Criticism!
I know it's not about a particularly exciting topic, but still, this is a huge step.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
"Goof" vs. "fuck-up"
"Goof" -- intentionally spreading false information for purposes of a joke. Saying that the city may change its name to Mountain Dew, California, or that it is recruiting a minor league baseball team to play in McKelvey Park are both examples of goofs.
"Fuck-up" -- spreading false information while thinking it's true. Maintaining that Mountain View has made approval of Home Depot's proposal to move into San Antonio Shopping Center contingent upon the company paying the city a quarter of a million dollars to establish a permanent day worker center, or that Home Depot has given the city a quarter-million unsolicited -- that is a fuck-up.
[UPDATE 7/13: This post has been edited in response to criticism in the comments section].
"Fuck-up" -- spreading false information while thinking it's true. Maintaining that Mountain View has made approval of Home Depot's proposal to move into San Antonio Shopping Center contingent upon the company paying the city a quarter of a million dollars to establish a permanent day worker center, or that Home Depot has given the city a quarter-million unsolicited -- that is a fuck-up.
[UPDATE 7/13: This post has been edited in response to criticism in the comments section].
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Earmarks might be better
Remember how happy some of us were feeling back in November when the Democrats took control of both Congress and my liver?
That was before the new majority (in a miscalculated act of political cowardice) failed even to prevent the war's growth. It was also before loyal NOE reader Will Evans blew holes in all that Congressional bloviating about earmark-free spending bills.
The Center for Investigative Reporting is reporting today that hundreds of members of Congress have been privately pressuring federal agencies to keep feeding pork to their home districts.
Check out CIR's growing catalogue of public records to find out how your representatives have attempted to pervert the spending process. And don't worry if you don't see their names. Only five of the 13 federal agencies who received Freedom of Information Act requests actually responded. So the fact that Eshoo, Feinstein and Boxer are not currently implicated doesn't mean much -- chances are the picture this story paints of Congress is altogether too rosy.
That was before the new majority (in a miscalculated act of political cowardice) failed even to prevent the war's growth. It was also before loyal NOE reader Will Evans blew holes in all that Congressional bloviating about earmark-free spending bills.
The Center for Investigative Reporting is reporting today that hundreds of members of Congress have been privately pressuring federal agencies to keep feeding pork to their home districts.
Check out CIR's growing catalogue of public records to find out how your representatives have attempted to pervert the spending process. And don't worry if you don't see their names. Only five of the 13 federal agencies who received Freedom of Information Act requests actually responded. So the fact that Eshoo, Feinstein and Boxer are not currently implicated doesn't mean much -- chances are the picture this story paints of Congress is altogether too rosy.
Don't Even Think About Leaving the Country
While the middle of the country floods and the West burns, some of us may be entertaining crazy ideas of leaving the country.
However, don't do it. Don't even think about it. Let's all make like NOE and just stay put here in the good old US of A.
Washington's commitment to a weak dollar hit another high note Tuesday with both the euro and pound hitting new highs against our battered greenback. This means that traveling like Rick Steves in the safety of Western Europe is now totally unaffordable for many of us. Hell, even a burrito (a bargain for the Brits) at BigDra's place in Cambridge will seem like a fortune.
And don't even think of going to the cheaper parts of the world. I hear there are terrorists and Mexicans there.
However, don't do it. Don't even think about it. Let's all make like NOE and just stay put here in the good old US of A.
Washington's commitment to a weak dollar hit another high note Tuesday with both the euro and pound hitting new highs against our battered greenback. This means that traveling like Rick Steves in the safety of Western Europe is now totally unaffordable for many of us. Hell, even a burrito (a bargain for the Brits) at BigDra's place in Cambridge will seem like a fortune.
And don't even think of going to the cheaper parts of the world. I hear there are terrorists and Mexicans there.
