(Palo Alto Weekly published this letter from CGF correcting the discussion of the No on E position taken by CGF’s Board of Directors. Where the last line says “Committee for Green Foothills Board of Directors”, the Weekly failed to include the words from the letter that started with “On behalf of Committee for Green Foothills Board...
Author: Brian Schmidt
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Major step forward in San Jose (and a minor step back)
Yesterday, San Jose approved the General Plan that the City and we (together with other environmental groups) had been working on for years. Good coverage in the Mercury News: About two dozen speakers addressed the council on the Envision 2040 goals that include: adding as many as 470,000 new jobs and 120,000 new housing units;...
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Letter to Mountain View City Council on History Museum at Cuesta Annex
(CGF sent the letter below to Mountain View City Council. -Brian) October 18, 2011 Mountain View City Council Re: Please preserve the living history of Cuesta Annex by locating the History Museum at a different site Dear Mayor Siegel and City Councilmembers; The Committee for Green Foothills and Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society do...
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Center for Biological Diversity warns San Jose and Santa Clara County not to walk away from Habitat Plan
(Below is a letter from the Center for Biological Diversity warning San Jose and Santa Clara that withdrawing/suspending their participation in the Habitat Plan could result in immediate legal vulnerabilities. It’s the same issue I warn about in the video above. -Brian) August 29, 2011 Santa Clara County Board of SupervisorsCounty Government CenterTenth Floor –...
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Two minutes, three points, three successes
It’s hard to figure out how many points you can get across in the very limited time for public comment at various agency meetings. In the case of Monday’s San Jose Task Force meeting to revise its General Plan, they gave us two minutes. I decided to make two points and get in a third...
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Guest post: A Riparian Exploration of San Jose
(Below is a guest post by CGF Intern Kelsey Grousbeck. -Brian) We all know urban creeks don’t get the best treatment. There are organizations and felons dedicated to cleaning the banks and there are messages above storm drains that caution people to think before they dump, but these measures cannot protect every...
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Joint Organization letter on the San Jose General Plan
(CGF co-authored the letter below with a number of other environmental groups. -Brian) August 15, 2011 Mr. Andrew Crabtree, Envision Team Leader Planning, Building and Code Enforcement San Jose City Hall 200 East Santa Clara Street San Jose, CA 95113 Dear Mr. Crabtree, On behalf of Greenbelt Alliance, the Loma-Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club,...
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CGF Comment letter on San Jose General Plan Programmatic EIR
(We wrote the letter below on the draft environmental review for the San Jose General Plan. CGF Intern Kelsey Grousbeck did great work co-authoring this letter. -Brian) August 15, 2011 Andrew Crabtree, City of San Jose RE: Committee for Green Foothills comment letter on the Draft Program Environmental Impact Report for Envision San Jose 2040...
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CGF letter gets extension of time to file comments on San Jose General Plan EIR
(We’re happy to note that the letter we wrote and found co-signers below resulted in a two week extension of time to file comments by anyone, greatly helping the role of public participation. CGF Intern Kelsey Grousbeck did great work to help make it happen. San Jose staff also deserve credit for being willing to...
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Apple orchard in Cupertino?
Take a look at this Youtube video of a presentation by Steve Jobs to Cupertino City Council, discussing a potential new campus for Apple that would bring back plum orchards and natural landscaping. The new jobs could also have a lot of impacts that need addressing, but the proposal is interesting. -Brian