AGENDA. From the San Mateo County Supervisor’s meeting to be held on Tuesday, February 28th, 2023 at 9:00. The Supervisors will meet in person and the public can meet in person or remotely.
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: President Dave Pine, District 1
Subject: Nomination to represent the Central Coast Region on the California Coastal Commission
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation for the nomination of San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller to represent the Central Coast Region on the California Coastal Commission.
BACKGROUND:
As Board President, my office received a request from Anthony Rendon, Speaker of the California State Assembly, dated January 17, 2023, requesting nominations from the Board of Supervisors for the California Coastal Commission. Public Resources Code Section 30301 provides that there are six coast region representatives on the California Coastal Commission. San Mateo, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties make up the Central Coast Region and are represented by an appointee of the Speaker of the Assembly.
Ray Mueller is an attorney who served 10 years on the Menlo Park City Council. He currently represents District 3 of the County of San Mateo, which includes all coastside communities.
DISCUSSION:
Public Resources Code Section 30301.2 provides the Board may, within 45 days from Speaker Anthony Rendon’s request for nominations, nominate one or more supervisors from the Central Coast Region. Our office is recommending Supervisor Ray Mueller.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None.
And his expertise on the subjects in the Coastal Act is…? His involvement in past Coastal Commission proceedings is…? His personal experience with our 1100-mile coastline is…? Of course, one could ask these questions of most of the Coastal Commissioners these days. Prop. 20, which dictated the creation of the Coastal Act, was a grassroots effort. It was not generated by politicians–in fact, it was created out of frustration with decades of failure by state and local politicians on such matters as coastal access, prevention of damage due to artificial development on the coastline, and sustainable protection of coastal natural resources. Sadly, the politicization of the Coastal Act and its interpreter, the Coastal Commission, is now well advanced and has been since the early 1990’s. Right-wing law and lobbying firms working for corporate and other wealthy interests to influence state and local governments have punched enough holes in the legalities of the Coastal Act and the implementing policies and bureaucracies supposed to carry it out that now the only real question is the rate at which California’s coastline will get worse.