“Monumental” is the title of a new documentary about the life of David Brower, the most important and maybe the most interesting environmentalist of the 20th Century. This documentary features archival footage of Brower’s work and his experience as a leading mountaineer prior to World War II. Brower built Sierra Club to prominence, got fired,...
Category: News
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Ethnic diversity increases support for open space
I recently attended a very interesting meeting of the Bay Area Open Space Council, a grouping of nonprofits and government agencies concerned with managing open space. One presentation (available on their website) concerned the effect of increasing ethnic diversity on public support for open space. The presentation was short, but had mostly positive news. Here...
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Earth and Art Day in Woodside
We at CGF find it very timely and appropriate that the theme of Woodside’s annual environmental festival this year is “Earth and Art.” They’ll be holding the event on Saturday, October 9 from noon – 4pm at the Runnymede Sculpture Farm, where some 150 modern sculptures are placed about the 120-acre landscape so as to...
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A victory for San Jose on high speed rail
Today’s Mercury News had a good article with a bad headline in the print version: “High Speed Rail Setback for San Jose” (the online headline is better). The bullet train environmental planning process will now consider a route over Altamont Pass that may, we emphasize may, be more environmentally beneficial. Only doing the study will...
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Rushing towards sprawl in Coyote Valley
One advantage of this blog is it gives us a chance to share documents that might not fit on other parts of the website. Here (in PDF format; requires Acrobat Reader) is a letter we delivered yesterday to the San Jose City Council. Of particular interest is our concern that the county-wide habitat plan may...
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More South County development rumors
The news buzzing around is that the Ohlone Native American tribe living in the south Santa Clara County area has cut a deal with the owners of the 5,000-acre Sargent Ranch. The landowner is supposedly paying for the process of lobbying for federal recognition, and in return the tribe supposedly will help Sargent Ranch develop...
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Local land conservancy next step in open space protection
Our colleagues at Peninsula Open Space Trust have been raising private money to buy open space since 1977, and have been remarkably successful. Their work often depends on that of Committee for Green Foothills, which acts to defend lands from development so that they remain as open space and are thus worthy of purchasing, but...
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News roundup- Santa Clara County
A news roundup, with our comments. In the Mercury News: Plan to clean up mercury contamination in the Bay reaches the Water Board today. These plans rarely get to that level without having the political path paved in advance, so it will likely go ahead. CGF follows this issue, but we are careful to remain...
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Mercury News perspective on Coyote Valley shifting?
The Merc has two new editorials on Coyote Valley, in advance of today’s Coyote Valley Task Force meeting: Triggering Coyote, and Main Issues Must Be Solved Before Approval. The Merc is right to insist on “triggers” that require job creation prior to Coyote Valley residential development. From CGF’s perspective, this requirement shows the fallacy of...
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The nice developers in Morgan Hill
Probably the most interesting meeting to date about the proposed Urban Limit Line (ULL) in Morgan Hill happened on Tuesday. The ULL is supposed to indicate either the permanent limit to the city’s growth, or its limit in fifty years, depending on the person describing it. This contrasts with the city’s current Urban Growth Boundary,...