Politics & Government

News Worth Knowing: Los Altos July 4-9, 2011

Locals watched the last space shuttle take off from NASA-Ames, the city started the fiscal year with a biennial budget, a new freeway patrol started on I-280, and Adobe Creek's restoration between the Redwood Grove and Shoup Park get help with grant.

Sit down and relax. Grab a cup of tea or coffee, and get caught up with our review of the week that just ended. Today we're highlighting the period between July 4-9, 2011.

1.

NASA's final space shuttle mission, , successfully at 8:29 a.m. PDT Friday, to the amazement of millions of people worldwide. Some watched from near the launch site at Cape Canaveral, FL. And some watched on a big screen at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field.

Find out what's happening in Los Altoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I have followed [the space shuttle program] all along and I wanted to be an astronaut," said Grant Bennett, a 40-something-year-old who took his two children to watch the liftoff. "I wanted my kids to know how it works. I can't believe it's the last one."

Whether this launch was a first or a last for the spectators, the significance of the end of the space shuttle program reverberated through the large bubble-like structure of the NASA Ames Space Exploration Center. After 30 years, the program will end when Atlantis' four-person crew returns after its 12-day mission to deliver supplies, spare parts and science experiments to the International Space Station.

Find out what's happening in Los Altoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

From the national anthem to the countdown, including the gasp during a brief failure at the 31-second mark, observers collectively shared the excitement at the triumphant launch. Kamal Bhatia took his sons, Dwayne and Shane Bhatia from Fremont.

"I wanted them to be a part of this, and there's no better place to be, being so close to NASA, instead of watching it from a TV at home," he said.

2.

Los Altos started the fiscal year this month with a biennial budget in place, signaling that the city's economic situation had stabilized well enough to return to two-year planning.

The biennial budgetary and Capital Improvement Projects plan approved is $38.4 million for the 2011-12 fiscal year and $39.9 million for 2012-13.

The most significant feature this year was pension reform. Employees unions agreed to a two-tier pension plan. That, plus health benefits and the Santa Clara County Fire Department service contract, represents 75 percent of the increase in the general operating fund.

The complete draft budget is on the city's website.

 

3.

Your Tax Dollars at Work: The Santa Clara Valley Water District announced $3.4 million in grants to 26 organizations and municipalities that proposed projects involving open space waterways, environmental enhancement and watershed stewardship.

Three projects affecting Los Altos and Los Altos Hills were awarded funding.

's restoration efforts at Adobe Creek, from to , will benefit from a $46,000 grant to remove thick invasive vegetation, control bank erosion and even allow a living art installation with willow branches. There's even art involved. Artist Daniel McCormick will weave willow branches into a living sculpture on the bank as part of the 's upcoming exhibit on the history of water.

The Stevens Creek and Permanente Creek Watershed Council received $49,833 for volunteer monitoring. And the Committee for Green Foothills received $40,000 to create free, Web-based interactive maps illustrating how local watersheds travel from mountain streams into the San Francisco Bay.

The grant program is a small part of the 2000 Measure B voter-approved bond, known as Clean, Safe Creeks and Natural Flood Protection Plan.

 

4.

Your Tax Dollars At Work, Part II: The "Worlds Most Beautiful Freeway" just got a little safer, too. The Bay Area’s Freeway Service Patrol (FSP) fleet of roving tow trucks added a new 20-mile stretch of Interstate 280 between state highways 92 and 85 to its patrols, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission announced Tuesday.

If you've ever been stuck on this beautiful but sometimes lonely stretch of freeway, it's good to know. The two trucks assigned to the new Beat 33 will patrol both directions of I-280 Monday through Friday from 6-9 a.m. and from 3:30-6:30 p.m.

FSP drivers provide basic services for stranded motorists free of charge. These may include changing a tire, jump-starting a battery, taping hoses or providing a gallon of fuel, if needed. If a vehicle requires more extensive assistance, the FSP will tow it, at no cost to the owner, to the nearest off-freeway location identified by the California Highway Patrol.

The FSP program is paid for by a variety of federal, state and local funds, including part of a $1-per-vehicle annual registration fee assessed to Bay Area motorists.

 

5.

The Los Altos Arts & Wine Festival got underway Saturday, a just-under-the-wire spruce-up of downtown that took more than three months to accomplish. Blessed with gorgeous weather, the festival is hoped to bring people back into the downtown core for the first time in a while—and hopefully for repeat visits.  


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here