I’d like to know why the Town Crier chose these words for the Nov. 7 article, “Beth Am shows support in aftermath of tragedy,” as opposed to “Beth Am shows support in aftermath of murder” or even more accurate “Beth Am shows support in aftermath of terrorist attack” or even “white nationalist terror attack”?
Cancer is a tragedy. Car accidents are tragedies. This was murder and this is soft-pedaling terrorism.
Following is an open letter to the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees and the Bullis Charter School Board of Directors.
We are parents in both the Los Altos School District and at Bullis Charter School who are asking for your help to bring our community together – regardless of school affiliation – and stop the facilities disputes that have torn us apart and pitted neighbor against neighbor for the past 15 years. Enough is enough.
Maybe Donald Trump is, after all, the greatest president of all time.
For a variety of reasons, he did encourage a record number of voters to engage in the mid-term elections to make sure their voices were heard. To me, that is his biggest accomplishment so far.
“Are you crazy?” a woman I’d just met began, perplexed. “Why bother writing if you can’t make a living at it?”
Back in 2001, when stories I had locked away in my brain found their way to paper, I felt God was giving me another talent to play with. From the time I was young, I was pulled to the arts: drawing, painting, sculpting, even sewing. Later, music entered with my first guitar, and off I was in folk land, singing the songs of John Denver, Joan Baez and Peter, Paul and Mary. And while I treasured every moment of creation, even occasionally making decent money from each, I was raised to believe the arts were just a nice hobby. They couldn’t be the sole occupation for people who had bills to pay. So I understood her confusion, especially when writing can be a laborious process for little or no pay.
The Los Altos City Council recently adopted updates to accessory dwelling unit (ADU) and accessory structure regulations. Contrary to claims recently published in the Town Crier’s “Other Voices” column and letters to the editor, the city has held numerous public meetings to discuss the proposed changes and gather public comments over a 13-month period.
The housing crisis is not a new issue, but it is a complex one. The city council has committed to exploring ways to increase affordable housing. ADUs provide an opportunity to expand affordable housing in California cities, and the state has taken away some of the city’s ability to regulate ADUs.
So what were voters telling us in the wake of the Nov. 6 local election?
• While sometimes wary of it, residents by and large don’t want to micromanage government. That was one message we picked up from the defeat of Los Altos’ Measure C, an initiative that would have required voter approval for any change in city-owned property, be it sale, lease or rezoning. A similar-type measure also was defeated in Sunnyvale.
The Oct. 17 Town Crier article “Los Altos City Council passes pot ordinance – stench remains” attributed some comments to me that were not entirely accurate.
On Oct. 9, the city council was considering a proposed ordinance that bans outdoor cultivation of cannabis and allows indoor cultivation of up to six cannabis plants per residence. California state law allows municipalities to ban outdoor cultivation – one important reason being that odors many people find disagreeable are emitted by cannabis plants while being cultivated – but in effect requires (thanks to Proposition 64, passed in 2016) that cities allow residents to cultivate as many as six cannabis plants indoors in a private residence or “fully enclosed and secure” accessory structure.
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.