Friday, July 06, 2007
The wrong way to fight a drought
From Wednesday's New York Times article about towns throughout the country cancelling fireworks shows because of extreme drought conditions:
In Breckenridge, Colo., the mountain resort 65 miles southwest of here, children will be treated to an afternoon of water fights by the Fire Department, but the evening fireworks have been called off. The show, which has been offered for 20 years, was canceled once before, in 2002, also because of drought.*Sigh*
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Our foreign correspondent is too polite to write about this
But we can't let it go unremarked that even a country like Mauritania -- where young girls are forcefed in order to make them obese, and in some cases tortured when they refuse -- still has far fewer overweight women than the U.S.
I can say this only because Megan is 3,000 miles away, but it sort of makes me think the Onion was right.
I can say this only because Megan is 3,000 miles away, but it sort of makes me think the Onion was right.
Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom ... of the press ... to destroy itself
The Mercury News celebrated Freedom Day by firing 31 reporters Monday, seemingly weakening our democracy once again. Together with the 15 people who voluntarily took severance packages in the last months, the Merc lost about 20 percent of an editorial staff still recovering from many rounds of cuts.
This is a shame. Many of those reporters -- S.L. Wykes, Kate Folmar and Dylan Hernandez come to mind -- are particulary good at their jobs. But the simple fact is that news is continuing to get cheaper. Consequently, the news-gathering function is worth less and less. Before anyone (Joc) replies that this is all the fault of greedy owners, please read the Mountain View Voice story about the city's lawsuit with Shoreline Amphitheater auditing firm Daoro, Zydel & Holland and ask yourself how much time it take for you to get this information yourself?
Let's not pretend like we couldn't get the same quality of information from someone getting paid half as much in Bangalore or, for that matter, somebody getting paid nothing at all and writing on their blog.
As a sidenote, the top story on the Voice's Web site right now is about 7-11 doing a promotion for the Simpsons movie.
This is a shame. Many of those reporters -- S.L. Wykes, Kate Folmar and Dylan Hernandez come to mind -- are particulary good at their jobs. But the simple fact is that news is continuing to get cheaper. Consequently, the news-gathering function is worth less and less. Before anyone (Joc) replies that this is all the fault of greedy owners, please read the Mountain View Voice story about the city's lawsuit with Shoreline Amphitheater auditing firm Daoro, Zydel & Holland and ask yourself how much time it take for you to get this information yourself?
Mountain View city attorney Michael Martello "announced" the trial date.
What appears to have happened is that the judge announced the trial date, and at some point Martello told the Palo Alto Daily News (which not located in Mountain View, nor Palo Alto, for that matter), which wrote a story and thereby alerted the Voice. While I don't have a reason to think Martello's lying, I decided to confirm it with the court's Website. I timed myself. Took me two minutes.
Daoro attorney Farley Neuman "is a self-described specialist in accounting malpractice."
In fact, Neuman has written several articles on the subject, so we shouldn't be relying on his own descritpion of himself. Type his name into Google and follow the first link.
"He said he has filed a summary judgment [sic] that describes in good detail the complex accounting issues that go back over a decade."
First of all, he has filed a motion for summary judgment along with a brief in support of it, which isn't a huge error but does indicate either shoddy editing or a lack of effort to understand this (or any) case or both. More significantly, this sentence makes it clear that the reporter never even looked at the document, nor knows for sure that it exists, despite what appears to be an invitation to read it. (It doesn't appear to be on-line yet, but it's not difficult to ask the lawyer for a copy of it or go to the courthouse).
Let's not pretend like we couldn't get the same quality of information from someone getting paid half as much in Bangalore or, for that matter, somebody getting paid nothing at all and writing on their blog.
As a sidenote, the top story on the Voice's Web site right now is about 7-11 doing a promotion for the Simpsons movie.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
If a child-molesting scoutmaster from Los Altos had helped President Bush trick the nation into supporting the invasion of Iraq
Would we have seen this article a year ago?
Bush spares Wagner 280-month jail term
President Bush spared Gregory Wagner from prison Monday, commuting his 23-year-and-four-month sentence while leaving intact his conviction for molesting children.
Mr. Bush’s action, announced hours after a judge sentenced Mr. Wagner, former scoutmaster for Los Altos-based Boy Scout Troop 31, came as a surprise to all but a few members of the president’s inner circle. It reignited the passions that have surrounded the case from the beginning.
