Who We Are

NORMAN LA FORCE
Co-Founder & CEO

Norman has been a park and open space activist for over 36 years. He was a key leader in creating the McLaughlin East Shore State Park. His memoir, Creating the East Shore Park, An Activist History explains how that Park was created. His work has all been as a volunteer. He has been a pro bono attorney for Sierra Club, Golden Gate Audubon Society, and other local environmental organizations. He was the co-chair of the many East Bay Regional Park District ballot measures to provide funding for parks and open space. He is President and General Counsel for SPRAWLDEF

STEVE LAUTZE
Secretary/Treasurer

Beginning as a student manager of the recycling center at Stanford University in 1980, and capped most recently by 20+ years as the Green/Industrial Specialist on the City of Oakland’s Business Development Team, Steve Lautze has worked for four decades seeking out strategies that reduce environmental and climate impact while creating good jobs. Steve was co-founder of the Recycling BIN (Build Infrastructure Now) Coalition, and is also past President of the California Assn. of Recycling Market Development Zones (2003-19) and the Northern California Recycling Association (1993-95). 

DAVID TAM
Co-Founder and VP for Research and Development

DAVID TAM co-founded SPRAWLDEF and the Northern California Recycling Association (NCRA).  Seeing that cheap landfilling and costly incineration were poor excuses not to reuse or recycle millions of tons of discarded materials, David  galvanized local opposition to 14 different landfill expansions and garbage burners throughout the Bay Area, and beyond.  He was an architect of the Alameda County Recycling Initiative of 1990, now implemented by StopWaste and its 17 member jurisdictions, generating nearly $15 million per year in support of waste reduction programs countywide.   As lawsuit settlement negotiator for the Sierra Club’s Bay Chapter, Tam was instrumental in creating the $25 million (and still growing) Altamont Landfill Open Space Fund.  He was the first chair of the Sierra Club East Bay Public Lands Committee.  He is a passionate reusable book collector and cinephile.

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