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As I Was Saying…
Publisher | Steve Penna
To say that current Mayor Rosanne Foust and
some of our City Council members felt betrayed
and bewildered by the recent announcement that a
coalition of environmental groups were planning
on gathering signatures in our community to put
an initiative on the November 2008 ballot is a
complete understatement. They did and continue
to feel that way.
If you have not heard yet, the coalition — Save
The Bay, Committee for Green Foothills and the
Friends of Redwood City — have filed paperwork
to change the city’s charter and to place the fate of
all projects involving open space in the hands of
voters rather than the City Council.
To qualify for the November ballot, proponents
must gather signatures of 15 percent of the registered
voters in Redwood City at the time the city clerk
qualifies the document. There are approximately
35,000 registered voters in the city. That means
they need, give or take, 5,250 signatures.
The filed petition now reads that by passing
the amendment, “the voters of Redwood City
ensure that current and future voters have the
right to protect open spaces from the threat of
inappropriate development.” What they are really
saying is that the environmentalists hope to stunt
future Redwood City developments — any and all
— and are targeting any development on Cargill
Salt’s 1,433-acre property.
Save The Bay Executive Director David Lewis
— who is not a Redwood City resident — said
the proposal is a “response to the assault on parks
and open space.” I have to wonder what assault
on parks and open space he is referring to in
Redwood City? He and his group clearly do not
have our community’s best interest at heart and his
use of scare tactics is not helpful to the process
in our community. This is exactly why his words
and absurd accusations should be rejected by us.
Redwood City has a reputation for being
environmentally friendly. One need only to look
at our city’s parks and trails, Bair Island and
designated open space to qualify statements to
the contrary as untrue and inflammatory. Why
not just stick to facts and your opinions to gather
support? Why resort to those types of tactics that
have divided our community in the past? In my
opinion, they do not care about are community,
as most special interest groups do not. They just
want what they want at any cost.
What this initiative/charter change would
actually do is take away the rights of all property
owners in our community, and not just big
developers trying to get projects approved. Why
should people from outside our community
have the right to come here and try to enact
change for their benefits? They should not! It is
clear that signing the initiative would put our
community into severe debt by having to pay for
election after election after election and so on.
This would also take away our electoral process
of electing City Council members who fairly
and impartially gather facts and information on
projects and issues facing our community and act
appropriately according to the judgment we have
bestowed upon them by electing them. Why don’t
these groups just run residents who share their
views during the election process? Oh wait, they
did that already and lost.
(continues on page 26)
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