For more than a few years now, we’ve enjoyed the perspectives offered by the citizen’s group Friends of Los Altos.

Although we sometimes don’t agree with its views, we respect what the group has to say. That’s because its board comprises three former Los Altos council members – Ron Packard, David Casas and Lou Becker – and a former planning commissioner, Jon Baer, all of whom comported themselves well while serving the city.

I lived in Los Altos and graduated from Los Altos High School in 1973. Hopefully, some longtime readers of the Town Crier will remember coach Fred Oppezzo. This is a long overdue tribute to my coach and friend, who passed away last October.

This is the story of a high school basketball team that won a championship 36 years ago. This is also the story of a group of boys and a couple of coaches who created some magic that went beyond wins (many) and losses (very few). More importantly, it is the story of lasting friendships created all those years ago.

Small and regional newspapers are being shuttered, merged with larger papers or acquired by non-news entities seemingly interested in eking out a last bit of profit. Journalism across the country, especially local journalism, is struggling in its role: to provide citizens actionable information so they can make the best possible choices in their lives and in their local government.

Many of the problems faced by journalism are related to the shift to an online world. While many of us (myself included) prefer reading a physical paper, we must recognize that it is not the future. There are benefits to online news: It is much more accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities; distribution is cheap and instantaneous; and for the reporter, instead of a daily deadline, a story develops at its natural pace and is published when it’s ready.

In the last few years as I have served on the Los Altos City Council, and now as I serve as mayor, one of the most satisfying parts of the job to me has been working with so many engaged residents. I’m proud that people in our city have been willing to persist in their goals to work with their neighbors to help make Los Altos a better place.

The city of Los Altos seems to have a fixation on hiring consultants to tell us things we already know or to do things we should do ourselves. The Stormwater Master Plan is a good example. It was commissioned in 2009. There was no urgency, so the original contract was amended three times, cost $356,200 and the plan was released in 2016.

The Los Altos Women’s Caucus and others hosted a forum June 4 in an attempt to establish facts about Bullis Charter School and the Los Altos School District.