Today, David Kupfer released the long-awaited interpretive feasibility study commissioned by the Self Reliance Foundation and the San Luis Obispo Council on Governments that was sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration’s Scenic Byway Program. It is 117 pages long. While I read all of the sections which addressed Big Sur, it may require more study. At first blush, it appears that he addressed most, if not all, of our local concerns. Of considerable surprise to me was that the Hispanic community does not see or use Big Sur as a “destination” and we have few Hispanic visitors (as opposed to workers), per a number of sources cited in the study. That would seem to negate the entire reason for bilingual interpretive services, the whole purpose of the study.
In any event, I cannot discern a way to post the study to my blog, but will try to send it to you, if you are interested and did not receive it. Perhaps Jack Ellwanger can send it out through his WildBigSur email list? I am sure he got a copy as well.
Thanks so much for making mention of the completed study I wrote
for the Self Reliance Foundation and the San Luis Obispo Council on Governments that was sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration’s Scenic Byway Program.
It was not my study per se, rather theirs. I was hired to conduct
research, survey’s and write it all up for the above organizations. The full report, as you know, will be posted on SLOCOG’s web page in October, and that might be the best time to make it available to your readers, for as you noticed, the pdf is rather large. It is not as if any of the issues addressed are immediately pressing. As you noted, few Hispanics seem to make the Big Sur Coast a destination. However the study looked at the entire designated Scenic Byway Route from Monterey to SLO, and it is clear that the Spanish speaking community takes advantage of recreational opportunities along the route, mostly at the Northern and Southern ends. The question arises, based upon the growing demographic trend of Spanish speaking Californians, does the State have any obligation to meet their needs for translated info concerning traveling/recreational opportunities and public/environmental safety issues around California?
It is a bigger issue, to be sure, and one that the study does not go into. Keep up the great info flow and stewardship!