Message From Environmentalist Triggers Allegations of Racism

When environmentalist Leeona Klippstein got wind that Southern California home builders wanted to woo Asian investors during a conference in Carlsbad today and Friday, she figured this would be an opportunity to protest the loss of the state’s landscape to housing tracts.

The notion that California developers were actively soliciting foreign funds to bankroll their new neighborhoods was an appalling affront to the state’s environmental crisis, said Klippstein, a spokeswoman for Friends of the Foothills, based in the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena.

But Klippstein’s effort to rally her troops to protest the marriage of California developers and Asian money has sparked a protest of its own among other environmentalists.

Klippstein’s postcard, sent to 200 environmental activist groups in Southern California, read:

Urgent! California Is Under Attack

Developers Seek A$ian $$

Explosion of Urban Sprawl Looms

The postcard admonished: “This is your last chance to stop the destruction of Southern California!”

Joan Jackson, who holds both San Diego County and statewide titles for the Sierra Club, was immediately and deeply stirred--but not by the potential destruction of Southern California.

“I’m deeply offended by the postcard. I find it very racist, and I’m quite astonished that an organization purporting to be a conservation group would be using tactics that were used in Nazi Germany, witness the dollar sign in the word ‘Asian,’ ” she said.

“I showed the postcard to a number of people and, without editorializing on it, I asked them what they thought of it. And without prompting from me, they said it was racist.”

Doug Doepke, himself a member of Klippstein’s Friends of the Foothills, admitted that he, too, was a bit taken aback by the postcard’s pitch.

“Amongst some of our environmentalists, there is a real lack of political sophistication, not because there is any ill-will toward ethnic groups, but because they’re not aware of emergent political realities,” Doepke said.

The fact that the postcard seemed to take specific aim against Asians, he said, “is causing problems within the (environmental) coalition, and a lot of phone calling is going on. They’re finding out they need to get more politically sophisticated.

“I would not associate myself with any group that was xenophobic,” he said. “But I understand this isn’t the case. It’s a matter of political naivete. They should spend a little less time hugging trees and a little more time looking at the political landscape.”

Andrea McGuire, staff director of the San Diego Chapter of the Sierra Club, said her office received the postcard, too, but did not pass it along to its members.

“The Sierra Club does not promote any kind of discrimination based on race. We take positions on environmental issues, but this (protest in Carlsbad) is not an environmental issue,” she said.

The postcard listed a telephone number for more information about today’s protest rally. A recorded message told callers of “an important rally” to protest the convention, called “Pacific Resources ’92.”

“The California developer kingpins are meeting with Asian capital carpetbaggers,” said the message, which chided “shaded radicals (who) are meeting in order to come up with new money and new ways to destroy the environmental integrity of California.”

The message ends with an admonishment for protesters to tell the convention attendees, “California is not for sale. Go home.”

The conference is organized by the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California and will be held at the La Costa Resort and Spa. Among the sponsors is the Los Angeles Times.

The purpose of the conference, said BIA spokesman Bob Sutton, is to “explore and possibly establish new financial bridges” between Southern California home builders and Asian lenders and financiers.

Developers are turning to help from Asian sources because traditional funding sources--American banks and savings and loans--have all but dried up, Sutton said.

Among the topics at the two-day meeting are “Building Relationships with Asian Investors,” “Crossing Cultural Bridges,” “Asian Bank Financing” and “The Successful Joint Venture.”

Sutton said the BIA didn’t expect to be targeted for protest by environmentalists, “but it’s not surprising.”

“I think it’s misdirected and poor timing on their part,” he said. “Given the conditions of the Southern California economy, and particularly in the home-building sector, it’s kicking somebody while they’re already down.”

Still, Sutton said he didn’t take offense by the dollar-signed reference to Asians. “We won’t read anything into it,” he said.

Nor does Sutton expect any negative fallout among the conference attendees. “Anyone involved in the conference will recognize the (protest) ploy as tactics to gain media attention. But they don’t offer any suggestions or hope in dealing with the problems we have.”

Klippstein said she is “not the organizer of the rally. Nobody is. We just alerted others that this would be a good place for people to meet and rally, to let the building industry know we’re not in favor of any more fresh capital coming in for more development.”

She said the drafters of the postcard notice “had some concern that it would come across as racist, but it’s not. We’re upset that money might be coming in, period. Our focus is trying to preserve any wilderness and the last thing we need is for more money to come in.

“If they want to put in money for infrastructure or to rebuild L.A., that’s fine, but we don’t want any more gated communities or golf courses on sensitive lands.”

Dolores Welty, spokeswoman for the Carlsbad-based Friends of the Batiquitos Lagoon, said she originally intended to join today’s protest until the question of racism was raised, and now she’s not sure whether to participate.

“I don’t want to be called on the carpet for racism,” she said. “I didn’t detect any racism, myself. But others have mentioned it.

“But I am concerned by the emphasis this conference appears to be taking. It appears to be soliciting money for continued sprawl in California, for the continued destruction of our natural resources.”

Scheduled as the keynote speaker at the conference’s lunch on Friday is state Controller Gray Davis.