Dear Editor:
We are not confused; just conned. We are being told by our friend Michele Beasley of the Greenbelt Alliance that our hillsides, watershed, air, wildlife, ranchlands, farms and open space need to be protected.
She is trying to con us into believing that these resources are somehow currently exposed to rampant degradation. This is the same mantra we’ve reacted to for the last 40 years.
Certainly she is aware that those resources are actually not at risk of degradation. In fact, there are extensive laws that ensure such protections already in place, such as the Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, Clean Water act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and California Environmental Quality Act. Did I mention the undeniable fact that we have many, many thousands of acres of open land throughout our county presently protected in parks, plus extensive trail systems, with yet more land under protection in open space districts, the Water District lands, conservation easements, The Williamson Act? We have one park alone that is more than 80,000 acres – yes right here in Santa Clara County.
Additionally, she also pretends that we don’t have the County Planning Department.
Remember them? They are the folks that formulate and enforce the codes, regulations and permit processes that control the land use and building in our rural areas.
Yes folks, we all know the difference between the hillside building restrictions proposed by the County Board of Supervisors and the Santa Clara County Land Conservation Initiative. We know that the real difference is in name only. Both of these proposals are land grab efforts pushed by the environmental lobby organizations – such as Greenbelt Alliance, etc.
The appetite for land “protection” by the good folks at the Greenbelt Alliance is insatiable. Their aim is to exert an increasing amount of control over our community and how we live our lives.
One very effective way to do this is by eroding property rights. This is done through various regulations, “protections,” use restrictions, and de-valuation – such as the ones proposed in the hillside building restrictions and the Santa Clara County Land Conservation Initiative. Conservation is a code word for “remove private property rights from rural landowners.”
Ms. Beasley and our friends at Greenbelt Alliance want to put a belt around the neck of property rights – and they’re using this latest Green Campaign to entice us into the snare.
Marianne Moore, Gilroy
