Los Altos Hills Open Space
	"Value Beyond Price..."
	Dedicated to protecting our open space assets for the future

E-Mail Bulletin #14 - 3 November 2002

• Election Day
• Status of Initiative
• Misconceptions
• Town Attorney's Ballot Title & Summary
• Response to Finn Letter
• Fundraising

Election Day - Our biggest fear is .....

Community response so far has been overwhelmingly in our favor, and for this we are truly grateful. But in this flood of support lies the danger that comes with overconfidence. Clearly it is crucial that Dean and Breene are elected to the Town Council -- but this can only happen if you take the trouble to actually vote.

PLEASE! Get out and vote!

Status of Initiative:

Within three days of filing our initiative with the City Clerk, Pat Dowd, we have gathered over 350 signatures (out of the approximately 850 required). Our goal is 1100+ signatures.

Thanks to the volunteers who have helped make our first efforts so successful. If you are willing to help us with the signature gathering process, please email Nancy at couperus@mindspring.com or phone 941-4808.

Sunday afternoon between 2 and 4 PM the initiative will be available for signing in front of Byrne Preserve on Altamont Road - next to the driveway leading into Westwind.

After election day, we will be posting on our website the schedule for future locations and times.

Misconceptions:

A number of people are under the impression that they have already signed the initiative - when in fact it was an endorsement of the initiative which they signed. The initiative itself looks very much like state ballot measures you've likely signed out in front of Costco! You must be a registered voter residing in Los Altos Hills to sign our initiative.

Unfortunately our initiative cannot be simply copied and circulated. A number of people have suggested that. The open space initiative is legally comprised of a number of parts, and all of these must be together on the same initiative: ballot title, summary, statement of intent to circulate, the language of the initiative itself, exhibits including the 1975 land use map, the new map with the new designations, etc.

Town Attorney's Ballot Title & Summary:

The size and length of the initiative is a direct result of the Town's Attorney writing an extraordinarily long Title (seventy words) and Summary. The Title we had submitted was "Los Altos Hills Open Space and Public Recreation Initiative." As a result, our initiative had to be put on 11" by 17" paper in order to conform to State law requirements. We could have contested this, but then we would have had to delay the initiative, losing valuable time.

Response to Steve Finn:

Steve Finn put out a campaign flier this past week suggesting that a change from the existing Private Recreation designation to a Public Recreation designation could lead to soccer fields, which would create, noise, parking problems, etc. Rebecca Hickman, Co-Chair of the Parks & Recreation Committee replied with a letter to the Town Crier. Check out Press on our website www.lahopenspace.com to view this. Here is our own reply:

1. The Public Recreation designation for Westwind Community Barn is the correct designation. The Barn is a public barn owned by the Town of Los Altos Hills. It is leased to the Friends of Westwind, Inc. just like the Little League Fields are leased to Little League. The Little League Fields are designated Public Recreation.

2. The reason that Westwind currently has a Private Recreation designation is that it was privately owned before 1976, and the designation was never changed to reflect the fact that the Town became the owner.

3. The Open Space Designation allows only "passive uses" - hiking, riding, jogging, nature study, grazing, etc. This designation is suitable for Byrne Preserve. The Open Space designation does not permit structures (i.e. a full-service barn with riding arenas).

4. Westwind Barn is a community barn - no soccer fields intended or required! (For example: In Woodside, Wunderlich Park is a county park and the barn is leased out with no soccer fields.)

5. The Co-Chair of the Los Altos Hills Parks & Recreation Committee has stated: "In our current and future plans, as a committee, we have never considered soccer fields or any other construction of recreation facilities on the Westwind Propery."

6. The "real worry" is the locking in of the Private Recreation designation that occurs with the Council-sponsored Initiative.

With a Private Recreation designation, the Town Council could lease Westwind to a private individual to operate as a private stable, as a private club, and the residents would have lost the use of this community asset, just as effectively as if it had been sold. (Maybe this is the real agenda of Steve Finn.)

Fundraising:

We could use some funds!

E-mail distribution list:

If you have friends or neighbors in Los Altos Hills who would like to be placed on this e-mail information list, please have them contact either Nancy Couperus at couperus@mindspring.com or Val Metcalfe at metcalfes@worldnet.att.net