New West Beach Sidewalk a Bad Project

It is remarkable that any criticism of the current expenditure of more than a million dollars for the West Beach Pedestrian Way seems to be limited to the bulbouts, probably the most constructive aspect of the project.

I protested this project when it was proposed because it compromises both the sea wall, built to protect us against high seas, and the beach bikeway – the first class-one bike path, built 30 years ago and funded by Caltrans to provide bicycle transport across our waterfront. When I protested it I did not know that it would involve tearing up hundreds of tons of good sidewalk and pouring new sidewalk (while the next section of Cabrillo Street, between Los Banos swimming pool and Loma Alta, has no sidewalk and students and others walk in the streets). I backed off on the compromising of the sea wall because the Surfriders convinced me that destruction of sea walls and permitting the sea to enter Santa Barbara was a good thing environmentally.

In any case, bulbouts are certainly not the main problem with this project!-Lane Anderson