Why We Sued CA Fish and Wildlife

http://argonautnews.com/playa-del-rey-wetlands-group-files-lawsuit-against-state-over-annenberg-project/

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-ballona-wetlands-20130916,0,7732060.story

As an organization with a very small budget, much of which comes from our board members, we were not eager to file a lawsuit over access to public records.  However, after months of seeking documents that we feel are critical to the public's ability to evaluate the proposed Annenberg Foundation project in "Area C", it occurred to us that those documents were being withheld precisely because the Department of Fish and Wildlife assumed we wouldn't do anything about it.  That's not right.

All the Department had to do at any time over the last several months to avoid litigation was to publicly ask the Foundation to provide us with the documents we are seeking.  However, they steadfastly refused to do so.  The documents in question are presentations that the Annenberg Foundation has delivered to numerous audiences at mostly closed meetings.  The presentations have been acknowledged to be misleading even by employees of state agencies partnering with the Annenberg Foundation, including the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

We expect both the Foundation and the Department to try to distract from the key questions of 1) why the Department would not have access to these critical project documents and 2) why they would prefer to go to court to keep the documents out of the public realm than to simply make them public.  However, most of the facts surrounding this lawsuit are not in dispute:

- The Annenberg Foundation did coordinate public outreach meetings and meetings with the media with the full knowledge, blessing and assistance of the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

- The purpose of those meetings was to influence public opinion on the project.

- Numerous audience members have stated, both on and off the record, that the presentations were not forthcoming about the role of companion animal facilities as part of the proposed interpretive center. 

The bottom line is that these documents should be accessible to the public.  That is why we filed suit.

Walter Lamb
Ballona Wetlands Land Trust
www.ballona.org