| Current
Affairs...What's Been Going On... |
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SaveBAREC has suspended its involvement at the Santa Clara Farmers' Market to conserve resources. We will return soon. See
our table
Here is an example of the popular Green market New
York City Farmer's Market in Union Square where 3,000 students
from 82 schools participate in Green Market's Educational Tours,
with over 250,000 visitors a week to the local Farmer's
Markets!!! Here is a link to the local Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA) at the San Francisco Ferry Building: http://www.ferryplazafarmersmarket.com/
August 2007
Sept 5, Santa Clara Weekly article: Former Council Member Asks SaveBAREC "Where's the Beef?". Click here.
August 2007
Aug 22, NBC11 interviewed Sahron McCray, the BAREC historian and former employee for UC at BAREC about the hisroty and future opportunities for the property.
Aug 21, SC City Council votes unanimously to place the resolutions on the ballot. See our press release and statement during the meeting.
Aug 14, SJ Mercury News article: Santa Clara activists sue to stop housing near Valley Fair. Click here.
Aug 10, SaveBAREC files CEQA lawsuit against the City of Santa Clara to protect citizens, ensure proper soil cleanup, and challenge the incomplete EIR.
Aug 8, Silicon Valley Metro - The Fly - Report on success of petition drive. Click here.
Aug 1, Santa Clara Weekly article: BAREC Question Likely Headed to Voters. Click here.
July 2007
July 29, SJ Mercury News Internal Affairs article on possible bribery from SummerHill. Click here for story.
July 27, Santa Clara Weekly on SaveBAREC successful referendum petitions. Click here for story.
July 27, SJ Mercury News article on SaveBAREC successful referendum petitions. Click here for story.
July 27, Rose Garden Resident article on SaveBAREC's plan to stop approved
rezoning. Click here.
July 25, Metro article on toxic issues on BAREC. Click here.
July 23, Santa Clara Weekly covers SaveBAREC press conference on petitions. Click here for story.
July 19, SJ Mercury News article on SaveBAREC referendum petition activities. Click here for story.
July 18, ABC 7 News covers the event (with KGO Radio, SJ Mercury News, Santa Clara Weekly, and Rose Garden Resident.
July 18, SaveBAREC turns in two petitions with approximately 6,000 signatures...in less then three weeks.
July 2, SJ Mercury News article on SaveBAREC referendum petition activities. Click here for story.
June 2007
June 29, Rose Garden Resident article on petition to reverse the
rezoning of BAREC site. Click here.
June 21, Santa Clara Weekly article on the results of the vote. Click here for story.
June 21, SJ Mercury News article on the results of the vote. Click here for story.
June 20, NBC News covers BAREC as a top story on the 11 O'clock News
June 20, SJ Mercury News writes article on City Council result. Click here for story.
June 19, City Council approves all applications and changes the agricultural zoning of the property. SaveBAREC initiates a referendum.
June 17, SJ Mercury News OpEd article on BAREC showing the reasons for preservation.
June 16, 10am BAREC Legislative Summit.
May 2007
May 14, Santa Clara Planning Commission vote 4-2 in favor of the application for development (O'Neill and Barcells denouncing the motion to approve....Fitch makes motion, Hardy seconds, and Champney and Marine all in favor of the housing proposal).
April 2007
April 25, Santa Clara Planning Commission delays discussion on BAREC until May 14th at the request of the public.
April 25, SJ Mercury News EDITORIAL on BAREC stating it is too late to save BAREC. Please write the editors (click here) and tell them how disappointed you are in their comments and how wrong they are. It is never too late!!!
April 25,
Kathryn Mathewson will be interviewed about the current BAREC issues on Public Radio station KKUP 91.5 at 7am. Call in questions at 408-260-2999.
April 25, Second Planning Commission meeting at 7:00pm at City Hall, Council Chambers to review the Final EIR
April 24, SJ Mercury News article on BAREC and how Global Warming is becoming more and more relevant.
April 11, Planning Commission meeting at 7:30pm at City Hall, Council Chambers to present Final EIR to public
March 2007
March 29, Final EIR released for review online (not available in hard copy)
March 6, San José District 6 run-off on March 6, 2007. See what the candidates say here.
February 2007
February 25: SJ Mercury News supports Tedesco as the "most credible candidate." Click here for the story.
