Land Use Plan Meeting June 18, 4-6 pm

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• Since history proves everything outside of Big Sur is built wrong on purpose with greed and corruption as its driving force and is now imploding with crime and unhoused citizens, how about we stay with the original local land use plan and only add bathrooms since the whole discussion is starting to smell a little foul.
  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SfsCniN7Nsc

  Also, since the new plan adds the fact "the federal government does not have to follow the original Local Land Use Plan" it should be noted that the federal government also doesn't have to reconize Monterey County, not just their plan.
  Hwy1 is federal and the bipartisan passed infrustructure and green new deal plan states federal funding is to prioritize multimodal transportation to encourage maintainence instead of expanding road capacity due to the impending insolvency of the highway trust fund.
  Building and promoting more anything in Big Sur is in direct opposition to the federal infrustructure plan by causing an increase in automobile traffic, Unsuprisingly the Original Local Land Use Plan is in alignment with the New Federal guidelines.

  Big Sur is not a "redzone" as such it wont be redlined, financial fact is Big Sur contributes 50% of Monterey's annual revenue and will continue to provide that revenue without changing anything, maybe Monterey should look into how they can be more like Big Sur and not try and make Big Sur more like their failing outmoded infrustructure, there is a lot of Automatic Federal Funding available for walkable 15 minute cities that prioritizes cleaner more efficient transportation systems.

  Maybe start here.
  https://www.deeproot.com/blog/blog-entries/the-rise-of-the-pedestrian-plaza-street-to-plaza-conversions-in-the-u-s/

  Read the book.
  https://www.amazon.com/Streetfight-Handbook-Revolution-Janette-Sadik-Khan/dp/0143128973

• I agree with the above, but I'm fairly certain that the road is CA-1, which means it's managed by the state, not the feds. Otherwise it would be US-103, as it is west of US-101.

  • It is a CA highway that has been given the federal designation as an All American Highway. Caltrans has total and complete control/responsibility.

• Joe L brings up a good point, who actually owns SR-1
  My initial point was the federal government has the right to null and void any contract through armed force (not that that is required in this case) but may in the future be needed for chicago streets.
  So who does own SR-1, is it the land owners via 'ad medium filum' rule, if that is true then Bixby bridge may be owned by the Esselen tribe, is it the fed? the state? since the coast is a marine protected sanctuary does nature itself have rights to the highway?
  All good questions to ask since ownership and management are not the same and since everything in the united states is for sale (including presidents), could be, as in the case with chicago streets that SR-1 maybe owned by Morgan Stanley and Saudi Arabia.

  It is fitting that the first section of Hwy 1 was opened in Big Sur and is now in contention due to many issues with its past, present and future, either way, earth doesn't have problems humans do, we create them, we can solve them.

  One thing that is certain, the Big Sur community only asked for More bathrooms and Less traffic, because we know the best part of being us, is not being you.

  Keep Big Sur Wild.

• My understanding is that typically, roads are either easements on the landowners' property, or on land purchased outright. In either case, the end result is the same, whatever level of government is responsible for the road effectively has sole jurisdiction to manage it as it pleases.

  There are cases where roads have devolved from US highways to state roads, or state roads to county or city roads. I'm sure there are mechanisms to go in the reverse direction, though once you get to the line between the feds and the states, there may very well be more restrictions. Someone more familiar with federal highway legislation would probably know more about this.

  "One thing that is certain, the Big Sur community only asked for More bathrooms and Less traffic, because we know the best part of being us, is not being you." - I agree with the statements on bathrooms and traffic, but the rest of that line makes you sound terribly elitist. For many of us who share a love for Big Sur, the only thing separating you from us is either having the financial resources to buy property there, the foresight to buy when the land was cheaper, or the luck to have inherited it. Replace the name "Big Sur," with, say, "Malibu," and consider how it sounds. Just a thought.

