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Home October 2005 |
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Greenbelt Newswire
In this edition
Volunteer of the Month: Bob Johnson The short space we have in the Newswire makes it difficult to do justice to Bob Johnson's many contributions to Greenbelt Alliance—but we'll try! Bob has been a supporter of Greenbelt Alliance for many years, and is a Board member, Urban Outings leader, and Greenbelt Outings leader. In all his roles, he is energetic, knowledgeable, and dedicated. Originally from the Midwest, Bob lived in Japan for 12 years and witnessed extensive sprawl development there. When he moved to the Bay Area over 20 years ago, he wanted to make sure the Bay Area didn't make the same mistakes. Bob discovered Greenbelt Alliance, became a member, and then steadily got more involved. In 1991, he joined the Board of Directors, to which he brought an unusual and valuable mix of knowledge about architecture, the Bay Area's wild landscapes, urban design, and sound financial planning. In 1994, he joined the newly formed Urban Outings team, and in 1998 he took on still another role as a Greenbelt Outings leader. Bob currently serves on the Board of Directors' Executive Committee, the Policy and Program Committee, and the Finance Committee. He still provides unflagging leadership on the Urban Outings team-and the Greenbelt Outings he leads are some of our most popular hikes. Bob's innumerable contributions to Greenbelt Alliance have kept the organization strong, and successful. Thank you, Bob!
Election Update: Sprawl Developer Land Grab on East Bay Ballots In the East Bay, the fates of four developer-backed sprawl-inducing ballot measures will be decided on November 8th. In Antioch, Brentwood and Pittsburg, sprawl developers and their friends on the local city councils have placed deceptive urban growth boundary (UGB) measures on the ballot. But unlike the numerous UGB measures that Greenbelt Alliance has supported around the region to protect working farms and natural areas, these initiatives—measures K, L and P respectively—would open up approximately 5,000 acres to development. Greenbelt Alliance urges voters in Antioch, Brentwood, and Pittsburg not to be fooled by the sprawl developers: vote no on Measures K, L, and P. Measure D is a similar developer-sponsored initiative in Livermore. With Measure D, Pardee Homes is attempting to expand the city's established UGB to build 2,450 tract homes on rare habitat and rolling hills north of town. Pardee has spent over $2.4 million to try to persuade Livermore voters that this sprawl plan is a model of smart growth. Greenbelt Alliance encourages Livermore voters to say no to Pardee Homes and no to sprawl by rejecting Measure D. The outcomes of these four measures will have regional implications. If the sprawl developers win, they may be emboldened to pursue deceptive growth control measures elsewhere, trying to buy their way around the planning process. That would affect all Bay Area residents, and that is why it's so important to defeat Measures K, L, P, and D. To volunteer to help defeat these sprawl measures, click here.
Election Update: Cupertino Anti-Smart Growth Initiatives In Cupertino, on Election Day, voters will decide on three ballot measures that will shape the look and feel of their city for years to come. Cupertino's Measures A, B and C would, respectively, limit building density to no more than 15 homes per acre, set a new limit on building heights of 36 feet (about three stories) and require new buildings to be set back 35 feet from the street. These measures would effectively require all new development in the City of Cupertino to be sprawl-style development, pushing development outward onto open space while creating an environment that is unfriendly and unwelcoming to pedestrians. Greenbelt Alliance is urging Cupertino voters to vote no on Measures
A, B, and C.
Alert: Proposed Oakley Development Relies on Aging Levees The failed levees in New Orleans have sparked a debate about the aging, fragile levees along California's Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Many of the delta levees are over 100 years old, and several failures have already occurred. One levee failure in 1997 caused 24,000 homes to be damaged or destroyed entirely, and 100,000 people had to evacuate to escape flooding. In spite of the obvious dangers, the City of Oakley is attempting to build in a flood zone behind the levees. The proposed development would put over 3,500 houses on an island called the Hotchkiss Tract. Almost all of the development would be below high tide, and large areas would be well below sea level. Oakley has plenty of room to build inside its existing limits without putting future residents at risk. Greenbelt Alliance submitted comments this month on the proposed development's Environmental Impact Report, and will continue to oppose this unsafe, unnecessary proposal to build houses and schools in a flood zone. Write a letter to the editor of the Contra Costa Times (letters@cctimes.com) to oppose Oakley's proposed development. Find out more here.
Announcement: Upcoming Member Survey: What Do You Think? Are you a Greenbelt Alliance member? If so, keep an eye out for a survey arriving soon in your mailbox, and please take a few minutes to fill it out. Let us know what issues are most important to you, and how well we've been doing at communicating with you. We want to know what you think, and will use your responses to improve our work. If you're not a member, join now!
Event: November 11th: Bruce Babbitt on Sprawl Bruce Babbitt, former Secretary of the Interior, will be speaking about
sprawl development and signing his new book at two free public events
on Friday, November 11th. His book, Cities
in the Wilderness, looks at 1990s conservation efforts and considers
a federal role in land use policy.
Feature: Take the California Budget Challenge Could you do better than California's elected leaders at balancing the state's budget? Give it a try! The Next Ten project has created a simple questionnaire that allows you to make decisions about how to raise and spend funds to create the best possible future for our state. To take the Budget Challenge, visit http://next-ten.org/challenge.php To increase your budget knowledge, take the Budget IQ Quiz: http://next-ten.org/iq.php
Sun Oct 30: Sunol’s Summits Become a Member or Renew Your Membership Support our work to protect the Bay Area's open space and make our cities better places to live. Click here to join or renew, or click here to join our Greenbelt Guardian monthly donor club. Questions? Contact Melissa Wright at 415-543-6771.
Thank you for reading! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Greenbelt Alliance Newswire email list or because a friend from the list forwarded the message on to you. For more information, please visit http://www.greenbelt.org. To unsubscribe, simply send an unsubscribe request to info@greenbelt.org. |
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