Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy to buy Duke Property
by Steve Crouch, Canyon Area PreservationLa Tuna Canyon– Friends, supporters, activists, and all you regular concerned citizens! The most amazing thing happened at last night’s Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy meeting in Pacific Palisades. They voted to buy the 55 acre Duke Development property, which adds it to their growing roster of properties that will be in the public domain! Due to the untiring efforts of Bill Eick, the support of SMMC Board Member Marc Stirdivan, the ten of us who showed up at the meeting last night, and the 20 or more people who sent us letters of support, the Board of Directors voted unanimously to commit the funds to buy the property. The Conservancy is extending their important activities further into our East Valley communities, recognizing that the open space we share with the local wildlife is an important treasure that must be protected. The Conservancy is also concerned about the upcoming Canyon Hills Project by Whitebird, Inc., and this Duke purchase now makes it more likely that there will be additional efforts by the Conservancy and other groups in the area to keep that future project in check. No one should be thanked more than Bill Eick, who organized an effort within the past month to make this happen. We should name a ridge or a park after Bill for all his work in the past and still to come! I’ll have more information on this later. Thank you for all your support. Keep in touch. |