The commutation brought immediate praise from conservatives, who hailed it as a courageous step to avert a miscarriage of justice, and condemnation from Democrats, who said it showed a lack of accountability and respect for the law.
The president portrayed his commutation of the sentence, which fell short of a pardon and still requires Mr. Wagner to pay a fine and be on probation, as a carefully considered compromise.
“I respect the guilty plea,” Mr. Bush said in a statement. “But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Wagner is excessive.”
Mr. Wagner, who was a Boy Scout leader for Troop 31, will still have to pay a fine and remain on probation for several years. He will most likely never again be able to lead Boy Scout troops.
The president’s decision means that Mr. Wagner, 43, no longer faces the prospect of leaving his wife and two children to report to prison.
...
Mr. Bush’s decision drew warm support from Mr. Wagner's friends and supporters, who had created a defense fund that drew the support of dozens of prominent Republicans, including a half dozen former ambassadors and several former government colleagues. Former Senator Fred D. Thompson, now an undeclared candidate for president, held a fund-raiser for Mr. Wagner.
“This is not a man who deserves to go to jail in any sense of the word,” said Kenneth L. Adelman, a former Defense Department official and longtime friend of Mr. Wagner, who stayed at his Colorado vacation home before his trial.
“Whatever he did wrong, he certainly paid,” Mr. Adelman said referring to Mr. Wagner's resignation from his prominent position and his public humiliation. “This is a good person who served his country very well and is a decent person,” he said.
[UPDATE: July 4 (Freedom Day), 1:27 p.m.]
Today's New York Times makes the point more clearly, and Joe Biden has the government's position in a more analogous case on his blog. Both, however, lack the local angle NOE readers expect.
Bush spares Wagner 280-month jail term
President Bush spared Gregory Wagner from prison Monday, commuting his 23-year-and-four-month sentence while leaving intact his conviction for molesting children.
Mr. Bush’s action, announced hours after a judge sentenced Mr. Wagner, former scoutmaster for Los Altos-based Boy Scout Troop 31, came as a surprise to all but a few members of the president’s inner circle. It reignited the passions that have surrounded the case from the beginning.
The commutation brought immediate praise from conservatives, who hailed it as a courageous step to avert a miscarriage of justice, and condemnation from Democrats, who said it showed a lack of accountability and respect for the law.
The president portrayed his commutation of the sentence, which fell short of a pardon and still requires Mr. Wagner to pay a fine and be on probation, as a carefully considered compromise.
“I respect the guilty plea,” Mr. Bush said in a statement. “But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Wagner is excessive.”
Mr. Wagner, who was a Boy Scout leader for Troop 31, will still have to pay a fine and remain on probation for several years. He will most likely never again be able to lead Boy Scout troops.
The president’s decision means that Mr. Wagner, 43, no longer faces the prospect of leaving his wife and two children to report to prison.
...
Mr. Bush’s decision drew warm support from Mr. Wagner's friends and supporters, who had created a defense fund that drew the support of dozens of prominent Republicans, including a half dozen former ambassadors and several former government colleagues. Former Senator Fred D. Thompson, now an undeclared candidate for president, held a fund-raiser for Mr. Wagner.
“This is not a man who deserves to go to jail in any sense of the word,” said Kenneth L. Adelman, a former Defense Department official and longtime friend of Mr. Wagner, who stayed at his Colorado vacation home before his trial.
“Whatever he did wrong, he certainly paid,” Mr. Adelman said referring to Mr. Wagner's resignation from his prominent position and his public humiliation. “This is a good person who served his country very well and is a decent person,” he said.
[UPDATE: July 4 (Freedom Day), 1:27 p.m.]
Today's New York Times makes the point more clearly, and Joe Biden has the government's position in a more analogous case on his blog. Both, however, lack the local angle NOE readers expect.
Monday, July 02, 2007
John Ashcroft: Savior of the Jews
Balak was the King of Moab. Worried that the Israelites were about to overrun his lands, he hired Balaam, a prophet, offering him riches galore to put a curse on them. Balaam warned Balak that, being a prophet, he could not say anything contrary to what God told him to say. After conferring with God, Balak chose not to put a curse on the Israelites and instead blessed them three times.
