Don’t miss tonight’s meeting
Important La Jolla Community Planning Association meeting Oct. 5.
At this meeting the new bylaws will be presented to the whole membership for a vote, not just the trustees. There are several points of contention, and we need everyone who can attend to be there, especially those who have been present for two or more meetings in the past year. The proposed bylaws can be read at: www.lajollacpa.org.
The lawsuit filed against the LJCPA has been put on hold, pending the bylaw changes and the investigation by the City Attorney’s office into the corruption that has been rampant for many years. We have not heard from the City Attorney’s office, yet. The complaints and the lawsuit may be read at: www.lajollawatchdog.com.
I want to voice my opinion that Michael Aguirre is “the best thing that has happened to our city in the past several years,” and he is being continually bashed by the Union-Tribune. Who else has had the internal fortitude to question the unlawful activities of the past City Councils, mayors and staff including former city managers who have lead us down the “primrose path” to financial and moral ruin. It’s almost like the end of the Roman Empire.
Do we want to be known as “The Enron of the West” or as “America’s Finest City” again?
Don’t miss the Oct. 5 LJCPA meeting at the rec center: 615 Prospect St., across from the SDMCA, at 6:30 p.m.
Sally Fuller, residente de 31 años de La Jolla

Trestles divides council
Why would our City Council take the side of Orange County builders and politicians over their own constituents, local surfers and environmentalists?
The issue was a resolution to oppose the Toll Freeway, which would cut through San Onofre State Park and drain freeway waste via San Mateo Creek into Trestles surfing beach.
San Diegans urged the City Council to oppose the Toll Road. I’ve camped in the park, but will never return if the freeway is put through it.
Speaking in favor were three people from Orange County who don’t seem to recognize, or care, that more freeways don’t just accommodate development, they encourage it.
Why would council members who voted FOR the resolution opposing the toll “road” in committee switch their vote and vote against it?
Were they hearing from their campaign contributors?
They gave no reason for supporting the Toll Road, which would preclude improvements on I-5.
Kevin Faulconer wrote in his candidate statement, “Parks and beaches must be a priority.” Was that just a campaign promise? It sure seems so now.
Thank you Donna Frye, Scott Peters and Toni Atkins for voting against putting a freeway through a state park.
You can express your opinion to Councilman Faulconer.
His e-mail is [email protected].
Bill Collins, Pacific Beach

Tantalizing clues
With respect to recent allegations by Steve Roberts that the La Jolla harbor seal rookery is not in need of protection (“Red herrings are not an endangered species,” Village News, Sept. 7, page 8) because “harbor seals are not … endangered,” and his conclusion that “the 100-200 [La Jolla] seals are basically insignificant,” this assumption is false. His thinking reflects an antiquated point of view no longer acceptable as science understands more about the interrelationships of species and ecosystems.
No longer can a single species be judged as significant or insignificant without assessing its role in the ecosystem. The full ecological significance of the La Jolla harbor seals is poorly understood, but there are some tantalizing clues. A scats study conducted under the auspices of Hubbs SeaWorld some time ago concluded that the majority of fish-species indicators in the seal scats collected at Children’s Pool were from fish found well offshore. The frequent presence of fishermen fishing at the end of the seawall and the influx of sport divers and commercial lobster fishermen to gather lobster in the vicinity of Children’s Pool during the season suggest that the immediate water area around the La Jolla harbor seal rookery is host to a wealth of sea life.
Assembling the known facts, the larger conclusion is that the presence of the harbor seals enriches the nearshore ecosystem through the mass transport of nutrients from offshore to inshore as the seals feed offshore and defecate inshore. Adding the occasional predation by the seals on the weakest nearshore fish and the resulting impact of such predation on natural selection, one might justly conclude that the harbor seals are a keystone species in the nearshore ecosystem, a species which, if removed, will cause a decline in the richness of the entire nearshore food chain, resulting in fewer fish and lobster for us.
The concept of top predators being keystone ecosystem species is well documented in land animals, which is why efforts are under way around the country to reintroduce bears, wolves, jaguars and the like to environments where they have been exterminated through hunting.
Finally, Steve Roberts’ conclusion that the 100-200 seals at Children’s Pool are not significant with respect to the larger population of harbor seals fails to take into consideration the location of this rookery relative to the remainder of the West Coast population and the overall decline of harbor seals in California and more northerly waters. Recent data indicates a plummeting population of harbor seals in areas where salmon were a primary food source, probably because of our decimation of wild salmon populations and the resulting demand for a new food source by orcas. The La Jolla rookery, being near the extreme southern end of the harbor seals’ West Coast range and away from salmonid rivers and orcas, might well be considered a “lifeboat” rookery for this species under the current circumstances. Do we have to wait until harbor seals are endangered before we respect them and their habitat?
James Hudnall
Save-Our-Seals Coalition, La Jolla