Category: News

In August, CGF wrote to the Water District, asking them to help sponsor the KTEH public television documentary, Saving the Bay. We’ve just received a letter from the Water District Board of Directors saying they’re providing sponsorship. CGF has a long history of working on San Francisco Bay protection issues, most recently concerning Bayfront Park...

I gave a presentation on Tuesday to the Mountain View Rotary Club about the Land Conservation Initiative, and extremely important ballot item supported by Committee for Green Foothills. At the end of my presentation, the Rotary Club thanked me by giving a donation in my honor to the “Polio Plus” program that sponsors vaccination in...

A few items of interest to CGF members and friends: A local television report on the Measure A campaign. House prices increased 1.6% in Santa Clara County last year, which is a decrease when inflation is considered. San Jose’s fiscal analysis for Coyote Valley depends on prices increasing 3% above inflation consistently, and a shortfall...

The Santa Clara County LAFCo is developing a policy on requiring preserving farmlands somewhere in Santa Clara County to mitigate for the loss of farmlands when cities expand. It’s a good start, and CGF provided the comments below. -Brian (We provided similar comments to San Jose for its policies, here.) — September 18, 2006 Ms....

We have had two very encouraging decisions in the courts this week. First, San Mateo Superior Court Judge Beth Labson Freeman upheld LAFCo and County Elections on their conduct of the protest process for the MROSD (Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District) coastal expansion. And today, the California Supreme Court rejected Big Creek Lumber’s petition for...

Yesterday, Santa Clara County enacted improved viewshed protection for hillside development (Agenda Item 66) in the County, limiting the aesthetic impact from new development and giving people incentives to construct smaller, less intrusive homes. CGF asked for even stronger protections which were not granted, but developers’ efforts to weaken the protections also were rejected. Overall,...

CGF wrote the following short message of support to the Santa Clara Valley Water District, urging them to sponsor the public television special, “Saving the Bay.” This program will be a very useful method for public education. -Brian——— Dear Santa Clara Valley Water District Board Members: The Committee for Green Foothills urges the District to...

One of the San Jose Insider bloggers posted a great editorial supporting the Land Conservation Initiative, and a spirited discussion is in the comments section. -Brian

As we reported a while back, San Jose expects to make money off of Coyote Valley development only because it expects housing prices to increase exponentially faster than income, every year for sixty years. We think this reasoning is flawed, and the problems are already showing. The National Association of Realtors just released its national...

Below is a presentation I made to a Chamber of Commerce policy committee, explaining why we thought businesses should support the Land Conservation Initiative in Santa Clara County. -Brian——–The Land Conservation Initiative protects working rural landscapes from conversion into suburban low-density, monster mansions with lawns. Where that conversion has already happened or is inevitable, the...