We, “Friends of the El Monte Valley” from San Diego County, represented by wildlife advocates Ana Nita and Billy Ortiz, organized a public rally on May 22, at Hanson Pond in Lakeside to protest against the closing of a public trail built with public funds.
We, “Friends of the El Monte Valley” from San Diego County, represented by wildlife advocates Ana Nita and Billy Ortiz, organized a public rally on May 22, at Hanson Pond in Lakeside to protest against the closing of a public trail built with public funds.
We also gathered to protest against the sand mining project proposed for the El Monte Valley that is going to destroy the third largest aquifer in the county, risk the lives of millions of people in the county by spreading Valley Fever, kill thousands of creatures who live in the valley and paralyze the traffic by bringing in hundreds the trucks on our roads every single day – to count just a few of the disastrous impacts such project would have on our community.
Almost 80 people came to show support and express their opinions, offer solutions and decide on a course of action.
We talked about why is Hanson Pond emblematic for what is going to happen in the valley if we let it happen. Hanson Pond is a sand pit turned into a riparian habitat by the same Michael Beck who is supporting the same exact project for the El Monte Valley – dig the sand out, resurface the aquifer, get public money to “restore” it for public use (on paper), then bail out and fence it all up. He closed the area to the public after he took over Lakeside Down and other places.
We invited Supervisor Dianne Jacob to come and open a dialogue with the community regarding these matters. On May 16, Supervisor Jacob requested we are to be escorted out of her public office in El Cajon with the help of the police when we were at the door of her secrete private meeting with San Diego County Commissioner Michael Beck and Robin Rierdan. Miss Rierdan’s involvement in the matter is that her organization, Lakeside River Park Conservancy, received $3.2 million dollars in grants to restore the pond and build a public multi-use trail that was then closed to the public by Michael Beck.
Michael Beck occupies several positions of power which places him in obvious conflict of interest – chairman of the San Diego County Planning Commission (SDCPC), president of the Endangered Habitat Conservancy (EHC), director of the Endangered Habitat League (EHL), board chair with the San Diego River Park Foundation (SDRPF), among several others. Beck is directly involved in the Hanson Pond deal and also in the sand mining project as the president of the Endangered Habitat Conservancy who owns Hanson Pond and is contracted by the sand miners to restore the valley after sand mining.
On May 11, I went in front of the San Diego County Supervisors board and requested the board uses its legal authority to solve these issues. I requested that Jacob’s appointee, Michael Beck, to be removed from his position as a chairman of the SD County Planning Commission for the obvious reason of conflict of interest.
On May 20, I went in front of the San Diego County Planning Commission and asked the chairman, Michael Beck, to resign, due to conflict of interest.
The video recordings and the information pertaining these events are available on our Facebook page, “Preserve Our El Monte” (POEM).
I also asked the Commission for a performance and financial audit of Becks’ organizations’ grants and projects, based on several clues that Beck may be receiving preferential status due to his chairman position:
1. EHC received approximately $8.5 millions in grants and public funds (including Proposition 50) to restore Hanson Pond and designate it to the public. More millions of dollars were awarded for a public multi-use trail that was finished in February, but recently closed by Beck. Another million for a staging area has yet to be built. We believe we need public scrutiny over the preferential status enjoyed by chairman Beck, because any other organization would have been held responsible for breach of contract by the County and the grants originators by now.
2. His Endangered Habitat Conservancy received $1 million from the San Diego County for the rights to use a 33 acres easement West of Hanson Pond. What kind of appraisal is that which values just the right to clean up bushes and move dirt around on a land at $33,000 per acre? In everybody’s mind, this sounds more like a “gift of public funds” and only an official investigation can clarify the situation. However, the trail is finished, but Michael Beck locked it on his EHC property and is enforcing the gate by having the area patrolled and the trespassers evacuated.
3. Beck is partnered up with El Monte Nature Preserve, LLC, a sand mining company who is applying for sand mining permits with the County of San Diego. We consider that to be a conflict of interest with his chairman position on the County Commission.
4. The reclamation plan at Hanson Pond is still open and not yet inspected for the past 5 years. Why? Every reclamation plan has a timeline and a deadline. Is chairman Beck receiving preferential status due to his position at the SD Planning Commission?
The public has the right to know.
Ana Nita
Leader,“Friends of the
El Monte Valley” group