February 15: SANTA CLARA COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION SUPPORTS BAREC'S HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE TO THE STATE
On February 15, the Santa Clara County Historical Commission voted as follows regarding BAREC:
...1. The current Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) is inadequate and does not include all of BAREC's history (unanimous).
...2. We believe BAREC is so historically important to the State and County that it should be placed on the State Historical Registry (yes 7, no 1).
February 15, Tedesco interviewed (28min) on Environmental Concerns with David Bonasera supports BAREC preservation. See a 10 second clip where he talks about BAREC.
February 12, SaveBAREC endorses Steve Tedesco for San José City Council District 6. Please click here to view our press release. This is the first time SaveBAREC has endorsed any political candidate. To view a comparison of Tedesco vs. his opponent, please click here.
February 8, Full Circle Farm is voted on and accepted. An organic urban farm is coming to Sunnyvale! Santa Clara Unified School District supports this fully. This is very similar to what we are proposing for BAREC. The community is now coming around to this!
February 4, Linda Perrine and Kirk Vartan interviewed on Straight Talk, the Santa Clara County Democratic Club TV program. Click here to view the show.
February 1, Candidate Forums and Coffee Chats dates posted for both candidates as well as their public statements on BAREC.
January 2007
January 18, BAREC on County Historical Commission Meeting Agenda.
December 2006
December 28, Environmental Concerns with David Bonasera hosts another show on BAREC with Linda Perrine and Kirk Vartan. Click here to view the show.
November 2006
- Re-discovered a letter of memorandum dated Feb. 26, 2003 from San Jose City Council from Yeager and LeZotte saying they want to apply for a Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant from the State of California. Click here to view the memorandum.
-
Sierra Club published article on what SaveBAREC members will to preserve this land. They will not stop.
- November 12, Santa Clara Weekly's Letters to the Editor shows a resident agreeing with Kirk Vartan's position on BAREC.
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See our web page on political candidate positions (Mayor and City Council) on BAREC. Click here.
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November 6, 7:00 pm. The Final Word with Tom Shanks in the Council Chambers, City Hall. Tom was told not to bring up BAREC. Why is that????
October 2006
- October 25: Santa Clara Weekly publishes NIMBY response from SaveBAREC member Kirk Vartan. Click here. See the original NIMBY article here from Scott.
-
October 16: 7:00-9:30 pm. Mayoral/Council Candidate Debate in the Council Chambers, City Hall, Santa Clara. It is sponsored by the Citizens Adversary Board, the Santa Clara Weekly, and the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce. NOTE: BAREC WAS NEVER EVEN BROUGHT UP FOR DISCUSSION EVEN THOUGH AT LEAST SIX (6) QUESTIONS WERE ASKED. We are now learning the meeting ended not due to time, but due to the "lack of any additional questions." Makes you wonder why no BAREC questions are being asked.
September 2006
- September 24, SaveBAREC sponsored Community Informational Meeting, 4pm-5:30pm, Farah-Sayfie home: 3216 Dorcich Ave, Santa Clara
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September 20, Letters from experts and Societies on why BAREC is an historical resource. Click here.
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September 17, The State hired a contractor to fix the BAREC fence on Forest Ave. He was NEVER TOLD about the contamination on the site. He dug 2-3 foot hole for the posts, endangering his health and the neighbors.
- Sept. 15, SummerHill, Santa Clara Methodist Retirement Foundation, and Charities Housing send out a letter announcing a meeting on September 28th at 6:30pm at the Lynhaven Elementary School. Click here.
August 2006
- See the web page on political candidate positions (Mayor and City Council) on BAREC. Click here.
-
August 15-September 2: Migrating Canadian Geese use BAREC as a landing pad. See the video here. 100s land every day.
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August 20, The SJ Mercury News awards SaveBAREC.org the Grand Prize for NIMBY. Click here to see it. Scott Herhold wrote this and we encourage you to write him. He really needs a reality check.
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August 11/14, The State did the weed cutting. Some dust was put in the air, but for the most part, the need weed control was done. Thanks to the State for doing this to protect the neighborhood. The DTSC was supposed to have air monitors on site, but they did not. No one knows why.
- August 9, Go to our web page that puts most of the relevant past City Council meetings on one page. Click here to see it.
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August 4, The City of Santa Clara sent out a "COURTESY WORK NOTICE" for weed abatement on BAREC to select neighbors only. This has been neglected for months.
July 2006
- July 25, BAREC Recirculated Draft EIR available online here (late in the day).
