As the relentless pace of coastal erosion inches closer to the well-trodden paths atop Sunset Cliffs, San Diego officials have decided to step up with a tangible response. "Mother Nature continues to take her toll on the bluffs and cliffs here in the area, so we need to keep up and make sure that we’re keeping public safety in mind," Jose Ysea, a spokesperson for San Diego, told KPBS.
Installing a new barrier that nudges the boundary of safety back from the alluring but treacherous cliff edges is a measured step to prevent the kind of tragedies that have occurred in the past. According to the same KPBS report, a recent shift in what was once solid ground to the perilous edge has forced the city to rethink how to best protect people from these natural dangers without the construction of a forbidding fortification.
The upcoming installation, as reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune, will stretch along approximately 200 yards of bluff line near Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in Ocean Beach. This initiative appears to be part of a more extensive Coastal Resilience Master Plan that the city is drafting, which aims to fortify the vulnerable coastal zones against the inevitable approach of the Pacific.
Critics might scoff at the effectiveness of a small barricade, but we can't deny that even simple measures, like a series of wooden posts connected by heavy cable, could serve to check the casual cliff-goer from wandering into the unknown. Just ask any family who's suffered loss due to such unforeseeable natural calamities—such as the $30 million settlement collected by a family in Encinitas after a fatal cliff collapse, as KPBS reminds us.
Despite the construction, which the San Diego Union-Tribune expects to be completed within the next week, visitors can still soak in the iconic views at Sunset Cliffs. Susan Butler from Solana Beach stated in an interview with KPBS: "I think it’s a beautiful section of coast and as long as we can get up and look at it and appreciate it, I don’t see any harm if they put up barriers to keep us safer." It seems that for many, the splendor of Sunset Cliffs is undiminished by the necessary presence of safety measures intended to protect and preserve.
