Environmental Activists Advocate For Soil Quality, Leaner Government

Jul 23, 2009

By Patrick.

Citing waste of tax dollars, bureaucratic inefficiency, appreciation for scenic beauty, and giving back to the land, Friends of the Bridge, an activist group in Santa Barbara County California, filed suit seeking to block construction of a so-called “suicide barrier” at the 420 foot tall Cold Spring Canyon Bridge.

“We are trying to stop the wasteful expenditure of funds for legitimate traffic safety programs, including the widening of [Highway] 101 and many, many others,” said Marc McGinnes, an outspoken critic of the plan and spokesman for Friends of the Bridge.

Others have pointed out that the pulverized remains of dozens of suicides over the years, from a bridge of such height that no one has ever survived a fall, have done much to replenish soil within the canyon, which suffers from erosion caused by overdevelopment.

As the project would have a significant adverse effect on cultural and aesthetic resources, such as views while driving along the bridge, McGinnes said [California] is required to mitigate or avoid those impacts. However, he said the agency didn’t give the public a chance to comment on proposed mitigation measures before approving the environmental report.

“It doesn’t matter what they were,” he said. “We’re not asking a judge to say these aren’t good mitigation measures. We’re asking the judge to protect the public’s right to comment on them.”

Currently views along the bridge are obstructed by a steel guardrail measuring 32 inches in height. It is unknown whether the rail has ever deterred a suicidal jumper, or for that matter a poor driver, from plunging into the abyss.

(View depicting the scenic beauty below the Cold Spring Canyon Bridge.)

According to a biased editorial published by a local newspaper last year, 47 locals have chosen to plunge to their deaths from the Cold Spring Canyon Bridge since its construction. It is not known what those people, or their families, would say if allowed to participate in public comment.

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9 Comments

8 Comments

Mike • Jul 23, 2009 @1:43 pm

That’d be a beautiful place to die.
Mark • Jul 23, 2009 @3:17 pm

Why isn’t anyone discussing the impact on suicide tourism?

‘If we make it inconvenient for people to come visit Santa Barbara County (and kill themselves), they’ll just go somewhere else!’
Jess • Jul 23, 2009 @4:50 pm

Am I reading the subtext here correctly: that suicide is a horrible thing, and everyone who has ever done it should have been stopped from doing so, and if only we put up a few more fences next to precipices then no one would ever again make this tragic mistake?

Please, this is America. People shouldn’t have to procure guns to end their lives with dignity. I submit that this bridge is more effective than a gun in inexperienced hands, anyway.
Patrick • Jul 23, 2009 @5:22 pm

You are reading the subtext correctly Jess. I don’t believe that suicide, generally, is a dignified choice which should be left to the individual. I think it’s a tragedy.

Your second, rhetorical question doesn’t require an answer.
Rich Rostrom • Jul 23, 2009 @6:12 pm

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/398-bridge-to-nowhere-a-map-of-golden-gate-jumpers/

discusses a map/chart showing the distribution of suicides from the Golden Gate Bridge. (Most jump on the Bay side; there is a spike at light pole 69.)
Little Raven • Jul 23, 2009 @6:35 pm

I believe that suicide is rarely a dignified choice and almost always a tragedy, and that putting suicide rails on bridges is somewhere in the low 27 thousands on the list of things we should be worrying about.

Pretty bridge, though.
Mark • Jul 23, 2009 @11:17 pm

It’s well-intended, but…no matter what you do, there are other ways. You can’t put a suicide rail on every bridge, building, cliff. Prevention comes before someone decides to die.

Impolitic as it is to say, there’s not much point in this project. Saying so doesn’t make you pro-suicide, any more than opposing hate-crimes legislation makes you a racist. Intentions matter, but results have to guide decision-making.

Spend the money on mental health outreach. Or widen the highway.
mojo • Jul 24, 2009 @9:00 am

Hey, at least they picked a high enough bridge to get the job done. Nobody likes a failed suicide lying around moaning and bleeding.