((PKG)) SEA LEVEL RISE ((Banner: Filmed Before the COVID-19 pandemic)) ((Banner: The Rising Sea)) ((Reporter/Camera: Arturo Martinez)) ((Drone Footage: Duncan Sinfield, Mike Kirk – FlyinCameras)) ((Map: Pacifica, California)) ((Main character: 1 male)) ((Sub-characters: 4 males; 6 females)) ((Banner: In the past 100 years, the ocean in the San Francisco Bay Area has risen 20 centimeters. By some estimates, by the end of this century, it could increase by almost three meters more. Now, the California Coastal Commission is requesting 60 California cities to update their local coastal preparation programs.)) ((NATS/MUSIC)) ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) Pacifica is a small city just south of San Francisco and it's known for its beautiful beaches, the open hills. ((NATS)) ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) But Pacifica has a problem related to sea level rise and bluff erosion. ((NATS)) ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) Climate change will affect how fast sea level rises and the stronger winter storms that are the major cause of erosion of the bluffs. That is the big problem. We've actually lost a couple of apartment buildings a few years ago and we have more under threat. ((NATS)) ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) I'm John Keener. I’m a former research biochemist and former council member and Mayor of Pacifica. This is the coastal trail over what once were houses and yards and so on. So, you can see the front door of the houses was almost even with the edge of the bluff now. ((NATS)) ((Courtesy: Drone footage: Mike Kirk - FlyinCameras)) ((Jane Tollini, Citizen of Pacifica)) This was my house, 556 Esplanade. There was a garage over here. There was also the most fabulous bathroom with the bathtub right on the ocean. It was for me perfection. I loved living here. One day, I was just sitting in my living room which was on this side and I went into my bedroom and part of the fence was missing. This whole part of the cliff had fallen down, but it was sand, so it just kind of went "wooosh". And then a few days later, the neighbor's hot tub fell in and then the city said, "You know, it looks like they're going to fall into the ocean, so we're going to demolish them." And the demolition guy got to my house and you could see the claw come out, reach for my house and before it even touched it, the house committed suicide. It just pulled off of its foundation and fell in like a Monopoly house. The coasts are just in trouble, big, big trouble. ((NATS: Breaking news)) El Niño storms are speeding up erosion along California's coast. Families urged to get out before their homes go over the edge. These apartment buildings are teetering on the verge of disaster. The apartment cliff dwellers of Pacifica changed status this morning, from residents to refugees. Well, I thought we would have to move sooner or later. It just happened sooner. Tonight, El Niño's fury ripping apart this chunk of the California coastline. Look at the edge. The pavement just crumbled away. Another 20 feet [6m] used to go out there, all of it falling over the edge over just the last two weeks. ((NATS)) ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) Right down there, there's only about 30 feet [9m] of bluff left before these apartments become like those apartments down there. And so, that's why they're doing all this construction down on the beach is an attempt to reinforce the bluff and to stop the erosion. In the long run, it won't work. ((NATS)) ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) Yeah, good to see you, Charles. ((Dr. Charles Lester, UCSB Marine Science Institute)) How are you? ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) Good. How are you? ((Dr. Charles Lester, UCSB Marine Science Institute)) Good. Quite a mess out here. ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) Yeah. ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) I know Charles from, he was one of the contractors that helped us write the sea level part of our local coastal plan. ((Dr. Charles Lester, UCSB Marine Science Institute)) We were sort of, I think, lulled into a false sense of security in locations like this. We thought they were safe. When this building was built, the projection was that it would be safe for 75 years at least without a seawall. That was in 1972. Seawall was built about 40 years earlier than expected. So, the long-term solution is to pull back gracefully. The idea of managed retreat, you know, it gets simplified down to this, "Oh, the state is telling people they have to move out of their homes tomorrow.” No. Managed retreat is about anticipating what's going to be happening over decades, you know, decades of time. ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) Do you want to deal with this on an emergency basis which is the way we've dealt with it so far and it's the most expensive possible way to deal with it? Or, do you want to plan for it a little bit and find a cheaper way to deal with it? ((NATS/MUSIC)) ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) The community is not dealing with this very well. Some of the community are up in arms against managed retreat. I lost an election because of it. ((NATS/MUSIC)) ((Jim Steele, Former Director, SFSU Sierra Nevada Field Campus)) Some of this climate change fear mongering is distracting us from the real solutions to make a more resilient environment. There's definitely been climate change. I think the issue is, how much are we affecting it, how much is natural? Here on the West Coast, we are affected by El Niños and La Niñas. You’ll have this erosion happen during an El Niño. This place is going to always keep eroding. So, people shouldn't have built here because it was the wrong place to build because the very fragile cliffs. But now, we have a legacy of all this infrastructure, almost all the businesses of Pacifica are here on the coast. Do you just give up on them? I think we have a legacy problem where, let's build a seawall and protect it. ((NATS)) ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) Another environmental problem that Pacifica is facing is sea level rise for low lying areas that could be flooded. ((NATS)) ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) During the winter and king tide events, if we get a big storm, that is real bad for the seawall and the community and us. We're getting wet. ((NATS)) ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) So, the