Letter to editor, July/August 2004 Yodeler

Letter to the editor:

Breuner Marsh a good place for development?

Dear Mr. Forman: I am disappointed in the article in the JULY-AUGUST Yodeler about Richmond's Breuner Marsh.

The property consists of more than 300 acres between the Richmond Parkway and Point Pinole Regional Park. Most of the property is marshland and wetlands that cannot be developed and is under no threat of development. However, there are somewhere between 25 and 60 acres of dry land on the south end that are suitable for development.

The development of the dry portions of the Breuner property is something that the Sierra Club ought to support. The Club advocates for development closer to jobs and existing population centers to relieve the pressures for sprawl. Homes on the Breuner property would place hundreds of people right next to an existing traffic artery, the Richmond Parkway, that can handle the load, and within minutes of jobs in Richmond, Oakland, San Francisco, and Marin. Surely, that is superior to building those homes in Antioch and Fairfield and putting all of those automobiles into the queue of long-distance commuters.

More important, however, than the specific question of the development of the Breuner property is the Sierra Club's inability or unwillingness to present a nuanced, sophisticated analysis of the issues. The Club cannot be expected to influence the non-true-believers if the information it reports is incomplete or, worse, inaccurate. Even if the Club automatically assumes that developers are the enemy (which would be a terrible mistake), they should have been interviewed for the article.

Joshua Genser

Response from the editor.

While we have lost close to 90% of our Bay wetlands since 1850, we have probably lost close to 99% of our coastal upland prairie - precisely because it is possible to build on it. This is some of the scarcest habitat in the Bay Area.

The Breuner site is not close to any dense urban development except for the already isolated Parchester Village. Development should be located adjacent to other developed areas and at locations where people can walk and use transit. Freeway-commuting is not something that the Club supports at any location. (Short-distance commutes generate almost as much pollution as longer-distance ones.) There are other sites in the Richmond area where development is appropriate, but not on the shoreline. The Club does not automatically oppose developers.

We are sorry that we are unable to offer "complete" information. Our articles are written mostly by activists who are deeply involved and knowledgeable about the subject matter, but who are not in a position to interview other parties. In the interest of fuller information, however, we should point out that Mr. Genser owns a parcel adjacent to the Breuner property, and that his property would become substantially more valuable if development occurs by it.