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

Los Altos Town Crier - Tuesday, October 30, 2002

Letter To The Editor

Don't put politics ahead of open space

As co-chair of the Los Altos Hills Parks and Recreation Committee and co-founder of the non-profit Los Altos Hills Recreation Programs, I take great exception to Council Member Steve Finn's blatantly untrue assertion in a recent campaign flier that Westwind Barn's "public recreation" redesignation as proposed by the LAH Citizen's Open Space Initiative would expose that property and its neighbors to a future soccer field, hordes of non-resident people attending to watch, and untenable parking.

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 Property. Our goal is and always will be to provide recreation programs for the residents of Los Altos Hills with a focus on using existing facilities such as Byrne Preserve, Westwind Barn, and the Little League Fields. In fact, it was in a meeting with the Town's Finance and Investment Committee in September 2001 that we were first alerted to the possibility of the council looking at Westwind and other Town properties for possible sale. This prompted our Committee to issue a statement to the Town supported by our Council liaison Emily Cheng, that Westwind Barn and its property be reserved for the existing Ohlone Children's Camp, Westwind Riding Camp and other resident-oriented events held by our organization.

As a Los Altos Hills resident, I am supporting the LAH Citizen's Open Space Initiative because it is more complete in its protection of Town-owned lands than that offered by the current Town Council. I hope that Council Member Finn can put politics aside and do what is best for our Town and its residents and support this initiative as well.

Rebecca Hickman,
Co-chairwoman, Los Altos Hills Parks and Recreation Committee