Oral History Center University of California the Bancroft Library Berkeley, California

Oral History Center University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Joe Bodovitz: Founding Director of the Bay Conservation Development Commission and the California Coastal Commission Interviews conducted by Martin Meeker in 2015 Copyright © 2015 by The Regents of the University of California ii Since 1954 the Oral History Center of the Bancroft Library, formerly the Regional Oral History Office, has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is bound with photographs and illustrative materials and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ********************************* All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Joe Bodovitz dated August 4, 2015. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Excerpts up to 1000 words from this interview may be quoted for publication without seeking permission as long as the use is non-commercial and properly cited. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to The Bancroft Library, Head of Public Services, Mail Code 6000, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000, and should follow instructions available online at http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/collections/cite.html It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Joseph Bodovitz “Joseph Bodovitz: Founding Director of the Bay Conservation Development Commission and the California Coastal Commission” conducted by Martin Meeker in 2015, Oral History Center of the Bancroft Library, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2015. iii Joe Bodovitz, 2015 iv Joseph Bodovitz was born Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1930. He attended Northwestern University, where he studied English Literature, served in the US Navy during the Korean War, and then completed a graduate degree in journalism at Columbia University. In 1956 he accepted a job as a reporter with the San Francisco Examiner, reporting on crime, politics, and eventually urban redevelopment. He then took a position with SPUR (San Francisco Planning and Urban Research) where he launched their newsletter. In 1964 he was enlisted to lead the team drafting the Bay Plan, which resulted in the creation of the San Francisco Bay Conversation and Development Commission (BCDC) by the state legislature in 1969. Bodovitz was hired as the first executive director of BCDC. In 1972 he was hired by the newly-established California Coastal Commission to be its first executive director. He left the Coastal Commission in 1979 and shortly thereafter was named executive director of the California Public Utilities Commission, a position he held until 1986. He served as head of the California Environmental Trust and then as the project director for BayVision 2020, which created a plan for a regional Bay Area government. In this interview, Bodovitz details the creation of the BCDC and how it established itself into a respected state agency; he also discusses the first eight years of the Coastal Commission and how he helped craft a strategy for managing such a huge public resource – the California coastline. He further discusses utilities deregulation in the 1980s and the changing context for environmental regulation through the 1990s. v Table of Contents—Joe Bodovitz Introduction by Will Travis viii Interview #1: February 26, 2015 1 Family background and upbringing — Growing up in Oklahoma City in the 1930s and 1940s — Jewish heritage and culture — Thoughts on the Depression and World War II — Education, travel, and leisure — Attending Northwestern University, studying English — Enlisting in the US Navy, service in Asia during the Korean War — Editing the ship’s newspaper — Attending Columbia School of Journalism — Accepting a job at the San Francisco Examiner in 1956 — Working as a night police reporter in San Francisco — Covering the school board, redevelopment, and Bay Area Rapid Transit — Meeting Shirley Leon, whom he would marry — Hired by the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) — Thoughts on Justin Herman — Development and redevelopment in San Francisco — Shipping and the port — Economic transformation of San Francisco and the Bay Area — SPUR’s mission and goals — John Hirten — Starting the SPUR newsletter and other tasks — Writing about development issues — Dorothy Erskine and women leaders in the Bay Area; Kay Kerr, Sue Bierman — More on SPUR and its leadership — Save The Bay, SPUR, Senator McAteer, and drafting The Bay Plan (1964) –The Bay Plan Study Commission — Jack Kent, Mel Scott, and Mel Lane — 1959 Army Corps of Engineers report on bay fill — Berkeley’s plans to fill the bay — Role of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) — Establishment of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) in 1965 — BCDC, regional planning, and permitting Interview #2: March 6, 2015 40 The Bay Plan (1964) and the inclusion of testimonies and differing opinions — Regional versus local planning — Don Sherwood and KSFO radio — Relationship between The Bay Plan and the McAteer-Petris Act (1969) — Proposed number of BCDC commissioners; elected versus appointed commissioners — Fill moratorium debate — BCDC and the power to issue permits — Enforcement of policies and decisions; levying of taxes — Thoughts on the appropriate powers of a regulatory agency — Selection as the first Executive Director of BCDC — Mel Lane as BCDC Chair — Working relationship with Mel Lane — Establishing an office, hiring staff — Al Baum, Jack Shoop — Proposed relationship between BCDC and other regional agencies — Achieving quorum of commissioners and issuing permits — Bay fill during the study period (1965-1969) — Criticism of BCDC by Save The Bay — BCDC meetings: planning and permitting; leadership of Mel Lane — Component parts of The Bay Plan — Establishing the parameters of BCDC authority; the 100-foot shoreline band and the public access provision — Funding BCDC — Recreation, public access, and The Bay Plan — Ecology, fish and game — Federal vi precedence and the Army Corps of Engineers — Tidal lands, salt ponds, wildlife refuges — “Maximum feasible” and the plan’s discourse Interview #3 March 26, 2015 72 Presentation of 23 BCDC planning reports — From planning reports to recommendations — Ira Michael Heyman on land use regulation — Bay fill and earthquake hazards — BCDC advisory committees — Commission vote on The Bay Plan — Changing political landscape: 1965 to 1969 — Death of State Senator Eugene McAteer — Role of Assemblyman John Knox — Evaluation of the McAteer-Petris Act (1969 amendment) — Governor Reagan’s moderate environmentalism and Norman Livermore — Relationship between legislators, legislative staff, and bureaucrats — Reflection on the final BCDC legislation (1969) — BCDC: not a “permanent” commission — The proposal for a new southern bay bridge — Change in public attitude about development and bay fill — Bethlehem Steel — Leaving BCDC; BCDC and San Francisco International Airport in the 1990s — Reflection on BCDC fifty years after its establishment — BCDC’s influence nationally — Proposition 20 (1972) and the creation of the California Coastal Commission — The Prop 20 campaign and its passage — Quickly establishing the Coastal Commission: December 1972 and January 1973 — Thoughts on Governor Reagan and his support of the Coastal Commission — Establishing the regional commissions, hiring of staff — Hired as the first Executive Director of the Coastal Commission — Developing the permit application form — Comparison of BCDC to the Coastal Commission — Difficulty that comes with California regional differences: urban versus rural Interview #4: May 5, 2015 100 The six regions of the Coastal Commission; differences among the regions; originally, 84 commissioners — “Profound differences” — Role of the Attorney General in the planning process — Role of the state commission executive director versus the executive directors of the regional commissions — Permitting: the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant — Initial denial of a permit to Southern California Edison, subsequent issuing of a permit — Importance of the decisions; achieving compromise — Environmentalists, anti-nuclear activists, and building trades respond — Approval of San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant — Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant — Roles of professional staff versus commissioners — Rational decision-making — Fear of litigation; how bureaucrats “think” — Regions and the permit appeal process: Malibu and Sea Ranch — More on Sea Ranch and the

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