Michelle Griffith - The Spectrum Magazine

P.S. The People Speak: Letters to the Editor
Saltworks plan can benefit all
Dear Editor:
With any development plan there will be opposition and that is part of a fair
and democratic process. DMB Associates invested an enormous amount of
resources for the benefit of Redwood City before submitting a plan on the
Saltworks site. This has been a diligent process of ensuring public input
into many of the aspects of a development of this magnitude, and I have
participated in this process. Now they have submitted their plan to the City of
Redwood City for review.
Yes, any development brings challenges, such as a strain on resources,
added traffic, pollution, etc. Studies will be conducted under the city’s
management to bring these issues to the surface and discuss benefits and
impacts, and residents will be invited to participate in this process and review.
It is clear to me that we have many needs in Redwood City, including
additional housing, new open space and recreational facilities. We need
more housing near jobs so people don’t have to commute so far. I believe that
taking cars off the road and reducing commute times is one of the best things
we can do for the environment and for our quality of life.
With a concerted effort of community input and professional management
of the review process by the City of Redwood City, we will end up with a plan
that benefits all residents of Redwood City, not just one group or one need.
Robert S. Huibers, President, NAHREP of Silicon Valley
Residents will be heard on Saltworks
Dear Editor:
For the past three years, Redwood City has participated in an open process
about the future of the Saltworks site. The developer, DMB Associates, met
with community groups and individuals to listen to their ideas of how the
property could be used. Literally hundreds of people participated in these
discussions.
The result was the Saltworks 50/50 Balanced Plan. It includes specific
requests from community residents, including wetlands restoration
and habitat, a sports complex, a transit link to downtown, parks, trails,
pedestrian-friendly design, recycled water and access to the bay. Forum
participants also asked for no high-rises, housing for working families instead
of luxury homes, and schools.
I am pleased that DMB engaged the community before submitting a
proposal. I am also pleased that their proposal addresses a number of
community needs.
Now our city leaders are beginning to study the submitted proposal. The
developer and Redwood City are working through the established review
process. This process has checks and balances, numerous opportunities for
public input, and a complete environmental review. Residents will be heard
and well served by this process and by the smart-growth plan that will result.
As a longtime resident of Redwood City, I am grateful that our community
has a collaborative approach to development.
Georgi LaBerge, Redwood City
Residents voted to allow Saltworks to proceed
Dear Editor:
The problem with single-issue politics and organizations is that, when their
point of view has lost, they don’t have anything else to do but try to force
their will on others. The result in Redwood City, regarding the Saltworks
plan, has been a series of nasty charges being hurled at our city’s leaders, not
one of which has any basis in fact.
These groups don’t seem to care about the people who live here and raise
their families here. They only care about getting their way for their single
issue at the expense of any other needs or issues that also deserve attention.
Sorry. We settled this in the last election, when the residents of Redwood City
voted overwhelmingly to allow the Saltwork’s project to proceed.
We are a diverse community with a wide variety of needs and, fortunately,
our city leaders represent Redwood City as a whole, not just a single group
or issue. They have been willing to listen to all sides and deserve better
treatment than the ugliness coming from those single-issue detractors!
Corrin Trowbridge, Redwood City
Decide: We have got enough Saltworks information
Dear Editor:
How is it that the rest of Redwood City (and neighboring towns up and
down the Peninsula) can smell a bad idea before it’s fully cooked and we’re
forced to eat it, but the Redwood City City Council seems to have their noses
plugged? How many times does the City Council have to tell us they “need
more information” to make a decision on Cargill’s planned new city in our bay?
We’ve got reams of information, more than enough. What are they waiting
for? What is going to tell them that a city of 25,000 built below sea level
makes sense? Well, sorry, that information just doesn’t exist.
Really, what we have here is a group of people who have already made up
their minds but won’t come clean on that score. Actions speak louder than
words — here’s what the City Council has done by giving Cargill/DMB the
green light to go forward: ignored the existing open space zoning, demonized
anybody who expresses the obvious inadvisability of this plan, hired
consultants with previous ties to the developer and, worst of all, collected
paychecks from those who’ve made their support public (the mayor’s day job
with SAMCEDA is no secret).
The only explanation is that the City Council supports the project and is
unwilling to countenance its citizens’ well-documented strong opposition.
Thus they continue to toss out the red herring of “more information” and
pretend to their constituents that they’re still getting to know Cargill/DMB,
when in fact they eloped with them months ago.
Nancy Arbuckle, Redwood City
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