Voter Guide: Open space district: opposites vie for seat Voter Guide: Open space district: opposites vie for seat (October 23, 2002)

By Marion Softky

Almanac Staff Writer

People often complain about a lack of difference in candidates.

Not so in the race for a seat representing Ward 6 on the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Board of Directors.

Appointed incumbent Larry Hassett, owner of Palo Alto Hardware and a Skyline resident, says he believes the district is doing a superb job of preserving and managing open space; he would like to see it expand to the Coastside to save open space and help preserve farming.

By contrast, challenger Jack Hickey, a retired research scientist and chairman of the Libertarian Party in San Mateo County, thinks the district is unnecessary and would like to get rid of it. If that proves impossible, he would like to see it pay its own way, through golf courses -- at Edgewood Park, for example -- and other revenue-producing activities.

Mr. Hassett, who was appointed to replace the late Betsy Crowder after she was killed in a freak automobile accident two years ago, admits being a convert to the district, which has preserved and manages some 47,000 acres of open space on the Peninsula over the last 30 years.

"The district has been a wonderful asset," he says. "It has done a tremendous job of saving greenbelt and managing land for low-intensity recreation while preserving wildlife habitat."

For Mr. Hickey, a perennial candidate who is also running this year to get rid of the Sequoia Health Care District, the open space district is an unnecessary agency, which controls land that could be better used for housing or other societal needs.

"The open space district is a regional government," he says. "I'd like to see it out of San Mateo County, and restore local control to cities and the county."

Mr. Hickey proposes an election to determine whether the whole county would join the open space district, or withdraw entirely. He opposes annexation of just the Coastside. "It should either be in all of San Mateo County, or go back to Santa Clara County and leave San Mateo County alone," he says.

An early skeptic about the district's use of the power of eminent domain, Mr. Hassett says he understands the qualms of Coastside opponents to annexation, but believes they are not well founded. The district would play a different role on the Coastside, than on the Bayside, he says. It would not have the heavy use of preserves like Windy Hill, but it could help preserve farming as a viable use of land.

Mr. Hassett also says he believes that eminent domain will never be a threat to Coastal landowners. "It's locked up," he says. "The way things are set up, another board can never use eminent domain."