February 15, 2000 Greenline Announcement   Today I'm joined by members of our environmental and business communities. We stand here united for one purpose today: to protect our open space. Over 20 years ago, our City Council had the foresight to draw a greenline around our city. The greenline defines our boundaries for growth, and protects our precious hillsides and open space from development. For decades, we have been one of the few major cities with an urban growth boundary. For decades, we have been a city of managed growth. For decades, our City Council has successfully defended our open space from the threat of development. We have been able to balance the need for housing, jobs and open space. But because of our strong economy, there is a lot of pressure to develop the little open space we have left. Once our open space is lost, it's lost forever. That's why I plan to ask our voters to add a tough layer of protection to our greenline. I will ask our City Council to place a measure on the November ballot that will allow voters to lock in the policies and protections of our greenline. Currently, the City Council can make case-by-case exceptions on development proposals that could change our current greenline. However, once our ballot measure passes, any change to our greenline policies will have to be approved by the voters. This will be our gift to future generations. We will preserve the open space of our city for residents to enjoy today and tomorrow. It will take a lot of effort to ensure this ballot measure's success. That's why I'm proud to be joined today by: · Vicki Moore, Policy Director, Greenbelt Alliance · Carl Guardino, President, Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group · Don Rocha, Homebuilders Association of the South Bay · Jerry Estruth, Peninsula Open Space Trust · Lloyd Wagstaff, Santa Clara County Open Space Authority