Category: News

Santa Clara County LAFCo’s map of the Urban Service Area for Milpitas doesn’t match the restrictions that voters put in place in 1998. LAFCo met this week and postponed action to bring their map into conformance, but we hope it will happen soon. This will help clarify that sprawl is not allowed past a certain...

Click here, and click on the white box, and that’s where Committee for Green Foothills is located. Wikimapia is a new project allowing people to add notes and comments to a global map. -Brian

We sent the following letter in support of separating some leftover connections between the Santa Clara Valley Water District and Santa Clara County government, changing them from semi-separate to separate agencies. Both agencies wanted the change, and it should make accountability clearer. -Brian—————– May 15, 2006 The Honorable Joe Coto California State Assembly State Capitol...

At the May 15th Environmental Issues Forum for the 2006 San Jose Mayoral Candidates, an event cosponsored by CGF, candidate Michael Mulcahy suggested that some sort of preference should be given to locally-grown food. The Committee for Green Foothills suggested a similar idea last year, and showed how new development could be required to help...

With the wonderful support of the Peninsula Community Foundation, the Committee for Green Foothills was able to put on two “Political Breakfasts” where community members could talk with two respected community leaders about environmental issues. Below is a brief write-up on the Breakfasts, and we intend to add more information to other parts of the...

Last week, we gave San Jose a copy of the previous blog post on the problem of unrealistic fiscal assumptions used to make Coyote Valley fiscally responsible, together with the short letter below. -Brian ——————————— May 8, 2006 Coyote Valley Specific Plan Task Force Re: Draft Fiscal Analysis for CoyoteValley assumes housing prices will increase...

The Draft Coyote Valley Fiscal Report has a problem with extending a trend line indefinitely. It says that housing prices will increase at a rate of 3% above inflation indefinitely, for 50-60 years. This results in a similar increase in property tax receipts, which is then used to claim that Coyote will result in a...

We’d be interested in more information on both matters, especially the second one. If you want us to use only some information and keep confidential the rest, we can do that. -Brian

It seems to be on everyone’s mind. Over at Sanjoseinside.com, “Single Gal” switches from discussing the dating scene in San Jose to lamenting how Coyote Valley backers are ready to turn San Jose into “Becoming Los Angeles“. At Loma Prieta Sierra Club, they’ve sent a letter about the fiscal report for Coyote Valley development that...

We have asked Santa Clara County to investigate whether Stanford repudiated its earlier offers of a trail alignment on the south side of campus to establish leverage over the County. So far the County is not interested in examining this issue. I don’t believe that “no” is an acceptable answer, because we have no wish...