This was the subject of the Torah portion my second cousin Joshua read this Saturday at his bar-mitzvah, where I had the honor of carrying the Torah as Josh's way of making fun for dropping him on his head when he was six months old. The portion ended with some whoring and impaling, and Balak's worst fears were born out, but we're not going to focus on that right now). Josh gave a thoughtful impressive sermon about listening to your own voice for guidance when faced with tempation.
Enter the rabbi. Perhaps I should say reenter. Earlier in the service he had stopped praying every time somebody walked in late, glaring at them until they sat down and he restarted. (Apparently he's never heard of "Jewish Standard Time.")
Following Josh's lead, the rabbi said prophets are like the people who make Hebrew National hot dogs: they answer to a higher authority. The same thing is true of many professions nowadays, he pointed out. Regardless of what you offer a lawyer, for example, "there are some things you can't hire a lawyer to do." To drive home his point, he told the story of a modern-day Balaam -- the Pentecostal Christian who lost his Senate seat to a dead guy.
Granted, the man did do one decent thing in his life, and the rabbi was just giving him some credit for it. But my family was hearing none of it. Whispers ran through the audience. Josh's grandmother walked out. At the reception/reunion afterward, 'What the hell was that stuff about Ashcroft?' was an even more popular question than 'How old are you now?'
My second cousin-twice-removed said it best when talking to my brother. "I've been to seven bar-mitzvahs. But this one... wow."
This was the subject of the Torah portion my second cousin Joshua read this Saturday at his bar-mitzvah, where I had the honor of carrying the Torah as Josh's way of making fun for dropping him on his head when he was six months old. The portion ended with some whoring and impaling, and Balak's worst fears were born out, but we're not going to focus on that right now). Josh gave a thoughtful impressive sermon about listening to your own voice for guidance when faced with tempation.
Enter the rabbi. Perhaps I should say reenter. Earlier in the service he had stopped praying every time somebody walked in late, glaring at them until they sat down and he restarted. (Apparently he's never heard of "Jewish Standard Time.")
Following Josh's lead, the rabbi said prophets are like the people who make Hebrew National hot dogs: they answer to a higher authority. The same thing is true of many professions nowadays, he pointed out. Regardless of what you offer a lawyer, for example, "there are some things you can't hire a lawyer to do." To drive home his point, he told the story of a modern-day Balaam -- the Pentecostal Christian who lost his Senate seat to a dead guy.
Granted, the man did do one decent thing in his life, and the rabbi was just giving him some credit for it. But my family was hearing none of it. Whispers ran through the audience. Josh's grandmother walked out. At the reception/reunion afterward, 'What the hell was that stuff about Ashcroft?' was an even more popular question than 'How old are you now?'
My second cousin-twice-removed said it best when talking to my brother. "I've been to seven bar-mitzvahs. But this one... wow."
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
The Town Crier drops the other shoe
Coming back to Los Altos this weekend for my grandmother's 90th birthday celebration reminded me again of the many reasons I love home. While Los Altos High hosted the annual Relay for Life and Jamba Juice offered a two-for-one, I spent time with family and friends, watching high school water polo, swimming at Foothills, and playing basketball on Sunday afternoon at Terman. We even had a moonbounce.
You can imagine, then, why I was so disappointed to see the Town Crier go negative.
They warned us this would happen, two months ago, but who possibly could have been prepared for the vitriol of last week's editorial, describing the Civic Center as "badly used" and "as a whole unattractive and sadly out of date."
That kind of talk belongs in Mountain View maybe, not Los Altos.
You can imagine, then, why I was so disappointed to see the Town Crier go negative.
They warned us this would happen, two months ago, but who possibly could have been prepared for the vitriol of last week's editorial, describing the Civic Center as "badly used" and "as a whole unattractive and sadly out of date."
