Blog Post #7

Potrero Nuevo farm interacts with local governmental units through a protection firm known as POST. POST is an affirmative agricultural conservation easement that stands for Peninsula Open Space Trust. What the Post excels in is protection for natural resources of property and allows for a portion of land to stay in working agriculture production. This allows Potrero Nuevo farm to at least have two acres of row of crops in production and 100 acres gazed. With the notion of definite acre this allow for a community reliability for benefits. " Ours was one of the first such agreements created on the Coastside by POST's Farmland Futures Initiative and we are happy to be an early adopter of an easement that will guarantee agricultural land production in San Mateo County." POST is similar to COG'S which are councils of government who are intended to improve regional coordination. 

When researching more on the protection of land I came across:
"Local farmland is disappearing, fast. In San Mateo County alone, we have lost 35% of our farmland over the last 30 years. If it continues at this rate, there will soon be none left. At Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST), we believe that it’s possible to save local farms for the benefit of us all. That’s why we are announcing the Farmland Futures Initiative (FFI). It’s a complex challenge that will involve a combination of land acquisition, legal land protection and strategic investments in farmland infrastructure. After nearly three decades of protecting working lands, POST is ready and we hope you are too. Join us as we celebrate the launch of this new initiative at A Taste of the Coast, on April 30, 2016." (farmlandfutures.org) 

Belmont City Village Remodeling Project

5pm-7pm

On Monday March 21st students of Notre Dame de Namur University had the opportunity to express their voice in the new model for the Belmont "downtown" city village. We discussed what places we go to the most in the village and majority related that they go to Safeway because it is open 24 hours. This was very interesting to see the new direction that the city of Belmont is hopefully striving towards. From the talk we had it seem like they want to direct the downtown setting for the younger crowd. They want to provide affordable housing for single home and college students. As well as bring in a "strip" that will have bars and live music. With this change of scenery for Belmont this will change the dynamics of the residents of Belmont.

http://www.planbelmontvillage.com/

Blog Post #6

Focus Questions: 1. What are three principal functions of legislatures?

The role of a legislature is to be responsible for making new laws and changing existing laws. They are elected by the public to work for the federal government or other various elements of the government.  They sit in at public forums to understand what to take back to government official meetings.  Public officials are also allowed to write letters or meet with their legislator to present concerns. The three principal functions are: policymaking, representation and oversight. Policymaking means to create laws or standards for government or business. Representation means to have a legislator represent constituents and people who live in their district. Oversight is where there is more of an administrative duty. Meaning if laws that were passed did not fulfill their duties then it it their job as legislatures to adopt a different method of approach.