Hi everyone, hope you are all well and off being busy ... though I do miss everyone here.

Lately I've been bogged down with my anger against a government institution/bureaucracy and the idiots who support them and though I've volunteered to fight with others against them, it has shaken me to my core and I'm not quite sure how to deal with my feelings.

Let me explain: As I've mentioned before I live in a smallish community on the California coast. Our town has a rural/agricultural history and because we're separated geographically from more urban areas by small mountains its been historically difficult to get here as there are only 2 major roads and they're rather arduous to drive. So, behind my neighborhood and going north there are hundreds of acres of public lands that are accessible to the public, but almost exclusively used by locals -- and their dogs. Some people have been walking their dogs on these lands for over 30 years. Many of the trails you can walk on a week day and never even see another person, and many of us live here for that very reason; our county has very restrictive dog laws and dogs are not allowed in any county parks. But our town does allow them on some beaches, and there's even a few state parks that do allow dogs. The lands in question have always been off-leash areas.

So, what's happened recently (and suddenly) is that the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) has acquired our local lands from the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) and their proposed "Dog Management Plan" is to ban dogs completely, with a $250 fine for anyone caught with dogs there! Even though most National Parks do allow dogs on leash.

If that weren't insidious enough, they're also proposing to put a "portal" (some combination of ranger station, public parking, visitor center, toilets, etc) in my neighborhood, which is only about 200 homes with no "through" traffic. There is only one road in/out.

If anyone reading this lives in an area popular with tourists, you can probably guess what this means. Most people who live here do their shopping on Friday and stay home on nice weekends as we get hundreds of people coming to our town and beaches. They cause traffic jams, leave their garbage, let their dogs run wild on the beaches and don't clean up after them. That's just something we live with (and indeed the town's economy depends on), because we have the weekdays, the foggy weekends, and our hiking areas that outsiders don't know about. So someone telling me I can't walk one block to the top of my road and hike with my 2 dogs off leash is a huge slap in the face; having a ranger nearby to enforce the rules and opening up our community (which is maintained by HOA dues) to outsiders feels like a kick in the stomach or worse ...

I'm sure I'm coming off as being selfish, as well as denying that change does happen, but these proposed changes have rocked me to my core. As we've discussed on this forum before, us HSPs don't do well with change, and this feels like some big government assault where we locals have little or no voice -- they actually seem like they're trying to pass all these new regulations on the down low. And I'm just SO ANGRY!!!!

I am working with a local Dog Owners Group (who has been maintaining and improving the trails in one large area -- at their own expense -- for over 5 years now), who in turn is working with about 20 other area dog groups who will be effected by these changes (the new lands the GGNRA is taking over are in 3 counties). But how much anger can be dispelled by polite letter writing???

Long story short, we as HSPs have a profound sense of right and wrong, but what is our outlet for that? I personally can't deal with people yelling and confrontations, it makes me physically ill. So what to do? How do you fight for your beliefs without making yourself sick?

Thanks!

The answer is to get other people riled up, and let them do the ranting and raving. In many cases, though, letter writing can be effective. I really believe that perseverance is the biggest trump card. Keep at it, and wear them down.

Petitions are effective, as well. If you can present a petition to the GGRNA with specific details and concerns residents have and enough signatures on it, that should have enough power to at least begin discussion of the problems your cite.

If you can also get your local government/homeowners associations into it, that will give even more power to it. If the kind of problems you cite will escalate with this new land use proposal, it might affect property values and long-term, off-peak revenues for the city/county, making it potentially unattractive to buyers who support the local infrastructure.

The idea is to find a happy medium between the broader scope of public land use and its specific effects on local residents and landowners. Those involved in determining public land use must take those concerns into consideration in their decision-making.

Also, find out which government entity the GGNRA is tied to--county government, state parks, national parks--and make sure you send them a copy of the petition(s), as well.

I agree with all the above: a war of attrition is a good answer. I've noticed that HSPs are very good at keeping going, little by lttle, rather than big arguments flaring up and down.

Do you mind if I add a rant too?

The last government (Labour) set up all these wonderful schemes for children. one was Children's Centres (or Sure Start Centres). Teh idea was to centralise all services for children so parents would have a 'one stop shop' for help and advice, a co ordinating organisation to make it easier. They also set up savings accounts for newborn children, to be released at age 18 (or 21, can't remember) so the kids would have money to start them off.

These things were to apply to ALL children regardless of background.

But anyway, the new government (Conservative/ Liberal coalition) has decided to scrap all this! My local Children's Centre has only been open 3 years and provides essential services, for all parents, in an area which has a cross section of people, rich, poor, privat housing, council housing, the lot.

So that is it. I realise there have to be 'cut backs', but not in the case of children!! Haven't they heard of 'children are our future'? It makes me so cross that they are messing up such a vital service for children when they PROMISED to keep them open.

Thanks all for replying. I actually am involved with a group who is fighting the dog ban; they're a group of dog-walkers who have been maintaining the trails for several years, so they are fairly well established. The guy who started the group has attended meetings with all the muckety-mucks and seems very well informed on what's going on.

I offered my graphic design services and subsequently designed a flyer and a poster that are both being distributed all over our area. Today I'm designing a banner that someone is going to hang on their back fence (which backs onto the Rancho lands) that we'll have printed, and hopefully others will want to hang them on their fences too. So, I am doing things to help the cause.

I guess I didn't get it across, but what I was really asking you all was if you've ever experienced such a deep seated anger / worry / upset about something that it set you off kilter completely, without you even being able to identify what's upsetting you? I seem to have these subtle disturbances that are like a wave that lifts me up into complete discombobulation, and it takes me a while to realize A) that its happening and B) what's causing it.

For instance, last October an 80 foot Blue Whale washed up on a beach here. I was torn between wanting to see it and not wanting to see it, but I had just gotten my new camera, and I was going to be close to that beach, so I went. When I saw it it made me so sad, and I felt really gross about going to see it (it felt really disrespectful), and all the other people gawking at it, it was just horrible. What was even worse was that it was a pregnant female, and during the necropsy performed by scientists, they removed the baby and left it laying on the beach.

For weeks after that I was in a huge funk, really depressed, no energy to do anything. I had started seeing an acupuncturist by then, and she mentioned that many other clients were really upset about the whale too. She is also an avid dog person, so she knows about this whole dog ban thing and last week at my session she said she wasn't surprised I was so upset about the dog ban and the idea of having a Portal to lands in our neighborhood. She said, "well, you're so sensitive, its not surprising that this is effecting you so much. Remember how the whale effected you?" Then she gave me a treatment to strengthen my defenses! I do heart her!

So I guess that was my real question when I created this post. Does this happen to anyone else? What can/do you do about it ... should you do anything about it? Thoughts?

Cheers,
Lisa

PS: Kat, animals are my thing as I don't have children, but I hear you about all the cuts to child services: its happening here too, especially in California where the public schools (same as private schools in the UK) are just horrible. Why is it that the rich white guys get to make all the decisions? Blech.