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BARBARA
MARSHMAN
San Jose, CA
AFFILIATION:
San Jose Mercury News
AREA OF EXPERTISE:
Editorial writer specializing in transportation and land use, with a long
history of advocacy for high density, livable neighborhoods at transit
hubs instead of the pattern of sprawl that makes life so difficult in
Silicon Valley
BACKGROUND & EXPERIENCE:
Barbara has been a journalist for thirty-two years, first as a small-town
reporter and editor in Pennsylvania, and since 1988 as an editorial writer
and editor at the San Jose Mercury News, where she is now associate
editor of the editorial pages. In this position, she has intensified the
editorial pages' advocacy of smart growth—particularly protecting the
hillsides around Silicon Valley from sprawl, pressing for higher densities
and better planning at light rail stops, and preventing premature
development of the Coyote Valley, which is within San Jose's Urban Growth
Boundary but needs careful planning as a transit-oriented village.
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
The fellowship opportunity dovetails with Barbara’s aims for writing
editorials and columns at the Mercury News. This is a critical time
for San Jose and Silicon Valley because of major transportation decisions
made in 2000, when voters approved local funding to bring Bay Area Rapid
Transit (BART) to downtown San Jose and to pay for several new lines on
the still-fledgling light rail system. As a consequence, now is the time
local political leaders need to stop talking about smart growth and demand
it when new development is planned. Decisions made this year could make or
break mass transit in the valley, by either creating the kinds of
communities that will make the most of it, or caving to NIMBY pressure and
continuing suburban style development. Barbara’s concern is that although
politicians are saying all the right things, they may not follow through.
Her objective for her fellowship is to gather material on successful
transit oriented development in other areas and on New Urbanist
communities that can serve as models and calm the fears of car-culture,
cul-de-sac Californians.
E-MAIL:
bmarshman@mercurynews.com |
