Eco Tim wrote on Jul 7, 2008 7:47 PM:Wait a minute! That sand has evolved off the beach according to the laws of natural selection! Who are we to reverse the effects of evolution??? If the sand is being washed away, it's to serve an important purpose that we do not yet realize! Let the sand go so that nature can continue to improve and progress!!

BobbyG wrote on Jul 7, 2008 8:04 PM:Rivers without the capability of forming natural deltas...Poor insight concerning coastal developement... Erosion...The ocean is slowly rising due to global warming on top of these facts... This is just the begining...

Billy wrote on Jul 7, 2008 8:09 PM:Nature is taking its course - the politicians of the county (SANDAG) are once again trying to get us inland dummies to pay for the up keep and maintenance of the cash cow beaches used by the coast-line-businesses to attract tourists so they can spend more money and make the coastal business persons richer - at our expense.
The receding of the west coast beaches is a natural thing in that as the moon passes over our part of the world it pulls the sands out to sea and causes the land to fall away making cliffs. On the East Coast, the moon pulls the sand toward the land causing long beautiful beaches.
If the coastal businesses maintained their beaches as an on going program, replenishing the sand a little every year, they could spread the cost over the years and their customers would not notice. Instead they wait until the sight of the things are unbearable and cry for help from the politicians of SANDAG. And lo and behold they get it in the form of a "Quality of Living" tax just recently proposed.
Put it on the ballot this fall - I dare you - I can't wait to get into the voting booth.

prof wrote on Jul 7, 2008 9:20 PM:Human action has caused the flow of natural sand to wane.

Dammed rivers (see Hodges) stops the movement of alluvial sand to the sea.

Artificial breakwalls directly stop the natural erosion of cliffs that makes sand. Great for those expensive ocean front properties - bad for sand production.

Barriers to sand movement like the breakwall for oceanside harbor, stop sand to the north from moving south along the coast. Instead it builds up out to sea.

Blocking up natural estuaries - see San Elijo - prevents sand from getting into the ocean.

Human action having profound impacts on the natural environment? Who would have thought?

prof wrote on Jul 7, 2008 10:47 PM:The moon controls sand movements? On what planet? The beaches on the west coast of the Big Island of Hawaii are much larger than on the east coast. The same can be said in Australia.

Human action has contributed to the waning the natural flow of sand here.

Dammed rivers (see Hodges) stops the movement of alluvial sand to the sea.

Artificial breakwalls directly stop the natural erosion of cliffs that makes sand. Great for those expensive ocean front properties - bad for sand production.

Barriers to sand movement like the breakwall for oceanside harbor, stop sand to the north from moving south along the coast. Instead it builds up out to sea.

Blocking up natural estuaries - see San Elijo - prevents sand from getting into the ocean.

Human action having impacts on the natural environment? Who would have thought?

janet wrote on Jul 7, 2008 11:21 PM:Half a per cent sales tax increase just for sand? What about all the other important things that need funding?

Jim wrote on Jul 8, 2008 6:19 AM:We again are showing that we are a knee-jerk society, nothing but a bunch of chicken littles.
All these so-called experts say, "after our exhaustive and exspensive studies, we have concluded that we now need more money to combat this (erosion or rising) event". They say this with such conviction so as to make you think they actually care and are correct, well, they do, about their jobs.
Has anyone stopped to think that maybe, just maybe, this is the way it is supposed to be, the natural progression of the seasons? Or shall we continue to think as King Canute and impose our absolute will on nature and, of course, if that does not work, then throw as much money as we can at it.
People need to understand that the world has it's cycles and that they have been going on for a very long time.
According to these people there should not be any sand on the beach at all.
Let's not waste money where it is not needed and will do no good.

Oh Brother wrote on Jul 8, 2008 6:55 AM:Geeze, raise the sales tax ANOTHER 1/2 percent to compensate for poor public policy by the likes of brain trusts like Ann Kulchin is just throwing money out the window. Just look at Kulchin's own city of Carlsbad who wants to remove the very power plant that now does the Agua Hedionda dredging that provides the sand to one of the 'healthy beaches'. Billy and Prof are correct. Bad policy (see Hodges) regarding development led to this problem and it's unfair for taxpayers to subsidize the coastal merchants, let alone inland taxpayers. If beaches were such an economic engine then coastal merchants could afford this boondoggle on their own.

Bob wrote on Jul 8, 2008 7:28 AM:Prof is absolutely correct. Block up the rivers and destroy what took millions of years to create and then sit there like morons acting like they don't know why. No different up in LA, where the Army Corp cemented up the LA, LB and SG rivers so the water can't soak into the the ground and wasted, all runs out to sea. In addition, not much depositing of sand, rock etc on the beach.

Vista Granny wrote on Jul 8, 2008 7:31 AM:Whatever the cause, the sand is gone. In the early 60's, before Carlsbad built their seawall, you had to work your way down a small, sandy bluff to reach the block wide beach. Those days are gone -- maybe we just have to learn to live with what we have done to our world.

Cardiff wrote on Jul 8, 2008 8:45 AM:How about we live with the effects of our actions on the beaches, and see this as an example of why we need to understand and work with nature instead of stupidly thinking we can beat her into submission. So much damage to undo...

To Carlsbad Kulchin SAY WHAT wrote on Jul 8, 2008 8:50 AM:You have got to be kidding to even think of SUGGESTING a tax hike to put sand on the beach. I don't live in Carlsbad but for those that do I would strongly suggest you start thinking of not voting for her in the next ellection if this is the philosophy she has. Nice timing Kulchin, people can't pay for food or gas and you say something stupid like that. Kulchin should "TAKE HER HEAD OUT OF THE SAND WE HAVE".