That kind of talk belongs in Mountain View maybe, not Los Altos.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Letcher syndrome
A local reporter e-mailed me about this affliction earlier today, defining it as:
September 8, 2004 Wednesday PENINSULA/S.F. EDITION
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 4B
LENGTH: 545 words
HEADLINE: MTN. VIEW PROBING ATTACK BY POLICE DOG;
LAWSUIT MAY BE FILED, CITY ATTORNEY SAYS
BYLINE: JULIE PATEL, Mercury News
But Don Letcher, a retired Sunnyvale public safety officer said police dogs are very well-trained.
"They would never attack without getting the order from an officer," said Letcher, who spent 20 years on the Sunnyvale force but was not a member of a canine unit. "It's like a gun. It's the user that's responsible for the actions of the dog."
...
"when reporters who are new to covering Mountain View quote a certain 'self-described gadfly' as a representative for mountain view residents."It's nice to see the Mercury is finally starting to rub off on the Daily News.
MTN. VIEW PROBING ATTACK BY POLICE DOG;LAWSUIT MAY BE FILED, CITY ATTORNEY SAYS San Jose Mercury News (California) September 8, 2004 Wednesday PENINSULA/S.F. EDITION
September 8, 2004 Wednesday PENINSULA/S.F. EDITION
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 4B
LENGTH: 545 words
HEADLINE: MTN. VIEW PROBING ATTACK BY POLICE DOG;
LAWSUIT MAY BE FILED, CITY ATTORNEY SAYS
BYLINE: JULIE PATEL, Mercury News
...
But Don Letcher, a retired Sunnyvale public safety officer said police dogs are very well-trained.
"They would never attack without getting the order from an officer," said Letcher, who spent 20 years on the Sunnyvale force but was not a member of a canine unit. "It's like a gun. It's the user that's responsible for the actions of the dog."
...
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Rich people win again
Los Altos School District has succeeded in its effort to redraw its boundaries in a way that least burdens "core" families and keep Bullis white.
Amusingly, the professional journalists at the local papers continually lag behind Amanda Aaronson, who normally dedicates her blog to bragging about her kids (use of graphics, posting source material), the rea.
I don't envy the school board's position, first having to deal with outraged secessionists from the Hills and now needing to reshuffle the neighborhoods that go to each school. They are really part of the same problem. Covington was originally renovated because of similar demographic projections, which turned out to be wrong, leading to the closure of my alma mater.
It's hard to see an easy solution, but catering to "core communities," as Bill Cooper reportedly suggested, is tragicomically misguided. Families who can afford to volunteer more already have plenty of advantages, including their ability to get involved in school board elections. Margot Harrigan was apparently the only board member to point this out.
I sense a "Draft Bruce" campaign in the offing.
Amusingly, the professional journalists at the local papers continually lag behind Amanda Aaronson, who normally dedicates her blog to bragging about her kids (use of graphics, posting source material), the rea.
I don't envy the school board's position, first having to deal with outraged secessionists from the Hills and now needing to reshuffle the neighborhoods that go to each school. They are really part of the same problem. Covington was originally renovated because of similar demographic projections, which turned out to be wrong, leading to the closure of my alma mater.
It's hard to see an easy solution, but catering to "core communities," as Bill Cooper reportedly suggested, is tragicomically misguided. Families who can afford to volunteer more already have plenty of advantages, including their ability to get involved in school board elections. Margot Harrigan was apparently the only board member to point this out.
I sense a "Draft Bruce" campaign in the offing.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Sad news
Los Altos won't be as bright without Derek Abraham, a young man who never lacked for enthusiasm. Our thoughts are with his family.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Celebrating American Freedom
Although he had been to our wonderful country before, my good friend Alban (who hails from Kosova) perhaps had not gotten to see some of the things that make this country Truly Great. Sure, he'd seen the Statue of Liberty, walked the Freedom Trail in Boston, and attended Microsoft's annual Techfest event outside Seattle, but I think there were some more fundamental things he had yet to experience. That's why when he came to visit we:
1) Went to see the guns at Wal-Mart. Unfortunately for Freedom, the Mountain View edition of our favorite retailer has apparently pulled firearms from its shelves. However, Sam Walton's teaming progeny of backwoods billionaires did not completely disappoint as the Wal-Mart in Mountain View still sells bullets. But not just any bullets. Hollow points. But only for rifles, so that makes me feels safer.
