But it may be accurate. Yesterday’s Coyote Valley Task Force meeting did nothing to reduce the worries we expressed earlier about eliminating San Jose’s triggers that forestall development. The meeting did raise a new worry though. Developer Steve Speno very briefly mentioned the possibility of some type of creative financing tying residential and commercial development...
Category: News
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Did CGF invent a new catch-phrase?
CGF has long opposed oversized residences in rural areas that dominate the visual landscape, suck up resources, and encourage land speculation. I’ve never been satisfied with the term “monster home” because the word “home” connotes something positive and cozy, which these buildings aren’t. Last fall I thought of and began using the term “monster mansion,”...
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Trouble in Coyote Valley
A memo signed by Mayor Gonzales and Councilmember Williams suggests that San Jose is trying to abandon its decades-old policy of “triggers” that would restrain Coyote Valley development until the City is prepared to handle the massive growth. The memo is here. Some of our concerns: *The concept of “phasing by the willing” seems to...
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Our comments on the Vintage Subdivision project and North San Jose
CGF submitted two short comment letters on the Draft EIRs for a subdivision in the hillsides above Milpitas, and on the large development planned in North San Jose. They’re reproduced below. -Brian (To see a satellite picture of the Vintage Estate area click here. It’s the brown hilly area south of the main road.) ———...
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Short posts
The Mercury News gave us a great editorial on our effort to reform the enviromental review process at Santa Clara County: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/11440064.htm And another good article on local endangered species, featuring the checkerspot butterfly we’ve been working so hard to save on Coyote Ridge: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/11460237.htm I actually didn’t realize the checkerspot had been found throughout...
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A public forum on Pilarcitos
The Pilarcitos Creek watershed isn’t all that large, but it drains the western slope of the foothills from Skyline to Half Moon Bay, and thus brings quite a lot of water to the Pacific. The debate about appropriate use of all this water has been going on for more than 140 years. Today its management...
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CGF-Sierra Club comments on Santa Clara County HCP Planning Agreement
Sierra Club asked CGF if we would join them in sending a letter commenting on the Draft Planning Agreement that local agencies are submitting to state and federal wildlife agencies. The agreement would help plan out how the local agencies will develop a Habitat Conservation Plan for Santa Clara County, which will greatly influence future...
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Good news updates
A “three-per” here: 1. San Jose City Council will require an informational memo from staff on alternatives to Coyote Valley. It wasn’t clear to me they would do that, partly because I couldn’t hear what a City Council member was saying, but it looks good now. An actual hearing to oversee staff would be better,...
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Lost a Coyote Valley skirmish, but watch this space
A half-hour ago, San Jose City Council failed to require City staff to present a list of alternatives for Coyote Valley development prior to beginning the EIR for Coyote, despite the fact that staff had promised that list at a previous meeting. The vote couldn’t have been closer – it was a tie 5-5 vote,...
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Thinking of an elephant to avoid the death of environmentalism
Two documents have created a great deal of ruckus in the liberal political community and in the environmental community: Don’t Think of An Elephant, by George Lakoff, and The Death of Environmentalism, by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger. Lakoff argues in Don’t Think of an Elephant that liberal/progressives have failed to articulate a compelling overall...