HEY wrote on Jul 8, 2008 9:13 AM:I use the beach weekly but do not live there andd would GLADLY pay my share to keep it in my life and the memories of my children. You use it when you want a good time and then....

Ridiculous wrote on Jul 8, 2008 9:38 AM:So, the study confirms what many "already knew"? Well, here's something that many also "already know:" WE, the humans, have created this problem by blocking the natural replenishment of sand on our beaches. Jetties, sea walls, restriction of natural waterways, etc., and a one-half cent sales tax ain't gonna fix it. The good news is that nature always finds a way: there'll be plenty of sand when the bluffs collapse (and they will, along with all those expensive homes perched precariously on them). Remember that old saw about the fool building his house on sand?

Bo wrote on Jul 8, 2008 9:43 AM:This problem started after the Oceanside / Camp Pendelton harbor wall was constructed. Look at the harbor breakwall on google earth or some other sattelite photo and you'll see the sand backed-up behind the breakwall to the north of the harbor. The Marine Corp used to have a sand pump on the breakwall, where did it go?

A sham wrote on Jul 8, 2008 9:45 AM:This is the way politicians work: need a new tax? Pay for a study to justify the need, pray that people aren't really paying attention, use the study to justify why you NEED to raise the tax, then keep praying that just enough of those who aren't paying attention vote for your tax.
Forget it. We screwed our beaches and no amount of new tax money is going to help.

Osider wrote on Jul 8, 2008 9:56 AM:R U kidding me? This is the least amount of sand I have ever seen on our Oside beaches. Where in the heck are they getting their figures? With global warming and the first prediction that the northern polar caps will be gone this year will only raise our sea levels to record heights. THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING! Better start bringing in more boulders from the mountains...

esteban wrote on Jul 8, 2008 10:05 AM:Foiled again by Bush/Cheney...

WWGD wrote on Jul 8, 2008 1:50 PM:What Would Gore Do?
That is how we all should live our lives.

Evolution by Man wrote on Jul 8, 2008 4:06 PM:I like the old pictures of the beaches where people were racing 20 to 40 cars wide. Now you can only fit a few cars wide. That's what dam's do, prevent water and sediment from flowing.

The Cause wrote on Jul 8, 2008 7:07 PM:Again we see the same environmentatlists crying about lack of sand on the beach are those who impose huge fees on property owners are require silt barriers (read "sand" barriers) and demand that NO SILT (read "sand") should be allowed to run off of vacant land, developments, etc. Don't ride your bike on that trail because the sand might get eroded and foul up our rivers and flow downstream to the beach. The same people who won't allow any silt (read "sand") to flow down streams AS IT ALWAYS HAS OVER TIME until we meddled with it, are crying that the sand (read "silt") is gone from our beaches.

The "cause" is all of these collective policies barring any silt (read "sand") from replenishing the beaches as it has for eons. Go figure.

Vista Watchdog wrote on Jul 8, 2008 8:27 PM:Back in 1999 the NCT ran a wonderful set of articles concerning the past 100 years of San Diego County. In one of these articles a VERY INTERSTING Historical FACT concerning San Diego's now sandy beaches was discussed. I did some research into this at that time and found that sure enough the records from the early explores all show that most of San Diego County's beaches were covered with rocks or cobbles, and NOT sand prior to the excavation of Encinitas by the use of WATER CANNONS. The only stretch of San Diego County's beaches that had any significant amount of sand prior to that was along Camp Pendleton and the northern part of Oceanside.

So, why all this fuss about Nature attempting to return San Diego's beaches back to their normal state?

Answer: MONEY! Without the unatural, wide sandy beaches tuourist will stop showing up, and the tourist dollar will dry up. Or so they think. But, with all the many other regulations that have been forced upon the locals and tourists alike, and all the environmentalists bullying our elected officials into closing off sections of beaches, and other places of interest to the locals and tourists, there will soon be nobody coming anyway. So, why are the environmentalists joining in on the call for the sand?
Answer: Ignorance! Just as they have been on so many other issues. They only know what they see or hear, and then they stick to that one and only items to the utter and complete detriment of all others. In fact, it turns out that in many cases laws passed to protect the environment have in the end done more harm than good. If you really want to protect the environment let NATURE take its course. By the way, humans are actually a part of nature too. The belief that humans are greater than nature is nothing more than human ego. And we all know only too wel what ego eventually does to man!

Wind of Change wrote on Jul 9, 2008 8:53 AM:Vote No on the Sand Tax in November.

JP wrote on Jul 9, 2008 10:19 PM:Artificial reefs? Natural reefs stretch from Seaside to north of Swami's and Leucadia has reefs from Beacon's to Grandview. This is getting wacky. Artificial barrier reefs will destroy our local surf spots. Surfing is a major reason why people live here and a vital economic engine. I'm flabbergasted at this development in the sand drama.

To JP wrote on Jul 10, 2008 8:04 PM:Ever been to Hawaii? Reefs are some of the best places to surf! If you do these artificial reefs right our surfing will improve, not be destroyed. Surfrider Foundation has been working with SDG&E in the south Orange County/north San Diego County area to buiold some artificial reefs that aren't casuing any problem for surfing.

Maybe its time for JP to get imformed and help sove the problem rather than stand in the way of getting things done!

JP wrote on Jul 11, 2008 9:57 AM:Please read my comment more carefully. It was unclear if Mr. Aceti was speaking about building surfing reefs or barrier reefs. Artificial surfing reefs are an intriguing idea, they must be designed very carefully to create a quality surfing wave. Yes, I have been to Hawaii.