Quick seals update: City Council asks state to give it final say on Children’s Beach
For those who didn’t feel like following my tweets yesterday, just know that the City Council did decide to ask the state to amend the trust. The council voted 7-1 to pass a resolution that asked the state legislature to amend the trust that governs the Children’s Beach where the harbor seals live. The resolution explicitly avoids taking a position on whether the seals should stay or go, since it includes language that makes clear that the people of San Diego are divided on the issue.
In general, the meeting was pretty sober and civil, but there were a few light-hearted moments, particularly when Hueso argued that the trouble with the seals was that they just couldn’t be made to support the law. Also, it turns out that Council members Todd Gloria, Kevin Faulconer, and Carl DeMaio are hardcore seal lovers. DeMaio, it turns out, has been going down and visiting the seals and really enjoys watching them. Lightner declined to support or oppose the seals specifically, but she voted against the provision out of concerns that state legislation could inspire a new round of costly lawsuits.
If State Sen. Christing Kehoe can get the legislation passed, it should untangle the city from decades of litigation that has seen judges rule repeatedly to force the city to spend millions of dollars dreading the beach to clean up the sand and make it less hospitable to seals and more hospitable to children. If it passes the state, the matter can come back to the City Council for a decision on whether or not to dredge.
Given that the city is nigh broke just now, it’s hard to imagine any City Council voting to dredge the beach, at least in the near future. But that’s just speculation.
