Stanford’s proposal to expand the Alpine Road sidewalk is out, and can be viewed here. No big surprises, but plenty of hints remain that the “poison pill” that Stanford inserted, giving it control over San Mateo County’s review of alternative trail locations, will be firmly enforced. Welcome to Stanford’s concept of environmental review. Actually, giving...
Category: Stanford
Acknowledging both sides of the Stanford trails debate
Copied below is a letter that the Committee for Green Foothills sent to the Palo Alto Weekly. The link to the online Weekly letter is here, and this was sent in response to a letter from Stanford University printed here. -Brian ———- Examining evidence The community groups opposing the expansion of the Alpine Road sidewalk...
Resolving some of the Stanford trail mysteries
Over the last week or two, we may have figured out some of the questions surrounding the extremely disappointing action by Santa Clara County in choosing an expanded the sidewalk along Alpine Road instead of a real trail in the Stanford foothills. So here are some questions: Why did Stanford fail to support Supervisor Liz...
Come on Stanford
Follow this link to a commercial that played on television during the Stanford/USC football game several weeks ago: Come on Stanford I think it helps show the depth of concern over Stanford’s attempt to widen the Alpine Road sidewalk instead of putting in a new trail. While we at CGF were aware of the commercial,...
Stanford trails at Palo Alto candidates’ forum
Acterra recently sponsored a forum for Palo Alto City Council candidates to discuss environmental issues. The forum can be viewed online here, divided up by the questions candidates answered. Particularly interesting were candidates’ answers to a question regarding Stanford’s attempt to use the existing Alpine Road sidewalk as one of the two trails it was...
We’re watching you look around, Stanford
A little bird tells us that someone has commissioned a phone survey of Menlo Park residents to ask their opinions of Stanford, of increased development by Stanford, and their opinion of the Committee for Green Foothills. The callers aren’t saying who they’re working for, but we know they aren’t working for us, and that leaves...
Stanford trail and hotel news
We’ve been hearing about a potential hotel on Stanford land near the end of Sand Hill Road. Something like this has been under discussion for years, but news from The Almanac suggests they’re getting a little more serious. The land is undeveloped open space with some environmental value involved. CGF will be following this issue...
We win! We win! We win!
The title to this post is what I tried to convince our Outreach Director to put as the headline on today’s press release, but she went with something more sober: “Environmental group stops secret County-developer contacts” Regardless, it’s great news – Santa Clara County will stop giving developers favored access to the County’s environmental documents,...
Stanford’s improved finances to affect construction?
There’s been relatively little construction on Stanford campus pursuant to the 2000 General Use Permit, but much of that lull could be attributed to finances. Things may be changing: “The university’s investment returns last year were $1.7 billion. The university’s endowment is now $9.9 billion, up from $8.6 billion a year ago.” We’ll need to...
Stanford gets massive donation for housing
Stanford recently received a $43.5 million donation that is expected to be used primarily to house law school students. The university had previously announced plans to build a 500,000 square-foot dormitory near the law school. Generally, building on-campus housing is a good thing that reduces Stanford’s environmental impact. However, CGF will also have to watch...