"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.

Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has"


Margaret Mead, Anthropologist
(used with permission)



"If you don't like the news .... go out and make some of your own !!"

Wes "Scoop" Nisker, Newscaster



INTRODUCTION

Government is a slow and tedious process. While it often includes citizen and neighborhood involvement, non-governmental, private organizations have created movements and interesting groups which can create positive change in our cities and towns.

I am fascinated by the way groups are created and how they influence public decision making. This blog merely recognizes them and forwards the description of these groups from their own websites.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Greenbelt Alliance

Location: SF Bay Area, CA

Website: www.greenbelt.org

The Bay Area has the best of everything – stunning natural beauty, vibrant cities and neighborhoods, bountiful farms, and a diversity of cultural and economic opportunities. The challenge is how the region handles growth. We have a choice – to create wonderful cities and towns or to spread ever outward, agricultural landscape from development – the hills that offer stunning views, the valleys and streams that provide clean water, the farms and ranches that give us fresh, local food. We help create great cities and neighborhoods – healthy places where people can walk and bike, communities with parks and shops, transportation options, and homes that are affordable. Together these amazing places drive the Bay Area’s economic vitality and quality of life.

At Greenbelt Alliance we believe in collaboration. We bring together residents and decision-makers, business leaders, labor unions and others to find innovative solutions to our region’s growth challenges. We work both regionally and locally, blending expertise with on-the-ground action to help people explore our great region, make their neighborhoods thrive and save treasured landscapes from sprawl.

The places that make the Bay Area special are incredibly diverse, which is why Greenbelt Alliance’s work takes many forms, from saving farms in Santa Clara County and wildlife habitat in Sonoma County to revitaliziing commercial strips in Silicon Valley and Oakland. For more than 50 years, we have succeeded in helping to shape the amazing places of the Bay Area.

At Greenbelt Alliance, we bring people together around the places that matter to them. We envision a future where the Bay Area’s natural and agricultural landscapes that provide so much are protected and nurtured. We envision a future where everyone – regardless of their socioeconomic status – can live in a neighborhood they are proud to call home.

Greenbelt Alliance is the champion of the places that make the Bay Area special. We defend the Bay Area’s natural and agricultural landscape from development – the hills that offer stunning views, the valleys and streams that provide clean water, the farms and ranches that give us fresh, local food.

We help create great cities and neighborhoods – healthy places where people can walk and bike, communities with parks and shops, transportation options, and homes that are affordable. Together these amazing places drive the Bay Area’s economic vitality and quality of life.

At Greenbelt Alliance we believe in collaboration. We bring together residents and decision-makers, business leaders, labor unions and others to find innovative solutions to our region’s growth challenges.

We work both regionally and locally, blending expertise with on-the-ground action to help people explore our great region, make their neighborhoods thrive and save treasured landscapes from sprawl.

We envision a future where everyone – regardless of their socioeconomic status – can live in a neighborhood they are proud to call home.

Greenbelt Alliance’s mission is to make the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area a better place to live by protecting the region’s greenbelt and improving the livability of its cities and towns. We work through public policy development, advocacy and education, in partnership with diverse coalitions.

Grow Smart Bay Area is Greenbelt Alliance’s vision for the region to become more climate-friendly, affordable, and economically competitive, while protecting our farms, forests, and watersheds. By 2035, we call for:

- Fully protecting the Bay Area’s three million-acre greenbelt,

- Directing all new development into already urbanized areas, and

- Accomplishing both in a way that equitably benefits all Bay Area residents.

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