( Permanent link to this page for future reference: http://cspgs.blogspot.com/2012/10/our-letter-in-sunnyvale-sun.html )
------------- begin Letter to the Editor ----------
The
Sunnyvale city council voted July 31, 2012 to consider a proposal to sell/lease
14 acres of wooded public buildings (including the library) of the Civic Center
for commercial and residential development.
24 acres at this site are city-owned.
The area is bounded by El Camino Real, Mathilda Ave., Pastoria Ave. and
Iowa Ave. It is the site of the present-day library, city
hall, public safety dept., etc which would all be demolished to make way for
commercial and housing development. The
area to be sold/leased would include the entire side facing El Camino and most
of the sides on Mathilda and Pastoria leaving a shrunken little remnant in the
center.
The
idea is to raise money for a new library to be built at the Community Center on
Remington, and a new city hall and public safety building. Developers have
already been contacted and expressed interest.
We
are in profound disagreement with the city council on this. This is a very beautiful piece of land with
over 80 half-century old, very tall, majestic redwoods and Canary Island
pines. There is a park-like area at the
corner of El Camino Real and Mathilda with a walkway winding through these trees. There are approximately 200 trees including
magnolia, tulip, gingko and Chinese pistache.
Is there such a shortage of space for coffee shops, and boutiques elsewhere
that we have to sell off these old trees and gardens to make room?
Parks
and green spaces provide us with a quality of life which is becoming
increasingly important and rare. Trees
are important in not just giving us tranquility, peace and a connection to
nature but they also supply us with cleaner air and the very oxygen we
breathe. These trees would not survive
commercial construction along El Camino Real.
We need to preserve this area and these wonderful trees for future
generations. This year the city has
already decided to sell the Raynor Park Buildings (May 2012) and Murphy Park
expansion spaces (August 2012) and now they are thinking of selling the Civic
Center.
We
question why our current library should be demolished. There is a need for one or more branch
libraries in Sunnyvale to provide reading and study areas closer to where
people live. In that same July 31 meeting the library staff expressed
preference for a branch library built at Lakewood to better serve the people of
North Sunnyvale. We should listen to the professionals we employ to bring
libraries to the people rather than destroying what we have to build monuments to
political hubris. Look at the downtown
area to see where grandiose plans can lead!
There
is a basement in the current library which could provide additional needed
space or an addition could be considered.
Several communities across the US have joint school-public libraries for
students to study and read after school and on weekends near their homes. Santa Clara has a smaller area, and a smaller
population yet they have two libraries and are building a third while we have
only the one.
We
have formed an initiative to inform the citizens of Sunnyvale of these
plans. The name of the initiative is
Citizens for Parks and Green Spaces. View
our blog: http://cspgs.blogspot.com/. Join
the discussion at OpenSpaceforSunnyvale@yahoogroups.com. To show support,
please e-mail us at CSPGSinfo@yahoo.com
so we can keep the city council informed of the number of residents in
opposition to these plans.
Help
us save Sunnyvale’s heritage for future generations.
Deborah
Marks
Michael
Goldman
Citizens
for Sunnyvale Parks and Green Spaces
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