Santa Rosa, CA 95404

May 3, 2001

Senator Barbara Boxer

112 Hart Building

U.S. Senate

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Boxer:

RE: Your position on Baylands Refuge Mapping Project

On April 25^th I attended a televised KNTV channel 11 Televised Town hall Meeting at the Embassy Suites in San Rafael, California. I was amazed and dismayed at the remarks and attention paid to one of the panelists, a Barbara Salzman. This lady, a leader of the Marin Audubon Society and a leading Marin environmentalist, expressed her belief that just about nothing should be built on the 1400 acre Silveira/St. Vincent’s property or just about anywhere else in Marin. She also didn’t want a train to run through Marin because she said. “Just about everywhere trains go development follows.”

I guess because of people like her, two Marin bond issues have been defeated that would have put a train through Marin and into Sonoma (and Sacramento and Tahoe). Although I was raised in Marin, I now live in cheaper-rent Sonoma and seldom visit my Mom and Dad in Marin because the traffic is so horrendous along the only highway that goes between the two. Hopefully, you know how bad the traffic is since you sometimes live in Marin. ( If you don’t know how bad it is, try driving through the commute from 6-10:00 a.m. and 2:30 – 7:00 p.m.)

At this televised talk show, I learned that this lady and her cohorts have influenced the US Fish and Wildlife Service to undertake a Baylands Refuge mapping project. Why would she do that if her intent wasn’t to find a way to use that designation to stop development on those parcels?

The point of my letter is to strongly protest the expenditure of taxpayers dollars on this project she helped initiate. As the television show pointed out, almost 86% of Marin’s land cannot be developed. Of the remaining land, only 5% remains to be developed. Now this lady and her so-called environmentalist friends want to take most of that land out of development and never let a train run on it.

Trains are more environmental than cars. People need places to live. The pollution put in the air by forcing people to commute via car and not train is harmful to the very wildlife this Refuge is supposed to help.

Therefore would you please answer these questions:

1) Since Marin has so much protected open space for wild life, why doesn’t the government spend the time and money it is spending on the Refuge mapping on mapping for a train and some affordable housing?

2) Since most of the property owners I met at this meeting did not want to be placed in the refuge map, will their desires be honored?

3) Why does this lady and groups who have nice environmental titles but bad environmental policies have so much clout with the United State Fish and Wildlife Service?

4) What is your position on this Baylands Mapping Project?

5) What are you doing about increasing the affordable housing opportunities for Marin?

Thanks.

Respectfully,

Tami Grange

Tami Grange

CC:

Julie Bornstein, California Dept. of Housing

Bill Pavao, California Department of Housing

Mike Spear, Regional Director USF&WS

Dan Ashe, USF&WS , Regional Refuge Director

Charles Houghten, USFWS, National Refuge Director

San Rafael Chamber

San Rafael Dredge Committee

Congresswoman Woolsey

Senator Feinstein

Marin & Sonoma Supervisors

Bay Planning Coalition

Mayor Al Boro & Council Members

San Rafael Planning Department

Assemblyman Joe Nation

North Bay Agricultural Coalition

Novato Council