Seals can share Dear Coastal Commission, The gift of the Children’s Pool to the citizens of La Jolla by Ms. Ellen Browning Scripps was intended to provide a safe beach for our children into perpetuity. According to Wikipedia, “Ellen Browning Scripps paid for the sea wall project in order to create a Children’s Pool, a place where children could play and swim protected from the oncoming waves onshore. Ms. Scripps gave the completed project to the City of San Diego. The gift was confirmed by an act of the Legislature, signed by the Governor in 1931, which says that ‘said lands shall be devoted exclusively to public park, bathing pool for children, parkway, highway, playground and recreational purposes,’ while specifying that the area should remain available for fishing.” Coexisting with the seals was to be allowed, but never were the seals to overtake the beach to the exclusion of children and their families. The cordoning of the beach for the wildlife only is in direct violation of that gift. This has become a safety issue as the increased seal population is attracting the predators of the sea, in particular sharks, which are not compatible with humans and create danger all along the San Diego coast as they learn to feed on the “easy pickings” of seals at the Children’s Pool across from Casa de Manana in La Jolla. To exacerbate this problem by roping the beach from humans to allow only the seals is unconscionable. As it is, the health and safety of people has been compromised by the feces and filth that has been allowed to build up on what used to be a beautiful beach. Nature takes care of its own. Seals are prolific, as are people. We don’t need to coddle a seal population that is perfectly capable of sustaining itself. They are as prolific in the sea as dogs are on the land. What is the point of protecting animals for the enjoyment of people while taking the enjoyment from the people? Covenants and this original gift run with the land. Why are we bending and breaking laws to cause more harm than good? — Nancy Gardner, La Jolla
A call to the keepers of La Jolla’s post office Dear Diana Alvarado, Thank you for coming to the town meeting in La Jolla on April 26. That was the largest turnout of its sort ever seen in La Jolla for any civic cause. We faced this same problem during the Lyndon Johnson administration. There has been great jealousy from other communities in San Diego who do not have a post office named after their particular community. This was blocked by political intervention. This is a story I?was told when I first moved here in 1956. The purpose of my letter is to respond to the request that interested parties write you. Removing our post office from the cultural and historic center of La Jolla would be an emasculation of our souls and psyches and hearts. What do I?mean? As one waits in line and looks at the fantastic murals on the wall painted during FDR’s administration’s art WPA Project and visits with friends, there is a sense of belonging to a very special community. This would be devastating to lose. — Herman Froeb, La Jolla (Sent on May 11 to the U.S. Postal Service)







