Current Elected Officials and Some Background
(3/2005)
City of
Santa Clara BAREC info
Our elected officials need to see
that there are many citizens who support BAREC. Write to them even
if it is a short note. Numbers count in politics. The most
important thing is that we get one more vote on the Santa Clara
City Council to Keep Some of the Land Zoned Agriculture. Try to
get these elected Officials to influence the Santa Clara City Council
in this direction.
CITY
THE TWO MOST LIKELY SANTA CLARA COUNCIL MEMBERS TO VOTE FOR AT LEAST
SOME LAND REMAINING ZONED AS AGRICULTURE ARE ALDYTH PARLE. Aldyth
Parle is the oldest council member and is focused on Senior Housing.
She should be happy because senior housing appears to be happening
on the property. It is possible she would vote supporting some land
remaining zoned agriculture. Creating a unique situation for seniors
(like activities for children, gardens and garden classes, senior
horticultural therapy programs, a historical museum) might get her
interested in saving some of the land. In February the three city
council members who voted in favour of open space are Mayor Patricia
Mahan, John McLemore, and Dominic Caserta. The other four voted
for housing with research as to possible open space funding ideas
(which has not yet been done satisfactorily even after 3 ½
months). The two most unlikely candidates to vote for open space
are Jamie Matthews, who received campaign money from the State’s
consultants and a great deal of money from developers outside the
Valley, and Patrick Kolstad, the only Republican council member.
The City’s Ethical Code frowns on council members receiving
campaign money on issues they vote on. For this reason, it is hoped
that Jamie Matthews is forced to recuse himself from voting on the
BAREC issues. If he recuses himself, the vote will be a tie.
STATE
The two that represent the BAREC property are Senator John Vasconcellos
and Assembly Member Rebecca Cohn. Neither have strong interests
in the property nor are they strong on environmental and land use
issues. Senator Vasconcellos has 1 ½ years left in his term.
Assembly Member Sally Leiber represents most of the City of Santa
Clara but not the exact location of the property. She feels there
is a problem because there are Assembly rules against going into
another elected official's district, in this case Rebecca Cohn’s
district. The strange shapes of the State Assembly and Senate Districts
makes this a very real problem for BAREC. However, if they really
see the value to their constitutients, they can do anything and
this is just an excuse. Sally Lieber has interests more in line
with the BAREC property (environmental, health, open space, sustainability,
non-traditional learners, and “enhancing local government’s
collaboration with our schools and community organizations”)
than Cohn and Vasconcellos. Assembly Member Joe Smitian and Senator
Byron Sher are both former Palo Alto mayors and represent northern
Santa Clara County. Senator Sher is a former Stanford law professor,
Chairman of the Environmental Quality Committee with interests in
natural areas and not agriculture and urban ecology. He is on the
Budget Review Committee. He will be termed out in 1 ½ years
and is concentrating on the Valley’s linear creek trails and
the Salt Marshes. Assemblyman Smitian is currently the most interested.
His interests, more than any other elected official, are aligned
with the BAREC property. He has degrees in law and city planning,
was School Board President, Santa Clara County Supervisor, is on
the Budget Subcommitte for Education Finance, and received UC’s
2002 Legislator of the Year award. He will be running for the Senate
seat of Senator Sher. We will be fortunate to have him help us.
Rebecca Cohn and former Assembly Member Elaine Alquist will be running
for Vasconcellos’ Senate. Alquist followed Vasconcellos when
he was termed out of his Assembly seat and, therefore, is probably
aligned with Vasconcellos to obtain his endorsement.. She was on
the Cupertino School Board so has strong interests in education.
She was Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Ageing and also the
Technology Information Committee.
FEDERAL
U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren and U. S. Representative Mike Honda
represent the region on the federal level. Both are on the Science
Committee and are interested in Education and Technology. Representative
Lofgren was a lawyer and taught law at Santa Clara University. Their
contributions could be the following: (1) Funding sources in particular
the $1 Billion available from the Federal Farmland Protection Program;
(2) National historical status for both the 1920 house and for the
agricultural land; (3) What governmental organization replaced the
national Grand Army of the Republic? If it was the Federal Department
of Veteran Affairs, then the federal government owns one of several
parcels of this land because the land was given to the Women’s
Relief Corps, the local organization for the Grand Army of the Republic.
Also, the money to build the 1920’s building was raised by
the Women’s Relief Corps. (4) Given the 1860’s federal
government’s Land Grant College system, is it possible to
remove a UC agricultural research facility for California's Central
Coast Bioregion and not replace it?
CONTACT THEM!
CITY (Santa Clara)
Full
list of Council members
Email Santa Clara City Council
STATE
Office of Assembly
Member Joe Smitian
Karen Brunton, Environmental Issues Specialist
karen.brunton@asm.ca.gov
160 Town and Country Village
Palo Alto, CA 94301
650-688-6330
Fax 650-688-6336
Office of Assembly Member Sally Lieber
Kim Williams, Environmental Issues Specialist
kim.williams@asm.ca.gov
100 Paseo de San Antonio, Room 300
San Jose, CA 95113
408-277-2003
Fax 408-277-2684
Office of Senator Byron Sher
Mike Potter, Environmental Issues Specialist
mike.potter@sen.ca.gov
100 Paseo de San Antonio, Suite 206
San Jose, CA 95113
408-277-9460
Send a pre-formatted letter
to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Choose the letter that best states your opinion
and send these immediately:
Letter 1
- PDF Format
Letter 2
- PDF Format
Letter 3
- PDF Format
Letter 4
- PDF Format
You can also send an email backup to
insure your letter is read by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Email, send a letter, or call him at:
Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-445-2841
916-445-4633 (fax)
governor@governor.ca.gov
www.governor.ca.gov/state/govsite/gov_homepage.jsp
Office of Assembly
Member Rebecca Cohn
Nicholas Ammann, Environmental Issues Specialist Nicholas.ammann@asm.ca.gov
901 Campisi Way, Suite 300
Campbell, CA 95008
408-369-8170
Office of Senator
John Vasconcellos
Jim Weston, Environmental Specialist Jim.
Weston@sen.ca.gov
100 Paseo San Antonio, Suite 209
San Jose, CA 95113
408-286-8318
Elaine Alquist, Campaign Office for Senate
alquist4senate@aol.com
PO Box 1192
Santa Clara, CA 95052
408-985-4172 or 408-985-4124
FEDERAL
US Representative Mike Honda
Matt Bostick, Environmental Assistant
matthew.bostick@mail.house.gov
1999 So. Bascom Avenue, Suite 815
Campbell, CA 95008
408-558-8085
US Representative Zoe Lofgren
San Jose Office Manager
635 North First
San Jose, CA 95112-5110
408-271-8700