2) Went to Ross ("Dress for Less"). Ross sells clothes for prices unseen anywhere outside of factory outlets in China. And for Alban, who had been living in England the past four years, I thought it a good place to go as the combination of American-sized clothes at rock-bottom prices
would show him what us Americans are all about: being big/fat and getting good deals. He tried on a "medium" shirt - the size he usually wears in England - and the sleeves hung well over his fingertips and the shirt bottom went almost to his knees. We also saw some size 18 shoes, too.
3) Went to public libraries. We visited two libraries during his visit. The Huntington Beach City Library and the Los Altos Library (part of the Santa Clara County system). While the HBC library took top honors for design, Los Altos took the more important prize: the one with the most DVDs and videos. The library's not just for the literate no more! I love this country and I'm pretty sure Alban did, too.
4) Hooters. At NOE's insistence we went to Hooters in Santa Monica. It certainly is a part of Americana, but with beer at $20 a pitcher and no one having a raging 80s fetish we left disappointed.
5) Venice Beach. Another disappointment at the Southern end of our state. Muscle beach was some fat guys and a weirdo in a leopard print speedo (no, it wasn't NOE). The basketball was one of the poorest quality games I've seen and no White Man Can't Jump-esque hustling, either. However the homeless guy holding a sign that said "Fuck You" made it worth the trip.
6) Jamba Juice. Perennial favorite of all Left Coasters. Good stuff.
1) Went to see the guns at Wal-Mart. Unfortunately for Freedom, the Mountain View edition of our favorite retailer has apparently pulled firearms from its shelves. However, Sam Walton's teaming progeny of backwoods billionaires did not completely disappoint as the Wal-Mart in Mountain View still sells bullets. But not just any bullets. Hollow points. But only for rifles, so that makes me feels safer.
2) Went to Ross ("Dress for Less"). Ross sells clothes for prices unseen anywhere outside of factory outlets in China. And for Alban, who had been living in England the past four years, I thought it a good place to go as the combination of American-sized clothes at rock-bottom prices
would show him what us Americans are all about: being big/fat and getting good deals. He tried on a "medium" shirt - the size he usually wears in England - and the sleeves hung well over his fingertips and the shirt bottom went almost to his knees. We also saw some size 18 shoes, too.
3) Went to public libraries. We visited two libraries during his visit. The Huntington Beach City Library and the Los Altos Library (part of the Santa Clara County system). While the HBC library took top honors for design, Los Altos took the more important prize: the one with the most DVDs and videos. The library's not just for the literate no more! I love this country and I'm pretty sure Alban did, too.
4) Hooters. At NOE's insistence we went to Hooters in Santa Monica. It certainly is a part of Americana, but with beer at $20 a pitcher and no one having a raging 80s fetish we left disappointed.
5) Venice Beach. Another disappointment at the Southern end of our state. Muscle beach was some fat guys and a weirdo in a leopard print speedo (no, it wasn't NOE). The basketball was one of the poorest quality games I've seen and no White Man Can't Jump-esque hustling, either. However the homeless guy holding a sign that said "Fuck You" made it worth the trip.
6) Jamba Juice. Perennial favorite of all Left Coasters. Good stuff.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Stair-stepping
One difference between good and bad water polo teams is that the good ones know how to stair-step. Stair-stepping is a tactic used when an offensive player manages to get free near the goal. On good teams, defenders leave offensive players they are guarding to cover the next nearest one, requiring everybody to do a little extra work in exchange for covering the open player much more quickly. Bad teams tend to be unable to figure out this concept, and instead force the defender who had been guarding the now-open offensive player to swim after him or her, regardless of the distance in between or the time it takes to cover it.
The Los Altos School District is a bad water polo team.
