long Beach homeowners from having to pay thousands of dollars for questionable flood insurance premiums. If modifications to the breakwater were to ever create a heavy surf on our Long Beach shoreline, you can bet that storm and flood protection will once again be required by those living anywhere near areas prone to new flooding dangers.
While in office, with so much questioning of the breakwater, I presented a scientific ecological survey of just how much marine life existed on the actual breakwater. The video showed that more than just algae called the breakwater home, in fact when presented at a City Council meeting some people assumed the footage was taken at the aquarium.
I recall several disgruntled folks even referring to it as an environmental “hit piece”. I suppose just because the breakwater has historically become an offshore respite for shorebirds, sea creatures of many distinctions, and a man-made underwater habitat for fish life, it still has little or no value to the environment. I happen to respectfully disagree.
The city’s first $100,000 contribution in its quest for information regarding the breakwater is the beginning of an open ended checkbook. Our city’s future is not hinging on whether we have a rolling surf, rather its reputation will be better respected, recognized, and reported on how we manage and insure the safety of our citizens.
I would be much more comfortable with knowing that our Mayor and City Council were striving to make Long Beach California’s safest city rather than trying to trump our neighbor Huntington Beach as to who can hold on to the crown of being Southern California’s surf capital.