HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/4/2019 Item 1, Ciesinski
From:Mary Ciesinski <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:City goal setting: Open Space Preservation
Dear Mayor Harmon and City Council Members -
I would like to express the support of Open Space Preservation as a major city goal. Seeing the results from the most
recent survey show that Open Space preservation was ranked #2 (but nearly tied!) in the top 10 priorities, just after
Fiscal Responsibility.
Letters sent in by Andrew Christie of the Sierra Club and from Jan Marx clearly lay out important information relating to
Open Space as a priority that ECOSLO supports.
At the very least, I ask you to consider listing this goal as an "An Important Objective" and/or support the creation of an
advisory body or committee that meets regularly to have open communication with staff in support of Open Space
Preservation and Maintenance. If Parks & Recreation has an Advisory Body, and Climate Action has a Task Force, why
can't Open Space Preservation have something similar? A couple of years ago I participated in the 20 year anniversary
roundtable of the City of SLO's Open Space. I would think it would be important to have those stakeholders and other
members of our community meet regularly to support and have open communication about Open Space Preservation
with city staff.
I believe the current Climate Action Plan does call out Parks & Open Space as a section of the plan. It is not clear to me
at this point in time what is being done with Open Space Preservation as it relates to Climate Action. I hope the updated
Climate Action Plan (that I hear is in the works) will outline what has been done and what the goals are moving forward.
Also, I hope that the new Climate Action Plan will designate between Parks and Open Space Natural Reserves as the
goals of each different - Parks being primarily for recreation and Open Space being primarily for conservation.
Thank you for the time you dedicate to this process for the City of SLO!
-Mary
Mary A. Ciesinski, Executive Director
ECOSLO - Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo
T: (805) 544-1777 | C: (805) 550-2952 | ecoslo.org
Office hours: Tues - Fri
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