Despite having given up its plan to punish the secessionists in Los Altos Hills by sending Mountain View kids to Bullis, the school board is still planning to make kids travel past (in some cases right in front of) schools close to them in order to get to their new school. I haven't looked at the demographic data, but the alternative approach -- shifting kids so that a lot of people have to travel a little bit farther, but nobody has to pass by one or more schools in order to get to their own -- seems to make much more sense.
Coincidentally, this will have the greatest impact on kids from Mountain View.
The Los Altos School District is a bad water polo team.
Despite having given up its plan to punish the secessionists in Los Altos Hills by sending Mountain View kids to Bullis, the school board is still planning to make kids travel past (in some cases right in front of) schools close to them in order to get to their new school. I haven't looked at the demographic data, but the alternative approach -- shifting kids so that a lot of people have to travel a little bit farther, but nobody has to pass by one or more schools in order to get to their own -- seems to make much more sense.
Coincidentally, this will have the greatest impact on kids from Mountain View.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
An "unfortunate" decision
Updated list of things the Mountain View City Council thinks are and are not worth saving:
Jac Siegel said it would be unfair for the council to spend more money on parkland south of El Camino, even though (lawyer Lex Watson's bloviating notwithstanding) the council would not have had to buy the land.
Margaret Abe-Koga said she didn't want to spend $500,000 of the city's money pursuing split-zoning, forgetting (as did the Voice) that changing the zoning to detached single-family houses won't be free.
Nick Galiotto pointed out that the farm was not really a link to the city's past, though I'm not sure how important that is.
Laura Macias correctly pointed out that this decision simply perpetuates a system that unfairly burdens residents north of El Camino, though I suspect her solution involves not building much new housing anywhere.
Tom Means told a joke, which often presages a disappointingly conservative vote.
Kudos to Ronit Bryant, for being the lone vote for my romanticized notion of childhood in Los Altos.
Kudos to the owners, for making a boatload of money.
And, most of all, kudos to the neighbors, who heroically overcame abuses of their civil rights to win a round for NIMBYism.
- Worth saving: contaminated hangars; abandoned office buildings
- Not worth saving: farms
Jac Siegel said it would be unfair for the council to spend more money on parkland south of El Camino, even though (lawyer Lex Watson's bloviating notwithstanding) the council would not have had to buy the land.
Margaret Abe-Koga said she didn't want to spend $500,000 of the city's money pursuing split-zoning, forgetting (as did the Voice) that changing the zoning to detached single-family houses won't be free.
Nick Galiotto pointed out that the farm was not really a link to the city's past, though I'm not sure how important that is.
Laura Macias correctly pointed out that this decision simply perpetuates a system that unfairly burdens residents north of El Camino, though I suspect her solution involves not building much new housing anywhere.
Tom Means told a joke, which often presages a disappointingly conservative vote.
Kudos to Ronit Bryant, for being the lone vote for my romanticized notion of childhood in Los Altos.
Kudos to the owners, for making a boatload of money.
And, most of all, kudos to the neighbors, who heroically overcame abuses of their civil rights to win a round for NIMBYism.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Hack Alert: NYT's John Tierney pulls hatchet job on Rachel Carson
Maybe it's not as important as promoting a false case for war, inventing sources or refusing to understand Value Over Replacement Player, but John Tierney's hatchet job on Rachel Carson, deserves a spot in right alongside Judith Miller, Jayson Blair and Murray Chass in the New York Times Hall of Shame. Tierney's article is so bad, in fact, that it merits attention in a blog dedicated to Los Altos and Mountain View.
John Tierney, for those who don't know him, is a conservative political columnist who tends to start with a conclusion and invent arguments to support it. In short, he has no business writing for the science section, but that's where yesterday's article ran.
Carson, who would have turned 100 this week, wrote the most important book of the second half of the 20th century. Naturally, Tierney's starts with the conclusion that it is a bad book. Sure, it explained to the general public that chemical alteration of the natural environment has consequences, it spurred the modern environmental movement, and it eventually led to the creation of the EPA and the passage of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. But, says Tierney, some dead guy it is "not a scientific balancing of costs and benefits."
