The first Starbucks opened in Seattle in 1971. Today there are more than 20,000 stores, and business is growing around the globe. Lines form from Brooklyn to Botswana waiting on their orders of demi, grande, venti or trenta of mocha, espresso, dolce, flat, skinny, salted, blonde or latte with triple shots, soy, half-caf, super-heated, iced, room-temp or decaf. If you are in a nanosecond hurry, just shoulder past the peons for your day-starter at the mobile-order mosh pit. The java mumbo jumbo has unfortunately moved into our own Waterworld.

A BCS perspective on engagement process 

In the last few weeks, the Los Altos School District hosted two community engagement charrettes about long-term facilities for Bullis Charter School. As Bullis Charter School parents, several of us wanted to share what we’ve learned and some thoughts we hope will contribute to the conversation.

It’s great that we’re talking. There is no easy or obvious solution. It’s OK if not everyone agrees so long as we hear each other and work toward our mutual goals.

Story poles reveal dangers at intersection

What a shock it was to see the story poles go up at 999 Fremont Ave. here in Loyola Corners! But wow, they really do their job – highlighting the probability of blocked visibility from multiple angles, the prospect of a structure that would loom over its surroundings, swallowing almost every square inch of this little oddly shaped piece of land built right to the edges.

But the story poles do give residents a chance to see what has been proposed and so an opportunity to voice their concerns to the Los Altos City Council before approval.

In an age of social media frenzy, one admirable quality that strikes me as lacking is empathy.

Fortunately, I attended two events Thursday that proved empathy is very much alive and well in 2019.

I have heard from many of you who are concerned about whether the Los Altos City Council will ever be returning to our official chambers at city hall, where for many decades the council has conducted its work.

These chambers were paid for with your tax dollars, and you would like to see the business of our government take place right there where you can see it and participate in it. That’s how it works in Washington, D.C., and in Sacramento. Right now, to many of you, it seems that in Los Altos, the elected city government has been evicted from its home.

Kudos from former council members

As former Los Altos City Council members who had a role in enhancing the civic center during our tenures dating from 1976, when the old Hillview School site was purchased, we are perhaps more delighted than most to witness the groundbreaking of the new community center.

We congratulate the city manager, his staff and the citizens who made it happen. We especially thank council members, past and present, who kept voting to make this plan come to fruition – Jeannie Bruins, Neysa Filgor, Jean Mordo, Jan Pepper, Mary Prochnow and Megan Satterlee.