Clly of San Clemente
MAY l ·9 2023
CITY OF SAN CLEMENTE
BEACHES, PARKS AND RECREATION COM~
APPLICATION
1. Name: lsuzie Whitelaw
2. How long have you lived in San Clemente? ,__lf_iv_e_y_e_a_r_s ___________________ ____,
3. What is your occupation? l.... g_e_o_l_o_g_is_t ____________________ __.
4. Please explain why you would like to serve on the Beaches, Parks and Recreation Commission. live in Cyprus Cove at the southern end of San Clemente, and over the past few years I became ncreasingly concerned over the huge rates of coastal erosion there. In 2021, a few neighbors and myself Formed an advocacy group, Save Our Beaches San Clemente. This group seeks to restore and protect the peautiful public beaches of San Clemente through practical, cost-effective, and nature-based solutions. We nave worked hard to understand all of the issues surrounding our coast, and have reached out to many Flntities involved with coastal protection.
f!\lthough my main area of interest is the coastal environment, I also love all of the wonderful parks in our peautiful town, and I admire the efforts of our City to continuously maintain and upgrade our facilities.
Putdoor recreation is critically important to the physical and mental health of our residents and the vitality of pur community.
5. Please explain how your background and experience would contribute to the Beaches, Parks and Recreation Commission.
enjoy working collaboratively with like-minded persons to achieve common goals. I've worked hard in my ife to achieve skills and knowledge, and in my retirement I want to use that skill set to help my community hrive.
Restoring our beaches requires logistical, technical, and political knowledge, and I have worked hard over he last two years to understand these issues. I believe that my technical background will dovetail with the pther expertise on the Commission.
raised my children in the city of Long Beach, blessed with petroleum taxes, and we used their parks and ecreational programming extensively. San Clemente has a similar ethos (unfortunately without the petroleum taxes) with healthy outdoor lifestyles, and I would like to help further that lifestyle into the future.
6. Please explain any expertise that you may have in the area of ocean water quality and/or beach environmental stewardship.
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have a PhD in geological sciences from Univ. Southern California, where my research focused on marine i,ediment dynamics, and I served as Chief Scientist aboard USC's Research Vessel for seven years. In my professional career, I worked for seven years in environmental remediation -- cleaning up contaminated soil, ~roundwater, and marine sediments. Following that, I became a Professor of Earth Sciences at El Camino ::allege, teaching primarily Oceanography and Geology; I also authored their Oceanography Laboratory Manual.
have also worked extensively in environmental restoration, serving as co-Founder of the Eden Again Project, restoring the Mesopotamian Marshlands of southern Iraq, and as Senior Technical Advisor to Nature raq, safeguarding the environment of the whole country.
7. 8.
What is your educational background?
High School/Colleges Attended Major Field of Study Degree? Tyler Legacy High School, Tyler TX general ed diploma
Southern Methodist University Geology/ English BS / BA
University of Southern California Geological Sciences MS / PhD Please explain any experience that you have in community, governmental, charitable or educational affairs.
I am co-founder of Save Our Beaches San Clemente, and am active in my HOAs in San Clemente and Baja California (I serve on the Water Supply Committee in my Baja community -- an important issue there). When my children were in school, I was always an active participant on the campus, usually on the Board, of their PTAs. I also served as leader of a Girl Scout Troop for seven years in Long Beach. I am also the organizer of a public (meetup) book club, the Dive Bar Bookclub of Orange County, with over 900 members.
I was a tenured Professor of Earth Sciences at El Camino College in Torrance, and have also taught at USC, Cal State Fullerton, and Mt. San Antonio Colleges.
I was a founding Board member of Iraq's first environmental NGO, Nature Iraq, in 2004, and continue to serve as as a Technical Advisor to the group.
9. The Beaches, Parks and Recreation Commission meets on the second Tuesday in February, April, June, August, October and December at 6:00 p m. Please explain any challenges, if any, you may have in meeting this commitment.
I' can do that!
10. Please describe your views on the quality of City beaches and parks, including any steps you feel should be taken for improvement.
San Clemente has beautiful beaches and parks, in particular the parks are well-maintained, and well planned. I use the Dog Park extensively! I think the expanded pickle ball courts sound wonderful, and also he mini-golf facility -- but these projects will need careful planning, and I'd love to be a part of that effort.
Our beaches are one of our core values, and those beaches have been gradually eroding away and we need to focus on bringing back sand -- and keeping that sand on our beaches. The upcoming Federal project will greatly enhance the City-owned beach around the pier, however North Beach and State Beach are in critical condition. We need to renew our efforts to truck sand into North Beach. At State Beach, the beach has eroded to a critical point where the railroad tracks are being undermined, causing OCTA to dump ocks in front of the tracks, which creates a vicious cycle of turbulence and erosion. We have to work with OCTA to restore a wide sandy beach in front of those tracks, or we risk the potential that this erosion will continue to work its way northward and erode even more beach.
11. Please use the space below to explain any other factors about yourself that you would like for the Counci l members to consider as they review your application.
truly desire to serve my community and make San Clemente even better than it already is. I believe that 1aving a member of Save Our Beaches on the BPR Commission will serve to better coordinate our efforts. I oak forward to working collaboratively with the other Commissioners, City staff, and Councilmembers to 11ake our town even better.