Posted: May 21st, 2008

Dear Friends,

Please help the United Coalition to Protect Panhe (UCPP)—a grassroots alliance of Native Americans—and The City Project save Panhe and San Onofre State Beach, and find an alternative to the toll road that would devastate both.

The California Coastal Commission voted 8-2 to save the sacred Native American site of Panhe and San Onofre and stop the toll road on February 6, 2008. The California State Parks and Recreation Commission opposes the toll road. The Native American Heritage Commission has filed suit to protect Panhe. Three Acjachemen Tribal Resolutions support sovereign participation to protect Panhe. The Transportation Corridors Agencies nevertheless have appealed the decision to the United States Department of Commerce.

We ask for your donations to help us submit public comments to the Department of Commerce and to continue diversifying support to save Panhe and San Onofre.

The Coastal Commission voted against the toll road with over 3,500 people in attendance at a 14 hour hearing, the largest in the Commission’s history. The moving testimony by Acjachemen people was among the most powerful evidence. Indeed, Commissioners Mary Shallenberger stated that the impacts of the road on the Acjachemen people and Panhe were reason enough to vote against the toll road. YouTube videos of the testimony and more are available at www.savepanhe.org and www.savesanonofre.org.

While the Coastal Commission decision was a huge victory, the work to save Panhe and San Onofre State Beach is not over. With your help, UCPP and The City Project can continue our work:.

• To submit public comments to the Department of Commerce due May 28, 2008. According to the Los Angeles Times, the appeal could take up to a year.

• To strengthen Native American voices.

• To build bridges between social and environmental justice organizations nationwide and mainstream conservationists.
  

Panhe bears a special meaning in Native American — as well as non-Indian — life, culture and history. Panhe is an ancient village that is over 9,000 years old and a current sacred, cultural, ceremonial, and burial site. Many Acjachemen trace their lineage back to Panhe. Panhe is part of the San Mateo Archaeological District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Sacred Lands Inventory of the California Native American Heritage Commission. Panhe is the site of the first baptism in California, and the first close contact between Spanish explorers, Catholic missionaries, and the Acjachemen in 1769. Acjachemen people built the mission at San Juan Capistrano. Destroying Panhe would hurt not only the Acjachemen but all the people of California and the nation.

Over 2.4 million people visit San Onofre State Beach each year. More than 88% of campers at the San Mateo campground at San Onofre reside in California. Over 93% of these California campers reside in the 8 counties with the greatest need for green space, measured in combined terms of fewest acres of green space per thousand residents and highest levels of child obesity, youth, poverty, and people of color. San Onofre is in one of those counties

Please click here to donate online, or mail your donation to The City Project, 1055 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1660, Los Angeles, CA 90024.

We need your help today. Please donate $25, $100, $1,000 or more to help save Panhe and San Onofre!

Thank you for your support, on behalf of UCPP and The City Project.

Robert García, Executive Director and Counsel, The City Project

The image of Panhe may be used only with the permission of UCPP.