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Stop development before it's too late
Farm vote was only the latest example of bad decision-making

by Daniel Mart

The news of City Hall giving the ax to the farm on Grant Road is extremely disappointing and upsetting to me. I am still in shock.

I mean forget zoning laws and all that — open space is open space and we must protect it, if not for the good of ourselves, then for the good of our community, our children, and this planet.

How many laws must be conjured up before we realize the harm we are inflicting? How much wilderness and open space must be destroyed before it is too late?

It's ironic that, in the name of "progress," man kills and destroys. Man builds houses; man destroys other animals' homes. Man constructs shopping malls and golf courses; man gives local wildlife nowhere else to go. And when that wildlife attempts to return to their home, acres of land now developed and invaded by humans, man murders them.

The decision to develop the entire farm on Grant Road is beyond devastating, not so much because many of my childhood memories revolve around times spent there, but mostly because historical, agricultural and biological significance has taken a backseat to man-made laws that in this case undermine common sense.

The farm on Grant Road has survived changes in traffic all these years; why must those who oppose its preservation use the zoning laws as their main argument? I mean, in this case, why not develop Coyote Valley right now? Bulldoze Hidden Villa; get rid of every acre of preserved open space in and surrounding this Valley. What is the limit here?

As a whole, humans are not a ruthless species; none of you are bad people, nor by constructing houses, malls and golf courses do you intend to do any harm. It is just that our world has become so brainwashed and fed such garbage by huge corporations and others.

Somewhere along the way, we have gotten the idea that human beings are morally superior to everything else.

It is finally time for us to sit back and look at what is happening; to take notice of what is being destroyed for the so-called "betterment of mankind." It is time for us to look at how our tax-dollars are being spent, how many of our own government's anti-environmental dealings are being kept out of the news, and how many of our own actions are destroying "our" home, not to mention the homes of other species. It is time for us to finally wake up.

Daniel Mart lives on Awalt Drive.

Posted by Daniel Mart, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Jun 15, 2007 at 10:40 am

Obviously because of space, some of my original letter was cut; here is the majority of what was edited out for the newspaper edition:

Has our world become so big-headed that all man has to do is write a single law into the books and as a result all of our open wilderness is gone tomorrow? Or can we look past that simple -- yet all-too-realistic -- analogy, and realize that our right to live is no more valid than that of other species? That man, that "human beings," are really no different than the bird, the snake, the lizard, or the skunk? Sure, we may eat and move our bodies differently; but do these creatures not have unique behaviors and ways of communicating that are "just" as valid?

And is it not ironic that while we are overly-developing in the name of progress, what we are really doing is destroying vital elements to not only the food chain, but also to the sustainability of life as we know it? "Everything" in biodiversity is connected; everything from the richest soil found anywhere (this valley) to the plants, grass and flowers growing in that soil to the insects who rely on and help nourish it all every day to the atmosphere which helps everything grow (and yet is being threatened by human activity) to the food which plants produce for us as a result of this amazing -- and all-too-vital -- process. And the more of this we destroy, the more of our future goes with it.

It is assumed that the addition of housing over the farm on Grant Road is progress, and that as a result of this progress we will be better off in the long-term.

Nothing could be further from the truth.