California
land worth fighting for, save Tejon
Bradley
Zint
I’ve
never been to Tejon Ranch. I would bet
many of you have never been there either.
But I’ve seen pictures and with
the established values in my mind, I
know it’s worth keeping. I know
it’s worth leaving untamed, untouched
and unadulterated by the plight of man.
Tejon Ranch is a 270,000 acre parcel of land 60 miles north of Los Angeles,
teeming with mountains, grasslands and twisted oaks. But developers want to
change all that. The ranch, demonstrative of California’s beauty, is
yet another example of land threatened with the pressures of urbanization.
Developers want to build up portions of it which, even today, still have very
few roads.
I’ve written about the threats of urbanization before in our glorious
Golden State. The more we build and the more we modify our natural world, the
more we hurt habitats, increase traffic, contribute smog and fall victim to
the superficiality of American consumerism.
Instead of enjoying the green rolling hillsides we instead scrounge the clearance
isle of Wal-Mart. It just isn’t right in my mind.
I say leave Tejon Ranch the way it is now. Don’t build there at all.
There are enough urbanized places in this state. But regarding this proposal,
I’m even pickier than the environmentalist groups.
The coalition of environmentalist groups to save the Ranch wants to keep 245,000
of the 270,000 acres intact, according to the Los Angeles Times. That’s
more land than Chicago and Philadelphia — combined. It’s quite
a demand and, of course, developers aren’t buying it. But the good news
is they’re listening and said they will set considerable amounts of land
aside to keep as natural preserves.
But they still want to build homes. Thousands of them. And probably a Wal-Mart,
too, or at least an Applebee’s. You know what I mean.
I suppose it’s good new residents can have new places to live in a beautiful
area, but I still argue enough is enough with California’s building.
We don’t need even more cars on Interstate 5.
But get this — Los Angeles County officials have their eyes on the possible
Tejon Ranch development because they are seeking more affordable housing. I’ve
got nothing against affordable housing, but if homes are built there, residents
will be commuting 60 miles or more to get to work, each way.
Do people in other states do this? Do people on the East Coast or Midwest commute
120 miles, five days a week just to get to work? Maybe it’s just another “California
thing,” a terrible one at that.
Of course, such huge gas consumption can’t be good for the president’s “America
is addicted to oil” plans. It can’t be good for the air either
with more cars coming to and fro.
But there is some good news. Even the proposed natural reserve of the development
company, though less than what I or the environmentalists would like to see,
would be “the most significant conservation project this decade in the
West,” according to the LA Times. It’s good that development companies
keep open space, natural reserves and habitat concerns in mind but I still
say down with development.
I recently put my name on a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urging him
to consider this issue on SaveTejonRanch.org. You can see it there. It’s
near the bottom.
The letter says the land is irreplaceable. I can’t stress that fact enough.
Once you build you can’t quite go back to the way it was before.
We have a chance here to do something extraordinary. This state’s beauty
is worth our effort to maintain not only in Tejon Ranch, but everywhere.
Take a drive along the entire California State Route 1 someday, known as Pacific
Coast Highway down here. Keep on going past Malibu and Santa Barbara all the
way towards San Simeon, Big Sur and Monterey.
Drive along the road that runs along our coast and see the ocean crash upon
the rocks. Observe the blue water and see just how well it complements the
blue sky.
Ain’t this place worth fighting for? Ain’t this place worth dying
for?
Bradley Zint is a junior journalism and political science major and the
opinion editor of the Daily Forty-Niner.
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