A wise investment for preparedness
The recent $90,000 allotment in the 2006-2007 Los Altos city budget for an emergency services coordinator strikes us as a wise investment and a milestone in the police department’s effort to ensure the city is prepared for the next big disaster.
For the past several years, the police department has been improving the city’s emergency services, including the coordination of Citizens Emergency Response Team (CERT) classes. Enrollment in CERT classes has skyrocketed due in part to last year’s spate of natural disasters. The city also is training its employees on what to do in emergencies. This could be a big help if disaster occurs while they’re on the job.
The addition of an emergency preparedness trailer, stocked with tools and first-aid supplies, along with a revamping of the city’s emergency preparedness manual, have represented steps forward. Next comes a position that gives emergency preparedness functions a center of gravity - a highly qualified manager to ensure the chain of command is followed properly and the city’s disaster plans are carried out smoothly.
Some might argue that the city’s money is better spent elsewhere rather than on preparation for a hypothetical event, such as a devastating quake, that might not occur in our lifetimes.
These same people, however, would not think twice about not carrying heath insurance. Investment in emergency preparedness is an investment in a city insurance policy. And the alternative to preparedness for a disaster, such as the inevitable big quake, is too horrific to contemplate.
We applaud the council on its foresight with this recent financial investment to bolster the city’s emergency preparedness program.
Grow up and leave the cows alone
Regardless of how we feel on the subject of public education in Los Altos Hills, we can all agree that stealing and defacing plywood cows erected on town land is beyond the juvenile.
The cows, conveying the “Got Milked?” message of discontent following the 2003 closure of Bullis-Purissima School, are continually vandalized, according to their creators, and the incidents go up or down depending on the surge of publicity regarding town public education issues.
Some cases are the work of pranksters, but others surely result because perpetrators don’t like a message that conflicts with theirs.
Such protest and debate belongs in open public forums, not played out in petty, stealthy acts of vandalism.
We strongly urge the guilty parties to recover their maturity and leave the cows alone. If town residents choose this option to express themselves, so be it.
