It has been quite a year for San Juan Bautista, and one that
would serve other municipalities to take heed of.
It has been quite a year for San Juan Bautista, and one that would serve other municipalities to take heed of.
Citizens of the Mission City made a collective decision that they are mere caretakers of their town at this moment in time, that for the two centuries that passed before they took up residence, others had tried to maintain the character of the town in which we all enjoy taking solace. They take that responsibility seriously.
Faced with pressures to grow from Silicon Valley commuters and the developers looking to house them, town citizens signed a petition demanding a growth cap in 2002.
When word came that the state wanted to turn a storied adobe into a Disney-like attraction, they rallied for historical preservation.
When a franchise restaurant applied for a permit to operate in a town served entirely by mom-and-pop establishments, they pressed City Hall for a measure to ban anything that would make historic San Juan Bautista look like every other city in America.
All of these might seem like small things to residents of other South Valley cities well on their way to homogenization by the Kaufman & Broads and McDonalds of the world. But the citizens of San Juan Bautista have decided that the features that make their town special are worth fighting for.
Our valley still has many treasures worth protecting – open space, farmland, oak-studded hillsides, historical downtown buildings and homes. Each community has features that make it unique, that drew us to them in the first place.
All of us should make it our mission in 2003 to adopt a little bit of the attitude that exists in San Juan Bautista. We should work to protect the breathtaking beauty that makes our home special today, so it will be there for the citizens of tomorrow.
