Vince Taylor opened the meeting of nearly one hundred members of the Caspar Community by giving thanks to some of the people and companies that have made this community building possible: The Mendocino Coast Jewish Community, the Caspar Inn and Blues Cafe, Mendo Mill, Black Bear Press, Oscar Smith ..and our children, who remind us why we work to preserve the quality of Caspar.
     Vince brought the community up to date with regard to our fund-raising: we have raised the $23,000 needed to produce the plans we would see in this meeting, but now we need to work to finance a Caspar Coordinator to take the plans to the next level. This requires at least $18,000 for the next six months. Vince urged us to dig deep.
     Professor Randy Hester then presented the plans prepared by two of his advanced graduate students, Andy Keller and Susana Marais. (The plans will be made available on-line as soon as the images and text are received.) The plans showed three different wanys to re-align corrent zoning to preserve the spaces, views, and qualities which Caspar residents have identified as "sacred" in previous meetings. All three plans were designed to raise $4 million, the approximate purchase price of the lands they occupied -- these lands specifically mexclude the southern parcels which are being purchased by the Coastal Conservancy, and the Headlands and Northern Riparian zones which the community has designated "sacred" -- Professor Hester suggested that with an innovative plan for development, the community should be able to find some funding to protect these sacred open spaces from development. Many good questions were asked by members of the community, and Professor Hester's answers showed that a great deal of thought and preparation had gone into the plans.
     Plans for a series of neighborhood gatherings were announced -- details will be placed online on our Latest News page when the dates and locations are firmly established. Michael Potts and Meridian Green announced the plans for next month's Gorse Festival, Art Show, and Music Festival -- fund-raisers for the Community -- which will take place on the second weekend of October. The next meeting will take place during the Gorse Festival, at 3pm on Sunday, October 11th.

written by Michael Potts