Steven Greenhut: Abusive Coastal Agency Demands Even More Power
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The title of the Coastal Society's 1998 conference, which featured a speech by the father of the California Coastal Commission, Peter Douglas, is relevant to a debate that may soon come back to the Capitol, writes Steven Greenhut. At the "Minding the Coast: It's Everyone's Business" event, Douglas detailed his vision for coastal protection. The commission is loved by environmentalists and loathed by many property owners as Californians still wrestle with the same question: What does it mean for everyone to mind the coast? Legislators will weigh in this year if they revisit a bill that would give the commission vastly expanded powers – namely, the right to impose fines without first taking property owners to court.
