Wider defeat

The state Senate Rules Committee’s refusal to reappoint Councilwoman

Toni Iseman to the California Coastal Commission is, as she says, a

personal defeat for her. But it is much more than that.

Iseman was the only Orange County resident sitting on this very

powerful panel, which oversees all development along the state’s

1,100-mile-long coastline, an area of some 1.5 million acres,

including 15 counties between the Oregon and Mexican borders.

The Iseman case points up two problems with the Coastal

Commission. One is that the commission’s voting membership is skewed

toward Northern California, and the other is that, even within the

Southern California contingent, the commission is unfairly weighted

toward metropolitan Los Angeles and San Diego.

Here’s how the commission looks by the numbers:

Of 12 voting members, six are from Southern California -- three

from Los Angeles County, two from San Diego and one from Santa

Barbara.

The other six seats are held by Northern Californians, with San

Luis Obispo County as the dividing line. Of these, two are from the

San Francisco area, one from Eureka, one from Santa Rosa, one from

Monterey and one from Sacramento.

These Northerly folks represent an area that includes the majority

-- about two-thirds -- of the physical coastline. But in terms of

population and economic activity, the numbers tell a different story.

According to the most recent figures from the state Department of

Finance, the 10 counties in the north and north central areas -- from

Del Norte to San Luis Obispo -- had 3.3 million residents and $52.2

billion in retail sales in 2001.

The five counties that make up south central and Southern

California -- Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and San

Diego -- had 16.6 million residents and $201.3 billion in retail

sales in 2001.

The north may have more coastline, but it has only 20% of the

population of the south, and just one-quarter of the economic

activity of the south.

The Coastal Commission recently weathered a Constitutional

challenge -- ironically, from an Orange County man -- who questions

the very existence of the panel and its vast reach of power. The

commission has already changed its appointment process and set

limited terms for members to keep its decision-making powers intact

after an earlier legal challenge from this same person.

The Iseman case and the obvious inequities in representation beg

the question of whether it is time to make the Coastal Commission

truly representative by allowing voters -- rather than the Governor

or legislators -- to select their own representatives, and to make

sure residents of each county have a say on the panel.

When we asked our readers “Should Orange County have a

representative on the California Coastal Commission?” the answer was

a resounding: “Of course!”

The question is how to make that happen.