- July 24, BAREC Recirculated Draft EIR NOT available online.
- July 23, BAREC Recirculated Draft EIR NOT available online.
- July 22, BAREC Recirculated Draft EIR NOT available online.
- July 21, BAREC Recirculated Draft EIR NOT available online.
- July 20, Notice of the BAREC Recirculated Draft EIR was just released. Public comment period open. The documents are not yet posted online (as of July 23rd), but hopefully the city will do this soon. Doesn't seem fair that the clock starts before they are available to the public. They said the documents are available at the library.
-
July
18, SaveBAREC presented the benefits of an Educational Urban Farm to the City Council.
June 2006
- June 28, Presentation to the Santa Clara Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC). Click here to see.
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June 20, The New York Times article From Artichokes to Zinfandel. Farm Tours by Patricia Leigh Brown shows how agriculture generates business and revenue for cities.
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June 19, Anna Werner from CBS 5 Investigates does a story about the toxins on BAREC. Click here.
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June 14, 6:00-8:00pm, Meeting to review the proposed 600,000 sq. ft. Valley Fair expansion.
- June 10, VIVA (Valley Initiative for Values in Urban Agriculture and Horticulture), our non-profit parent, now has its federal non-profit status. It is now an official 501(c)(3) non-profit and can authorize full tax deductions. Please contact us for details on how to make donations: viva@savebarec.org
May 2006
- May 19, Propaganda mailing sent to Santa Clara citizens in hopes to gather support for the housing project. Click here [2MB] to see.
- DTSC transcript of the public meeting on April 13, 2006 discussing the Draft Removal
Action Workplan.
- May 17, SummerHill
Homes has scheduled a meeting (inviting only a select few). So, we decided to spread the word.
- May 13, SJ
Mercury, The Valley section, Julie Patel's article entitled: Last
Ditch Effort to Turn Back the Clock.
- May 9, City of Santa Clara has moved the date of the next public
meeting to August/September 2006.
- May 9, SaveBAREC was on the Santa
Clara City Council agenda to request time to present an alternate
agriculture land use option (educational urban farm).
-
The Spring
2006 issue [500KB] of Preservation
Action Council of San Jose (PAC*SJ) news letter features a follow-up
update on BAREC.
- May 3, Silicon Valley Metro article on SaveBAREC
support, activities, and updates. Click
here for story.
April 2006
- April 26th, Santa Clara Weekly reports on tire
slashing of SaveBAREC group member. Click
here [200KB].
- April 12th, Santa Clara Weekly does a cover
story on BAREC. Click
here [1MB].
-
DTSC transcript of the public meeting on April 13, 2006 discussing the Draft Removal
Action Workplan.
- April 6th, SJ Mercury, The Valley section, Julie Patel's article entitled: Hearings
on Land Use Near Mall.
- April 6th, Historical and Landmarks Commission votes down
the motion to approve the History and Cultural Resources
section of the Draft EIR in a 5-2 vote! Great job! See the update
in the SJ
Mercury, Bay
Area News in Brief.
- April 3rd, SJ Mercury News, The Valley section, Sal
Pizarro states: "But when a piece of land wakes up people
enough to join a letter-writing campaign, it's probably worth a
second look."
- April 2nd, Sunday, 12:00-5:00pm - Successful Rally at the BAREC
site. See
pictures here.
March 2006
-
For a listing of all dates and events around the Draft EIR and Draft
RAW, please click
here.
- March 22nd:The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) released
their Draft
Removal Action Workplan (Draft RAW). Please see the bottom of this
page.
- March 13th, SJ Mercury, The Valley section, Julie Patel's
article entitled: No
Easy Fix to Loss of Farmland.
- March 9th:The City
of Santa Clara's BAREC Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) web
page is active.
- March 7th: BAREC
was on the agenda (see item 10) for the Santa Clara City Council.
See the last time BAREC was placed on the agenda by the community here back on April 26, 2005. See the videos and handouts from the March
7th meeting here.
February 2006
-
Call or email a letter to the SJ Mercury News' Sal
Pizarro (408-920-5473) asking to have BAREC added to the list
of places to preserve in Santa Clara County. Here is a sample
letter to send.
-
Met with the Santa Clara Citizens Action Committee and got support
for our efforts.
January 2006
-
See a Letter
to the Editor in the San José Mercury News, January
31st.
- San
José Mercury News article on BAREC published in Sunday's The Valley section, January 29, 2006.
