Honorable Members of the Menlo Park City Council:

Does the following article strike a familiar note? Is there a
presumption in Menlo Park that we must both be "green" and accept
higher population density? The fact is, we do not. Mayor of
Belmont, Coralin Feierbach understands this clearly. Higher urban
density is not the will of the people of Menlo Park, as was amply
demonstrated in last November's Referendum and elections. It is only
the will of those developers who see Menlo Park as a potential
cornucopia of profits.

As Nancy Reagan so aptly put it: "Just say no!"

Respectfully,

Martin Engel
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Belmont mayor won't sign warming pact due to density fears

Published Thursday, May 3, 2007, by the Redwood City Daily News

Mayor won't sign climate pact
She says she doesn't like its high-density housing clause

By Will Oremus
Daily News Staff Writer

Environmentalism is in the air in San Mateo County, and local cities
are rushing to clean up their acts with "green" policies and
resolutions.

But one local mayor who considers herself an environmentalist is
saying "no" to the Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement, a pact
recently signed by San Mateo and Redwood City, among others.

Mayor Coralin Feierbach of Belmont said she refuses to sign the
agreement, which is part of the Sierra Club's national "Cool Cities"
campaign, mainly because of a clause about land use: Cities that sign
the agreement commit to "adopt and enforce land-use policies that
reduce sprawl, preserve open space, and create compact, walkable
urban communities."

Feierbach said she believes that the Sierra Club and other groups
endorsing the pact are "using the 'green' excuse to rationalize
more development." She added, "I think there's a certain amount of
hypocrisy in that."

The main rationale behind the clause is that if you cluster lots of
homes near employment and transit centers -- for instance, along the
Caltrain and El Camino Real corridors in San Mateo County -- people
will do less driving. That, in turn, will cut down on automobile
exhaust, seen as a leading contributor to air pollution and global
warming.

Feierbach doesn't buy it. "The Bay Area is not an infinite population
sink," she said. "We've got to look at how much (growth) we can
accept. That's why I'm talking about limiting density."

She added, "They're talking about urban" communities. "We're not
urban -- we're suburbia."

Though Feierbach agreed that people are moving inland for cheaper
housing, she said high-rise apartment complexes on the Peninsula
won't solve the problem. "People are moving out there looking for
single-family homes. They're not going to move into these buildings
that look like nice jails."

She pointed to a recent letter that Belmont residents received from
the Mid-Peninsula Water District asking them to conserve water to
avoid rationing. Shortages are expected throughout the Bay Area
because of low snowpack in the Sierra Nevada this year.

"You have all these cities like Redwood City and San Mateo that are
building really high-density units," Feierbach said. "That means lots
of new people are going to come in soon. How are we going to take
care of our water supply? How can these cities call themselves
green?"

Redwood City Mayor Barbara Pierce, who signed the Mayors' Climate
Protection Agreement last month, was eager to explain. She said her
city has done research on the housing market and found lots of young
singles and couples who work in Redwood City.

"These are the people that are leaving the Peninsula in droves
because they can't afford to live here," Pierce said. "They are
the work force. And now they're driving here from other places."

Rather than fight growth, Pierce said, Peninsula leaders should plan
for it carefully. She said Redwood City has invested heavily in
programs to recycle wastewater for landscaping purposes, freeing up
drinking water.

Putting more people downtown will also increase demand for public
transit, eventually improving the Peninsula's network of buses and
trains, Pierce added.

Chris Mohr, executive director of the Housing Leadership Council,
said that whether high-density development is environmentally
responsible depends on how broad your perspective is.

"If you're looking just at what's happening within a single city's
borders, I can understand where Coralin is coming from," Mohr
said. "But when you look at the regional level, home-building in
the Central Valley causes way more pollution from people commuting
by car back to Santa Clara and San Mateo County."

E-mail Will Oremus at woremus@...

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Martin Engel
1621 Stone Pine Lane
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650:323-1670
martinengel@earthlink.net
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