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From the Executive Director...
by Zoe Kersteen-Tucker

As the year draws to a close, what better time to reflect on the unique  milestone this 40th anniversary year represents for the Committee for Green  Foothills?

Last year, our Board of Directors set out to make 2002 a year of celebration  from start to finish. To that end, we invited all of the Committee's past  Board members to join the yearlong celebration by becoming part of our 40th  anniversary Honorary Committee. Our Board members and a talented array of  wonderful volunteers executed a series of special events aimed at thanking  our members and welcoming new members. We honored our esteemed environmental  partners during the year with special resolutions of appreciation. And to  cap the year in grand style, we celebrated 40 years of open space protection  and advocacy high atop Montebello Ridge at the sold-out Umbrellas Over Time  fundraising event at Ridge Vineyards.

While our members and friends were busy hiking, cycling and celebrating  through the year, the Committee's advocates turned up the heat on local  city and county governments in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. We saw  a decisive victory for the Devil's Slide Tunnel with the signing of the  federal Record of Decision. We increased the pressure on Stanford University,  which has yet to make good on an agreement to develop and dedicate two public  recreational trails as partial mitigation for the right to develop an additional  4.5 million square feet.

The Committee successfully challenged the proposed development of a 34,000  square foot private school complex in one of Woodside's most scenic, rural  areas. Thanks to the Committee's effective advocacy and staunch community  opposition, Wavecrest Village - the sprawl-inducing, blufftop development  in Half Moon Bay - was sent back to the drawing board. And we continued  to advocate strong protections for the rural and scenic hillsides of Santa  Clara County.

Because you, our members and supporters, are our most powerful tool for  environmental advocacy, we also made a concerted effort during this year  to better involve you in our ongoing advocacy efforts. We successfully expanded  our email action alert program, reaching more than 800 households with our  weekly (sometimes twice weekly!) action alerts. The outpouring of letters  and phone calls to elected officials generated from these action alerts  has been truly gratifying and a great testament to the power contained in  those grass roots.

2002 has truly been a year to remember. It's been a year of good friends  sharing memories of battles new and old, a year of being mindful of all  that we have to be thankful for, and a year to begin our next 40 years of  environmental activism.

The Committee is blessed with an exuberant Board President, Mary Davey and  a smart, devoted Board of Directors who deeply respect the need to honor  the many amazing individuals who have come together over the years to protect  the open lands we all love to love. This Board knows that by looking back  with appreciation we gird ourselves for the challenges to come.

Our wish, during this very special year, has been to touch each and every  one of you with thanks for your commitment to the preservation of our local  environment. The open spaces we all treasure are still open because of you.

On behalf of everyone at the Committee for Green Foothills, I offer each  and every one of you our most heartfelt thanks for making this 40th anniversary  celebration such a success. Indeed, we thank you for making the Committee's  last 40 years such a success. Your faith in our work gives us strength and  the abiding hope that we can leave a bit of this precious earth unsullied  for future generations.


Published October 2002 in Green  Footnotes.
Page last updated October 28, 2002 .

 

 

Copyright 2001 Committee for Green Foothills