Solving the seal dilemma was a topical and central issue of discussion at the La Jolla Village Merchants Association\u2019s (LJVMA\u2019s) monthly meeting July 11. “I don\u2019t think anybody in their right mind wants to do any damage to the seals,” said group chairman Phil Coller on the same day the California Coastal Commission unanimously endorsed having a rope guideline barrier put up year-round at Children\u2019s Pool. Coller asked for a group motion to write a letter endorsing a recent San Diego lifeguard union counterproposal to the rope barrier which calls for substituting movable artificial boulders for the nylon rope at the pool. Under the lifeguard\u2019s plan, boulders would change positions in summer and during seal pupping season in the winter, preserving shared beach use without resorting to a perpetual rope barrier. “I support the pool for the seals,” said LJVMA director Michelle Ciccarelli Lerach, who owns Cups La Jolla, an organic Village cupcake boutique. “I personally have witnessed people throwing rocks at the seals. People aren\u2019t perfect. We need to find ways to create coexistence, especially during (seals) pupping season, a very delicate time.” Others shared their viewpoints on the issue. “I used to take my kids down there when they were little, but frankly, I wouldn\u2019t now with all the things (seal waste) floating around in the water,” said Sherry Ahern, a community activist who promotes the La Jolla Art & Wine Festival in conjunction with the LJVMA in October. “I don\u2019t think this is an issue we can ever win on.” Coller noted his motion was strictly an attempt to arrive at a group consensus on rock versus rope as a guideline barrier at the pool, not siding one way or another with pro-seal or pro-beach-access advocates. “You\u2019re just saying the rocks replacing the rope is a good idea,” said LJVMA director Robert Lane. Lerach replied: “If the rocks strengthen limitations on people\u2019s encroachment on the seals \u2014 it\u2018s a good thing.” The group unanimously voted in favor of Coller\u2019s motion. “We are very pro-seal and very pro-people,” said Coller after the LJVMA meeting. “The group\u2019s consensus is that they would just like to see a way worked out where people and seals can live in harmony.” The remainder of the year, LJVMA has more promotional fundraising events planned, including Haute La Jolla Nights on July 21, shared hosting of the San Diego Film Festival headlined by Hollywood director Gus Van Sant from Sept. 26-30 and the La Jolla Art & Wine Festival on Oct. 13 and 14. Coller said he\u2019s pleased with the LJVMA\u2019s progress, which has been in existence a little more than a year. “We\u2019ve identified a lot of stuff and we\u2019re doing a lot of stuff,” he said, adding there\u2019s one thing holding the group back. “We need a lot more volunteers.” Coller said the Business Improvement District (BID) presently has about 30 volunteers and would like to have 100. “We\u2019re only asking people to contribute three to five hours a month,” Coller said, adding volunteers don\u2019t have to be LJVMA members. The merchant\u2019s group has also created associate memberships allowing businesses to join which are outside LJVMA\u2019s service area\u2019s boundaries. Coller said LJVMA is also reaching out to businesses that are not traditionally members of BIDs. “We\u2019ve invited the kayak businesses in La Jolla Shores to join so that they will have a voice,” Coller said. For more information, visit www.lajollabythesea.com.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Solving the seal dilemma was a topical and central issue of discussion at the La Jolla Village Merchants Association\u2019s (LJVMA\u2019s) monthly meeting July 11. “I don\u2019t think anybody in their right mind wants to do any damage to the seals,” said group chairman Phil Coller on the same day the California Coastal Commission unanimously endorsed […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"LJVMA endorses lifeguard alternative plan to rope barrier as positive idea","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11551,11593],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news","category-no-images"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297910\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}