Environment – Page 3 – Vinnie Bacon for Fremont City Council

Patterson Ranch EIR Comments

By VinnieAugust 4, 2010Development, Environment

This Monday marked the closing date for comments to be submitted on the Patterson Ranch EIR. I had a chance to review some of these. They are excellent and make a very clear case that this development is not in the best interests of Fremont. If elected, I promise to vote against this project. It looks like this will not come before the Council before the election. That will allow the incumbents to be unclear on where they stand on this issue. I encourage you to ask them specifically how they will vote on this.

Time permitting, I’ll try to add a link to some of the comments that have been prepared. Below are the comments that were prepared on behalf of the Sierra Club.

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Question about Route 84 (aka East-West Connector)

By VinnieJuly 30, 2010Environment, Fiscal Responsibility, Transportation

I was recently asked what I thought of the Route 84 project. I have been consistently against this project. Below are comments that I made at a Council meeting in June of last year. Below that is a blog entry from my last campaign on this subject. Nothing has happened since 2008 to change my opinion on this matter.

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Speak out Against Poorly-Planned Development in Areas 3 and 4 in Newark

By VinnieJune 23, 2010Development, Environment

On Thursday, June 24 the Newark City Council is poised to approve 1,260 housing units in the Areas 3 and 4 Specific Plan for the Whistling Wings and Pintail Duck Club sites (560 acres). The plan includes filing wetlands and adjacent uplands with as much as 2.1 million cubic yards of material ranging from 10 to 14 feet in depth to build executive housing west of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. It would take 100 round-trip truck trips per day 365 days per year for 4 years on Fremont and Newark city streets to fill Area 4 above the 100-year flood level.

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New Position Paper on the Potential for Green Jobs in Fremont

By VinnieMay 2, 2010Environment, Jobs, Manufacturing, NUMMI

I gave a speech on May 1st about NUMMI and the possibility of bringing green jobs to Fremont. The event was called “NUMMI 2010: A Tribute” and was held at the Clean Tech Institute in Fremont. The event brought together NUMMI workers and a number of representatives from the green technology sector. It was noticeable that there were no representatives from the City of Fremont at this event.

The full text of my speech, which I figure is good enough for a position paper on the subject, can be found here.