From WSB3ATTYCA at aol.com Tue Nov 27 14:55:49 2007 From: WSB3ATTYCA at aol.com (WSB3ATTYCA at aol.com) Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:55:49 EST Subject: [Sosfbay-news] SaveBAREC No on Measures A and B campaign has started Message-ID: SaveBAREC No on Measures A and B Committee FPPC # 1302295 PO Box 1029, Santa Clara, CA 95052 _www.barec.org_ (http://www.barec.org/) Tuesday, November 27, 2007 Contact: Kirk Vartan 888-227-3280 _spokesperson at barec.org_ (mailto:spokesperson at barec.org) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SaveBAREC REFERENDA CAMPAIGN HAS STARTED The campaign to save 17 acres of open space in the City of Santa Clara started with the filing of ballot arguments with the City Clerk?s office on behalf of community members committed to fighting the uphill battle against entrenched developer interests who want to assume the site for market rate housing. As part of the February 5, 2008 elections, City of Santa Clara voters will choose whether to approve the City Council?s general plan and rezoning decisions to allow the development or to reject those decisions. The SaveBAREC team attends the Franklin Mall Farmers? Market each Saturday morning to recruit volunteers and distribute lawn signs. Nearby, the pro-development office gives free breakfasts to its volunteers inside a rented office. ?We know we are going to be outspent in this campaign,? says Kirk Vartan, spokesperson for the grassroots group. ?We are here to fight for this community. Together, we collected enough signatures to take the Council?s decisions to the voters. This shows strong support for our positions. We are going to get our message out and will look to the voters to not be fooled by the money and misinformation we expect to be coming from the developers who want to build on this property.? The former Bay Area Research and Extension Center (BAREC) site was owned by the University of California before being released to the State of California, which in turn, declared it surplus property. The SaveBAREC campaign contends that the property has regional open space and historical value and could better be used as community gardens and as a pollution mitigation demonstration site. While the issues are many, it is clear the proposed development plan in front of the voters today is not the best use for these last 17 acres of public open space. In addition to the referenda, a CEQA action has been filed challenging the City of Santa Clara Environmental Impact Report for the housing development. For additional details, visit the SaveBAREC No on Measures A and B Committee website: _www.BAREC.org_ (http://www.barec.org/) . [Note: The Green Party of Santa Clara County has endorsed the SaveBAREC campaign.] **************************************Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products. (http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: