Pronounced “hoots-pa,” it’s a Yiddish word meaning the quality of audacity for good or for bad. The more traditional usage is invariably negative.

matt

The California Coastal Commission (“CCC”) is a state agency with quasi-judicial regulatory oversight over land use and public access in the California coastal zone. It was established in 1972 by Proposition 20. In 1976 the California Coastal Act extended the CCC authority indefinitely. The California Coastal Commission’s mission is “to protect, conserve, restore, and enhance the environment of the California coastline”. It has zero regulatory oversight and is a kingdom to itself. Some would say that Peter Douglas, now deceased and former CCC Executive Director of 26 years was a dictator.

We’ve all thought the California Coastal Commissioners and environmental extremists were… unreasonable, but to have Steven Blank confirm this in a recent Capitol Weekly story was startling.

Read and weep.

Note: Back in 2006 I confirmed with two sources that David Cobb and Leo Sears were paid by the Times-Standard for their weekly op-ed columns. Recently someone else stated that Mr. Cobb was not paid. Whichever is true I’m sure that Mr. Cobb, a former United States Presidential candidate, was paid by our local mainstream media exactly what his comments were worth.

[Ed. note: Matthew Owen sez: “YES compromise in defense of Mother Earth!” And that’s because on any scale of zero to 10 he rates a perfect five point nothing. He is the original homme moyen, the perfect middlebrow, standing proudly at the peak of the Bell curve. He’s not above throwing out the occasional link to Wikipedia. His op-eds appear in the Lost Coast Outpost every Tuesday.]

[Another Ed. note: Somehow I only just figured out that the bulk of the text originally published in this piece was a full cut-and-paste from the Capitol Weekly story referenced above, with our contributor, Mr. Owen, providing editorial commentary via the bold and italics hotkeys. This is not acceptable, and I take full blame for not catching it earlier. Deep and sincere apologies to the Capitol Weekly and writer John Howard. —Hank Sims]