To: Attorney General Jerry Brown
Re: Riverside County Local Agency Formation Commission
Sir, we have a problem.
Perhaps you've heard Granite Construction wants to build one of the biggest open-pit blasting quarries in the country three miles upwind of hundreds of thousands of residents in Temecula and beyond.
Aside from the unavoidable damage to the quality of life as detailed in the company's draft environmental report ---- not the least of which, after the daily multiple blastings, are the 800 diesel truck trips in and the 800 trips out daily as well as the accompanying asphalt and cement plants ---- it will devastate the world-renowned Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve to which it would be adjacent.
And we haven't gotten to the potentially devastating effect on the nearly billion-dollar wine industry that is maturing into a world-class addition to the state's reputation. Or the danger to Camp Pendleton's drinking water and the Santa Margarita, the last free-flowing river to the coast in Southern California.
As you can imagine, we are concerned.
A couple of years ago, Temecula began the process to annex about 5,000 acres at its southwest border, including 4,500 acres of the reserve and 500 of private holdings, which include land on which Granite has purchase options for its quarry.
At the first hearing, many hundreds of quarry opponents spilled from the hearing room into the grand foyer of the county building and onto the steps only to hear Local Agency Formation Committee Chairman Russell Kitahara advise the Temecula city manager to cut short his legally allotted time for rebuttal because the parking garage was closing.
Thus the 9 1/2-hour meeting ended with LAFCO first denying the petitioner its rights and then denying the petition.
There have been two subsequent hearings that ended with LAFCO seeming to pull a last-minute bait-and-switch to scam the city out of a portion of its sphere of influence.
Before that hearing in September, Kitahara assured members of the quarry opposition that he had not met privately or otherwise with Gary Johnson, the Granite executive in charge of getting it approved.
Turns out he had, three times, at least once privately, but just can't remember the conversations.
Council members have cried foul, and one has called for a grand-jury investigation.
As appealing as that notion is, some suggest the incestuous nature of county politics requires a more removed examination.
Guess that's you.
Sir, we may win or lose our battle to stop this dangerous, ill-advised scarification of the Earth, but, please, let it be done fairly.
PHIL STRICKLAND writes from Temecula. Contact him at philipestrickland@yahoo.com.
