After nearly 11 years of championing the places that make the Bay Area special at Greenbelt Alliance, Michele Beasley will be leaving the organization to serve as executive director of the San Mateo County Parks Foundation.
I want to give Michele a very enthusiastic congratulations on the new position and convey how much I appreciate everything she has done for Greenbelt Alliance. It’s been truly amazing to watch her contributions grow and grow over the years.
Michele’s fingerprints are all over many of our big conservation and smart growth wins from the past decade, such as:
- Protecting Coyote Valley from being paved over for sprawl development
- Successfully pushing for strong smart growth policies in the Envision San Jose 2040 General Plan update, which is the blueprint for how the City will grow
- Creating the San Jose Urban Village Toolkit to help citizen advocates engage in the urban village planning process
- Getting provisions for affordable housing, bike-friendly infrastructure improvements, and more public spaces into the neighborhood plan for the area around Diridon Station
- Defending Morgan Hill’s still-threatened Southeast Quadrant, which is made up of farmland and open space, from annexation and development
During her time at Greenbelt Alliance, Michele also launched our very first regional newsletter (Plan Jose, anyone?), organized countless walking tours and events with influential speakers, contributed to policy reports, successfully campaigned for or against ballot measures, brought PARK(ing) Day to San Jose, chaired committees and councils, mentored past staff members, and so much more.
Michele, you’ve created some very big shoes for the next person to step into. And again, congratulations!
Jeremy Madsen
Chief Executive Officer