• PS - California has spent over $325 million dollars on emergency repairs to CA-1 since the 2016-2017 fiscal year. Those lucky enough to have property in Big Sur depend on "the rest of us" paying taxes to make it possible for them to live there. If it devolved to local control, and became a toll road, would the tolls be enough to cover these emergencies, along with regular maintenance? If not, would you be willing or able to pay enough in property tax to cover the shortfall? Maybe some residents would like to go back to pack mules and deliveries by boat, but I suspect that number is not that high.

• Joe L, Big Sur is just another name for Love, saying you love big sur is saying you love, love.
  Big Sur is not a place or a person, its Love, you dont go to it, it comes to you, you need to trust fall through it, all of it, you do it alone, and you share the experience together.

  “we know the best part of being us, is not being you.”

  Joe L, I understand your initial thought on that statement comes from a place of trying to understand 'how it works' so that you can help be part of the processes, the thing to understand is you are wrong about your belief when you say "the only thing separating you from us is either having the financial resources to buy property there, the foresight to buy when the land was cheaper, or the luck to have inherited it."
  You can't buy love, you can't buy big sur, love is not bought or sold, its experienced and shared, its not elitism or money its about diciplined, deliberate, thoughtful choices, many choices that require sacrifice and surrender to the moment to the powerful nature of big sur, to the nature of love.

  We love, love.

  Joe L, about your P.S.
  Big Sur was there before the road and will be there long after the road is gone (see above explaination).

  It has long been said that if you plan cities for cars and traffic, you will get cars and traffic. While if you plan for people and places, you will get people and places. More traffic and greater road capacity are not the inevitable results of growth, but the products of very deliberate choices which shape our communities to accommodate cars.

  Keep Big Sur Wild.

• Though I'm no fan of elitism, it seems prudent to note that Highway 1 through Big Sur brings far more money to CA than it costs to upkeep:

  "In 2017, the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge failure was estimated to cause $500 million in economic damage to the state or in excess of $1 million per day. Some 7 years later, the combined closures of Highway 1 at Rocky Creek Bridge and the slides on the south coast are generating even greater economic damage on a daily basis."
  -Big Sur Chamber of Commerce

  Just that lost $500 million from 2017 already overshadows the $325 million in repair costs cited above, without even doing the math to include the more recent closures. Though the Chamber of course has a vested interest & their estimate might be a bit loose, I don't doubt the general concept: when Big Sur is closed, people change their vacation plans & don't spend the same money in CA that they would have otherwise.

  Additionally, the taxes *we all* pay to keep this road (& so many others) open is not solely for resident access; from the state of CA's perspective, it's much more about providing access for the general public.

  Lastly, though we are obviously lucky & privileged to live in Big Sur, the large majority of us residents are not wealthy landowners, we're just regular people who rent our home & work hard to stay here.

• Another important fact to remember is "Car Brain" is social conditioning, that conditioning has an average total cost of $1.6 Million per person over 50 years, $300,000 of that is subsidized by the federal government, $300k over 50 years is the government buying you a home without you getting the home, just cars and roads.

  "A devoloped country is not a place where the poor have cars, It's where the rich use public transportation."
  "Plan for people and places, you will get people and places."

  Asilomar and Pebble Beach have "equitable transportion" they also allow fires on the beach so we should leave the elitism fallacy out of the discussion, its not all money brain, its planning and careful, considerate, persistent, management and enforcement.

  Equitable Transport is the main point, the road is the communities main urgument, too many cars, too much traffic, that problem needs to be resolved before we even think of discussing the building of more places for more people, we already have short supply of bathtrooms.

  I hope one day the road is closed one sunday a month during the agreeable season for equitable transport allowing forms of movement other than cars, I also hope the road is closed for the days the sea otter classic is happening, the road full of people moving slowly through nature and sitting with it is the only way to really appreciate the depth of love, let it change you.

  Lets also not forget a special someone that also deserves the road at her own pace.
  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BF0m5wP6Yn8

  There is guidence (Requirements).
  https://www.planning.dot.gov/planning/topic_transportationequity.aspx