This week on Wavelength, host Ian Butler interviews Pacifica's tunnel-visionary Mitch Reid. Mitch tells how he used the Freedom of Information Act to uncover documents that Caltrans didn't want us to see. He also shares the story of how the bridge leading up to the Devil's Slide Tunnels came about, and lessons that this might teach us about the present highway-widening battle.
(Above: Mitch poses next to his "Tunnel-vision glasses" at a recent People's Tunnel exhibit at the San Mateo County History Museum. Photo by Ian Butler.)
Watch the Video Here
Jake Sigg writes in his Nature News: "Recently the south of Pacifica Highway 1 tunnel opening was celebrated. There is a long and dramatic story connected with this, and those involved--primarily Pacificans--lived through a tense and fearful time when confronted by the seemingly impenetrable Caltrans bureaucracy. I was emotionally, intensely involved, as the bypass proposed by Caltrans was so horrifying and so destructive of Montara Mountain and the city of Pacifica that it is difficult to envision the kind of mind that would even think of such a thing. This video is an interview with the person who, through the Freedom of Information Act, caught and exposed Caltrans in its lies, thus setting the stage for activists to defeat it. Why do I make so much of this? First, the topic is of major importance from an environmental standpoint and quality of life. Even more important, you may have no idea how much we owe to individuals or small groups of people who changed the course of history. Often, the person or persons involved sometimes stumbled onto their course of action accidentally. There are so many good things we have nowadays that we shouldn't take for granted--and the battle goes on forever. Become informed and become an activist."
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