- KKUP (91.5 FM) on January 26th at 10:00am to noon. Old Time Farmer
produced by former BAREC Director Dr. Craig Kolodge. Sharon McCray
and Dr. Craig Kolodge discussed BAREC.
- SaveBAREC presented at the Cory
Neighborhood Association on January 23rd at 7:30pm.
- KKUP (91.5 FM) on January 25th at 7-8:00am. Kathryn Mathewson
was on the show talking about BAREC.
- The latest
issue [700KB] of Preservation Action Council of San Jose (PAC*SJ) news letter
features BAREC.
December
2005
-
We now have over 3,000 signatures on our petition.
Thank you!
November
2005
-
We legally parked our truck in front of the property according to
local a Santa Clara Police Sergeant (SCPD), yet the vehicle
was towed. Have a look at the vehicle
report and the $457.41 tow
charge that I had to pay personally to get the truck out of
storage, plus the $25.00 SCPD admin fee, totaling $482.41 of out of pocket costs. The vehicle is
a legal expression of our 1st Amendment Rights!!!
- SaveBAREC was on the ABC 7 News
program at 6:00pm on November 9, 2005. Have a look at the video
[2MB] and the pictures.
- Well, we got to meet HRH The Prince of Wales when he was in
San Francisco with his wife the Duchess of Cornwall. I shook
his hand and got a packet of information to him, but no signature...yet.
Here are a couple of pictures of him enjoying
some organic produce and about
to meet our group. The San José
Mercury News even did a brief
write-up on the visit.
- Please get involved. Have a look at the EIR web
page on what you can do. Click
here.
October 2005
- Read the October 19, 2005 Silicon Valley Metro cover
story Secret
Gardens describing the political issues and views on BAREC.
- Read the October 20, 2005 Rose Garden Resident cover story Fate
of the former UC agricultural station rests in hands of Santa Clara
City Council describing the many views on the status of
BAREC, including some inaccuracies.
- The City of Santa Clara had an EIR
Scoping meeting on October 3rd. Please write the City. Read
the details here on what was said and what you can do.
- Read the Mercury News article "No
Fast Fix for I-280/I-880; It's a Parking Lot in Morning,"
by Gary Richards, talking about how problems accumulate and how
one more large development like BAREC without first fixing the interstate
problems will only add to these problems. Given the war and the
hurricane relief problems, will our government have the money to
fix these intersection problems in the near future? Is it worth
taking our historical land and adding even more problems to our
community?
September 2005
- Watch Environmental Concerns with David
Bonasera (aired on September 29, 2005). BAREC is the topic of the
show! The program is 28 minutes. Download the video here:
High
quality video [29MB]
- SaveBAREC presented to County Supervisor Jim Beall. Click
here [900KB] to see the presentation.
August 2005
Just Released: BAREC on the front cover and
the lead article in August's The
Californian [5MB] published
by the California History Center Foundation at De Anza College,
21250 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino, CA 95014. Written by Master
Gardener and Historian Sharon McCray. Published with permission.
Click
here to download.
July 2005
The State/Regional Guadalupe Coyote Resource Conservation District
(GCRCD) wrote a
letter to the State stating they needed BAREC to fulfill their
state mandated mission statement and wanted to work with the State
to determine how they or a nonprofit could purchase BAREC to keep
it as agricultural land. Click
Here to read it. This letter also stated:
"Since the State is legally required to first offer BAREC to
State governments and districts and did not and since GCRCD is a
State/Regional Agency, the GCRCD’s opinion is that we legally
have the right to request the Department of General Services to
halt your current BAREC plans and offer the site to us. Since the
State did not offer BAREC to the GCRCD, we are requesting that you
do so now."
June 2005
- The nonprofit VIVA (Valley Initiative for Values Agriculture)
sent a
letter to the State with an offer to purchase BAREC for an agriculturally
zoned price to be used to meet community needs. Click
here to see the letter.
- San
José Mercury News article on BAREC published
twice (June 16, 2005 and on June 23, 2005) in The
Guide. Please write the San José Mercury News (letters@sjmercury.com)
and tell them you do not want BAREC developed!!! The letter to the
editor can be no longer than 125 words and you must include your
full name, address, and day time phone number.
We
have a table at the Santa Clara Farmer's Market every Saturday,
from 9:00am-1:00pm. Please stop by and visit us and sign our petition
to Save BAREC! If you would like to help man our table, please let
us know. |
