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Greenbelt Alliance In the News
January 30, 2007
Signs along Highway 4 raise tensions
Lisa Vorderbrueggen
Large signs that read "Stop Radicals" in bright, red lettering have
sprouted up along Kirker Pass and Highway 4 in a political shot aimed
squarely at the Sierra Club, Greenbelt Alliance and Save Mount Diablo.
[see photo here]
Nearly a half-dozen signs have been posted on Pittsburg area property
controlled by homebuilder Albert Seeno's companies, which have battled
the environmental community for years. Seeno couldn't be reached for
comment Monday.
The signs, posted where commuters could see them, appear to be an
escalation in the ongoing public relations war over housing and
traffic in east Contra Costa County.
Environmentalists unsuccessfully fought a Seeno-backed 2005 ballot
measure that expanded Pittsburg's growth boundary and brought the
homebuilder's property within the line, opening it up for development.
In recent weeks, these groups have publicly denounced Seeno's plans to
build up to 1,650 single-family homes on property he owns to the south
and west of Pittsburg, both in public meetings and in Contra Costa
Times guest editorials. The project requires county and Pittsburg
approvals to move ahead.
Save Mount Diablo director Ron Brown called the signs a "desperate and
thuggish attempt to discredit us. They must be concerned about the
kind of pressure we're putting on them to answer questions about their
development in the Pittsburg hills."
The two signs on Kirker Pass read:
"Stop Radicals. Say NO to Sierra Club. Say NO to Greenbelt Alliance.
Say NO to Save Mt. Diablo. Say YES to Widening Highway 4! Take action
today ... www.widenhwy4.com."
The Web site asks readers to take a three-question survey and promises
to send the responses to a laundry list of recipients, everyone from
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to members of the state Legislature to city
councilmembers in East Contra Costa County.
The site doesn't mention Seeno or his development plans, which fall
under the jurisdiction of the county and Pittsburg. Instead, it asks
respondents about their views on environmentalists, widening Highway 4
and affordable, high density housing.
The Web site does not disclose its creator and the domain registrant's
name has been blocked as "private," but the authors make no effort to
hide their point of view.
The second set of questions asks readers to pick one of two responses:
-
"I support the environmental groups that are trying to prevent the
widening of (Highway) 4 in Contra Costa County.
- "I oppose radical environmental groups that are trying to prevent or
delay and drive up the construction costs of (Highway) 4 in Contra
Costa County."
"These signs are a ham-fisted smear campaign," said Greenbelt Alliance
spokeswoman Christina Wong. "Seeno is exploiting people's frustration
with traffic while he's proposing to add thousands of cars to Highway
4."
While environmentalists rarely, if ever, applaud highway expansion
projects, none of the targeted organizations say they have opposed the
current Highway 4 widening plan.
Save Mount Diablo endorsed and campaigned in favor of Measure J, the
2004 sales tax increase that provided a large part of Highway 4
expansion funding.
The Greenbelt Alliance and the Sierra Club were neutral on Measure J,
largely due to concerns that it lacked sufficient growth controls on
communities in eastern Contra Costa County.
On the other hand, Bay Area environmentalists, transit and bicycle
advocates have indisputably played a key role in the shift of new
transportation dollars away from highway projects. They argue that
highway construction fuels suburban sprawl at the expense of
environmentally friendly public transportation and transit-oriented
development.
Contra Costa transportation leaders spent months negotiating with
environmentalists in 2004, largely to avert opposition that could have
killed the tax -- it required a two-thirds voter approval -- at the
ballot box.
Homebuilders also correctly point out that they pay roughly $15,500
per unit in eastern Contra Costa County into a regional traffic impact
account, of which $80 million has been set aside for widening
hyper-congested Highway 4.
If Seeno were to build 1,650 units, the maximum number allowed on his
property under the city's general plan, he would pay $25.6 million
into the regional pot.
But the money, argued Brown with Save Mount Diablo, cannot negate the
impacts of the added cars on Highway 4.
"Seeno is putting forward new development for which there is no new
capacity planned or even on the books," he said, "which would further
congest already congested freeways even after they are built out. It's
like offering one less bonbon when you have the key to the bonbon
factory."
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