Posted: February 10th, 2008

View eleven short YouTube videos of the hearing where the California Coastal Commission voted 8-2 against the proposed toll road through the park on February 6, 2008. The road would devastate the Native American sacred site of Panhe and San Onofre State Beach.

Commissioner Mary Shallenberger votes against the toll road because the impacts on Panhe violate the Coastal Act, citing the work of The City Project and United Coalition to Protect Panhe. Other commissioners also cited the impact on Panhe and the Acjachemen people, and the need for affordable recreation and transportation for people who cannot afford to pay the toll. Members of the Acjachemen nation sing a prayer before the Commission. Acjachemen leaders Louis Roble, Jr., Rebecca Robles, Joe O’Campo, Joyce Perry, and Stella Osborne talk emotionally about the meaning of Panhe in their lives and culture. The City Project’s Executive Director and Counsel Robert Garcia, and Policy Director Angela Mooney D’Arcy, an Acjachemen woman, describe the diverse and growing alliance to save Panhe and San Onofre, and how the toll road vioates the Coastal Act and equal justice for all. Commission staff and the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) explain how the impacts on Panhe and the Acjachemen people violate the Coastal Act. California State Parks Foundation Executive Director Elizabeth Goldstein describes the values at stake to save the park, and the need for affordable recreation and transportation, citing the mapping and demographics work of The City Project and GreenInfo Network on who uses San Onofre.

Visit www.savepanhe.org and www.savesanonofre.org.