folks against managed retreat, so called, are homeowners and the realtors. They don't want to lose the value of their homes. ((NATS)) ((Suzanne Drake, Resident of Pacifica)) I was and continue to be a vocal critic of former mayor, Mr. Keener. Anticipated sea level rise could be 50 or 100 years from now and by all means, chances are, we're all going to be dead by then. Sure, we can have a conversation about it but why doom all of these properties with a stamp, a label that makes it difficult to gain equity, to take out equity in your property, to sell your property? ((NATS)) ((Chris Redfield, Resident of Pacifica)) Pacificans are naturally resilient. If they live here, they're going to be resilient. Anything here that you're looking at is, you know, that's 2 or 3 million dollars, that's a million dollars, that's a million dollars. And everything that's here has been because we have fought Mother Nature. That's what man does. So, the goals are to protect what we have. That's what we're looking for, is help with funding, which is millions of dollars for seawalls, but without state or even national funding, it's almost impossible, especially for a town that basically has a very non-diverse tax base. ((NATS)) ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) Seawalls can last 30, 40, 50 years and a seawall will eventually cause the beach to disappear by erosion. ((NATS)) ((Cindy Abbott, Resident of Pacifica)) I recognize that my property may not be here in the future and that it may go back to nature. In the year 2100, right around here is where the new coastline will be. I don't think that I'm going to be around at the time that that happens but what's important to me is seeing that problems aren't pushed off for future generations. We can try to think that we can contain this, but it's widely known and so, insurance companies are aware of this. There are already conversations going on about if bank loans are going to continue with 30-year mortgages. But if we choose not to talk about it, we won't be able to get beyond our fears. ((NATS)) ((Alan Greenberg, Resident of Pacifica)) We essentially moved here to get closer to nature and we kind of made an agreement between my wife and I and our kids that we're not going to leave this house to them in our will. We didn't want them to have to deal with what might be down the road 50 years or whatever. Well, our life isn't permanent. We're just borrowing where we live and that was a huge lesson into understanding the impermanence of man and people think, "Well, the house is a permanent place", but it's not and this is actually part of that lesson. ((NATS)) ((Alan Greenberg, Resident of Pacifica)) You know, climate change or not, there could be some huge storm that could damage your house. So, the whole debate about managed retreat that is going on in Pacifica is a little strange, because some people who don't want it basically say, the city should guarantee that we have protection against the ocean, which is rather strange because here I am, a well-to-do person and if they had their way, I might get city money to protect my house. So, the question is, is it fair for a private person to get benefit from taxpayers’ dollars which in my book is totally wrong. This is the shutters we use when we are expecting big storms. We had to actually pay for some of the seawall here also. ((NATS/MUSIC)) ((Cindy Abbott, Resident of Pacifica)) There used to be houses on this beach. ((Margaret Gardel, Naturalist)) Right, south of here, between here and the creek. Taking the homes, the two houses, beach houses, away from the beach here, is a really good example of successful managed retreat. We've created a new beach, new public areas and people use this a lot. ((NATS)) ((Margaret Gardel, Naturalist)) John, you always have paid attention to the facts and the science. ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) I am a scientist, so. ((Margaret Gardel, Naturalist)) And you got lots and lots of good environmental work done during that two-year period. ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) Yeah, we did. ((Margaret Gardel, Naturalist)) A very, very dirty campaign was run with an enormous amount of money that went into negative campaigning. ((Cindy Abbott, resident of Pacifica)) Right. It was from national associations and state associations interested in development and with less concerns about understanding the environmental concerns. ((NATS)) ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) Ah, yes, here we go. This was the first one. Me barbecuing the money. Paid for by California Association of Realtors. Major funding from the National Association of Realtors. This was from another organization and it says, "Managed retreat ‘draconian’ ". It's a headline from the Pacifica Tribune. Another headline says, "Ready to retreat?". ((NATS)) ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) After I was not elected, the next mayor was Sue Vaterlaus. ((NATS)) ((Sue Vaterlaus, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) They didn't want him elected because he was in favor of managed retreat and realtors are in favor of personal property rights. It's just inborn in us to protect properties and if there's a red line around your house where you live, are people willing to give you insurance or mortgage? What about the values of their homes? And then, the values of the homes affect the city because our city income is based on property taxes and therefore, the city won't have as much money. To me, the beach is great. Everyone loves the beach. We all lived here because of the beach but people are more important. ((NATS/MUSIC)) ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) I've always been an environmentalist. One of the good things about losing that second race for city council was that I get to focus on issues that really matter to me instead of having to deal with everyday matters of city. I do this about once a month on Friday and it's inspired by Greta Thunberg. ((NATS)) ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) Holding up my sign for protesting climate change. Dwayne, how are you? ((NATS/MUSIC)) ((John Keener, Former Mayor of Pacifica)) Politicians are in a tough situation with respect to climate change. We've never had an issue like this. There are real consequences to doing nothing, which is what we're doing right now. The extreme position, I think, is “no managed retreat”. Eventually, the ocean is going to win. ((NATS))