Proud of all the good news
Recently, my niece’s son sent me a letter as a school assignment. In the letter was a cutout of a cheerful boy called “Flat Stanley” because he represented his two-dimensional world.
Each student sent a Stanley to a friend and each friend in turn would send Stanley to another friend. Each recipient was asked to send a postcard to the classroom teacher telling where Stanley had been, what sort of town or neighborhood it is.
I had no Los Altos postcard, so I took a Town Crier and cut and pasted articles onto a sheet of paper. There was a wealth of local school news, uplifting stories of what young people and community-minded people are doing, even a story about the local library.
I was very proud of Los Altos for providing so much atypical news - atypical because the majority of “news” reports involve criticism, distortion and the worst of human behavior. The Town Crier reports the good news we hear so little of.
I haven’t heard from the teacher or my niece’s son, but I’m confident Los Altos is a place they would all like to visit. Thanks for making it happen.
Faye Brown
Los Altos
Lupines by the wayside?
When my neighbor started talking about old times, when poppies, lupines and other wildflowers were growing along Los Altos Hills streets in the springtime, I realized these visual delights are all gone.
The town of Los Altos Hills sprays pre-emergent herbicides in the fall and on-contact herbicides in the spring along most streets. On closer investigation at Robleda Road, we found some brave lupines and a few other plants that escaped the fall spraying.
Probably, by the time you read this, these plants will be killed, unable to flower and make seeds for next year. The potential of beauty by the wayside is gone forever.
If you are interested in speaking up for the wildflowers and stopping spraying, contact town engineer Henry Louie.
Annemarie Rosengreen
Los Altos Hills
Horses and herbicides
When the De Anza Expedition rode through Los Altos Hills in 1776 on their way from Mexico to San Francisco, the horses stopped to eat the grass.
In 1956, the year of the town incorporation, my horse would stop to eat the grass as I was riding with my two friends through Los Altos Hills. As the riders re-enacting the De Anza Expedition rode through town in 1976, their horses stopped to eat the grass.
As my children rode through town the year of the 25th anniversary of the town incorporation, their ponies stopped to eat the grass. Today a horse owner may have put up a “Do Not Spray” sign on his corral to notify the town contractor not to spray herbicide twice yearly on his property. But the horse owner cannot happily ride through the town and allow his horse to eat the grass, knowing that it may have been recently sprayed with herbicide.
Should the town notify residents of the day of the intended two sprayings each year? If an individual horse owner wants to be notified now before the spring spraying, he should write to hlouie@losaltoshills.ca.gov to be informed.
In 1955 the founders of the town used Woodside as a model for incorporation, according to Florence Fava’s history “Los Altos Hills: The Colorful Story.” Three years ago Woodside decided not to spray its roadsides because of concern for the horses that might eat the grass.
Could Los Altos Hills learn from Woodside again?
Karen Lemes
Los Altos Hills
Fireplace prohibition?
The libertarian in me applauds the woman who was quick enough to build a fireplace when she saw that prohibition was coming up (Feb. 22 Town Crier).
I don’t think they should be able to tell you how to appoint your house, and I don’t think it’s fair that they should let some burn all they want, and others can’t even have a fireplace. If they were really serious, they’d make the rule the same for everybody.
But this person seems to be unduly self-congratulatory and I’m a bit surprised that the Town Crier saw fit to endorse her tale.
If you use the fireplace to burn, you’re sending little particles of carbon and other minerals out of your house, into the streets and the back yards and into other people’s houses, so you’re imposing your way of life on them the same way the city council wants to impose its ideas on you.
Your smoke can have drastic health consequences for some - asthma, emphysema and lung cancer.
There’s probably a device to filter chimney smoke. Perhaps those of us who enjoy fires could look into it.
Stephanie Muñoz
Los Altos Hills
Editor’s note: The Los Altos City Council banned construction of wood-burning fireplaces for new homes in November 2003. However, residents who do extensive remodeling can keep existing fireplaces. Also, there are Environmental Protection Agency-approved devices for “clean” wood-burning.