Actually, Tierney bases the entire article on one 45-year-old critique of Silent Spring. The only thing that he adds of any substance is that some unnamed environmentalists, who presumably read Silent Spring, don't think the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, a.k.a. Superfund) is perfect. Nevermind that Congress passed CERCLA, establishing the principle of "polluter pays," in response to the Love Canal crisis, nearly two decades after Silent Spring.
Tune in next week as John Tierney regurgitates the work of an art critic who thinks Betsy Ross was actually not that good a seamstress.
John Tierney, for those who don't know him, is a conservative political columnist who tends to start with a conclusion and invent arguments to support it. In short, he has no business writing for the science section, but that's where yesterday's article ran.
Carson, who would have turned 100 this week, wrote the most important book of the second half of the 20th century. Naturally, Tierney's starts with the conclusion that it is a bad book. Sure, it explained to the general public that chemical alteration of the natural environment has consequences, it spurred the modern environmental movement, and it eventually led to the creation of the EPA and the passage of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. But, says Tierney, some dead guy it is "not a scientific balancing of costs and benefits."
Actually, Tierney bases the entire article on one 45-year-old critique of Silent Spring. The only thing that he adds of any substance is that some unnamed environmentalists, who presumably read Silent Spring, don't think the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, a.k.a. Superfund) is perfect. Nevermind that Congress passed CERCLA, establishing the principle of "polluter pays," in response to the Love Canal crisis, nearly two decades after Silent Spring.
Tune in next week as John Tierney regurgitates the work of an art critic who thinks Betsy Ross was actually not that good a seamstress.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Another mystery solved
Case closed.
The sad thing about this is that farm foe Thomas Holmes's quote is no longer quite as awesome:
"I'm going to be asking for 24-hour police protection until we defeat these bastards."
The sad thing about this is that farm foe Thomas Holmes's quote is no longer quite as awesome:
"I'm going to be asking for 24-hour police protection until we defeat these bastards."
Listen up, kids
Say you're driving around Mountain View early in the morning after the prom. Your date wants nothing to do with you. You're angry. Maybe you've headed out to the farm to sneak a few drinks. You want to break something. If you happen to come across a political sign, do everyone a favor and don't pussyfoot around with hiding it in someone's yard.
Really go after it.
And you thought Mountain View couldn't learn anything from Los Altos.
According to an unverified but entirely believable report in the Voice, the police department is looking for the thieves who took several signs that advocate replacing open space with single-family detached homes. I'm surprised they could spare an officer from their investigation into the murder of Alex Fernandez, what with all the attention the media has paid to that over the last several years.
Really go after it.
And you thought Mountain View couldn't learn anything from Los Altos.
According to an unverified but entirely believable report in the Voice, the police department is looking for the thieves who took several signs that advocate replacing open space with single-family detached homes. I'm surprised they could spare an officer from their investigation into the murder of Alex Fernandez, what with all the attention the media has paid to that over the last several years.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Memorial Day in D.C.
(Please excuse the delay in posting. BigDra and I have been traveling -- although that's only half newsworthy. Rants about trivial local news will be back soon).I got to D.C. last Sunday, in time to meet my cousins' eight-week-old baby and spend Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery, "our nation's most sacred shrine." The President was speaking at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers, but I was there to see Ken Ballard.
His mother, Karen Meredith, had been kind enough to invite me to the ceremony to mark the third year since his death. It meant a lot to me to be there, knowing Ken only through the tearful stories his mother relates and the awed tones in which his friends described him to me.
Karen and her family decorated Ken's headstone as a crowd of maybe 15 of us gathered at Ken's gravesite in Section 60, donning buttons with Ken's face in front of an American flag background. Karen talked briefly about her son, in the same touching manner she always does. One of his commanding officers spoke of the strength his soldiers felt for him. She passed around a book about Arlington for us to sign. Then, with nothing more to say, she popped a bottle of champagne, and we celebrated.
It was the first Memorial Day since the death of our neighbor Will Sigua and my college teammate Nate Krissoff. In the many more Memorial Days that will hopefully follow for the rest of us, let us remember all of them fondly and continue to aspire to the examples they set for us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
