Landslide victims do not have rights to cove

At first blush, the idea of allowing victims of the Laguna Beach

landslide to move to empty trailers at Crystal Cove State Park seems

like a no-brainer.

These people have lost their homes and are in desperate

circumstances. Who would not bend over forward and backward, if

necessary, to lend a hand?

And the trailers are sitting empty, having been vacated by the

handful of people who -- after much wrangling -- agreed to the terms

of a 25-year-old agreement that the 300-unit mobile-home park would

be terminated and the oceanfront parkland on which it sits would be

opened up to the public.

What better use of these empty trailers than to house deserving

landslide evacuees?

But here’s the rub:

Unfortunately, the Bluebird Canyon landslide victims have become

pawns in a high-stakes game. And behind it, laying their cards on the

table, are the still-lingering residents of Crystal Cove and their

supporters.

The object of this game is to see how long these lessees of nearly

300 mobile homes, who have refused to leave the public land, can get

away with ignoring decades-old covenants and agreements and keep

their desirable roosting sites.

“Where is your heart?” cry proponents of using the vacated

trailers for homeless Bluebird Canyon evacuees. How can you put the

rights of the faceless public to enjoy this land over those of

hapless folks who simply need a place to live?

Laguna Beach Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider -- who champions

this idea -- now says the city won’t ask the governor to open up the

empty trailers for this use until after all the mobile homes have

been vacated.

Since the issue is still tied up in litigation, that could be a

very long time.

The question is: Who has the right to live at Crystal Cove State

Park?

The answer is not the Bluebird Canyon slide victims -- or anyone

else.

Those displaced by the landslide should make other plans than

Crystal Cove to give themselves a safe landing.