Unfortunately the key in this article is the willingness of the development community leadership to work together for the community and the unwillingness of the environmental community leadership to do so.
Living together while enhancing the community we all share is a project all are properly involved in, but only one side in this debate understands that.
Activists trumpet growth defeat
This week's turnout shows their rising clout, environmentalists say.
By Mary Lynne Vellinga - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, March 17, 2007
Substitute teacher Kyle Williams recently saw a quote from President Theodore Roosevelt hanging in an Elk Grove history classroom.
"Roosevelt said, 'We are the government. You and I,'" he said. "I interpreted that to mean that if the government isn't up to par, neither are we."
He took the words to heart. On Wednesday evening, Williams, 41, made his first appearance in front of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. He and about 100 others signed up to speak against a proposal by developer Angelo K. Tsakopoulos that the county should study redrawing its growth boundary to include 3,400 acres he controls along the El Dorado County line.
After five hours of testimony, the supervisors voted to reject the developer's proposal -- a rare victory for Sacramento's environmental community.
Activists said they think the turnout shows their clout is on the rise amid concerns about traffic, air quality, global warming and loss of farmland.
"The implications of the turnout are very positive," said Peggy Berry, a member of the California Native Plant Society and the Save the American River Association. "I do feel there's an emerging political upswell of people who care about where they live."…
…Tsakopoulos said environmental activists who typically oppose him have been unwilling to compromise or accept any growth.
"It's unfortunate that the ECOS people are shooting rather than talking,"
Tsakopoulos said. "We should try to find ways to work together."
Tsakopoulos has suggested that he will set aside significant amounts of open space as part of any development in the easternmost part of the county.
"The trees, we need to save; OK, we'll do that," said Tsakopoulos, who controls about 40,000 acres of open land in the region. "Only 4 or 5 percent of California land has been developed. We have plenty of open space. But the question is: Do we have plenty of parks, etc.? That's a different question."
ECOS' Brownstein said his organization is unwilling to accept such tradeoffs -- open space, for instance -- in exchange for opening up more far-flung agricultural land for development.
His view: Tsakopoulos ought to change his business model to focus on redevelopment projects. "We've got to convince him to start buying up all the vacant and low-density parcels that need to be converted," he said.
