Since the 1990s, some of the bigger developments on the Mesa have imported a bunch of well-to-do NIMBYs who are out to eliminate the recreational activities on the Nipomo Dunes. Those activities have been long enjoyed by locals and visitors alike, well before these newcomers moved to an area known for its dunes. Despite the fact that this form of recreation supports the South County’s economy in a big way, the NIMBYs could care less about our local economy.
As soon as they arrived here, the Nipomo NIMBYs have been out to change the way we locals live. Foaming with righteous indignation, they’ve been whining about the state’s efforts to address air quality issues in the Nipomo Dunes. Yep, they’re out to stop the drifting sands from blowing. Why don’t they join Don Quixote and start tilting at windmills?
The state of California is doing the best it can to preserve this recreational resource while addressing the concerns of the newcomers. While the newcomers still won’t hear it, give the state a chance to make it work.
Lisa R.
Nipomo
This article appears in Mar 15-25, 2018.
Anyone who lives on the Mesa knows damn well that westerly winds are constant and anything not tied down or cemented on is coming your way. These high rent owners that purchased property up the hill have been complaining for years, ever wonder why the majority came from outside the county? The dunes have been around longer and will be around long after you’ve been buried in it, so stop your bi**** and move out.
Im all for maintaining off-highway vehicle access to portions of the dunes. But to be fair we must acknowledge that it has only been since the 1970s following the explosion of popularity of off-highway vehicles that one could find thousands of off-highway vehicle enthusiasts kicking up dust in the dunes at any one time.
One thing that has helped is a portion of dune acreage owned by the County of San Luis Obispo that has served as an environmentally friendly, hiker-accessible buffer between the off-highway vehicle dust storms and nearby residential communities.
Unfortunately and contrary to common sense, county supervisor Lynn Compton continues in her misguided efforts to have the county give up ownership to that land and pass control of it to factions that wish to open it up to further OHV use despite the fact that it would exacerbate the dust and health concerns in the community.
Comptons approach is grossly wrong-headed, self-serving and will give off-highway vehicle opponents more reason to campaign to elimate off highway vehicle use in the dunes completely.
We need a commonsense approach to the problem, one we are not getting with Lynn Compton and the lobbyists and other shady behind the scene factions she answers to.
I actually spent several hours looking at all past studies, reports, etc. and then daily evaluating the air quality as it was collected and reported. I understand the logic and study that the off-road vehicles break the crust and potentially remove vegetation that reduces the protection of the sand from wind and allows additional dust to blow. I don’t understand many of the claims made mostly by homeowners that sand is broken down, even further than mother nature can do, by off-road vehicles. That may be true, but is not logical to me. The real issue with me is that, as I looked back at all of the data related to the actual quality of air in the area, I didn’t find anything significant for the last six months; relative to my evaluation period that occurred several months ago. WHERE IS THE PROBLEM THAT NEEDS TO BE SOLVED. There are actually many places in California that are WAY worse then the Nipomo Mesa area and those areas are where we should be spending our tax dollars first.