In response to Cheryl Klynn’s May 15 letter in the Town Crier (“Leaf-blower protester: Stop anonymous letters”), we thank you for ensuring that your gardener is operating an electric leaf blower.
GreenTown Los Altos is working on a public education campaign to remind residents that there is a ban on gas leaf blowers in Los Altos, and we will proudly put our name on any fliers we produce.
Following is an open letter to the Mountain View Los Altos Union School District Board of Trustees.
The Los Altos City Council will be asking residents to approve a special fee to fund maintenance of the stormwater system. Certainly we need to maintain our stormwater systems – no one would dispute that. However, I’m puzzled by the funding discussion.
Most cities fund maintenance projects out of general fund dollars. Our city staff indicates that Los Altos “lack(s) allocated funding for maintaining storm drain infrastructure.” I find that puzzling.
The unsolved problem between Bullis Charter School and the Los Altos School District has not yet asked for a significant contribution from the population that is in and out of the doors of its schools daily.
We only have two years to fix this problem.
Tiptoeing into our hotel room just past 1 a.m., with her Bette Davis hazel eyes sparkling brightly, my daughter Jenni instantly became confused when I had an explosive “mommy moment.”
Los Altos has changed very little in 34 years, so one would not expect our governmental departments to have grown much. In 1985, the Engineering Department had five employees; today it has 12.
Salaries for each position have a range, depending on years employed. The collective annual total for the mid-range salaries is approximately $1.35 million. With an estimated override of 18% for benefits, the total cost to the city becomes $1.6 million. If the current staff were cut to six, the savings would be approximately $800,000 per year. We are being asked to approve a parcel tax to raise $1.1 million each year for the Clean Water and Sustainable Storm Drainage Initiative, with no identification of any flood damage having occurred.
I am 15 years old, and my grandmother is one of the 5 million Americans living with Alz- heimer’s disease. In order to help patients like her, I developed a diagnostic tool for the early detection of Alzheimer’s that uses machine learning and de-identified patient data from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative.
But no amount of individual effort will be enough to end this disease. Instead, we must work together and strive to make public policy choices that advance Alzheimer’s research and patient care.
The Town Crier welcomes letters to the editor on current events pertinent to Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View. Write to us at 138 Main St., Los Altos 94022, Attn: Editor, or email editor Bruce Barton at bruceb@latc.com. Because editorial space is limited, please confine letters to no more than 200 words. Include a phone number for verification purposes. Anonymous letters will not be printed.
You can also have your say right here at losaltosonline.com – scroll to the bottom of any story to add a comment.
