TO: Mr. Greg Mohr
Planner, Environmental Steward, and Caretaker of the Public Good
Everywhere You Look, Santa Barbara County
FROM: Your Friends, Colleagues, and Admirers
Dear Greg:
Please accept this belated Letter of Public Comment that is respectfully submitted upon your passing at the much too early age of 69 this past April. You solicited countless and respectfully acknowledged such letters from the public over your decades as an environmental and long-range planner; we thought it only reasonable and appropriate to take this opportunity to engage your legacy in this manner.
We know you as a remarkable individual who addressed our quality of life throughout the city and county of Santa Barbara in your deliberate, unassuming way. You consistently engaged tricky land use issues and conversations with the general public, folks with pointed political viewpoints, and those making the tough decisions on the County Building’s Fourth Floor (home to the Board of Supervisors for those not familiar with that ethereal power). You never strayed from advocating for what was the just and honorable course of action, while never seeking attention. We remind you of only a statistically relevant sample of what you simply would say was “doing the right thing.”
1) You left a promising graduate student path after your first year UCSB Geography Department in 1978 to join the heralded Department of Environmental Review, headed by the wily Al Reynolds. For those of us who followed you at the county, we could appreciate the temptation to work with creative and passionate characters dedicated to implementing relatively new California Environmental Quality Act and Coastal Act, bulwarks established to ensure orderly and environmentally sustainable (we know you didn’t use that hip word back then) development. You’re remembered as the new guy working on the first Regional Growth Impact Study undertaken in the county. You assiduously and meticulously defined Research and Development land use categories in the Goleta area, gathering data on existing and projected development to project associated employee housing needs. Your affinity for data analysis and presentation set the gold standard for addressing this land use concern, still present with commuters not finding housing on the South Coast.
2) We admired your dedication to the public good extending well beyond your county planner position. You are remembered as a longtime member on the City of Santa Barbara’s Environmental Review Committee (long defunct!), an objective, advisory board assessing the adequacy of the city’s environmental impact reports prepared by consultants. Your comments were incisive and could be critical, but clearly defined. And you always made sure that the coffee was made for your committee colleagues and city staff prior to each meeting.
3) Your dedication to civic responsibility and organization integrity was considered integral to your personality. You constantly and proudly wore your Service Employees International Union button to work (trading off with your Earth Day pin), and gently educated us newbies as to the legitimacy and strength of joining the union. We don’t think you were ever more alive as when we union members went on strike (successfully, as it turns out) to address health care and salary considerations. Some of us could only cringe when we would see you returning in your short-sleeved Oxford shirt with the tell-tale bandage and adhesive tape around your elbow after giving blood; it seemed like it was every other month — and it likely was. You never lorded this over us, and when we asked did it hurt, you’d answer, “Maybe just a pinch at first, but it’s really pretty easy.”
4) Your dedication to helping others understand and appreciate your environmental commitment affected each of us, not just the public. You always were pleased to explain a concept or technology, and were considered one of the keepers of County institutional planning knowledge. You generously helped us master new word-processing programs like Word Star and Word Perfect. You enjoyed and were respected for your years of team-teaching the environmental impact assessment courses offered at UCSB, which involved matter-of-fact explanations and colorful story telling. But you shied away from a management role as a County Supervising Planner — you considered your influence was greater outside of management.
5) In spite of your serious motivating planning passion, you knew how to have fun. You called your colleague a “comrade” after you both were accused of being communists in an unhappy public comment letter. We could count on you to don Santa Claus garb and white beard at our department X-mas parties. You were a lively competitor at Friday evening volleyball games at East Beach, a toaster at State & A happy hours, a regular at our son’s Pony League MacKenzie Park baseball games, and a cheerleader during our bus trips to Chavez Ravine rooting for the Dodgers (what happened on those buses stayed on those buses).
Greg, you enriched our lives and our community with great humility. We thank you for your commitment, integrity, and friendship.
Greg was a huge supporter of the UCSB Environmental Studies Program. Contributions in his name can be made here: giving.ucsb.edu/to/environmentalstudies.
With great respect,
David Stone
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