Volunteer of the month

Jim Blickenstaff is an enthusiast, an analyst, and a hard worker for stopping sprawl in Contra Costa

One day in the early '80s, mail carrier Jim Blickenstaff read in the paper about a development project on Camino Tassajara outside San Ramon. To Jim, the plan to develop 470 homes, expensive and totally car-dependent, "just didn't look right." He went to a public meeting to protest, but the project was approved.

"I went down there as a total novice intimidated by the whole aura around decision-making. Fortunately for me, that went away very quickly!", he laughs. Rather than retreat into anonymity, Jim decided to join the Sierra Club. "I realized I could be more effective as a part of a larger organization," he explains. "It's been no turning back since then!"

Today Jim chairs the Club's Mount Diablo Group, which devotes itself largely to fighting sprawl and promoting smart growth. He's been on the Group's Executive Committee since 1995. As a member of the Group and a plethora of other local organizations, Jim has contributed significantly to some important successes in Contra Costa County throughout the years.

In the late '80s he took part in the fight to save Buckhorn Canyon, where the water district had planned a reservoir. Now the canyon is permanently protected. Around the same time, he joined a broad coalition that fought off a "Supersewer" intended to provide sewer capacity for vast new developments in the I-580 corridor.

From 1991 to 1993, Jim even served on the San Ramon City Council, an experience he calls "enlightening".

In more recent years, Jim led the fight to save Alamo Creek, a part of the much-contested Tassajara Valley. Though development of the area was approved, the coalition reached a settlement in 2004 that won important concessions including protection for endangered species and mitigations for traffic.

"Whether it's phone-banking, letter-writing, waving signs on the street corner - if it helps the campaign, Jim will roll up his sleeves and do it," says Mike Daley, the Bay Chapter's conservation director. Having worked closely with Jim on numerous campaigns, he marvels at Jim's dedication. "He never fails to attend a meeting."

Beyond his enthusiastic dedication and hands-on activity, Jim also approaches the issues through a lens of logic. Having earned a math degree from Sacramento State, he likes to analyze Environmental Impact Reports. He points out, for example, that sprawl does not make sense economically because it does not bring in the tax base to pay for the services needed to sustain it. In theory, developers are required to pay to mitigate the public impacts of their projects, but all too often the cost calculations are skewed, and taxpayers end up paying - or the mitigations are not built at all and traffic, water supply, or sewage, for example, deteriorates. Through his careful scrutiny, Jim often arrives at a radically different interpretation of the true costs of the development, making it harder for developers to hide them.

Jim traces his love for open space to his youth in Oregon (his family moved to the Bay Area in 1963 when he was a teenager). One of his favorite outdoor activities is an annual fishing pilgrimage to Alaska's Bristol Bay with his father.

At home in San Ramon, Jim enjoys working on his back yard, an ongoing project. Even in this hobby he manifests his commitment to minimal impact. His latest epiphany is to save resources by using cobblestone for the patio instead of wood. The plan also includes some kind of water source. "I'm trying to make it a little wilderness area, friendly to birds or whatever else wants to visit," he explains.

Looking beyond his own backyard, Jim is cautiously optimistic about the future of his county. "People are becoming more sensitive to issues of growth. Factors like traffic and the grading down of hills put it on the radar of average citizens because they're starting to really see and feel impacts. The way we've been growing, it's only going to get worse if we don't do something dramatically different."

Currently Jim is working on the battle to defend the Contra Costa Urban Limit Line (the boundary for suburban development), which pro-development county officials are pushing to redraw. At stake are over 6,000 acres of open space which could be subject to development. Jim is a key Sierra Club volunteer on this high-priority campaign.

Reflecting on his years of service, Jim emphasizes that while the victories are wonderful, "fighting the good fight" is not just about winning. "You can not overstate the satisfaction you experience internally when you know you're on the right side. It's a feeling you can't put a price on." He is also aware that the results of his activism may not always be immediately visible. He adds, "If you make it a tough fight for developers, they might think twice next time."

Wendy Becktold

 

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© 2006 San Francisco Sierra Club Yodeler