Hassett heads open space district Hassett heads open space district (January 19, 2005)

Larry Hassett, a resident of Skyline, will lead the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District board of directors in its first full year of absorbing 220 square miles of the San Mateo County Coastside.

Mr. Hassett was elected president of the board at its meeting January 13. Director Jed Cyr is vice president; Pete Siemens, treasurer; and Nonette Hanko, secretary.

Mr. Hassett, the only board member who lives in the Skyline area, succeeds Mary Davey, who guided the district during a turbulent year, as it went through the complicated and controversial process of annexing an area two-thirds its size. His present to Ms. Davey was a music box that showed a lighthouse on the cover and played the sound of a foghorn.

Mr. Hassett represents Ward 6 on the seven-member board of directors of the district, which now extends from Los Gatos to San Carlos, and the Bay to the ocean, from the southern boundary of Pacifica to the Santa Cruz County line.

Since 1972, the district has acquired almost 50,000 acres of open space for natural habitat, agriculture, and low-intensity recreation.

Mr. Hassett's Ward 6 includes Menlo Park, Redwood City, Atherton, Woodside and Portola Valley, as well as the newly annexed areas of Pescadero, La Honda, and San Gregorio. His term expires in 2006.

Mr. Hassett owns Palo Alto Hardware, Palo Alto Hardware Solar Division and, more recently, Ocean Shore Hardware in Half Moon Bay.

He is active in community organizations, including Achieve, a school for autistic children; the Museum of American Heritage; Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce; South Skyline Association; South Skyline Volunteer Fire Department; Peninsula Conservation Center; and Rotary and Kiwanis clubs.

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