News Subscribe to Our Newsletter Sign up for Email Updates CGF In the News Press Inquiries Past Articles Calendar			From  the President... by Mary Davey Wonderful Committee for Green Foothills members! Today CGF includes more than 1300 families living throughout the greater  Bay Area, and even a few as far away as Washington, Connecticut and Hawaii.  Regardless of where you live, each and every one of you has a connection  to the beauty and irreplaceable resources of open space in Santa Clara  and San Mateo Counties, plus a commitment to maintaining high environmental  standards in our communities. Our members' shared dedication to our work has been a mainstay for the  Committee during this year of accomplishment, growth and - inevitably  - change. In 2003, your support allowed us to bring on additional staff  in order to grow our core programs. Now, in both Santa  Clara and San Mateo Counties  our Legislative Advocates are  working hard to defend local lands from poorly planned (and, in some cases,  illegal) development, from Morgan Hill to Half Moon Bay. We are also pressing forward with visionary work to protect open space  over the long haul: supporting  the expansion  of the Midpeninsula Regional  Open Space District, working on a proposed  ordinance to protect streams in Santa Clara County, and several other  projects that take a proactive approach to land use. The growth in the Committee's programs has brought with it other changes.  This summer, Zoe Kersteen-Tucker made the difficult decision to step down  from her position as our Executive Director so that she could spend more  time with her family. Zoe's service, first as CGF's President and later  as our Executive Director, has been a high point in the Committee's growth  and effectiveness. It is a tribute to Zoe's exceptional leadership that  this position has become far more than the part-time job it was when she  started. We thank Zoe for her remarkable vision, professionalism and leadership,  and welcome her back to our volunteer ranks. The Committee's Board  of Directors has formed an active Search Committee to find  a new, full-time Executive Director to lead the Committee -- and the  Green Foothills Foundation -- into the future. We are extremely fortunate  to be working closely with the INNW Fund, which over the last several  years has contributed invaluable professional guidance, wisdom, imagination  and financial support to both our organizations. We are also fortunate  to have Board member Peter LaTourrette working closely with our dedicated  professional staff to ensure that our programs continue uninterrupted. The Board is also examining how the Committee can become even more effective.  We are researching ways to strengthen our programs, involve our membership  even more in our work and become more streamlined. I know that the strong  leadership of our entire Board of Directors, together with the enthusiastic  and loyal support of our members, will bring us through this change and  help the Committee to become even stronger. Technological change has already dramatically improved our ability to  protect open space. Less than a decade ago, all of the Committee's communications  with our members were via mail - expensive, resource-intensive and sometimes  woefully slow. Today, we are able to send up-to-the-minute email  action alerts to nearly 1,000 people each week. We also regularly  update our website with news items, action  alerts and a number of valuable resources  for activists. These cost-effective electronic tools let us get the word out almost immediately  when we need your help on an open space issue - and more and more of you  are speaking up. Best of all, we hear from County Supervisors, Planning  Commissioners, City Councils and other decisionmakers that your voices  are being heard, and they are making a difference. We all know that the most constant force in life  is change. The environment teaches us this lesson daily. Fortunately,  the constant is the Committee's great strength: its membership and our  grassroots commitment to the local environment. From our  beginnings in 1962, Committee for Green Foothills has depended upon  our members to be our community advocates, advisors and support system.  You have always risen to the occasion with spirit, enthusiasm and effectiveness. Thank you for being part of our passion for  open space, our citizen activism and our legacy  of environmental protection throughout the Peninsula, Coast and South  Bay. Published October 2003 in Green  Footnotes. Page last updated November 6, 2003 .