We created this site to increase awareness about us, the Redwood City Seven. We are seven homeowners who will be affected by the “2/3 Initiative” that will appear on the ballot in Redwood City November 2008.
The “2/3 Initiative” is designed to protect open space, a noble cause. However, the environmental groups who wrote the initiative made a serious mistake in the way they worded the initiative.
The short story:
- The “Open Space Initiative,” or “2/3 Initiative” was created by two groups, Save The Bay and Friends of Redwood City. The idea behind the initiative is to protect the lands owned by Cargill on the east side of Highway 101 from development. If the initiative passes, any development on a number of properties will require a 2/3rd vote of the citizens of Redwood City to move forward.
- The authors of this initiative made a mistake. Because of the way they wrote it, there are seven private homes at the corner of Valota Road and Madison that will be subject to the regulations of the this initiative if it passes.
- There are additional homes in the “Docktown” area of Redwood City who will also be subject to these regulations, plus people who own waterfront property in Redwood Shores.
- The properties on Valota and Madison are NOT “Open Space” by any stretch of the imagination. Please see the images below, courtesy of Google Earth. We are adjacent to Red Morton Park, but obviously we are not part of the park.
- The City Council of Redwood City responded to our concerns by sponsoring their own initiative. The city sponsored initiative is different in two ways. First, it targets ONLY the Cargill properties. Second, instead of requiring a 2/3rd majority vote, it only requires a simple 50% majority to approve development.
I’m hoping that people who read this will vote against the “2/3 Initiative.”
If you want more information about who we are, click about us.
If you want more information about the issue, click frequently asked questions.
I will post new information to the news page as the campaign progresses, including links to articles in the local press.
All content in this article (including text, photographs, audio files, video files, and any other original works), unless otherwise indicated, is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Attribution: http://redwoodcityseven.org/index.html
