Closer to us than he thinks

Believe it or not, we can't say that everyone is a fan of our work. We recently received this email from someone in Santa Clara County:

Founders, Members, and supporters of GreenFoothills.org:

How do we enlighten seemingly intelligent group of people that oppose developing the hillsides, and that are destroying the farmland which we need to feed our children.

Hills are made for houses. Flat land is for crops.

Wake up dummies.

Unfortunately, when you wake up, you will still be dumb. Stupid is what stupid does. Your deeds show the need for improvement.


So we sent him this response:

Dear Mr. ___,

We actually agree with you on the need for saving croplands. If you talk to old-timers around here, they'll tell you that Central Valley was considered "second-rate" for agricultural quality - for the best produce, you would buy from Santa Clara Valley. We are specifically working to save flatland farms from being converted to suburbia in Morgan Hill, Coyote Valley, and the Gilroy area.

We don't see hillsides as viable areas to put large amounts of housing that would do anything to help the housing crisis in the area. Splattering the hillsides with monster mansions for small numbers of people instead would simply harm the environment, drain tax revenues for providing expensive services to rural areas, and disrupt cattle ranching.

I hope this is helpful, and at the least, you'll support efforts to preserve flatland farming in Santa Clara County.

Best regards,
Brian Schmidt

I don't know if our response will soften his opposition to us, but maybe it will help generate support for preserving farmlands. It's okay with me if people don't like us, so long as they do the right thing.

-Brian