Doug Korthof, Sic Transit: Environmental, Wetlands, Clean Water & Electric Car Advocate, Battled Bureaucrats, Politicians & O'Neill Administration's "Queensway Bay" Tidelands Trust Swap

Word of his death came from long time friend Joey Racano who said Mr. Korthof passed away at 9:00 a.m. Feb. 5 with his family at his side. "My heart is at half mast today. Arguably the greatest environmental activist in California history, my teacher and best friend, Doug Korthof moved on to be with the ancestors. The loss of a man this great surely must require something good to happen in the world, for sake of balance. I will be watching for it," Mr. Racano wrote on Facebook.

Mr. Korthof was a kind man but didn't suffer foolishness gladly and didn't mince words from a public podium. In September 2001, he was among members of the public opposed to removing tidelands protection from some commercial parts of the Queensway Bay development (on what had once been some of the most valuable beachfront in California) in exchange for putting the tidelands designation on part of freeway median (at LB entrance/exit to the 710 freeway) and some polluted L.A. riverfront parcels.

While others (including the LB Area Chamber of Commerce, a City Hall chosen advisory committee and others likeminded) applauded the transaction, Mr. Korthof stepped up to the Council Chamber microphone and gave Mayor O'Neill, city management and Councilmembers a piece of his mind. LBReport.com, then just over a year old, transcribed and published his remarks in some detail:

Mr. Korthof:....I live in Seal Beach...You are heading for a potential trainwreck and you should be ashamed for doing what you're doing as usual.

You had two years of planning supposedly with all kinds of public meetings and those people didn't even think about the fact that this was protected by tidelands trust. They didn't even consider it. That's supposed to be planning? Who contributed to that? They didn't even see that it was supposed to be tidelands trust.

Now this is just a bad idea. If this goes through, this mechanism can be used elsewhere, so it's not going to go through. There's going to be massive opposition. Whatever it takes, we're going to fight it. Everybody's going to fight it. You're not going to go. It's a stupid idea.

The only thing that saved Huntington Beach, as I talked with a reporter today, was the fact that they had tidelands trust on their beach and they were not able to go forward with a stupid project like this, with staff to staff, just the same sort of thing...

We will battle this tooth and nail. The only people that support this project are those who have crashed Long Beach and caused us to have the current train wreck. When you destroyed the downtown to build that stupid mall, you didn't support the small businesses and you went through all the redevelopment money and all the tidelands trust by destroying our existing downtown.

We heard testimony here that the downtown was dying in 1958. That's not true. Long Beach was a beacon of where everybody used to come because it had a beach and it had entertainment and it was lively. Now, it's dead, and it's getting deader...

Anybody who votes for this project not only should be ashamed of themselves, you should be taken to task...

We believe history has already begun to judge harshly -- and should -- what LB officialdom did at Queensway Bay. We are confident history will likewise record -- and should -- that Doug Korthof was among those who were on the right side on that issue, and others.

Mr. Korthof described his political views with typical flamboyance on Facebook: "Citizens Against Virtually Everything, we predate the so-called "tee party" poseurs." Under "basic information" about himself, he wrote:

We are fortunate enough to have received our Nissan LEAF, now we'd like to publicize how great life with an EV supported by an honest car company can be. Next models of the LEAF will be better, and will be made in Smyrna. Nissan hopefully will recycle old batteries to new batteries, using the same metals, so no new mining needed, when our batteries wear out (sooner than our NiMH, which is still rolling fine after 9 years and over 100,000 miles on the same battery pack). I'd rather buy a plug-in car made here, as well as fueled here; gosh, GM crushed them all!

On learning of Mr. Korthof's passing, Don May (who fought the land swap in court and won, only to have LB and Sacramento politicians undercut his victory by legislatively enabling a second land swap) wrote on Facebook:

...Doug was a close Friend, trusted ally and valiant fighter for our precious wetlands, mistreated ocean and abused aina, as well as things EV and solar. The Land, the sea and those of us who love and respected him will miss him deeply. Our condolences go out to Lisa, his pillar of strength and son William in this time of loss, far, far too soon. With deep sorrow...Sic transit valoris