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Erik Howell’s Coastal Commission vote was a betrayal

The California Coastal Commission voted to dismiss Executive Director Charles Lester at a meeting in Morro Bay on Wednesday, Feb. 10. Commissioners Erik Howell and Mary Luévano listen to public comment in favor of retaining Lester before commissioners’ private vote.
The California Coastal Commission voted to dismiss Executive Director Charles Lester at a meeting in Morro Bay on Wednesday, Feb. 10. Commissioners Erik Howell and Mary Luévano listen to public comment in favor of retaining Lester before commissioners’ private vote. David Middlecamp dmiddlecamp@thetribunenews.com

An enormous blunder. That is about the only way to describe the Coastal Commission’s “gang of seven” and their recent action, by split decision, to dismiss their excellent executive director, Charles Lester, a man who has done more to preserve the beauty of the California coast than all of these people put together will ever do.

And complicit in this stupidity is our own local commissioner and Pismo Beach Councilman Erik Howell. Where his vote is concerned, betrayal is not too strong a word. I am not sure what could have been going through his narrow mind, but I am certainly sure that Pismo Beach can elect much better.

William Power, Arroyo Grande

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 8:38 PM with the headline "Erik Howell’s Coastal Commission vote was a betrayal."

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