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Billed as an invitation and opportunity to help the 3-year-old volunteer organization’s leadership define its program agenda for 2011, GreenTown Los Altos held its first community meeting of 2011 on Jan. 18 at Hillview Community Center. Several dozen residents and neighbors turned out to participate in the lively discussion. Joe Eyre, Chair of GreenTown’s newly-created Water Stewardship program, Reducing per capita water use in our communities Working with our city governments to encourage reduction of municipal and resident water use, and Instilling water awareness and stewardship in our communities I invite you to view the presentation slides and to contact Joe if you are interested in participating on the Water Stewardship committee. GreenTown Programs Chair, Margie Suozzo, shared highlights from 2010, which included establishing partnerships with local schools to encourage biking and walking to school, with restaurants to shift from Styrofoam to compostable take-out containers, and with the City of Los Altos to help bring about the new waste contract with Mission Trail Waste Systems. The evening’s main topic was a lively group discussion of how GreenTown can encourage more people to walk and bike, thus reducing car trips. GreenTown Education Chair, Karen “KJ” Janowski, described an exciting and bold vision for evolving our towns into much more bicycle and pedestrian friendly locales.  KJ then led the participants in a brainstorming session that generated dozens of ideas that could engage and benefit citizens of all ages as well as local merchants. Ideas included everything from fun, participatory bicycling events to awareness-building incentive programs. Encouraging biking and walking in town addresses one of the major work areas of GreenTown – reducing vehicle miles travelled. “What that looks like in practice is evolving and will be limited only by the participation and imagination of community volunteers and participants,” she said. GTLA envisions working with schools, cycling organizations, businesses, community groups and city staff and elected officials in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills to frame activities and invite support. Bottom line, GreenTown is marking 2011 as a year to focus efforts and to grow membership. We’re working to make a sustainable community for today and tomorrow. If you’re interested in the same, join us! Become a member and/or volunteer. The next public meeting is scheduled for March 15, 7pm, at the Hillview Community Center. I look forward to seeing you there.

On January 25th, the Los Altos City Council met to discuss the Permanente Quarry/Lehigh SW Cement Company in the hills south of Los Altos.   The cement company has been in operation since 1939 and provides a large amount of cement used in the Bay Area  (Note: cement makes up about 10% of concrete).  The company mines limestone and then heats it up to very high temperatures to manufacture the cement.  When doing this, various materials are released, including mercury. According to the group NoToxicAir.org, this cement factory releases various chemicals including 1,284 pounds of mercury/year which is the 2nd highest of any cement plant in the US and is over ten times the 90 pounds/year recommended by the EPA.   These chemicals periodically float up over Los Altos and Los Altos Hills when the wind blows from the south.  In addition, the quarry discharges water from one of its settling ponds into Permanente creek which flows past Loyola Corners and eventually into Stevens Creek and the bay.  Los Altos residents last observed such a release back in November, 2010.  The cement factory has scores of federal, state, and county violations against it, some of which have been resolved and some have been outstanding for some time. In addition, the existing quarry is running out of limestone and Lehigh wants to open a new 210 acre quarry above it.  This is further up the hill and would be very visible from the surrounding area and also be above the Permanente Creek watershed. The Los Altos council wants to 1) understand if Lehigh is in fact violating existing standards and 2) if its operations pose a possible health risk to Los Altos residents.   After discussion, the Council voted unanimously to investigate the allegations, to determine what is factual and not, and if the operations pose any risks to the city’s residents.  The Council will also be coordinating its investigation and response with Gary Waldeck of the Los Altos Hill Council.  An ad hoc subcommittee consisting of Mayor Packard and Councilmember David Casas will lead the effort with the help of city staff. GreenTown commends this decision and the Council’s willingness to coordinate with the Los Altos Hills council .  As Mayor Packard said during the meeting, “We say that Los Altos is a great place to live and raise a family.  But air and water quality has impacts on whether we are a great place to live.” The only concern I see is that there was no timetable to the Council’s resolution.  There will be multiple county hearings about the quarry this year, the first being February 8th.  Bill Almon, the leader of QuarryNo.com believes the big decision will be in November when the county supervisors decide whether or not to grant Lehigh a 20 year permit to operate the new 210 acre quarry.  It would be best if Los Altos and Los Altos Hills concludes their investigation and if negative, presents a resolution to the county supervisors before any such long-lasting decision. For additional information: Council discussion item (11) Background memo on the issues View the video of the Council discussion (Item 11) There are two groups focused on the quarry: http://notoxicair.org/ http://www.quarryno.com/ Joe Eyre Chair, GreenTown Los Altos Water Stewardship Committee #LosAltosCityCouncil #AirQuality #Toxins #LehighSWCementCompany #PermanenteQuarry #GreenTownLosAltos #LosAltos #Mercury