This is just so SoCal:

Two of the Santa Barbara’s great preoccupations — progressive politics and sky-high real estate values — have collided over the last couple of months, yielding high drama over an art project that was to denote land imperiled by global warming with blue waves painted on downtown intersections.

“The community conversation turned into a frenzy,” said Mayor Marty Blum, one of the idea’s supporters. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.”

Last week, the activist behind the city-backed wave project withdrew his plan, abandoning for now the idea of vividly charting just what would happen in Santa Barbara if Greenland’s ice sheets turn to slush. Opponents, who believed that the aptly named “lightblueline” project would sink property values on the wrong side of the line, claimed victory.

“If you’re below the line, there’s a stigma,” said Jerry Beaver, a real estate developer who owns a warehouse and other property that would be swamped if, as lightblueline predicts, the oceans rise 23 feet over the course of time.

Even the U.N., which has an interest in meddling in everyone’s business, only predicts a rise in sea level of 34 to 17 inches by the year 2100. Let’s see them paint that line. It would be on a pier support, no doubt.

That’s the kind of embarassment you face when you trust Al Gore for facts.