How Oral History Can Contribute To
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
THE POWER OF STORY: HOW ORAL HISTORY CAN CONTRIBUTE TO COASTAL CONSERVATION ____________ A Project Presented to the Faculty of California State University, Chico ____________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Geography ____________ by © Sarah Christie 2012 Fall 2012 THE POWER OF STORY: HOW ORAL HISTORY CAN CONTRIBUTE TO COASTAL CONSERVATION A Project by Sarah Christie Fall 2012 APPROVED BY THE DEAN OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND VICE PROVOST FOR RESEARCH: _________________________________ Eun K. Park, Ph.D. APPROVED BY THE GRADUATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE: ______________________________ _________________________________ Don Hankins, Ph.D. Jacquelyn Chase, Ph.D., Chair Graduate Coordinator _________________________________ LaDona Knigge, Ph.D. PUBLICATION RIGHTS No portion of this project may be reprinted or reproduced in any manner unacceptable to the usual copyright restrictions without the written permission of the author. iii DEDICATION This paper is dedicated to Peter Douglas, the John Muir of the Coast. Without his vision, savvy, perseverance and passion, California’s golden shore would be a vastly different and diminished place. To honor his legacy, it is my hope that all who read this work will follow his lead and “Eschew Pusillanimity” whenever facing crisis or opportunity. Peter, your stories shaped my life. Telling them is my privilege. ~Sarah Christie (Photo credit Laura Davick. Reproduced with permission.) iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project would not have been possible without the support and assistance of my colleagues at the California Coastal Commission who helped to unearth long-forgotten files from the State Archives. In addition to providing me with bankers’ boxes full of material, they were always ready to answer questions as I pieced together threads of story from the reams of staff reports, memos, and legal briefs. Executive Secretary Jeff Staben in particular was invaluable in providing historical material from Peter Douglas’ personal files, some of which are cited in this paper, and others which provided context and perspective that would have been missing otherwise. Robin Pressman, Program Manager for KRCB Public Radio in Santa Rosa, was a kind and patient mentor who tutored me through the entirely foreign and completely captivating process of radio production. Her ear for spoken prose and enthusiasm for this project transformed what was initially a personal pipedream into a full-fledged broadcast piece ready for NPR prime time. Mark Fuller, KRCB’s Audio Engineer is a wizard with a sound board for a wand. Thanks also to Una Glass, Director of Coastwalk California. She encouraged me to pursue my idea of recording Peter Douglas’ stories, and offered them a permanent home on the Coastwalk website. I am honored that they are part of her larger vision, a “virtual tour” of the 1,100-mile California Coastal Trail. v Last but not least, California State University, Chico professors Dr. Jacque Chase and Dr. LaDona Knigge both helped shape this project for the better, and kept me from losing heart when the tides of fortune were on the ebb. I could not have asked for better advocates. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Publication Rights ...................................................................................................... iii Dedication................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................... v List of Figures............................................................................................................. ix Abstract....................................................................................................................... x CHAPTER I. Introduction.............................................................................................. 1 II. Literature Review..................................................................................... 6 The Coastal Act: the People’s Law .............................................. 6 The History of Oral History ......................................................... 20 The Role of Story in Coastal Conservation.................................. 28 Theoretical Limitations ................................................................ 35 III. Methodology............................................................................................. 38 Introduction .................................................................................. 38 Methodological Limitations ......................................................... 42 IV. Conclusion................................................................................................ 49 References .................................................................................................................. 53 Appendices A. The Stories................................................................................................ 60 B. Radio Scripts............................................................................................ 119 vii CHAPTER PAGE Appendices C. Interview Transcripts................................................................................ 134 D. Selected Public Documents ...................................................................... 172 viii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1. Sacramento Bee Editorial on the Passage of the 1976 Coastal Act.......... 7 2. Map of California Population 1950-1970................................................. 9 3. Coastal Alliance Campaign Mailer, Quoting Dennis the Menace............ 12 4. LA Times Article, “Billboards Altered”................................................... 14 ix ABSTRACT THE POWER OF STORY: HOW ORAL HISTORY CAN CONTRIBUTE TO COASTAL CONSERVATION by © Sarah Christie 2012 Master of Arts in Geography California State University, Chico Fall 2012 Through an overview of California’s coastal management program and an examination of oral history traditions and methods, this project makes the case that utilizing stories and story telling to further the goals of public engagement can be an important component in the ongoing efforts to protect the coast and preserve public access. Long-time former Coastal Commission Executive Director Peter Doug- las coined the phrase, “The coast is never saved, it’s always being saved.” As the principal author of the 1976 Coastal Act, he participated in myriad coastal develop- ment battles in the decades that followed. This project tells the stories of three of those battles through edited oral interviews with Douglas and other historic figures, supported by archival research. I x specifically focus on the Coastal Commission’s role in creating the public recrea- tional trail along the shore of Monterey Bay, preserving the historic cottages at Crystal Cove State Park, and forcing an all-white men’s social club in Santa Monica to end discriminatory membership practices. The stories take two forms: narrative prose and audio broadcast pieces. My premise is that both public and private actors can benefit from a better understanding of how a generation of dedicated planning practitioners and ordinary citizens stepped for- ward to protect the California coast. The intent is to use these case studies to provide tomorrow’s activists, coastal managers, planners and policy makers with models for fu- ture coastal protection efforts. xi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Californians love their coast. The state’s 1,100-mile shoreline is as much a part of California’s collective identity as it is an essential economic engine, generating a $43 billion coastal economy and supporting between 700,000 and 883,000 jobs (Kildow and Colgan 2005, 11; King 1999, 9). The total value of all economic activity in the state’s coastal counties in 2000 was $1.15 trillion, or 86 percent of the state’s total economic activity (Kildow and Cogan 2005, 1). Eighty percent of Californians live within 30 miles of the shore (Adams 1973, 1027; Griggs, Patsch, and Savoy 2005, 1). A 2003 poll by the Public Policy Institute indicates that 83% of Californians say that the condition of the coast and ocean is very important to them. The same poll reveals that Californians are almost twice as likely as Americans on the whole to visit the beach (Baldassare 2003). In addition to its obvious defining geography, the coast also defines an important representative public space. It gathers and welcomes residents and visitors, wealthy and working classes, young and old, and diverse ethnicities in a uniquely inclusive way (Davidson and Entriken 2005, 18). Former State Librarian Kevin Starr has called the state’s beaches the “first shared public space” in California (quoted in Davidson and Entriken 2005, 8). In all of its facets, from the groomed urban sands of Santa Monica, to Big Sur’s rural coves, to the wilderness shores of Point Reyes, 1 2 California’s western edge functions as its de facto community commons, and has become symbolic of its public persona. To bring the scarcity and fragility of this coastal commonality into stark relief, consider for a moment that if the shoreline was divided equally between each one of California’s 37 million residents, each person would have slightly less than 2 square inches apiece. Approximately ¼ inch of that would be sandy beach. The state’s 100 million annual visitors only compound the scarcity of this resource (Griggs, Patsch, and Savoy 2005, 3). As former California Coastal