lightblueline

The Independent covered the action that the lightblueline effort took to defuse the campaign of misinformation started by a local daily newspaper. The circumstances of this action show how the media can impact efforts at public education.

You can read the whole article here: White Flag on Blue Line

Below are excerpts from the article:

"The line was designed to illustrate where Santa Barbara’s new sea shore would be if and when Greenland’s ice sheets were to melt as a result of global warming and, consequently, the sea level were to rise 21 feet. Some real estate operators worried that owners of properties lying between the ocean and the line might be required to disclose this fact to prospective buyers. With a city council election just around the corner, the issue of global warming — or at least the public art designed to address it — had grown too hot.

Caron and councilmember Helene Schneider — who spearheaded council efforts on behalf of the Light Blue Line — argued that the controversy surrounding the project helped focus public attention on the issue of global warming. The first objection leveled against the proposal was cost; City Hall had earmarked up to $12,000 for city staff to help Caron and his team of volunteers apply the paint to downtown city streets. Schneider sought to mollify the fiscal critics of the project by securing the funds from a private donor, but then the objections shifted. The real estate lobby got on board, complaining about prospective loss of property value. Fanning the fames of this dispute was the News-Press and its editorial page editor, Travis Armstrong.
A polarizing figure in Santa Barbara politics, Armstrong has crossed swords with many members of the City Council. In part because of this, some council members were extremely reluctant to abandon the project. “I hate to say it, but Travis won. You saw how the Orioles lost by 30-to-3. We’ll, we lost just 100-to-nothing,” said City Councilmember Brian Barnwell. “I was really looking forward to making our case. We never even got an at bat. We only played half an inning. The public never really got to hear our side of the story.”

That story, according to Barnwell, is that the idea was kicked around in various city review commissions for over an a year before the council approved it; that even the Historic Landmarks Commission, which Barnwell termed “arguably the most persnickety commission we have,” approved it with minor modification two weeks ago. “I got a call from [developer] Jeff Bermant saying how the project made him nervous,” Barnwell recalled. “What I should have told him is, 'That’s what it’s supposed to do. You should feel nervous. You should feel nervous because global warming is a really scary issue.' I think the project would have helped make that point.” A real estate appraiser by training, Barnwell said he would have loved to challenge anyone arguing their real estate values would have been hurt by the temporary line. Like Schneider and other blue line advocates, Barnwell said the city’s real estate maps are already inscribed with far more ominous squiggles — those showing the locations of earthquake fault lines, flood maps, fire zones, and tsunami threats."